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From a Shepherd Boy to an Intellectual: My Memoirs
Caste is Race in Ancient Times,
Race is Caste in Modern Times,
Untouchability is an Aryan Construct.
They said God has not created Untouchables.’
Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd goes on to say, ‘Many people from the Brahmin–Baniya castes have written about their own greatness in their autobiographies, in English and in the regional languages. But I have not seen even a single autobiography of a person born and brought up in the shepherd community’. He adds that it is in writing about themselves that people gain a sense of self-respect. Shepherd’s evocative memoirs reveal the struggle for education and dignity that a great majority of Indians undergo. As a little boy herding sheep and goats, he and his brother were the first to go to school. The author writes of his long and often interrupted journey to becoming a writer and an intellectual, without support and having to overcome adversities.
Race is Caste in Modern Times,
Untouchability is an Aryan Construct.
They said God has not created Untouchables.’
Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd goes on to say, ‘Many people from the Brahmin–Baniya castes have written about their own greatness in their autobiographies, in English and in the regional languages. But I have not seen even a single autobiography of a person born and brought up in the shepherd community’. He adds that it is in writing about themselves that people gain a sense of self-respect. Shepherd’s evocative memoirs reveal the struggle for education and dignity that a great majority of Indians undergo. As a little boy herding sheep and goats, he and his brother were the first to go to school. The author writes of his long and often interrupted journey to becoming a writer and an intellectual, without support and having to overcome adversities.
382 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 15, 2018
4 people are currently reading
72 people want to read
About the author
Kancha Ilaiah
16 books98 followersKancha Ilaiah (5 October 1952) is an Indian activist and writer. His books include Why I am not a Hindu, God As Political Philosopher: Budha's challenge to Brahminism, A Hollow Shell, The State and Repressive Culture, Manatatwam (in Telugu), and Buffalo Nationalism: A Critique of Spiritual Fascism. He is a member of the Dalit Freedom Network and a major figure in the movement against the Hindu Caste System.
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October 29, 2019
Back in the early 2000s when I was a university student in Delhi, Kancha Iliah was all the rage. His book, Why I am not a Hindu, had come out and it was extensively read and widely discussed among students. The book played a key role in provoking new wave of Dalit Bahujan assertion. My Telegu room mate, with extremely limited English skills, purchased a copy and made an earnest effort to read it through. Many of our evenings were enlivened by heated discussions about the book.
Academic writing takes a long time to make an impact on society. Kancha Iliah’s writing is an exception. His impact has been immediate and dramatic. He has written a number of books but the main ideas running through all his writings can be summarised as follows:
1. Caste in India has an underlying racial basis. The Shudra and Dalit castes in India have Dravidian or Harappan origins where as the Brahmin and Vysya castes have Aryan origin.
2. Hinduism is the religion or social philosophy of the upper castes alone. The lower shudra and dalit castes have local deities and religions which have little in common with Hinduism.
3. Shudra and Dalit castes are the productive communities of India. The upper castes lead an unproductive and parasitical life.
4. Indian nationalism glorifies the upper caste world view, religion and food habits and treats them as constituting the national culture, ignoring or delegitimising the lifestyle, food choices and world view of the productive communities. This has harmed India as a nation immensely.
5. Dalit and Shudra salvation lies in modernity, in learning the English language, in taking pride in their productive cultures and in rejecting the Hindu world view.
Kancha Iliah has made two significant theoretical contributions to the debate on caste. (1) Caste question is a question of production. Castes that have suffered under the caste system are the productive castes. So the system that delegitimises work and labour is deeply damaging to society. (2) Although the lower OBCs got reservation thanks to the Mandal Commission award of the early 90s, the theoretical basis of this arrangement was always suspect. Iliah shows that although Shudras were part of the caste society, being a labouring communities, they also suffered under the caste system. According to him shudra castes should give up the Hinduisation project and throw their lot with the Dalits.
The purpose of this memoir is to show the readers that Iliah has lived his philosophy. Iliah claims that his memoir is the first memoir written by a Shudra in English.
Iliah was born to unlettered parents in interior Telangana. His family belonged to the Kuruba or shepherd caste which was a lower shudra (OBC) caste. His generation was first to get any education. He ultimately made his way into the Osmania University where he completed his MA and Phd. He spent most of his teaching career also at the same university.
