Claudia Venturelli: Bahuan e Puja the dalits of Caminho das Indias

A genealogy of the dalits –Part 1-

What can we find if we research deeply the castes system?
My interest today is to introduce us into the position of dalits inside India.

Originally untouchables, today the word dalit is used since the 70’s decade when the Dalit Panthers popularized this concept as a way of denunciate the oppressive situation they live in India.

The soap opera shows us the dalits as people who are what they are because of their own practices. They are dalits because they murdered, stole, rape.

But if we go deeply and research the genealogy of their appearance in India we can find that Manu’s law put them outside the castes system, they were outcaste (in English). Manu’s law was the origin of the castes system and determinate his permanently impure situation. They have no possibility to move into the social pyramid and they don’t have the opportunity of purification.

The last census (2001) indicates that the 16 % of the Indian population is dalit, at least more or less 167 million people.

Could we think , with Michel Foucault, that the castes system is a social device ?

Caminho das Indias_ Introducing into the indian culture

Indian society is socially divided by “castas” founded by the Indian religion from the latin (castus) that means pure.
But it’s not a class division, it doesn’t refer if you’re reach or poor. You born and die in one casta and is hereditary to your sons and daughters.
The casta refers what you are and is unchangeable.
In the highest point of the social pyramid we find the bramanes who teaches the sacred texts, they came from Brahma’s mouth. In the second place we have the shatriyas (warriors and governers), from Brahma’s arms, then the vaisyas (sellers) Brahma’s legs, in the fourth place the sudras (farmers) Brahma’s feet.
And they have people without casta or Dalits or untouchable. They are pariahs.

Caminho das Indias - Brazil e India

My last hollidays I went to Brazil, Bombinhas Saint Catherine State.

I met a woman at the resort, she was very interesting into the relation between India and Brazil ahd she explained to me what she was researching.

Big surprised!! When I came back to my apt I watched on TV a soap. Its title "Caminho das Indias". It was amazing Brazil showing trough the soap the indian culture. Really interesting to see how TV begins to construct an effect of reality the relation between Indies and brazilians.
I´ve watched the soap every day in Brazil and now that I'm in Argentina I saw it every day on the globo page and I'm trying to study the indian culture and its regime of truth.
In my nexts posts I will begin to show what I find out.