I belong to the Vadda community. For the past 12 years I have been working with a variety of toiling grassroots communities. Understanding their life, | have broadened my own perspectives.
We bring out a Kannada monthly, Dani, concerned with the philosophical analysis of the grassroot communities and thus entered into debating on the issue.
The conceptual terms of our Vadda community were born out of the broad base of work/toil/labour which constitute the ethnic life of this community. Through these processes the Vaddas have arrived at the * multiple possibilities of identity-building and symbolic egality of culture-meaning systems that protect their fabric of interdependency. This has inbuilt process of Tesi stance to the encompassing power of domination, exploitation, hegemony of the nation-state.
Hinduised elites: The greatness of the ethnic (kula) Vadda community is it has not forsaken its identity but maintaining its own uniqueness. All these needs an in-depth study.
So far there has been no study that looks into the cultural, ideological and philosophical reality of this community. There may be certain data pertaining to the Vaddas by its community association, but that data is not being processed. Such data has not focussed on the survival of the community despite the onslaughts of imperialist designs of nation-state. Most of the Vaddas (Population: 40-50 lakhs next only to the Holeyas and Madigas under the Scheduled Caste list) in the elite sections alienate themselves from the community. Their assumption is that the community is not into “modernity, science and technology and it has remained uncivilised, unscientific, traditional, superstitious, backward, defeated, innocent, poor and so on”. All these notions are due to the prevailing caste system, centralised nation-state, colonial perspectives. People who have these stereotype conceptual frames have neither developed sensitivity nor a concern towards the community. The behaviour of these elites is due to the enslavement to monocultural Hinduism and the attraction of global capital. They are full of confusion about their identity. To them the community is a source of vote bank.
The Vaddas strangely are not very much affected by the Dalit movement though part of the Scheduled Caste community. | am curious about this fact and try to raise questions about it. Why has it not made that movement as its motherand grown into its fold? What is the politics or pressure that acted upon them? These are the questions | want of examine in my study. The intellectuals and cultural theoreticians too have neglected the Vadda community. Hampi university silence: | have a great regard for Hampi University. Its perspectives are drawn from grassroots communities. It introduces to the literate world the insights drawn from folk studies, Adivasi worldviews and recent developments in the field of cultural studies. But it is surprising that this university too has not much to say on the Vaddas. The geographical places that | would like to cover for the study are North and South Karnataka, Bangalore urban and rural districts and other districts and villages. May be | need little more than a year to visit these places. Hence the proposed study needs support and guidance. When the study is complete it should be published (if there is financial support). Looking forward to support from well-wishers.
Brother Chennappa, who is closely associated with the Dalit Voice for some time, appears to have been deeply influenced by our “caste identity” thesis. Many submerged castes and communities in the country are waking up under the pressure of voting politics plus rising literacy. The Vaddas of Karnataka are construction workers, almost close to Dalits and equally poor and culturally oppressed. They also have good population strength. But the Holeyas and Madigas say the Vaddas are not subjected to untouchability though officially called SCs. Caste consolidation will follow only when there is caste consciousness. To build up such a consciousness, studies like this are needed. Hence it needs full support – EDITOR.
