New Zealand Journal of Asian Studies 5, 1 (June, 2003): 5-23.
HONOUR, VIOLENCE AND
CONFLICTING NARRATIVES:
A STUDY OF MYTH AND REALITY
BADRI NARAYAN1
G. B. Pant Social Science Institute
The daughter of the king of Rampur fell in love with the son of a
Dom (a low-caste of India). When the king heard about it he
commanded his soldiers to behead him. After searching in the jungle
for many years the soldiers succeeded in capturing the boy and killed
him under a ‘taal tree’. It is said that since then, the screams of the
boy can still be heard in that grove.
A Bhojpuri Folk tale, collected from Sahar, Bhojpur, Bihar
The Myths
In the district of Manghyr in South Bihar, a godling named Murkatwa is
worshipped by the Musahars. He is the deified ghost of Musahar (a very low
caste in the social strata of the Indian society), who was killed under peculiarly
tragic circumstances. Murkatwa was a labourer working on the farm of an
upper caste cultivator. It is said that the cultivator sent him to his house to
fetch some seedlings. When Murkatwa returned, the cultivator noticed a spot
of sindoor (vermillion) on his forehead, and concluded that he had had a liaison
with his married daughter who was visiting her natal family. Murkatwa was
innocent but the cultivator, in a fit of rage, killed him. Since then Murkatwa is
worshipped as a martyr by the people of the Musahar caste.
In the District of Gaya in South Bihar, Raghuni, a cultivator belonging
to the upper caste (Babhan, which is the local name for the Bhumihar caste),
killed his daughter and one of his hereditary serfs whom he had sent to fetch a
1 Badri Narayan (bntiwari_gbpi@rediffmail.com) is a social historian and cultural
anthropologist based at the G.B. Pant Social Science Institute, Allahabad, India. He has been
associated as a Fellow with the Indian Institute (Shimla), the MSH (Paris) and the
International Institute of Asian Studies, Leiden, the Netherlands. He is the author of a
number of articles on popular culture, social and anthropological history, dalit and subaltern
issues and the relationship between power and culture. Recently he published a book on the
contesting of memory and culture by dalits in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
Narayan 6
basket of seeds from his house, when he found streaks of vermillion on the
serf’s body. He then committed suicide. The ghosts of all these three persons
are now collectively known under the name of Raghuni Dak and are widely
worshipped throughout the District of Gaya in South Bihar. These myths
were collected and documented by George Grierson in his famous work Bihar
Peasant Life.2
The Real Scene
The myths narrated above, which are widely circulated in villages of Bihar and
Uttar Pradesh, are still alive in the oral narratives of many rural societies of
North India. The actual facts behind them are difficult to establish, but the
moral values projected in the myths are still prevalent in these societies, which
are dominated by Brahminical and patriarchial norms. Even today one can
find many incidents of violence emanating from inter-caste and intercommunity
love relations. Many incidents that took place in the near past in
the villages of western Uttar Pradesh and Bihar make it obvious that these
norms still heavily influence the mindset of rural society.
In 1991, in Hukari village, which falls under the jurisdiction of the
Alipur and Pali Mukimpur police station, two dalit youths, Brijendra and
RamKrishan, fell in love with two girls belonging to the Jat caste (a landowning
upper caste). When the villagers learned of the relationship, they
summoned the Panchayat (village council) to decide the case. According to
the decision of the Panchayat, the two youths were hanged and one of the Jat
girls named Roshni was also hanged. This cruel decision of the Panchayat, a
body of village elders who have the authority to take decisions regarding social
justice in the village, is starkly reminiscent of the cruel oppressions on love
relations in the medieval era. Their decision was based on the notion that a
girl’s chastity is the symbol of the honour of the caste to which she belongs.3
In August 1993, in Darbhanga district of Bihar, Jaya, a daughter of a
Brahmin family was handed over to goondas (thugs) by her own family
members as she was in love with a Harijan youth. She was raped and
murdered by them, after which her body was thrown into the river.4
In February 1994, in Hathigadha village in the Mandu block of
Hazaribagh district in Bihar, Malti, a girl of the Kurmi caste, fell in love with a
Harijan youth, Mahabi Rabidas. Both eloped and got married. When the
members of the Kurmi caste heard the news, they captured Mahabi Rabidas
and presented him in front of the village Panchayat. As per the decision of the
Panchayat, Mahabi was severely beaten and then killed.5
2 George A. Grierson, Bihar Peasant Life, Being a Discursive Catalogue (1885), Delhi:
Cosmo Publication (reprinted) 1975.
3 Dr. Shyoraj Singh Baichan, ‘Samajik Jarhta evam Varnavadi Swabhav,’ Hindustan, August
27, 1991.
4 Samkalin Janmat, Delhi, 1995, pp.16-30, Jansatta, Delhi, 15 September 1997, p.3.
5 See Jansatta, Delhi, p.3 and ‘First Information Report’ (FIR) no.147.
Honour, Violence and Conflicting Narratives 7
In Murubandra village, within the jurisdiction of the Rajrappa police
station of Hazaribagh district, Bihar, a local tribal youth, Chaturgun Karmali,
was in love with the daughter of Manu Mahto, a Kurmi. In September 1997,
Chaturgun was tried by the Panchayat under the leadership of Mangal Singh
Ohdar of the Communist Party of India (CPI). According to the decision of
the Panchayat, Chaturgun was brutally murdered by the villagers.6
Honour and Violence
Love is the emotion that binds two hearts together. It knows no language, age,
creed or caste barriers, but in the north Indian societies of Bihar and Uttar
Pradesh, which are strongly influenced by hierarchical feudal and Brahminical
values, if the lovers belong to different communities, love can also be the root
of feuds and violence between the communities to which the lovers belong. In
these rural societies, joru, zamin and beti (wife, land and daughter), are still
considered to be the exclusive possessions of males that have to be protected
from all forms of external aggression, whether it is the honour of the wife and
daughter at stake, or the usurping of personal property. The protection of
such private property is considered to be the dharma or duty of the males and
is a part of their purusharth (masculinity).
In these societies, marriage, symbolised by the vermillion mark in the
parting of the hair of women, is the only situation which legitimises the
relationship between an unrelated man and a woman. In no other situation is a
relationship between a man and a woman who do not belong to the same
family, tolerated. Before the marriage of a girl, it is her father’s duty to
safeguard her virginity and hand her over to her husband with her chastity
and honour intact. After marriage, her husband is the saviour of her honour,
since she is now his private property. Later, when her sons grow up, it
becomes their duty to protect their mother’s honour. It is believed that the
destiny of a woman is always under the protection of a male: in childhood, the
father, in youth, the husband and in widowhood, the sons. Marriages are
arranged strictly within the boundaries of caste configurations and are
negotiated according to the wishes of the two families. No aberration from
this situation in the form of a love relationship between a boy and a girl
belonging to different castes and communities is tolerated under any
circumstances. In the event of a girl belonging to a higher caste and the boy
belonging to a lower caste, the entire lower caste community incurs the wrath
of the upper caste for dishonouring their community. In this case, the
situation becomes even more volatile, leading to certain violence that may
carry on over generations.
