Water’s Path

Neera Daari
BOOK 1
A journey into the cultural
imagination of Karnataka’s
sanitation workers
 Contents

PRELUDE, an Invitation

CONTEMPLATIONS dew, containments, stream, river, sea

1. Spiritual Worldvview
2. Cultural Imaginaries
 An Invitation
India is home to so many different traditions, beliefs and faiths,
diversity in culture, food, tastes, smells, colours, ritual, and more.
It is home to Muslim, Hindu, Christian, Parsi, Jain, Buddhist, Sikh
and other main-faith streams along with many diverse faiths and
belief systems. There are also Siddha, Natha, Vachana,
Avadutha, Achala, Sufi, Aaruda, Tatwapada, and many such
ways of being, movements that have been spiritual-social, poetic,
musical and importantly, egalitarian in building our worldview.
Many such streams built the vision of what it means to be Indian
and many such new directions have been seen and found. Of
these, some are seen, heard, documented, and a few others are
still living, but invisible, hidden and have no formal records.

Of the ones that are invisible, such processes and communities

that gave rise to these ideas remain unacknowledged in the
historic process due to lack of documentation, their labour,
service, philosophy and contributions stand forgotten as the roots
of many processes that could form new support for our
worldviews, challenging, reforming, questioning, reframing,
developing, integrating and informing us.

If we need to feel the true pulse of true Indianness, we have to

search for the communities that stand forgotten. We need to
show an interest, search for glimpses, piece them together and
try to build bridges between these living traditions and
perspectives. We may then arrive at some semblance of what
plural and living traditions mean and what their contributions
are/were.
Keeping in mind, the immense plurality and diversity in culture,
gender, religion, faith, caste and more, the founders of this country
developed the secular democratic ideals based on oneness,
equality, equal opportunity, liberty and justice to envision a
nation-society that would provide a space sans discrimination. The
preamble to the constitution reads thus:

WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, having solemnly

resolved to constitute India into a SOVEREIGN
SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC
REPUBLIC and secure to all citizens:

JUSTICE, social, economic and political;

LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief, faith

and worship;

EQUALITY of status and of opportunity;

And to promote among them all

FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the

individual and the unity and integrity of the
nation;

IN OUR CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY this

twenty-sixth day of November 1949, do
HERBY ADOPT, ENACT AND GIVE TO
OURSELVES THIS CONSTITUTION
Aspiring for the equality and justice prescribed in the Indian
constitution, many Dalit communities and those who think
and feel passionately about this equality have, since Indian
independence, fought many struggles, for constitutional, legal
rights. These have been in the form of movements, organised
struggles, struggles to reform and reframe laws and more.
Such movements have brought some socio-legal and political
awakening and changes. Movements such as these have
also impacted Safai Karmacharis who are considered lowest
amongst Dalits as well to unveil the discriminatory practices
and apathy in social, legal arenas and have also contributed
to their unionisation over long decades of various historic
movements. Yet, Safai Karmacharis are still stuck to their
occupation which is fraught with work environments that
violate of human rights and are severely exploitative in
nature. This is due to the fact that the social consciousness of
India is still largely unmoved or unaffected by the true
constitutional values and is ridden with casteist bias and
oppression.

Not only are they marginalised socio-economically, but their

cultural and spiritual moorings are unseen and the
communities shown and imagined as undignified and lacking
cultural development. On the contrary, their cultural
contributions could dialogue, challenge, heal, disrupt and
repair the so-called mainstream thought on tradition and
culture as it is also a valid stream of Indianness with deep
roots. In that sense, this cultural excavation and retelling is
the path of water, the flow of the stream unseen, to meet,
share, dialogue and contribute to new thought and worldview.
This organic, meandering flow is what we are called Neera
Daari, water’s path.
The pro-life traditions, practices, beliefs and rituals of Safai
Karmachari communities do not subscribe or propagate
purity discourses, create hierarchies, discrimination
amongst humans, but are ecological, equal, inclusive and
honour nature and women in their practice and vision. In
that sense, the traditions move forward to dialogue,
assimilate, include and propel forward with self-growth and
development. They are porus and open to change, like
drops of rain, forming puddles, and then a river moving
through the earth, touching, embracing much in its path
while holding life as it moves towards the sea. The
traditions are cyclical in their imagination and intent.

Give me a piece of bread,

It will quench my day’s hunger

If you would teach me how to earn bread

You will quench a longer hunger,

Until I lose the opportunity to earn,

I would then have to sell my fertile land.

If you direct towards me an education and ignite a means

to a united fight,

No matter whatever challenge,

You will be touching us by teaching us, to explore our own

way

- Savitri Bai Phule

Contemplation 1
Spiritual worldview
Adhyatmika Baduku
 Cycles of Tradition
Kempamma made her way to the temple of her earthy deity,
Kalagatlamma. Due to the Covid pandemic restrictions, nobody
had been able to go to the shrine to give the place a good scrub
and light Kalagatlamma’s oil lamp. Finally having some time on her
hands, Kempamma carried with her flowers, a matchbox, some
castor oil, a coconut, bananas, agarbatti (insense sticks), karpoora
(camphor), arshna-kumkuma (turmeric powder and vermillion) and
adke-ele (betel leaves and areca-nut). She also brought along
soap-nut powder, rangoli pudi (white-powder used to make patterns
outside entrances) and a broom. While she walked, Kempamma
collected some cow dung and approached the temple.

The temple was just a small shrine housing a few tiny round
stones. Well, the stones were not exactly round, but somewhat
shaped like an hourglass. Kempamma swept out the small temple,
brought water from the nearby kalyani (pond with steps on all
sides) and washed the temple premises. Kempamma pulled out the
wick from the mud lamp, poured oil and soaked the wicks to get it
to burn longer. She then smeared the sagni (cow-dung) evenly all
across the entrance, and made a beautiful pattern with her rangoli
powder.