The book is ethnologically rich. He gives an absorbing picture of village life. Iliah's effort is to show that life style of the lower shudras and dalits were completely different from the lifestyle of the caste Hindus. Equally interesting are his stories about his university years as a student and teacher. Iliah encountered brahmanism and caste discrimination from his teachers, fellow students and colleagues. He started out as a leftist and moved to a version of Ambedkarism, after he realised that Indian left did not address the issue of caste and the left movement consisted mostly of Brahmans.
The big challenge of Iliah's life was to come to terms with his caste identity. When he joined college, he found that Dalits and OBCs were shedding their given names in favour of 'hindu names'. Iliah resisted this temptation. The great achievement of his intellectual life was to develop a theory that conferred dignity to the lifestyle and worldview of the lower shudras. The final act in this story reconciliation with his background is Iliah adding the surname 'Shepherd' to his name. It is a triumphant declaration that his caste identity is not to be detested as unclean or backward but something to be celebrated.
This book is polemical and Iliah does not hold back his punches. However the book is verbose and badly chapterized. With better editing, it could have been pruned to half its size and made more readable.
Academic writing takes a long time to make an impact on society. Kancha Iliah’s writing is an exception. His impact has been immediate and dramatic. He has written a number of books but the main ideas running through all his writings can be summarised as follows:
1. Caste in India has an underlying racial basis. The Shudra and Dalit castes in India have Dravidian or Harappan origins where as the Brahmin and Vysya castes have Aryan origin.
2. Hinduism is the religion or social philosophy of the upper castes alone. The lower shudra and dalit castes have local deities and religions which have little in common with Hinduism.
3. Shudra and Dalit castes are the productive communities of India. The upper castes lead an unproductive and parasitical life.
4. Indian nationalism glorifies the upper caste world view, religion and food habits and treats them as constituting the national culture, ignoring or delegitimising the lifestyle, food choices and world view of the productive communities. This has harmed India as a nation immensely.
5. Dalit and Shudra salvation lies in modernity, in learning the English language, in taking pride in their productive cultures and in rejecting the Hindu world view.
Kancha Iliah has made two significant theoretical contributions to the debate on caste. (1) Caste question is a question of production. Castes that have suffered under the caste system are the productive castes. So the system that delegitimises work and labour is deeply damaging to society. (2) Although the lower OBCs got reservation thanks to the Mandal Commission award of the early 90s, the theoretical basis of this arrangement was always suspect. Iliah shows that although Shudras were part of the caste society, being a labouring communities, they also suffered under the caste system. According to him shudra castes should give up the Hinduisation project and throw their lot with the Dalits.
The purpose of this memoir is to show the readers that Iliah has lived his philosophy. Iliah claims that his memoir is the first memoir written by a Shudra in English.
Iliah was born to unlettered parents in interior Telangana. His family belonged to the Kuruba or shepherd caste which was a lower shudra (OBC) caste. His generation was first to get any education. He ultimately made his way into the Osmania University where he completed his MA and Phd. He spent most of his teaching career also at the same university.
The book is ethnologically rich. He gives an absorbing picture of village life. Iliah's effort is to show that life style of the lower shudras and dalits were completely different from the lifestyle of the caste Hindus. Equally interesting are his stories about his university years as a student and teacher. Iliah encountered brahmanism and caste discrimination from his teachers, fellow students and colleagues. He started out as a leftist and moved to a version of Ambedkarism, after he realised that Indian left did not address the issue of caste and the left movement consisted mostly of Brahmans.
The big challenge of Iliah's life was to come to terms with his caste identity. When he joined college, he found that Dalits and OBCs were shedding their given names in favour of 'hindu names'. Iliah resisted this temptation. The great achievement of his intellectual life was to develop a theory that conferred dignity to the lifestyle and worldview of the lower shudras. The final act in this story reconciliation with his background is Iliah adding the surname 'Shepherd' to his name. It is a triumphant declaration that his caste identity is not to be detested as unclean or backward but something to be celebrated.
This book is polemical and Iliah does not hold back his punches. However the book is verbose and badly chapterized. With better editing, it could have been pruned to half its size and made more readable.
Displaying 1 of 1 review