Many incidents of this kind that occurred in the past have become part
of the folklore of the local people and are still narrated and recounted by them.
These have now become entrenched in the popular imagination of ordinary
6 Ibid.
Narayan 8
people, who are greatly influenced by the values and standards imposed by the
Manusmriti and other Brahminical religious texts of the Hindus, and have
been transformed into myths and legends. But the fractured nature of rural
folk society may create different folk narratives centering around the same
folklore. These competing versions often conflict with each other, since each
caste group narrates the narrative from its own vantage point, and this may
differ considerably from the perspectives of other castes. One community
may perceive the male lover as their hero who has been wronged by the
family members of the female lover, while another community may create the
myth of an anti-hero who captivated the heroine and trapped her in his net.
Yet another community may portray the female as the one who seduced the
hero with her youth and beauty and forced him to fall in love with her. Myths
thus transgress the boundaries of reality and reality is gradually transformed
into myth.
It is worth mentioning here that, in terms of inciting mobilisation and
violence, the myths constructed around such social events are no less
influential or contested than other folk narratives. The heroes carved out of
these myths are as powerful as real life heroes for the communities that create
them. In most of these communities, there was no single hero who could
mobilise the entire community to inspire them to struggle against the
oppressive dominance of the forward castes, although some leadership
developed autonomously in some sections. Thus the creation of these heroes
from myths was often the outcome of this search for a person who could lead
the struggle against this form of oppression. These legendary heroes were
transformed into a role model for the community and his stories and narratives
were widely circulated and narrated among the members.
One such hero was created by a folk ballad that was based on an
asymmetrical love relationship between a boy of a dalit caste (Chuharmal, who
belonged to the Dusadh caste) and a girl belonging to an upper caste (Reshma,
who belonged to the Bhumihar caste). This work deals with the phenomenon
of violence that took place around this asymmetrical love relationship between
Chuharmal and Reshma and tries to analyse the relationship between the
myths and realities centering around this story. The propositions I shall dwell
upon in this essay are the following.
Firstly, due to the unfinished project of modernisation in rural Indian
societies, especially in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, which are still deeply
influenced by Brahminical and patriarchial norms, inter-caste love relations in
general and, especially, asymmetrical love relations involving a girl belonging
to a higher caste and a boy belonging to a lower caste, are still not tolerated.
This situation gives rise to caste violence and feuds. The violence and conflicts
take place at two levels; i.e., at the level of memory, narrative and imagination
and in people’s real lives.
Secondly, apart from its entertainment value, folklore also acts as a
record of social events and processes. Myths thus act as social texts which
record the various kinds of conflict, negotiation, and human and social
relations that take place in society. This folklore carries within it social
Honour, Violence and Conflicting Narratives 9
memory, but it also creates memory for the people. That is why it can
become the bone of contention between communities.
Thirdly, the memory related to a conflict that took place in a society,
that has been transformed into myth and narrative and is again being
circulated among the common people, gets changed, selectively edited and
recreated in the process of inter-personal and inter-group communication.
Myths, commemorative monuments, religious rituals, folk tales and family lore
are the vehicle of collective memory.7 I argue that collective memory is not
an innocent, univocative and unified domain but is part of a contested and
fragmented whole. It is contested because the way in which the past is
recalled depends upon the power of the group that frames its (collective,
traditional) memory.8 Memory (historical memory) is the constitutive element
of the identity of the group.
The methodology of this paper is based on observations and field studies
in the Aurungabad, Patna and Bhojpur districts of Bihar, where, at selected
places, I collected oral renderings of symbols and texts that are used in the
contemporary life of common people, as well as in the political and religious
discourse of these societies. From this field work, an attempt has been made
to analyse the folk myth of Chuharmal and Reshma and relate it to the
contemporary socio-political context.
Chuharmal and Reshma
The actual story of Chuharmal and Reshma is difficult to ascertain, but it is
believed that the events described in the story took place in the Magadh and
Bhojpuri regions of Bihar. The nichli kaumen (lower caste people) recite it as
a folk ballad and perform it as a nautanki (folk theatre) named “Rani Reshma
Chuharmal ka khela” . Every year in the chaityamah (month of Chait of the
Indian calendar), a fair is held at Charadih near Mokama in yaadgari
(remembrance) of the Dusadh hero of this story. This story has many versions,
most of which conflict with one another. The story is now a bone of
contention, an issue of conflict and violence between the Bhumihars and the
lower castes, especially the Dusadhs, of that region. The manner in which the
story is remembered by the Dusadhs makes it a constitutive element in their
identity formation. It is a story of their glorious past and the rich tradition of
their community. Chuharmal is a hero and god of the lower castes of the
region and the folk legend is a symbol of the victory of the Dusadhs over the
Bhumihars. But the Bhumihars interpret their version as a conscious attempt
7 See Daniel Gordon, A review essay of History as an Art of Memory (by P.H. Hutton),
History and Theory 34 (1995): 340-354. Postmodernists such as Francois Furet and Pierre
Nora deconstruct the idea of collective memory. See, for instance, Pierre Nora Les Lieux de
memoire, 7 vols., Paris: Gallimard, 1984-1992. See also Maurice Halbawchs On Collective
Memory, edited by Lewis A. Coser, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992.
8 Maurice Halbawchs Les Cadres Sociaux de la memoire (1925), New York: Ayer, 1975,
pp.83-145.
Narayan 10
by the lower castes to insult them. They are trying hard to erase this story
through the use of violence, while the lower castes are struggling hard to save
and preserve it. This conflict over differing interpretations of the story led to
four caste-riots in central Bihar between 1970 and 1990.
Theatrical Performances Inciting Violence
On 19th June, 1978, in Ekauni village, near Daudnagar in the Aurungabad
district of Bihar, a marriage party (barat) had just arrived at the house of
Nonu Sahu. A f olk theatre (nautanki) was being performed in the khalihan
(a neat and clean place in the village where grain is extracted from paddy
husk). Just as the love scene of Reshma and Chuharmal started to be enacted,
a bullet was fired from among the spectators, which entered the chest of the
actor playing the role of Chuharmal. A roaring sound echoed, “Stop this
nonsense”, and there followed a stampede among the spectators.