Kempamma went back to the community kalyani, took off her mask
and tucked it in her waist. She eagerly washed her face with the
soap-nut powder. “What a relief it is to be without the mask”, she
mused as she wiped her face with her seragu, the dangling edge of
her sari, “wonder how much longer these conditions and
restrictions would last!”

Kempamma came back to the temple, applied arshna-kumkuma to

the deity-stone, smeared her cheeks with turmeric and adorned
marigold flowers. She deftly snapped the edges of bananas, broke
open the coconut, drank the coconut water and swiftly adorned
either sides of the deity with broken halves as offerings. As a
culmination, she lit the karpura which flamed up in bright, fragrant,
smoking fire; and the agarbattis that lit up reluctantly but soon
began puffing an intense, floral fragrance.

Kempamma spoke to Kalagattama, her deity, “Avva (beloved

mother), show us a way out of all this, help us breathe!” Bowing
down with an easy reverence, she withdrew and sat at the
entrance, transfixed as though in direct conversation with the deity.
She smiled at her mother with satisfaction, seeing Kalagattama all
cleaned up and decorated.
“ Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod
tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim
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commodo consequat.”
 “All I ask for is strength, to tide over this, nothing else Avva”, Kempamma prayed and sat in the
silent space for a bit. The fronds of the coconut tree swung in the wind and as she looked she
noticed a weaver-bird building its nest in their midst. “How mindfully it is sowing with fiber, using its
beak, holding it back on one side with its leg and pulling it out again through its beak!”

Looking back at her Avva, Kempamma exclaimed, “Yenavva! Such unique skills you give to all
sorts of beings!” She then got up, and carried home the offerings.

All children in the settlement were home due to the Corona infection threat. Asha workers (rural
health service volunteers) regularly visited and instructed about the importance of wearing a mask,
maintaining physical distance, washing one’s hands, using sanitizers and so on. The poor kids had
to hear the same thing from their petrified parents causing more annoyance and resentment at the
loss of their precious freedom and play. Beatings and scolding became routine.

Covid crisis also hit the adults badly. Women could not go out to work and earn their coolie (daily
wages). Ration that was provided by relief agencies was not enough and managing the household
caused severe stress. This anxiety led them to take it out on their children! Even making up by
petting and pampering young ones was prohibited. Adults just kept sighing, “god alone knows what
this disease is!”

Kempamma’s neighborhood had around eight young children. To help the kids avoid getting
scolded and to keep them engaged, she called them over to narrate stories, teach them songs,
make magic wrist-watches, mobile paper and wooden animals and birds, and the girgitle (colourful
windmill charm). Kempamma would involve the children in her garden to plant and pluck greens for
her saaru(lunch gravy), make snacks to keep them happy and healthy.

Tippa, the naughty one, probably after a sudden trashing at the hands of his mother was crying on
top of his voice. “Oi Tippa come here and have this bale-hannu, banana”

Tippa’s tears slipped away as he summoned his friends and ran towards the voice that beckoned.
Kempamma, already aware a band of children will break in, cracked the coconut shell to make
small pieces with coconut meat on it and gave to each child, along with a banana.

It was time for a lesson with the snack. Kempamma who connected riddles, stories and concepts
for the children asked the children:

Kempamma: Did all of you eat the banana?

Children: Aah-ohoo, houdhu, yes, it has gone deep into our stomachs!

Kempamma: And what did you do with the peel?

Children: Who will eat the peel, except cows? Siddha ran to drop all the peels in the shed for them
to chew!

Kempamma: And what did the cows give us after eating banana peels?

Children: um, cow dung! Chee (giggle)

Kempamma: Why chee? What do we do with the dung?

Children: We threw the dung with all our kitchen waste!

Kempamma: And what did the waste become?

Children: After a few months, it became black manure!

Kempamma: …and what does one do with manure?

Children: Mix it with soil for a banana plantation!

Kempamma: Aaha! So what did the banana plantation give us for doing so?

Children: Bale hannu! Bananas!

Kempamma: Good! Now what did you do with bananas?

Children: Asked Kempamma to give them to Kalagatamma!

Kempamma: Asked Kempamma eh? So what did you get from Kalagatamma?

Children: Bale-hannu Prasada!

Kempamma: What did you do with the prasada?

Children: We ate the fruit and fed the cows!

Tippa, always intrigued and full of questions said, “Amma, the circle began with a banana and
ended with banana isn’t it?”

Kempamma was pleased. “Yes dear boy, if you begin with banana you can end with banana, begin
in the cow-shed you can end with a cow-shed, begin with waste, you’ll come back to waste! You
will end from where you start again to end!”

“Hope you’ve all understood the process for a banana to ripen and be sweet! Eaten by a cow, it
returns as dung, reaches garbage, mixes with soil, becomes nutrient to the banana tree and comes
out again as fruit!”
Mangli, the two plaited, beaded eyed girl was
so interested in snacks, that her eyes
glimmered! “Chakra, Chakra, round snacks like
a wheel, a cycle! Like chakli-kodbale (fried
snacks) circular in shape! When you eat them,
they make Karum Karum Karum sounds!” she
chirped enthusiastically.

Soon all kids ran around chirping, “karum

kurum karum kurum

Netra had approached silently and was

listening. Netra was Shiva’s wife, Shiva was
Uchchamma’s son. They met in Kolar where he
worked, fell in love, got married and now were
back at Uchchamma’s house during the
lockdown. Netra’s ears perked as she heard
the children talk to Kempamma. She decided to
extend their learning,

Netra:

All squat in a circle, keep your palms like a

stove, keeping your fingers with gaps

Now a game begins!

Take ash out of the stove, keep firewood inside

the stove…

Light the firewood!

Place a pan on the stove, spread rice-batter on

the pan

Turn the dosae (pancake), See whether it’s

done?

On hearing a resounding “yes”, the children

were allowed to eat their imaginary dosae.
Netra continued play-acting:
Netra: After eating the dosae where did the hands
disappear?

