Kerala바카라�s Dalit Priest Vs Mark Tully바카라�s 1980s Upcountry Tale

Ahead of Kerala now getting its first Dalit priest in a temple administered by the state government, a famed British journalist with close India connections did write an account of similar struggles by a member of the Hindu downtrodden up north of the country.

Octogenarian Mark Tully바카라�s latest book begins with a story about a 바카라�low-caste바카라� villager in Uttar Pradesh managing to overcome his meekness and win in his mission of building a shrine in his remote locality where Brahmins always wielded great influence.

바카라�The Battle for a Temple바카라� is the opening chapter in Tully바카라�s 2017 work, Upcountry Tales:
Once Upon A Time In the Heart of India, which is a 바카라�part-fable, part-social documentary바카라�, as Guardian columnist Ian Jack notes on the jacket of the 288-page publication by Speaking Tiger. The characters in all the seven stories of the book are from eastern UP, where three generations of Tully have lived earlier. All of those in the book belong to the common folk but 바카라�I won바카라�t say the ordinary people바카라�; instead, they don바카라�t belong to the 바카라�prominent바카라� citizens.

The book has its critical period attached to it. It portrays life in Purvanchal, as the pastoral Gangetic belt is known, in the second half of the 1980s바카라�바카라�a crossroad in Indian history바카라� that the author prefers to call a 바카라�dead end바카라�. For, that was when Rajiv Gandhi, as the prime minister, wanted the licence-permit raj to go, but 바카라�was not able to cope up with the resistance netas and babus put up바카라� to reforms he attempted after taking over from his mother Indira Gandhi in 1984.

That way, aged Budh Ram바카라�s initially-solitary bid to build a place of worship for his poet- icon Sant Ravi Das eventually succeeding is the victory that tacitly juxtaposes him favourably against the country바카라�s most powerful person: the PM. The diminutive farm labourer in the interior Kosma could have easily given up given that his caste had seldom had any privilege nor a history of fighting against the privileged classes, but Budh Ram바카라�s tenacity coupled with comical providence enables him to emerge as a hero of both the community and the region with a feudal hangover.

In fact, so timid is Budh Ram that he isn바카라�t really sure to attend a village meet that is scheduled to discuss his proposal on building the temple. He somehow musters courage to attend what is called a biradari, where the protagonist 바카라�took the chair next to the pradhan but overcome with nervousness and fear he couldn바카라�t speak바카라�. What바카라�s more, a burly middle-aged man called Kamal scorns at the poor man, warning the audience how the Gosains (Brahmins) 바카라�will never let it happen.바카라�

Yet, Budh Ram musters the courage to speak about the greatness of the 15th-16th- century bhakti philosopher 바카라�who told me God is within us and equal in all바카라� besides that 바카라�the nine doors of the senses prevent us from finding God within us and coming to moksha바카라�바카라� To the surprise of his listeners, including the village pradhan Ram Prasad, the doddering man speaks in near-trance바카라�much like the Jewish barber hero in Charlie Chaplin바카라�s 1940 American film The Great Dictator. Only that, here Budh Ram has only begun his fight.

The crowd, nonetheless, gets enthused. Optimism sets in among the Dalits, who make the initial moves for the temple construction. This invites the ire of the Brahmins, who come as a pack to the site meant for consecration and manage to dent the confidence of the lowly Bhangis. The local police station officer plays tricks on the Dalits. Ostensibly being bribed by the Brahmins, he fools the temple builders; worse, he begins to increasingly intimidate them.

Almost having given up, Budh Ram, along with the pradhan, makes a hesitant appearance before the local legislator. Sanjeev Rai, the MLA, straightaway dismisses them, but the politician바카라�s shrewd right-hand man Sanjay Gupta intervenes, quickly convincing the leader the vitality of the majority Dalits as a vote-bank. That works, and the MLA loses no time in showing the SHO his place. The unexpected manipulation mellows the Gosains, too, at the end of which a 바카라�shining white temple now stands in that grove beside the river.바카라� Budh Ram, the story concludes, doesn바카라�t give himself any credit, all that goes to Sant Ravi Das.

This book by 81-year- old Tully, a Calcutta-born former BBC bureau chief, of 바카라�unlikely rebels바카라�, as the jacket puts it, 바카라�finding ways to deal with bad governance, corruption and social hierarchies바카라�. Besides Budh Ram, it tells similar stories about how a 바카라�clear-headed, clever farmer바카라�s wife saves her family from her husband바카라�s follies, a former headmistress leads the battle to save an endangered railway line, a politician바카라�s son learns what it means 바카라�to eat the dust of UP바카라�, a peaceable, comfort-loving policeman defies political pressure to solve a murder, an agnostic becomes a monk.바카라�

As for Kerala today, a good three decades after the exit of Rajiv Gandhi in power at the Centre and a communist regime ruling God바카라�s Own Country, the state-administered Travancore Devaswom Board바카라�s historic move saw 22-year- old Yadhu Krishnan assuming duties at the sanctum sanctorum of a vintage Shiva temple in central Travancore. A native of Koratty in Thrissur district, Yadhu바카라�an alumnus of Sree

Gurudeva Vaidika Tantra Vidyapeethom in Paravur north of Kochi바카라�is one of the six Dalits and 36 non-Brahmins recently recruited by the 1950-founded Devaswom Board that currently administers over 1,200 temples.