This incident is not a part of any fiction but is a real event that took
place in the interior area of Aurungabad. Subsequently, two groups were
formed in the village. One was led by the Bhumihars (a landlord forward
caste) and the other group comprised lower castes, viz., Bania, Koiri, Chamar,
Dusadh and others. Great tension and conflict took place between the
Bhumihar Tola (group) and the Purvi Tola (populated by the lower castes) of
the village. In fact, the bullet was fired by a youth of the Bhumihar caste
because Reshma, the heroine of the play, belonged to this caste. The
Bhumihar perceived this narrative as an insult to their caste.9 On the other
hand, the lower castes adopted this same myth as a mode of protest against
the feudal and elite class of this region. Five murders occurred during this
prolonged tension and conflict, as well as many minor conflicts and much
factionalism.
The news of this event was published in a Bhojpuri local daily Tatka on
2nd February 1978. The police of the Daudnagar thana (police station)
maintained that the event was simply a result of long continuing and recorded
caste tension. However, the villagers believed that the cause of the caste
tension in the village was the drama of Chuharmal and the memories that the
ballad sought to retrieve and preserve. They felt that the reason for the attack
by the Bhumihars during the nautanki was that they took it as an insult to
their community. The people of the village have given the event the name of
“Ekauni-Kand” , which is now imprinted in their memory. Kand is an event
that contains flashing elements, the memory of which lasts long.10
9 Upper castes, especially the Bhumihars, perceive this narrative as an insult because it
undermines their social prestige. It establishes the superiority of the subaltern and the lower
castes. It breaks the hierarchical norms and alters the hierarchical condition of the Bhumihar
caste. All these upper caste feudal values are based on the maryada (custom or correct
behaviour) concept described in the Hindu law code Manusmriti and other Hindu law texts.
10 In Indian religious epics like Ram Charit Manas, kand denotes the meaning ‘chapter’, but
here it denotes the meaning of a specific event.
Honour, Violence and Conflicting Narratives 11
About forty percent of the people living in the Ekauni village belonged
to the Bhumihar caste, while the remaining sixty percent included Banias,
Koiri, Yadav, Chamar, Dusadh and other lower castes. The village was a high
caste dominated village where Bhumihars had major land holdings. The lower
castes possessed very little land. They were either small businessmen or were
involved in traditional occupations. The Dusadh and Chamar landless
labourers worked on the lands of the Bhumihars. The local dialect of the
region was Magahi, a term derived from the word ‘Magadhi’ denoting the
Magadh region.
As in most rural parts of the north of the country, Bihar’s society is
divided and fragmented on lines of caste, class and religion. The Backward
Castes constitute about 51.3% of the state’s population, while the upper castes
constitute only 13%. The rest of the population is made up of backward
upper castes, scheduled castes (including untouchable and depressed castes like
Dusadhs, Chamars etc.), scheduled tribes, Muslims etc. Taking a rough guide
from the 1911 census, we find that in a few areas of Bihar like Bhojpur, Saran,
Aurungabad, Patna, etc., the upper castes, namely the Brahmins, Bhumihars,
Rajputs and Kayasthas, form over 25% of the population.11 Thus, the social
environment is not favourable for the emergence of any master narrative of
culture, politics and society. Caste dimensions and polarisations are very much
evident in interpretations of local narratives. In such oppressive and unequal
conditions of social existence, the protests of the people are reflected in
multiple forms and are imprinted on the social memory of oppressed people.
When we attempted to acquaint ourselves with the memory of the
people related to the events that took place in Ekauni and the protests that
emerged from these, we were amazed to find that in the Bhojpur-Rohtas
region, which is another region characterised by caste tensions and land
struggles, similar events have taken place, and these have been so extensive
that they have been preserved and expressed in the form of social memories,
which in turn perpetuate conflict. Another such event took place in Khutahan
Bazar within the jurisdiction of the Tarari police station of Bhojpur, during the
performance of a drama during Dussehra. A derogatory song sung by a
Sutradhar provoked the elite castes of the region, leading to caste conflict and
caste tension in this Qasba (small town).12
Theatrical performances are an effective mode for expressing the myths,
narratives and folklore of the lower castes, as most of their oral traditions
contain strong dramatical elements. The visual performative elements attached
11 See Pradip Kumar Bose, Mobility and Conflict: Social Roots of Caste Violence in Bihar,
in Caste, Caste Conflict and Violence (Surat: Centre for Social Studies), New Delhi: Ajanta
Publication, 1985, p.182.
12 One of the ways in which lower castes express dissent is through laughter and parody.
By these derogatory methods the lower castes tried to frustrate the workings of the authority.
See Dilip M. Menon, Caste, Nationalism and Communism in South India: Malabar 1900-
1948, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993, p.100. This may be seen as a cultural
representation of everyday forms of resistance by the lower caste people. This description
owes its theoretical paradigm to James C. Scott, Weapons of the Weak: Everyday Forms of
Peasant Resistance, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1985.
Narayan 12
with the lower caste oral narratives have a strong impact on the audience and
this medium is often used for imprinting memories in the psyche of the people.
The folk theatres or nautankis are a true cultural representation of the people
and play a significant role in shaping the social memory of the society. In
ancient Indian traditional texts such as Manu Smriti, Bharat Natya Shastra,
and Kautilya’s Artha Shastra, theatrical performances including dance and
other entertaining activities were considered to be inferior acts that were
socially degrading for the upper castes. That was why these performances
were restricted only to the lower castes, who performed them in public during
social and religious ceremonies. Even today no dance party involves upper
castes, although a few theatre companies might include actors belonging to the
upper castes.
Theatre is still perceived as an ‘inferior activity’ involving lower caste
actors predominantly. This fact provides the lower castes the privilege of
making their oral narratives more powerful in terms of the influence they
wield on an audience. These narratives have been transformed into ‘weapons
of the weak’, expressing dissent and dissatisfaction with the existing social
system. Consciously or unconsciously, people select dramas whose content
and context challenges the feudal castes and their values. The irony is that
they have to perform their programmes in the ceremonies of higher caste
people. They earn their livelihood from those people who are opposed to the
content of their plays. They entertain those against whom their consciousness
works in resistance. At some places they have to face opposition when they
enact their dramas without considering the social structure of the village. They
are able to conclude their overnight programmes properly only where the
population is not high-caste dominated. But in places where feudal castes
dominate they often face physical threats.