Children: Behind the wooden door

Netra: What did the wooden door give?

Children: Firewood

Netra: What did you do with the firewood?

Children: Kept in the stove

Netra: What did the stove give?

Children: Ash!

Netra: What did you do with the ash?

Children: We spread it on the farm-land

Netra: What did the farm give?

Children: Ragi, Ragi, Ragi! Finger millets!

Netra: What did you do with the finger-millet?

Children: Some we store to eat, some we sell!

Netra: What did you get when you made a sale?

Children: Money!

Netra: What did you do with the money?

Children: Bought a cradle!

Netra: Who did you put in the cradle?

Children: A baby!

Netra: What did you squeeze into the hands

of a baby?

Children: Dry coconut and jaggery!

Coconut and jaggery for me!

But only hen poop for you!

Hahaha, this circle begins with dosae and ends with hen poop!

“Aha! Dosae and chicken gravy makes for a great combination!” retorted a dreamy Mangli, much to
everyone’s amusement.

Kempamma spoke up, “There are so many cycles like this, did you know?”

Seenu who loved to hear stories whimpered, “I don’t know any, Kempavva, you only tell no?!”

Kempamma started singing:

Drip drop, Drip drop,

falls, gathers and crawls on earth to become a stream!

Moving, meandering, roving, it becomes a rivulet!

She flows, tumbles and grows into a river

Only to pour off land and end in the stomach of the big
sea!

It doesn’t end there!

She boils, steams, vapourises!

And goes up, up, up, unseen!

And all as droplets again, gathers this time in the sky,

to form majestic, roaring clouds

When the winds clash, hot meets cold, the drops come
down again!

Drizzling, trickling and pouring as children dance in

puddles…

She’s absorbed in the soil, drawn up by plants, given up

by animals,

The rest drips and flows, crawling as stream moving as

a rivulet flowing as river…

“Aha! This is neera chakra, the water cycle!” squealed

Ganga in excitement.

Kempamma continued, “A seed falls onto the soil,

sprouts up into a sapling, grows as tree, yields
flowers. Flowers turn to fruit, fruit contains the seed, seed falls into the soil again and…

“Hey! This is the hasiru chakra, the plant cycle!” quipped Chandramma.

Tempting yummy aroma, inducing taste,

Anna, saaru, rotti, payasa!

Rice, gravy, bread, desert!

Curry, chutney, kadubu, semiya

Mister Nose caught the aroma, and nudged Mister Mouth to water!

Taste the food on Mister Tongue, chew with Mister Teeth,

turn it with tongue, chew it with your teeth,

Gulp it down the throat and fill your stomach

Send it through small intestine; small intestine absorbs the essence

Let it out to big intestine; big intestine presses out water and leaves the waste

Your fart has sounded out! Dur burr!

Now off you go to relive yourself! Take a nice dump!

Your waste as poop goes into the soil, and turns manure; manure made the soil fertile!

This way, the crops got cones; cones of grains were cut

They became Cereals, pulses, greens, vegetables, fruits,

They became tasty dishes after cutting, chopping, grinding, mashing

Aroma tickled the nose again and made your mouth water,

Tongue turns, teeth munches!

Saubhagya who had been listening and imagining everything, now woke up!

“Wait, wait! I know this! This is the ootada chakra, the food cycle!”
Netra added:

The cycle turns, the cycle twists, the cycle runs,

Up and down, round and round!

Running without end,

Soil into crop, dirt into manure

For saints it is dharma chakra, the cycle of continued action

For humans, jeevana chakra, the life cycle

For children, moojina chakra, the cycle of fun!

 Contemplation 2
Cultural Imaginaries
Samskrutika Baduku
 Anthropologist Ruth Benedict:
“No individual can even touch the
threshold of mystic strengths
without the culture to which he
belongs” (Cheluvaraju 1993: 11)

In this part, we look at the Madiga communities and their

myths and beliefs to explore the deeper resonances of
what their imaginaries and experiences of origin have
been, also since Madigas constitute the primary dominant
caste-groups that are seen working in Safai Karmachari
professions.
Cultural
sTORYTELLING
Ganga Bharatha

The mythology of
Gangamma, or Ganga
reveals a significant
consciousness of the larger
ancient Indian suncontinent
termed Bharatha by
underscoring the belief that
Water is source of all life.
Communities of Madiga caste
worship goddess
Gangamma. The
mythological song called
Ganga-Bharatha narrates her
tale and is traditionally sung
by Mashtika, a sub-caste
among Madiga.

According to the story Gangamma is Adi Shakti, the primordial creative force that puts forth gods
Brahma, Vishnu and Maheshwara. Gangamma instructs these forces to protect the Earth. The
gods for their part divide up the earth into three parts to rule over, but are unable to carry out their
responsibilities. The goddess Gangamma, often referred to as a Ugra roopa deity, chastises the
male gods and compels them to offer better governance. In the work of (?) the researcher
describes the word Ugra as meaning to be “an unbearable force” of energy, that is synchronous
with nature.

When Madiga communities shift to worship Shiva, who wouldn’t carry out his role well, Gangamma
curses the whole community with disease. This wrath can be interpreted as nature’s fury when
humans exploit nature at the cost of imagined deites or religious agendas.
Ganga Bharatha

Gangamma revered as Doddamma (or big

mother, again a reference to her Ugra or
larger than life nature) takes the cause of
disease and is perceived to attack
everyone. People then return to Gangamma
to revere and pacify her. Gangamma
pacifies Doddamma, her disease causing
counterpart by tagging those converted to
revering her with a talisman made of a piece
of cow-hide. The myth continues to
elaborate on the non-forgiving nature of
Gangamma, who comes in the form of an
old woman to make their cattle ill, or
sacrifice buffaloes.

