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From Mallar to Pallar and back. Ideology of Devendrakula Velalars

SYSNO ASEP	0562579
Document Type	A - Abstract
R&D Document Type	The record was not marked in the RIV
R&D Document Type	Není vybrán druh dokumentu
Title	From Mallar to Pallar and back. Ideology of Devendrakula Velalars
Author(s)	Hons, Pavel (OU-W)_{RID, SAI, ORCID}
Action	Dalit Politics at the Crossroads
Event date	14.07.2022
VEvent location	Praha
Country	CZ - Czech Republic
Event type	WRD
Language	eng - English
Keywords	Dalit ; Tamil Nadu ; Devendrakula Velalar ; identity
OECD category	Antropology, ethnology
Institutional support	OU-W - RVO:68378009
Annotation	Dalits have gradually developed different emancipation strategies during their struggle. While all of them fight against untouchability and discrimination, their argumentation about other issues may differ. Most of them have espoused ideas of Dalit leader Dr B. R. Ambedkar, for whom the utmost objective was eradication of caste. Moreover he openly rejected Hinduism and converted to Buddhism. Millions of Dalits followed his example and venerate him as a supreme leader till this day. Devendrakula Velalars are an exception to the rule. Instead of eradication of caste they seem to prefer to strengthen their caste identity and to move up the social ladder. They try to embed history of their community in the history of South India and to prove that the three famous Tamil dynasties, i.e., Pandyas, Cholas and Cheras, originated from amongst them. It was only after ascendency of the Telugu speaking Nayaks that their proud name Mallar was changed into derogatory Pallar, they were bereft of their land and turned into untouchables. Within the religious sphere they argue for their strong relationship with Shiva and several important temples, most significantly the Murugan temple at Palani. In short they are trying to prove that they used to be an important dignified community for which they are trying to find evidence in old manuscripts, temple inscriptions and other sources. The aim of the paper is to follow the intellectual journey of the main ideologues and intellectuals of this caste and to match their arguments with recent steps taken by their political representation.
Workplace	Oriental Institute
Contact	Zuzana Kvapilová, kvapilova@orient.cas.cz, Tel.: 266 053 950
Year of Publishing	2023

Number of the records: 1