Apart from performances by professional theatre troupes, there are also
violent attacks on theatrical performances by socio-political activist groups,
because they too try to highlight the oppression and injustice of the landlord
castes through their dramas. When the theatre group Yuva Niti performed a
play challenging the contemporary social structure in Khawaspur in the
Bhojpur region of Bihar on 5th June, 1979, the Kunwar Sena raised stiff
opposition to the play. When they again staged a play in Virampur on 7th
August 1980, the feudal caste landlords attacked the actors. When another
theatre group, the Jan Natya Manch, was performing a play in Kesath, on 3rd
September, 1980, the supporters of feudal criminals opposed the play and
attacked the actors.13 The Jan Sanskriti Manch also had to face a similar
13 Rajesh Kumar, Arvind Kumar, Morcha Lagata Natak, Bhagalpur, 1990. Safdar Hashmi, a
theatre artiste of Delhi, was brutally murdered by goons of the ruling party (Congress I) on
January 1, 1989, while he and his street theatre group Jan Natya Manch was performing the
play ‘Halla Bol’. See Sudhanva Deshpande, ‘Sahmat and Politics of Cultural Intervention,’
Economic and Political Weekly, June 22, 1996. Recently Gaddar, a cultural activist, poet and
performer (convenor of Jan Natya Mandali of Andhra Pradesh) was shot at his residence by
suspected police agents due to his anti-power cultural activities. See Kancha Ilaiah, ‘Gaddar:
Embodying Many Institutions,’ Seminar 456, 1997, pp.32-35.
Honour, Violence and Conflicting Narratives 13
situation when the supporters of criminals attacked the actors during the
staging of a play on 16th August 1982, in Bagain. All the incidents mentioned
above took place in the Bhojpur district of Bihar, which is notorious for its
caste conflicts and social tensions.
The drama of Reshma and Chuharmal is one example of such a dancedrama
that has instigated much caste tension and violence. Many clashes
occurred around this drama when it was performed by various nach groups
(dance parties) in villages like Mahendra Bigaha (1976) and Phoolari in 1988 in
the Aurungabad district of Bihar. The manager of the Nagesar dance troupe,
which is the most famous dance troupe in Bhojpur, commented that the drama
is not staged by their company any more since it provokes the feudal lords to
fire bullets at the actors. In spite of such opposition to the staging of the
drama of Reshma and Chuharmal, the myth has grown in popularity among
the lower castes through these dance troupes. The north eastern part of Bihar,
in particular, has been significantly influenced by this myth, although it is
perceived by different classes in different ways. Lower castes and classes
glorify this myth and perceive it as a part of their ‘tradition’.14 According to
them this was a real event that happened sometime in the past.15 This is the
historical memory of the group, which they perceive as real. One might
observe the transformation of the memory attached with this myth into history
through their collective memory.
Orality, Festivity and Recurrence
According to legend, the actual drama of Reshma and Chuharmal took place
in the Tal area of Mokama and Badha Badhaiyya, situated at the boundary of
Patna, Begusarai and Nalanda district of Bihar. Tal i s the name f or a vast
stretch of uninhabited cultivated land. Reshma and Chuharmal are believed to
have hailed from this region. This region is dominated by Bhumihars, the land
owning caste of Bihar. The drama of Reshma and Chuharmal is totally
banned in this region because the Bhumihars feel that it shows the upper caste
people in a bad light. According to popular belief there is also a vardaan
(blessing of the Goddess or devi) that if any man sings the song of Reshma
and Chuharmal he will be sure to attract the women of that region. The local
inhabitants believe that even today there are some surviving descendants of
14 In The Invention of Tradition, Eric Hobsbawm and others argue that “ Some traditions
which appear or claim to be old are often quite recent in origin and sometimes invented. An
‘invented tradition’ is a set of ritual or symbolic practices that inculcate certain values and
norms by establishing continuity with a suitable historic past” : see Eric Hobsbawm,
‘Introduction: Inventing Tradition,’ in The Invention of Tradition, Eric Hobsbawm and
Terence Ranger eds., Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983, pp.1-2.
15 In fact, this shows the tendency towards a mythical construction of the past. Here ‘past’
is conceived as a set of propositions, often stated in narrative form, and accepted uncritically
by a culture or speech community thus serving to affirm its self-conception. See Peter
Heehs, ‘Myth, History and Theory,’ History and Theory, 33, 1 (1994):1-19.
Narayan 14
Reshma and Chuharmal living in the area.16 According to the myth, Reshma
belonged to a rich family of the Bhumihar Kshatriya of the Mokama village
while Chuharmal belonged to a Dusadh family residing in a village named
Anjani.17 Reshma’s brother’s name was Ajab Singh and father’s name was
Ranjit Singh, and Chuharmal’s father’s name was Bihari while his brother’s
name was Bansiram Surma.
The folklore of Reshma and Chuharmal is alive and thriving even today.
Its hero lives in the memory of the people of that region and its neighbouring
areas. To commemorate his memory, a fair is held for two or three days each
year in the month of Chaitya in the Mokama Tal area, where there is a sacred
complex in the name of Chuharmal.18 The people of the Dusadh caste come
in lakhs (hundreds of thousands) to worship the Dusadh hero and visit the fair.
In a nearby village named Mor, a large statue of Chuharmal without the neck
has been erected. During the harvest season, the first crop is offered to this
statue. People come here for Manauti (to pray for the fulfilment of their
wishes). The lower castes, particularly, believe that their wishes will be fulfilled.
They also show their commemorative spirit by beating the danka (drum),
dancing, jumping and playing gadaka (a play of sticks). M ainly the Dusadhs
and a small number of other lower castes attend this fair.
It is interesting to observe how a hero of a story has become the hero of
depressed and untouchable castes like the Dusadhs and is worshipped as a
local d eity b y them. T his may be a r ef lection of the sense o f dissent o f these
communities against the dominance of the Bhumihars. It may be considered
to be a subversion of social reality, whereby such heroes acquire the status of a
local deity. Because of the difficulties that the lower castes face in visibly
protesting the dominance and injustice of the feudal landlord castes, they
create an alternative space for expressing their dissent through development of
their own heroes and deities. Many folklorists who studied the creation of
local deities around 1925, interpreted them as a form of ‘ghost worship’, but
the changing nature of the narratives attached with these deities leads us to
explore an alternative social meaning for their creation, one that interprets
them in terms of the structure of local societies.19
16 This is an example of a typical fear psychosis of the feudal male-dominated society. It
shows their approach towards women. In fact, this ban is imposed by mainly feudal forces
and upper castes of the respective society.
17 Mahadeo Prasad Singh, of Ayana village, is a folklorist who has collected the folk drama
based on the folklore of Chuharmal and has made extensive fieldwork to trace the genealogy
of Chuharmal and Reshma.
18 The Chuharmal fair is a sacred complex where, through prescribed propitiatory rites,
magic, invocations and incantations designed to please the unseen Chuharmal, pilgrims try to
establish communication with him.