People begin worshipping Gangamma out

of fear but she doesn’t give up. She comes
in the guise of a woman and makes their
cattle fall ill and is herself in a decrepit state.
The myth goes ahead narrating how a
buffalo comes to attack her but Gangamma
pushes the animal into an anthill and
survives. The local communities believe that
as per her words, Gangamma should be
worshipped by sacrificing a male buffalo.
This Gangamma tradition has continued and
her stories are still sung by Madiga
communities.
 Origin tale of Primordial man, Jambavanta

Jambavanta is the first ancestor of Madiga as sung or told as

stories of their mythologies. Madiga belief is that Jambavanta
was born six months before the birth of earth and he is her
creator. He is refered to as Jaambavanta Taatha, or
Grandfather, or as Santha Jambavanta, a saint.
Though Adi-Shakti, or the creative force, also tagged as Prakriti has been credited in various upper
caste Indian philosophies as the imagination of the original cosmological force from which creation
sprung out, Jambavanta, who is often represented as ancient grandfather, is credited in Madiga
mythologies as potentially being the first ‘creator’ of earth experience. In that sense, the idea of
Jambavanta could be interpreted as more of a primordial evolutionary science, with Jambavanta being
the previous evolutionary link to homo-sapien experience or memory. Evolutionary evidence also
points to zones and areas where homo-erectus species overlapped with homo-sapien histories, so this
could be a sort of proto-memory of human like ancestors.
Adi Jambava Purana

he unique myth of Madiga sees a need for

the evolutionary to meet the cosmological.
In that sense, Jambavanta, a
“grandfather” unites with Adi-Shakti, the
cosmological kinetic force which would
birth everything. Their union leads to the
birth of the Trinity gods, the Trimurthy,
Brahma, Vishnu and Isvara.

Going along the lines of many Indigenous

communities’ myths from across the
world, the usual order of hierarchies of
creation are challenged in Madiga
narratives. Ancient grandfather of human
origins Jambavanta- creates earth, water,
sky, sun, moon and the stars. He also
creates the land on a watery planet, out of
the blood of his son Beppu-muni and out
of his bones he makes weapons, tools
and occupational groups. He cuts his own
daughter, Matangi’s skin up, to be given to
Holeya, Madiga, Okkaliga, Gangiga,
Balijiga, Brahmana and Manda (a
community that still exists today). Thus,
Jambavanta expresses both the urge to
separate and diversify but also reminds
humans of the oneness of body- and
being, through the interconnectedness
they share through the skin of Matangi.
Adi Jambava Purana

ambavanta’s myth takes place under the shade of the Jambu Maraa, or Jamun Tree, a very
earthy realm. Creation doesn’t happen in the skies as it does in a lot of civilizational religions,
the anchor is the earth, the living world. The rather popular name for ancient India,
Jambu-Dveepa, the island of Jambavanta or Jambu Taatha, also comes from this myth.

Born through and grown up around Jambu Maraa

Manifesting the world under the Jambu Maraa,

I make a wick and burn ghee on my own palm

I offer this as arathi, the blessed fire, to the skies

and to mother earth

The sentiment of creating a lamp with their
palm reveals a deep reverence the
community has towards nature. The myth
works as a link to the natural world through
the Jamun tree and as an act of memory, a
branch of the Jamun tree is brought into
Madiga rituals like marriage ceremony.

The Jamun tree symbolism providing shelter

to creation indicates progeny and continues
the cultural connection to Jambava clan and
to land as Jambu Dveepa. In this way, the
Madiga communities invoke and hold their
roots as primordial dwellers of this
South-Asian region.
Manteswamy
 Manteswamy

Manteswamy is the cultural-spiritual hero of lower

castes and was responsible for revolution and
reformative urges within South Asian religious
paradigms. Manteswamy is believed to have been a
contemporary of Basaveshwara, whose Sharana
movement sparked a smiliar movement in South India
around caste equality through an ethical spirituality.
Manteswamy’s movement however branched off and
built its own following outside the Sharana movement
and its communities. Chikkalluru, Kappadi,
Boppagowdanapura in Karnataka become the
pilgrimage sites for Manteswamy’s teachings centric
spiritual practices.

As with a lot of rural cultures, the Jatre, or annual

village fair which allows for celebratory and social
exchange draws huge crowds affiliated to Manteswamy
traditions. With a few castes like the Neelagara, he has
acquired the status of not just a saint but god and is
associated as Shiva’s incarnation and is adorned with
numerous titles given to spiritual luminaries of the
region like jagajyoti, paramjyoti, manteda, mantedayya.
Manteswamy

Mythological story of Manteswamy: As with many saints in the subcontinent who choose to
connect with communities to deep impacting spiritual worldviews, Manteswamy has been imagined
as a mythical hero by lower castes. Manteswamy’s mythology goes deep and speaks of him as the
one who came before every being was created and that he created the earth himself out of the
original fire. Manteswamy is visualized as having emerged from an anthill with long Jada or
dreadlocks After the birth he emerged in a anthill, with 77 feet long plaits(?). Like many saint-gods
who create miracles, Manteswamy is supposed to have broken holy ash blocks to create the earth
and sky and as his feet touched the earth, precious stones and pearls are said to have emerged.
With a touch of the holy Rudrakshi beads on his necklace, he is said to have created the plant world
for nourishment of earth’s children. Manteswamy creates Adi-Shakti herself, but refuses to be her
consort. With tone of knowledge book and kalagnana book he created adishakti
Manteswamy
She begets Vishnu, Brahma and Maheshwara who Manteswamy blesses as her consorts but they
refuse to marry her. She is then reduced to ashes and created as three separate consorts to the
three gods. Manteswamy then prods Saraswati, one of the forms of the goddess to make forms of
human pairs, and insects, snakes and scorpions, all from mud. Saraswati demands to know the
hierarchy in her creations but Manteswamy denies any difference and says all of them have the
same light shining within, which is in the form and size of an insect. He then creates the
Minchu-hula, or firefly.

Nilagara community members are believed to be his disciples. They sing the epic of Manteswamy.
An episode in his epic is about his interaction with Basavanna and also reveals an egalitarian
approach to spiritual pursuit and goal.
Manteswamy
Manteswamy arrives from Kalyana, a northern part and settles in Boppegowdanapura (which later
has become one of his spiritual-epicenters) and he tends to the needs of the needy. Then,
recounting his time at Kalyana, he harks back to the town where Basavanna and his wife Neelamma
have begun their social-spiritual movement.

While in Kalyana he makes an appearance at a food service that Basavanna has organized for
Jangamma communities. The austere communities were known not to eat if they witnessed people
suffering from distress, poverty or disease. Manteswamy arrives in a costume of a poor, diseased
man with a dead carcass to test the devout couple who land up passing the test. While other
sharanas ignore them and curse them for polluting their ritual and practices, Basavanna and
Neelamma draw out a dying Manteswamy and honour his body. Making an appearance in his own
form, he finally blesses the couple who have transcended their spiritual ego-and looked beyond the
symbolism of purity and impurity, equality and inequality and demonstrate that the service and
honour of the downtrodden would be true honour to faith. The myth further goes that the main
symbol of worship vanishes before the appearance of the Sharanas who go to cleanse themselves.
Among them, a few understand this as a gesture towards true worship and experience their
awakening. They were said to be Holeya Honnappa, Madigara Channayya, Madivala Machayya,
Amibigara Chowdayya and Edigara Kyatappa from these various caste groups who then went
ahead to create a critical, service oriented spirituality for their communities.

Rachappaji, Topina Doddamma, Chennajamma, Palarayya, Siddapaji were Manteswamy’s principle

followers. In a caste-ridden society, where the cleaners, scavengers and other service providers
were considered unholy and their occupations were degraded, Manteswamy’s legends prove a
different point. He uses the idea of filth and cleansing to test the true devotion and spiritual
advancement claimed by many. This mode of testing, along with playing the downtrodden and
diseased reveals one’s true inner transformation and finding equality in a milieu that used spirituality
to accentuate differences and discrimination. Such mythologies also reveal the imaginations of the
community about the creation, speaking from their logic-centric wisdom of what seems like a
primordial conception of evolution, which began with in water, led to water-beings, then the
emergence of a plant world, followed by insect, animal and human worlds. In that sense, they are
anchored in a preliminary observational realism in their claims of defining divinit
CULTURAL
Wisdom REPOSITORY
Wisdom Texts, Jnana Purana

The puranic sage, Matanga known as

Matanga Muni, is revered by the
Madiga and is said to have
composed the Brihaddeshi Purana.
In many ways, this text is the earliest
treatise on Indian Music that is
available and is around 1500 years
old. As a scholarly text that gives a
deep dimension to the field of culture
and music, it claims that Matanaga
muni was an expert in sixteen diverse
art and knowledge-based disciplines.
The Muni tradition is said to be
indigenous than the Rishi Tradition of
Indian seers, which had vedic
moorings.

Matanga muni, born a Chandala (an

inferior caste in India), is said to have
done severe penance and received
the blessings of Indra he built an
ashram. Matanga’s ashram served
people who were suffering and
recieives mention in the epics of
Ramayana and Mahabharata.
Matanga is known for his own efforts
and deeds through which he was a
jnani, a wisdom awakened spiritual
teacher, becomes a jnani says the
Buddhist texts.
Wisdom Texts, Jnana Purana

The text analyses sound from a more

native perspective than the later,
more technical treatises on
standardized raga music. Matanga
proposes sound as a vibration that
would satiate sentient beings, from
kings to orginary folk. The treatise
expounds sound a coming from a
bindu or point, and turns into naada
or note. Notes add up to the matrike
or seven notes (what was later
termed Sapta Swara in indian music).
Matanga further theorises that the
source of sound is the Yoni, which is
the vagina. This philosophizing of
sound leads to intimacy and
humanization of music, as Matanga
rightly points out, that sound is ever
present in human endeavours, from
grazing, to farming, from
administration to housework.
Through this and in this way, he
relates music to natural rhythms and
as residing in nature.
 Oral wisdom through lived experiences:
Unwritten Jnana puranas
ways, they also possess a deep anatomical
understanding of diverse species, as they show
through their skills in skinning and cooking animals.

Their primary traditional skill of leather-work has

emerged through centuries of working with hide.
Working with leather, they complete the entire cycle
of sustainable harvest and utility, whether with plants
or aninals. Deft and skilled removal of skin from the
flesh of an animal, cleaning, smearing lime, tanning
the hide by using the Tangadi plant (Cassia Sena
auriculata) stems treated water, softening and cutting
to make products like chappals, whip, mini, tools of
agricultural nature, these crafts-communities would
perhaps be India’s first designers and tool-makers.
Hide’s further uses are in making musical
Most Safai karmachari communities are
instruments like tamate, tabala, mrudunga producing
non-vegetarian in their food culture and maintain a
great percussion and used popularly in Indian music.
deep connect to the wild. They hunt animals for
The communities were skilled in making musicial
food while simultaneously possessing a deep
instruments. Well known musician T.M.Krishna in his
knowledge of ecosystem rhythms. They respect
book Sebastian and Sons researches and
pregnancy and breeding cycles in animals and do
documents this great knowledge system of
not over-harvest any animal in the wild. They
instrument making and awareness of sound among
show a deep understanding of breeding cycles,
scheduled castes. This book has also been
like nests, eggs, colours, patterns, identities of
translated into Kannada by Sumangala, and holds
water and land animals and birds. They are also
the same title. The communities also possess
very familiar with animals that burrow, like rats.
unique and deep cultural products and practices

These communities have also transmitted a deep ranging from songs, stories, dance and art which

knowledge of food and medicine based plants and stand as threads of their unique creative traditional

can recognize them and their functions. In many knowledge.