19 Kalipada Mitra, ‘Deities of Jalkar (A Rejoinder),’ Journal of Bihar and Orissa Research
Society, Patna, Sept-Dec.1929, pp.181-186. In African societies there was a similar trend of
creating gods of the oppressed. See James H. Cone God of the Oppressed, New York:
Seabury, 1975. One may also notice this tendency in the discourse on Black theology: see
James H. Cone Black Theology and Black Power, New York: Seabury, 1969.
Honour, Violence and Conflicting Narratives 15
Although the Dusadhs glorify Chuharmal as their hero and local deity,
this myth is remembered and narrated by the various other castes of the
region in their own way. There are multiple texts of this myth and the
fractured nature of folk society is reflected in the various contesting versions of
this myth.
Multiple Texts
A social text such as a rumour, gossip, story or folklore multiplies in manifold
ways. The narrative identity of a community, culture or nation is not a rigid
structure. Continuous contestation from within renders multiplicity a
possibility. A single story may be transformed into many stories. The tale of
Reshma and Chuharmal is an instance of a text multiplying in this way. Each
new text contains a peculiar social meaning and manifests a particular political
position. The multiplicity of the texts indicates the manifold character of
collective remembrance, which is not a mechanical act but is a product of
creative imagination. Remembrance is not just an individual phenomenon but
is a social phenomenon based on selective memory. Thus memory is not an
innocent, univocal and unified domain. That is why there are many versions
of the story of Reshma and Chuharmal in Mokama and its neighbouring areas.
Most of these versions are narrated at the same time among the various
communities in conflicting ways. The collected versions of this story reflect
the changes, additions and contestations at the level of popular narrative. I
have compared the versions recorded at various times by ethnographers (i.e.,
colonialists, natives or other folklorists) with the material which I collected
during the course of my fieldwork in the months of April, May and June, 1996.
In 1885 George A. Grierson referred to Chuharmal as the ‘first thief’.
According to him Chuharmal was a thief and an inhabitant of Mokama. He
was killed by Sahles, a great hero of the Dusadhs of Mithila and the ‘first
watchman’. This story was developed by Grierson in two texts, namely Bihar
Peasant Life, Being a Discursive Catalogue and Maithili Chrestomathy.20
William Crooke also related this story in the same way in his book Folklore of
India.21 In both the sources Chuharmal is mentioned in a few lines while
narrating the heroic lore of Sahles.
In 1894, Ram Garib Chaube, one of the collectors of folklore for his
Sahib (Master) William Crooke, presents an entirely different version of the
story. In his narrative, Chuharmal appears as a Dusadh hero marrying a
Brahmin girl. He puts it as follows. Chuharmal was one of the lovers of Rahu
Reshma, the sister of Ajabi. One day when she was drawing water from a
20 See George A. Grierson, Bihar Peasant Life, Being a Discursive Catalogue (1885), Delhi:
Cosmo Publications, (reprinted) 1975, and Maithili Chrestomathy in his ‘Introduction to
Maithili Language of North Bihar,’ Journal of Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal (Calcutta),
Extra Number, 1882.
21 William Crooke, Folklore of India, New Delhi: Aryan Books International, 1993 (First
Reprint), p.125; (reprint of An Introduction to the Folklore of North India (Allahabad, 1894).
Narayan 16
well, Chuharmal suddenly came there and entered into conversation with her.
The pitcher being very heavy, she requested that Chuharmal lift it onto her
head. While doing so, Chuharmal took hold of her garment and robbed her
honour. Reshma returned home and complained to her brother Ajabi about
Chuharmal. He flew into a rage and, with a drawn sword, went to fight a duel
with Chuhar. Chuhar defeated Ajabi, Reshma’s brother, but Ajabi sent his
sister back to Chuhar as she was of no use to the family after being defiled by
a Dusadh. Chuharmal at first refused to marry her, but later he accepted her
as his wife and took her to Morang.22
In 1938 Mahadev Prasad, a folklorist of Nachap, Arrah, Bihar, collected
a Panwara (a eulogy) called Rani Reshma ka Geet. In the introductory note
he wrote that this was a folklore that is recited by the members of the Dusadh
community.23 This episode took place a long time ago in the Mokama area. It
is said that even today when this folklore is recited, the upper caste girls of the
area tend to elope with the boys of the Dusadh community. In this story
Reshma is shown to be a very beautiful daughter of a local landlord of the
Bhumihar caste who falls in love with Chuharmal. Reshma would invite
Chuharmal to her house to visit her. Initially Chuharmal resisted her offers
since she was the daughter of a high caste zamindar whereas he belonged to
the lower caste Dusadh community. Reshma seduced him into marrying her
but this relationship led to a clash between Chuharmal and Reshma’s father.
Chuharmal defeated her father but he was grief-stricken because Reshma’s
brother, who was Chuharmal’s gurubhai (God-brother) was killed by him.
Chuharmal was so depressed that he jumped into the river Ganges and died.
On hearing the news, Reshma too killed herself.
In 1967 Nageshwar Sharma24 recorded a folk ballad that runs as follows.
There was a small village named Anjani where there lived a person called
Bandi Ram who was a Dusadh by caste. Bandi Ram had an extremely
handsome son called Chuharmal. Bandi Ram and his brother Bihari were in
the service of Babu Ajabi Singh, the wealthiest zamindar of Mokama. Reshma,
a sister of Ajabi Singh, became captivated by Chuharmal, becoming oblivious
to her status and prestige. Once Chuharmal went to have a bath in the
22 Ram Garib Chaube, North Indian Notes and Queries, July 1894, pp.62-63.
23 Mahadev Prasad, Rani Reshma ka Geet (first edition), Calcutta: Doodhnath Press, n.d.
Twenty editions of the book have appeared so far. In the 19th edition the title of the book
was changed to Rani Reshma-Chuharmal ka Geet. All editions except the first are published
by Loknath Pustakalaya of Calcutta. It is interesting that the year of publication is not
mentioned in any of the editions. Only the number of the particular edition is mentioned. In
many of these publications of popular nature, there is a tendency not to carry the year of
publication. The publisher of this book recalled that the first edition must have appeared 60-
70 years ago. Most of the folklore collected by Mahadev Prasad was published between
1935-40 by Doodnath Pustakalaya, Calcutta, and Gayghat, Banaras. See Shyam Manohar
Pandey’s introduction to Lorikayan, Sahitya Bhavan Pvt. Ltd.: Allahabad, 1997. By talking
to his family members I was able to fix the date of the first edition of Mahadev Prasad’s
book at around 1938.
24 Nageshwar Sharma, ‘Supernatural Elements in Magahi Ballads,’ Folklore, VIII, 10,
Calcutta, 1967. p.32.