The Mutyalamma
legend
 Mutyalamma Legend
and Worship
Safai Karmacharis, especially migrants from
Andhra Pradesh, worship Mutyalamma with great
devotion. Both male and female children are
named after her. They undertake vows to worship
by visiting her temple in Ananthapura, now in
Telangana, on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays.
The goddess is a mere anthill on which the
shapes of a pair of eyes, a mouth and a nose
have been fixed. A small stone is kept next to the
anthill.
A hen, sheep or goat is taken as a sacrificial
offering. The meat of the sacrificed animal is
cooked in the open field near the temple. It is not
only consumed there, but also offered to those
who ask for it. All food that’s prepared is
consumed at the field. Non-vegetarian offerings
are not allowed inside the temple.
In another practice, Madiga devotees carry a
preparation made of rice, moong dal and jaggery
on their head, offer it at the temple, and take some
back as prasada. The vessel in which rice is
boiled is tied with a turmeric-smeared thread and
covered with neem leaves. Women praying for
offspring walk in a zig-zag manner, with their
hands held in the shape of the hood of a cobra.
They fast till the food they carry is offered to the
goddess.
The priest of the temple narrated this myth about
the goddess:
Before the earth was created, there was nothing
but the sound of Omkara (a primordial chant
associated with Shiva), not even water or air. The
Omkara took the shape of a bird that laid three
eggs. Out of the first egg, Brahma, Vishnu and
Maheswara were born. When the second egg
hatched, the upper portion of the shell became the
sky and the lower portion became the earth. Out of
the third egg, three Brahmins were born.
They were: the Naga rishi, who looks after Patala
(the netherworld); the Deva Rishi, who takes care
of the Devaloka (the world of the gods); and the
Kali Rishi, who takes care of Kaliyuga (the ongoing
epoch in Hindu mythology). Kali Rishi is
Kammagiriswamy, who sets out on a journey. He
heads east for three years, then travels north for
three years, after which he travels to the west and
south respectively,
On his journey in the south, Kali Rishi comes upon
Narasimhakote, where devotees were inaugurating
a temple to Anjaneya. Kali Rishi’s arrival coincided
with the ninth day of celebrations. When the prana
prathishtapane (‘installation of life’ into the idol) was
about to be done, he asked the devotees to wait till
he brought holy water from the Ganga at Kashi
(Varanasi), and told them not to eat till he had
returned.
 Mutyalamma Legend
and Worship
The devotees believed that Kashi was very far
away and hence his return would take a long time
and it was not possible to fast so long. So, they
ignored Kali Rishi’s counsel and started eating.
However, Kali Rishi, who had special powers,
returned from Kashi within no time. He was
burning with anger when he saw that his
instructions had not been obeyed, he cursed the
congregation: “Let the rice become lime, let the
papad (crisp, fried accompaniment) turn into frogs,
and the banana leaves into crows that fly away.”
The devotees apologised fervently and begged to
be pardoned. But the Rishi said cryptically: “Half
will go and half will come.”
Another story goes that goddess Adishakti was
present in a small rock at the same place [as the
temple to Anjaneya], and this rock was covered
with an anthill. Some cowherds worshipped it. The
boys saw a Brahmin heading in their direction and
requested him to perform pooja for the rock. The
ascetic was glad to sprinkle sacred water on it and
performed prana pratishtapane. He also said, “On
the day you are without blood on your forehead,
you will split into pieces.”
In the same village there lived two brothers,
Musalanna and Giddanna. They had seven pairs
of bullocks and seven pairs of slaves and were
engaged in cultivation. One day, when they were
harvesting groundnuts in their field, they found it
difficult to pluck one plant. When Adishakti, who was
in the form of a rock nearby, stared at the groundnut
plant, it was easily dislodged. The brothers were
drawn to the stone. They lifted it and set it aside.
When they returned the next day, they found the
stone was back in its original place. Once again, they
moved the stone, only to find it back in its original
place the following day. Curious, they wanted to find
out who was shifting the stone back to its original
place. They sent their slaves at night to investigate,
but by morning, the slave-men had all thrown up
blood and lay dead at the spot. It is said that they
had seen a demon emerging from the rock, and so
huge was he that his head touched the sky.
The local authorities arrived to conduct an enquiry
and arrest the culprits. It was then that the goddess
appeared in the form of a little girl. “I am
Narasimhakote Mutyalamma. You should worship
me,” she directed. People ask her for the proof and
told her, “If you stand upright in midair, then we will
believe you.” She told them to perform a pooja and
wait for the miracle to occur. By the end of the pooja,
the stone was suspended midair.
hinnalingappa, priest of the Rama temple on the hill,
who belonged to the Valmiki caste, was requested to
officiate and, since then, his descendants have
 Mutyalamma Legend
and Worship
conducted the pooja at the Narasimhakote
Mutyalamma temple. Currently, one
Mutyalappa is in charge of it. He said the
stone near the goddess is that of her brother
Potaliah.

The lamp in the temple burns continuously.

Every day, Mutyalappa arrives as early as 4
a.m. to light the lamp. The temple receives
most numbers of visitors on Sunday, Tuesday
and Friday. A committee, and a Board with 16
members of different castes, oversee its
administration. People of all castes visit the
temple. Brahmins pay their respects, but do
not offer animal sacrifice. Muslims too
worship here and offer sacrifice.

The Mutyalamma legend symbolises the

strength of women in matriarchal families.
Patriarchy became strong by assuming
control over women and their labour,
imposing its values on them, turning them
weak, dependent and timid. Goddesses lost
their courage, strength and ferociousness,
and became ‘soft’, in the same way. To curse
and to invoke life with the ‘authority’ of
Brahmins are among ways in which
Vedic-patriarchal traditions take over
indigenous, non-Aryan mother goddesses.
EARTHLY sainthood
The Fair of Nayakannahatti Tipperudraswamy
This is 15-day-long grand fair celebrated in the
name of saint Tipperudra at Nayakanahatti in
Chitradurga district. Originally, the temple was
believed to have been dedicated to the goddess
Maramma, but now the original goddess is
placed in and worshipped in Papenahalli.
Cows are sacrificed outside the temple’s
compound wall. Workers stated that cow
sacrifice was previously performed inside the
temple. Muslims also participate in the fair and
lend a hand in the activities related to the
sacrifice. The goddess however, has since been
replaced by Tipperudraswamy. This may have
happened during the Sharana Movement to
reform Dalits. Regardless, the animal
sacrificed to Maramma as a warning that the
anuloma (upper caste women marrying a lower
caste man) marriage between a Dalit boy and a
Brahmin woman is forbidden. The rituals during
this fair revolve around creating fear among
young men, to prevent them
upper-caste women, in order to protect them
from the dire consequences of breaking caste
boundaries. The legend of Maramma
symbolizes the way through which
miscegenation is prevented by
punishing the ‘anuloma marriages’. Vedic
practices like sacrifice and caste system were
severely criticized
by the Sharana Movement. The concept of
Sharana Tipperudraswamy should be seen as
part of this ideology. It is also in contrast to the
concept of purity and impurity and the contempt
expressed about garbage. Here garbage is
seen as a symbol of fertility and plenty. And
hence, such saints have come to occupy the
status of god among these marginalized
classes. They uphold the dignity of labour.
Tippeswamy was a saint and a social reformer,
who worked for the uplift of ‘untouchable’
castes. Among his good deeds was building of
a tank to promote agriculture. He was known to
eat the food offered by the lower castes. During
fairs, the chariot with the god’s idol is pulled first
is by the lower castes. There is a legend related
to this. Once, for some reason, the lower castes
were not invited to pull the temple car and
consequently, the car did not move at all. After
they were invited to pull the car, it was found to
move easily. To date, the deity’s chariot is first
marrying pulled only by Dalits.
Another practice among Madigas is to take a
vow and fulfill it by piercing their nose and
sitting atop a garbage heap (tippe). Giving
the
garbage the status of divinity is completely in
severely
opposition to the Brahminical concept of purity
and pollution.
Gadige Baba: Spirituality via Broom
Saint Gadge Baba (1876-1956) was a social
reformer from Maharashtra. He spent his time
travelling from village to village sweeping,
asserting social justice and teaching about
sanitation. Today he is still an inspiration to many
political parties and NGOs.

Debuji Zingraji Janorker, later known as Gadge

Baba, belonged to the dhobi caste from
Shendgav, Amaravati district. His cap was a mud
plate and he even ate from it. He went to far-off
villages cleaning gutters and drains. While he was
working, he never returned anybody’s salute, as
his main focus was to complete his task. It was the
generosity of people who gave him food and
money that helped him to survive. He used
whatever money he collected to construct schools,
choultries (wedding halls), hospitals, and shelter
homes for animals. He was a beloved disciple of
his spiritual guru Meher Baba. He sang Bhajans,
dohas of Kabir and preached hard work, simple
living and selfless service. He lived up to what he
preached. After his death in 1956, the Government
of India instituted an award in his memory, given
to those who selflessly work for better sanitation
and water supply. The University of Amaravati is
named after him.
Mahatma Gandhi: Lessons in Cleanliness
Mahatma Gandhi saw the dignity of labour,
and the light of humanity in the Bhangis whose
occupation is cleaning. He writes in the
‘Harijan’, the new paper that he brought out,
“The scavengers on whose careful labour
largely depends the health of the inhabitants of
Delhi are housed in cells which are
windowless lightless holes….unless therefore
we wake up betimes and adopt summary
measures to improve the conditions of
scavengers God’s judgment must over take
us”. (September 1933).

Setting an example worthy of emulation, he

swept and swabbed the ashram where he
lived. He travelled extensively and did the
same wherever he stayed. He also made a
rule in the ashram that everyone irrespective
of their status, caste, position, etc. should
clean the toilets. He further said that this
practice should be compulsorily adopted in all
the public institutions to break the apathy
towards this work. Along with the lessons of
personal hygiene that are taught in schools,
the curriculum must include the importance of
keeping one’s surroundings clean and
respecting the workers, who are involved in
cleaning (special focus could be made on the
preaching and practices of Mahatma Gandhi,
Gadge Baba, etc.) and an orientation program
of how they can be adopted in real life.
 Gautama Buddha:
Everybody’s Tears
are Salty

Wisdom is the teacher; change

is the ultimate truth so said the
great teacher Gautama
Buddha. By his teachings and
practice he fought against caste
discrimination and showed the
world that every individual,
irrespective of caste, class and
gender has the potential of
enlightenment. He was a great
teacher who taught truth in a
simple language with examples
of day-to-day life. Kings and
queens, scholars, prostitutes,
barbers,
a pain-stricken mother, a woman devastated by losing all her family members, a murderer,
a manual scavenger and ordinary men all were his followers. The story of Sunita the
manual scavenger can be effectively used in the form of a play, story, and song as a text.
The story goes like this: Sunita is a manual scavenger. One day when he is doing his work
he sees Buddha coming and moves aside so that he is not seen, as per prevailing custom.
Buddha goes towards Sunita and out of fear Sunita enters the river nearby and says,
“Don’t come near, if you touch me you will be polluted, I an untouchable.” Buddha says,
“What pollutes us is greed, hate and attachment. A person like you can bring nothing but
happiness. No one is superior or inferior, everyone’s tears are salty.” He goes near, holds
him, and with the help of his disciples he shaves his head, bathes him, puts on saffron
robes and takes him along to his Sangha.
 Gautama Buddha:
Everybody’s Tears
are Salty

The news spreads, and the people of upper castes complain to

King Pasenadi of Kosala because accepting a person of lower
caste to the spiritual path is against tradition. The king takes
note and goes to the Sangha to meet the Buddha. When he
enters the Sangha he sees a person preaching to the public
sitting on a small rock, his eyes glowing like lamps, his face
peaceful. The king stands there and listens to him. Later he
meets the Buddha and asks who that Bikku was. Buddha smiles
and says, “He is Sunita, his achievement is so great that in a
few months he became a teacher. Each one has the potential
for enlightenment. The path to enlightenment has no bar, and no
discrimination. Everyone has the light of wisdom. Everyone’s
blood is red.”