Honour, Violence and Conflicting Narratives 17
Ganges. Reshma followed him and expressed her desire for him, but
Chuharmal spurned her offer. Disappointed, Reshma tore her blouse and
complained to her brother that Chuharmal had tried to rob her honour. Ajabi
Singh ordered his soldiers to arrest Chuharmal. The news reached Chuharmal,
who prayed to Goddess Durga to invoke her blessings. A terrible battle took
place between Ajabi Singh and Chuharmal, but Chuharmal won the battle due
to the grace of Goddess Durga. Chuharmal captured Ajabi Singh but released
him when Ajabi Singh’s wife appealed for mercy. Chuharmal later married an
unsophisticated girl called Bhimni. One day when he went to the forest he
saw a tiger trying to kill a cow. He took pity on the cow and saved her from
the jaws of death. In fury, the tiger killed Chuharmal. When Reshma heard
the news, she could not bear the shock and died.
Another version of the story of Reshma and Chuharmal was collected in
1971 by Samprati Aryani.25 This story is narrated by the lower caste people
of Naubatpur (Patna), who perform the drama of Virmal Chuharmal (brave
warrior Chuharmal) in a drama called “Reshma” . Reshma, the sister of Ajabi
Singh, a zamindar of the city, is the heroine of the story. She is very beautiful
and also proud of her beauty. On hearing of the bravery of Chuharmal, she
falls in love with him. One day, without telling her mother, she goes to meet
Chuharmal who is also a Gurubhai of her brother Ajabi Singh. After a short
while Chuharmal comes to the river to drink water. Believing him to be a
passer-by, Reshma asks him his name and address. Realising that he was
Chuharmal himself, she requests him to come to her house to drink water.
She also expresses her feelings for him. On hearing this, Chuharmal gets
angry since she belongs to an upper caste. She also happens to be his
gurubehen (God-sister, follower of the same Guru), so it was not possible for
them to have a love relationship. At this, Reshma feels humiliated and reports
to her brother that Chuharmal had misbehaved with her. Ajabi Singh gets
ready for battle with Chuharmal. Chuharmal prays to Goddess Durga for
power. She gives him a sword with which he vanquishes the entire army of
Ajabi Singh. Ajabi Singh also dies in the battle. In sorrow for killing his
Gurubhai, Chuharmal decides to undertake jal samadhi (killing oneself by
immersing in water). When Reshma hears the news of Chuharmal’s proposed
jal samadhi, she wears the garb of a widow and visits the site of the jal
samadhi. She prays to God that if her love is true she should also die along
with Chuharmal. She then breathes her last on the samadhi of Chuharmal.
In a version narrated by the educated youth of Bhumihars, Chuharmal
is projected as a youth born in the Bhumihar caste. This was a strategy to
reduce the effect of the insult of the story on the Bhumihars. Baidya Nath
Sharma, a Bhumihar intellectual, in an article titled ‘Lok Giton ke Charit
Nayak: Baba Chuharmal,’ published in the popular Bhojpuri daily Aryavart,
argued that while it is a popular belief that Baba Chuharmal was born in the
Dusadh caste, he was actually born about 400 years ago in a Bhumihar
Brahmin family of Moladiar Tola. His real and original name was Chauhar
25 See Samprati Aryani Magahi Bhasha aur Sahitya, Patna: Rashtrabhasha Parishad, first
edition, 1976, p.34.
Narayan 18
Singh and he was the third child of his parents, who had a vast landed
property. He was still a child when he would astonish people with his
extraordinary physical power and capabilities. He also served distressed
people and took part in religious and spiritual discourses. Gradually he
became famous for his talents and many started visiting him to get his
blessings. He also trained wrestlers at the akhara (gym) of Ajab Khan Pathan,
a brave Pathan migrant who had a palace at Mahadev Ghat. Ajab Khan had a
daughter called Reshma who was attracted to Chauhar Singh, but he looked
on her as his sister. Ajab Khan’s suspicions were however aroused and
Chauhar was forced to break his relationship with Ajab Khan. Ajab Khan also
put restrictions on the movement of Reshma, but one night she stole out to
meet Chauhar Singh at Charadih. When Ajab Khan heard the news, he went
there with his army to fight with Chauhar Singh, but Ajab Khan’s army was
defeated. After the event, Chauhar Singh assembled his Dusadh followers and
attained samadhi in front of them. On hearing this news, Reshma too
sacrificed her life at the same place. From that day, Chauhar Singh became
popular as Baba Chuharmal. His Harijan Dusadh followers then began
worshipping him as a god. Today, Chuharmal is worshipped on the occasion
of marriage and other such ceremonies by families of Bhumihar Brahmins of
Moladiar Tola in Mokama.26
The intellectuals and leaders of the Dusadh community registered a
strong protest against this version of the narrative. They accused the
Bhumihars of distorting the legend of Chuharmal. They argued that while Dr.
Baidyanath Sharma had claimed that Baba Chuharmal was born in the
Bhumihar caste, others, such as Shri Vilat Paswan Vihangam, Chairman of the
Bihar Public Service Commission, Srimati Yasoda Devi, President of Akhil
Bharatiya Dusadh Seva Sangh, Shri B.P., Shastri, General Secretary of
Sahles-Chuharmal Chetna Samiti and Sri Brahma Dev Paswan, President,
Baba Chuharmal Smarak Samiti, have all shown that Baba Chuharmal was in
fact born in the Dusadh caste, not in the Bhumihar caste.27
In another version of the story, Chuharmal has been depicted as an evil
power, which needed to be killed for the good of the people. According to
this myth, Chuharmal was a cowherd who had the habit of destroying the
crops of the landlords. As he was physically very strong they would not dare
to stop him, but Chuharmal was afraid of the might of the government. Once
the musclemen of the landlord and some minions of the government
overpowered him and cut off his head. However, his spirit continued to
26 See Baidyanath Sharma, ‘Lok Giton ke Charit Nayak: Baba Chuharmal,’ Aryavart, 7th
December, 1980, p.4.
27 They have also argued that on the basis of books like Shri Mahadev Prasad Singh’s Rani
Reshma-Chuharmal Drama (Calcutta: Loknath Pustakalaya), Shri Ayodhya Prasad Rai
Patel’s Rani Reshma-Chuharmal (Calcutta: Ram Dev Pustakalaya and Library) as well as
the Maithili novel Raja Sahles by Mani Padam, the epic Jai Raja Sahles by Matinath Mishra,
and A Peasant Life of Bihar by George Grierson that it is very much established that
Chuharmal was born in the Anjani village of South-east Munger district. Similarly, his
father’s name was Biharimal, his mother’s name Raghuni, his brother’s Dukha Ram and his
nephew’s Budhuwa Dusadh.
Honour, Violence and Conflicting Narratives 19
destroy the crops of the area. Thereafter, the people started worshipping him
in order to appease his spirit. This text is usually found in the memory of the
forward castes. The main content of the story of Reshma and Chuharmal, i.e.,
their love relationship, is eliminated and other elements have been added to
it.28
During the course of my fieldwork I came across another interpretation
of the name Chuharmal. According to this interpretation, the name
Chuharmal has originated from two words, i.e., Chor and Chuhar. Chor
means thief and Chuhar means dacoit or robber in the folk dialect. Chor-
Chuhar (thief-robber) is a compound word popular in the local dialect. Thus
the people of the forward castes depict Chuharmal as a dacoit.29
The Dusadhs o f the M ithila a rea, w ho regard S ahles as a h ero and
worship him, view Chuharmal as an anti-hero. In the story of Sahles that is
staged in the Mithila region, Sahles and Chuharmal are depicted as enemies.
Chuharmal is supposed to be a nephew of Sahles. The cause of the enmity
can be understood from the following narrative: Chuharmal was employed in
the palace of the king of Morang. But later somehow Sahles managed to get
the job. Chuharmal decided to take revenge on Sahles but unfortunately was
killed by the latter. But the Dusadhs of Magahi area talk of a deep emotional
attachment between Sahles and Chuharmal. They say that Chuharmal is still
alive. He had jumped into the Ganges and reached Morang, where he lives
even today.
The Bhangis living in the suburbs of Mokama at a small distance from
the Mokama station have their own version of the story of Chuharmal. Their
colony is situated on the way to the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF)
cantonment and has about 20 families living in houses made of mud-husk.
One of them, called Hiraman, said that these Bhangis call themselves Chuhara
since Chuharmal belonged to their caste.30 The name Chuharmal originated
from the word Chuhara but they are afraid to say this because of the fear that
28 Some people remember the Chuharmal tale in other forms too. The middle castes of the
Mokama region believe that there was a time when thieves and cowherds used to destroy the
crops. It was because of this that food was first offered to Chuharmal in the month of
Chaitra. In this version Chuharmal is a symbol of good so the people of these areas preserve
his memory in a divine form.
29 According to A.K. Warder, a Buddhist interpretation holds that in a primitive society the
concept of individual possession gave birth to the notion of theft. ‘Individual possession’ is
synonymous with stealing. See A.K. Warder Bharatiya Itihas lekhan ki Bhumika, Jaipur:
Rajasthan Sahitya Academy, 1987 (Hindi translation from the original in English). In a
Brahminical text like Manusmriti the word daku (Dacoit) means sahasi (courageous). But
the Manusmriti extends the meaning of the word sahasi to denote a kidnapper or a plunderer
of wealth, and in the law of Manu, the killing of a sahasi was supposed to be the duty of the
king. Ranajit Guha, in his study on Pratishwar, also explored many perspectives on the
thieving indulged in by the various subaltern communities of India. (‘Pratishwar ki
sanrachna,’ in Nimnavargiya Prasanga, edited by Gyanendra Pandey and Shahid Amin,
Delhi: Rajkamal Publications, 1929). These viewpoints conflict with the elite perception of
robbery. Eric Hobsbawm Bandits, London: Abacus, 2001, has also explored alternative
viewpoints on social banditry.
30 An interview with Hiraman recorded in Mokama, 12.8.1988.
Narayan 20
the Bhumihars might terrorise them. They also might have to face great
hostility from the Dusadhs.
Politics and Polemics of the Multiple Texts
As can be seen from the examples of the multiple texts, the original story of
Reshma and Chuharmal has undergone a large number of changes. The
differing versions of the story conflict with one another, depending on the
community which is narrating the story. The reason for these contestations
may also lie in the politics behind the collection of these multiple narratives.
The Chuharmal legend documented by George A. Grierson is based on the
story narrated by a Dom informant of Mithila. Not only does it differ from
the legend being circulated in the Magahi area but is also different from the
legend popular among the Dusadhs of the Mithila region. However, the
legend explored by him is available in the form of a narrative that is extant
among the Bhumihars of the Magadh region. On reading the description of
‘Sahles ka Geet’ presented by George A. Grierson, it seems he was not so
much curious about the tale of Sahles itself as he was about the process of
construction of the mythic mentality and the linguistics internal to the domain
of Maithili which could provide answers to questions such as ‘Who is a thief?’,
‘Who is a soldier?’ etc.
In any narrative the appearance of adjectives like ‘first thief’ and ‘first
watchman’ is not an innocent process. It is obviously a result of interpolation,
since the folk psyche often does not seek hierarchical relations in its stories.
Again, it usually refrains from attributing definitive and quantitative qualities to
the elements in the story. It uses adjectives indicating the flow of time and
space, e.g., ‘a long time ago’ (bahut pahle ki baat hai) or ‘a lion lived in a
jungle very far away’. In Bihar Peasant Life, Grierson fixes the identity of
Chuharmal as the ‘first thief’, neglecting the multiple variations in his identity
in different narratives. Later ethnographers and administrators of the colonial
period used the identity fixed by Grierson in their profiles of Chuharmal and of
the region to which he is said to have belonged.
Unlike the Dutch in Indonesia, who had specialists working side by side
with the administrators in formulating the policies of their colonial
administration, the British had no such institution in their colonial
administrative framework. Nevertheless, the British did not do any less than
the Dutch in getting to know the people they governed. Much of this work
was done by administrators. The first impetus to the study of the native
peoples of the empire came from such luminaries as Sir William Jones and
Warren Hastings in India and Sir Stanford Raffles in the Malaysian region.
Whether it was the East India Company or the Colonial Office, the main
problem confronting the British ruling in India was how to deal with the
peasantry, for it was the village that was the centre of Indian life. Especially
after 1858, the English officials were strictly directed to come closer to the
people to know their languages and cultural heritage. However, as the
Honour, Violence and Conflicting Narratives 21
example of Grierson shows, this knowledge was invariably coloured by the
colonial interests of the British, including those of the scholars. They were
quick to portray the natives and their heroes in derogatory terms.
Twelve years after Grierson, Ram Garib Choubey, who was himself a
folklorist and who collected folk literature for Crooke, projected Chuharmal
not as a thief but as a Dusadh hero marrying a Brahmin girl. The explanation
for his divergent portrayal of Chuharmal could be that he collected his story
from sources that had been neglected by the British, such as the Dusadhs of
the Mithila region. And in the context of Nageshwar Prasad’s 1967 version of
the narrative of the death of Chuharmal, the village in question fell under the
zone of influence of the Arya Samajis of the Patna District. It is possible that
this fact had an impact on the narrative, which states that Chuharmal died
while saving a cow. Prasad, however, tends to attribute this turn in the
narrative to the influence of Buddhism in this region, particularly among the
lower castes. He sees in the narrative the incorporation of the Buddhist values
of karuna and parityag (compassion and sacrifice). However, the lower caste
people here are largely under the Hindu influence, so it is difficult to be in full
agreement with Prasad.