The King returns without complaining. (Thich Nhat Hanh 2014:

279).

In order to bring change in the lives of Safai Karmacharis it is

necessary to make one realize that everybody’s tears are salty.
 Ravidasa

Ravidas (15th or 16th c) was an important saint poet of the bhakti movement of
northern India. He was from Banaras and belonged to chammar caste. His
mother was Kalsadevi and father Santok Das. In his spiritual search Ravidas
roamed around ganga in the company of several seers and saints. He started
his own following known as Ravidasiya panth. Through his song and poetry/
principles he travelled all over Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh,
Punjab, Haryana and several places. People belonging to several castes
became his followers. Even Brahmins appreciated him. 41 of his poems have
been included in the sacred religious text of Sikhs ‘granth sahib’ it is believed
that Gurunanak and Ravidas had met each other. In his home town his temple
has been constructed. Worshipping with his songs is a daily routine there. Every
year his birth day is celebrated like a fair.

Ravidas’ caste was deemed untouchable. He made this lower status itself
divine. He compares his relationship with god to silkworm and it’s cocoon.
Ravidas is the worm and the thread of cocoon is god which comes from his
saliva. In another context he compares himself as stinking Castor-seed whereas
god is a flower of sweet scent.

In his songs and poetry there is a deep search for social unity without disparity
in the name of caste, religion, community and also resistance to these
disparities. One can also see the confrontation within himself says, scholar
Peter Friedland.
Saint-poet Ravidas, a cobbler by trade, powerfully
expresses the role of culture in ‘untouchable’ communities:

O people of the city, everyone knows

I am a cobbler by trade and tanner by caste.

One of the low-caste, and yet within my heart

I meditate on god.

The regal realm with the sorrowless name:

They call it Begumpura, a place with no pain,

No taxes or cares, nor own property there,

No wrong doing, worry, terror or torture.

Oh, my brother, I have come to take it as my own,

My distant home, where everything is right.

That imperial kingdom is rich and secure,

Where none are third or second — all are one;

Its food and drink are famous, and those who live there

Dwell in satisfaction and in wealth,

They do this or that, they walk where they wish,

They stroll through fabled palaces unchallenged,

Oh, says Ravidas, a tanner now set free,

Those who walk beside me are my friends

(Omvedt 2008: 104 & 106-107)

Cultural practices
WEDDING RITUALS honouring the feminine and matrilineage

Marriage in Madiga communities is a water centric ritual, in contrast to

upper-caste fire-centric rituals. Ganga as he element of water and the
daughter of the home marks a more woman and nature centric honouring of
the union of man and woman through marriage.

On the eve of the wedding, the chappara shastra (canopy ritual) is performed
in the houses of both the bride and groom. A canopy is erected with four
bamboo poles and thatched with coconut fronds. The branches of three
different trees are collected and twisted together to form a small pole called
the hase kamba. Nine different cereals are placed in a piece of cloth, which is
then knotted with a thread yellowed with turmeric. This bag of cereals and
rhizomes (stem) of raw turmeric are tied to the erected pole.An entire cluster of
bananas and tender coconuts is also tied to the pole. The bride and groom worship
the canopy in their respective homes. Three or five women (the group is always in
odd numbers) pound paddy and draw patterns, which is called hase. The drawings
are of birds, fruits and trees, and the sun and moon, symbolising the marital bond or
the union of the man and woman as a part of the whole universe.

A wooden plank is placed in the middle of this pattern and the

bride and groom are asked to sit on this plank in their
respective houses. They are smeared with oil mixed with
turmeric by five married women five times. They are bathed,
and taken to a temple for offering prayers. After they return, the
maternal aunt slips on the toe-ring and bangles for the bride.
The boy, too, must wear a toe-ring, which he continues to do for
a month after the ceremonies. The couple’s maternal uncles
play a very significant role in the wedding.

Many Madigas have become converts to Christianity or

Buddhism, but they continue to follow the old ways in their
rituals.
PRO-WOMEN RITUALS with an ecological resonance

KUDIKE or SEERKUDIKE allows women who are widowed in the

community to remarry without any stigma. Non-endogamous marriages of
Madigas with Holeya, or even Gowda communities are not seen as a
problem.

PUBERTY RITUALS:A girl child’s first menstruation is celebrated. The girl is

required to live in a hut for three, five, nine or sixteen days built by her maternal
uncle outside her house, with the branches of nine different types of trees,
including banyan, neem, fig and honge (Millettia pinnata). Young children keep her
company at night. In some places, the girl’s paternal aunt gives her a bath
after smearing her with turmeric while she is seated on a piece of white
cloth, spread over paddy husks. The girl is fed hot rice and ghee, tambittu
(a mixture of ingredients like bengal gram, jaggery and rice), and a laddu (a
round sweetmeat) prepared with sesame and jaggery. She is fed chicken
on alternate days, with close relatives singing to her and giving her sweets,
by turn. She is also given a vasage (a platter of fruits and eatables) and an
aarati is offered.
The ritual called madilu tumbuva shastra or kubasa
symbolizes fertility and is akin to a baby shower. It is
performed when a woman is in her fifth month of
pregnancy. The expectant mother arrives in her maternal
home and is given a bath after she has been smeared
with turmeric. She wears green bangles, and jaggery,
bananas, betel leaves and areca nuts are tied into the
pallu (free end) of her sari. Five, nine or eleven plates
with an assortment of fruits, betel leaves and areca nuts,
along with a sari and a piece of cloth for blouse and a
variety of eatables, are placed in front of her. Women of
the community perform aarati for her.

The pregnant woman’s favourite

dishes are prepared and served
to the gathering. Sometimes, the
hosts invite five sumangalis
(married women, with their
husbands alive) and a feast is
served.