The story narrated by Samprati Aryani (1971) had been collected from
the lower caste women of Amarpura. The narrative tells that on hearing the
news of the death of Chuharmal by embracing jal samadhi, Reshma gave up
her life at the same place. After this a voice was heard from the samadhi:
‘Always worship behan (sister) Reshma before you worship me.’ In the story
collected by others, especially from the Dusadhs in other areas, Reshma is
presented as being characterless and a vamp.
With regard to Baidya Nath Sharma’s version of the story, the story
was influenced by the fact that Baidya Nath Sharma belonged to the
Bhumihar caste and was associated with the movement of the Bhumihar
Samaj. The Bhumihars regard Chuharmal as their hero who was in love with
the daughter of a Muslim, a Pathan. By narrating the story of Chuharmal in
this particular way they might be attempting to escape from the possible social
insult caused to them through the version of the story portraying Reshma as a
Bhumihar. At the same time the depiction of the father of Reshma as a
Muslim might be a functional reflection of a mentality that targets Muslims at
every opportunity. This version of the story that is grossly different from the
version narrated by the Dusadhs shows how a folk myth linked with the
identity and prestige of a caste group is able to create contestation not only in
the oral society and in oral tradition but in the literate society and in print
culture and in newspapers also. It also shows how the leaders of the Dusadh
community came in the forefront to defend their own narrative and memory
attached with their own version of myth.
The difference in the versions narrated by the Dusadhs of Mithila and
Magadh reveals contesting versions within the same caste. While Chuharmal is
revered as a hero by the Dusadhs of the Magahi region, he is regarded as an
anti-hero by the Dusadhs of the Mithila region. Some interesting questions
arise in this context: why does a caste-hero of one cultural region become an
Narayan 22
anti-hero in another cultural region of the same caste? Is it possible that at a
certain point of time in the history of a folk memory, the cultural identity of
the area becomes more important than its caste-identity, which is only a part
of their larger identity?
The answers to these questions may be found in the cultural identities of
Magadh and Mithila, which are two different cultural and political regions of
Bihar. The people of Mithila perceive themselves as culturally superior since
the Mithila region is a Brahmin-dominated zone where Brahminical values are
predominant. Magadh region, however, is politically more powerful and more
influential than Mithila. There is thus a continuous attempt by both the regions
to project their hero as being mightier than the hero of the other region.
Hence, one region shows the other hero to have been defeated and places its
own hero on a higher pedestal. The cultural memory of the people of Magadh
and the political memory of the people of Mithila acquire a great deal of
significance, since historically Magadh was a large and important state while
Mithila was important because of its culture; politically it was not a very
powerful state. So in a narrative emanating from the Mithila region, there
might be a tendency to depict Magadh as a defeated power. This might be
attributed to the imagination of the people of a politically weaker region.
Probably this was also the reason why Maithili litterateurs place Sahles rather
than Chuharmal on a higher plane. It may be that part of their process of
identity construction is socially constructed and involves a continuous process
of defining friend and enemy.31
These mutually contesting versions of the story of Reshma and
Chuharmal that I collected during my field trip to the Magahi and Bhojpuri
regions show that a unified and universal form of this myth cannot found in
the same society. Again, during different periods people of the same caste
have narrate the story in different ways. Thus, not only do the folk narrations
change their form with regard to factors of time and space, but variations also
depend on factors such as who is narrating the story, to whom it is being
narrated, why it is being narrated, who is collecting it, etc. The intention and
motivation of the collector also plays a role.
Conclusion
The influence of the traditional Brahminical values have given rise to a mindset
among rural patriarchial society that considers women to be chattels of men
whose honour and chastity have to be safeguarded. This epitomises the
concept of masculinity, which is the ultimate ‘dharma’ (duty) of males. A
daughter is the symbol of the honour of the family and any aggression on her
honour is a slur on the honour of the family. It is believed that a love
relationship between a man and a woman should be established only after
31 Peter Sahlins, Boundaries: the Making of France and Spain in the Pyrenees, Berkeley:
University of California Press, 1989, pp.270-71.
Honour, Violence and Conflicting Narratives 23
marriage and there is no place for any other kind of love relationship in society.
The Brahminical tenets propogated by religious texts like the Manusmriti and
other ancient Hindu Shastras, have percolated to the common people and have
been transformed into practice even in their communities. Asymmetrical love
relationships cause massacres, violence, and caste and family feuds that may be
carried down over generations. This is especially true in rural societies of
Bihar and Uttar Pradesh where the project of modernity (which is expected to
remove this traditional mindset) has not yet been completed.
Indian society is stratified into many castes and communities that
manifest themselves in a myriad of fractured and contesting socio-cultural and
political hierarchical layers. Many of these castes and communities belonging
to the lower socioeconomic strata are engaged in a struggle to carve out their
identity and acquire social prestige. In such a situation, the memory of an
asymmetrical love relationship may sharpen the conflict among these castes,
leading to violence and feuds. Each of the castes may remember and narrate
the myths from their own vantage-point, giving rise to multiple texts and
narratives of these memories that may be the foundational element of their
collective memory and narrative. Thus the hiatus between the prevailing myth
and the existential realities are completely blurred and the myths become
transformed into reality and the reality becomes transformed into myth. Myth
is no less powerful in creating contestations and violence around such
happenings than the real incidents.
Some of these myths are remembered and narrated in the form of
folklore that is transmitted and circulated in the society. There is a strong link
between collective memories, myths and folklore since myths are the vehicle
of collective memory and some of these are circulated among the people in the
form of folklore. Folklore is not only an entertaining and cultural genre but is
also the oral record of various kinds of social events, dissent, dissatisfaction and
protest. It is a contributing factor in the creation of the collective memory of a
community. The reconstruction and remembrance of collective memories
reflect any changes taking place due to the transformation of social relations
and of social contexts. The myths of folklore negotiate with the identities of
the various groups. This is because although folklore is a cultural product of
the common folk and is often perceived as unified and innocent, people
themselves are not a homogeneous cultural group. When there is an
imbalance in the process of negotiation between the identities of various caste
groups then the possibility of violence arises, since myths and legends may
evoke the memory of these groups in various ways. Gramsci has rightly
suggested that people as a category presents numerous and variously
combined cultural stratification.32 That is why there is nothing more
contradictory and fragmentary than folklore.
32 Antonio Gramsci, Selections from Cultural Writings (ed.) David Forgacs and Geoffrey
Powell-Smith (translated by William Boelhower), Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University
Press, 1985, p.125.
