The Honourable Madras High Court’s recent verdict in the Udumalpet Shankar murder case is bound to disturb the anti-caste workers in Tamil Nadu. The Court has acquitted the prime accused citing the reason that the prosecution has failed to prove the charge of criminal conspiracy. The trial court had earlier awarded death sentence to the prime accused for killing Shankar, belonging to the Dalit Community, on March 13, 2016. His crime, for marrying a non-Dalit girl whom he loved. Had he not been stigmatized as an Unmarriageable by society, he wouldn’t have been the victim of caste.

The question that we all should no longer ignore is- whether the social transformation of the Dalits from Unmarriageables to marriageables has started or not? In other words, how far do the Dalits form a part in the inter-caste marriages?

I bifurcate the inter-caste marriage in which either the girl or the boy belongs to the Dalit community into the following category:

(A) Such an inter-caste marriage dissented either by the girl’s or the boy’s parents or both their parents but taking place in deviance to the dissented parents’ wish. 

(B) Such an inter-caste marriage occurring with the support and consent of the parents of the girl and the boy.

Considering the category (A), though the girl and the boy will live the same life of wife and husband that the world has seen so far, can their marriage be considered as the marriage of the usual kind happening in the Hindu society? Can their marriage be considered as an indication sent to the Hindu society that the social transformation of the Dalits from Unmarriageables to marriageables has begun? The repercussion of their marriage will provide the answer to these questions. Well, what is the repercussion then? Social ex-communication of the newly married couple by the family and community of either who belongs to the upper caste is what the usual outcome of such an inter-caste marriage is. The girl if she belongs to the upper caste or the boy if he belongs to the upper caste will be losing the ties of her/his family as a consequence of the marriage tie she/he formed with the Dalit community. Unchanging hatred from the parents for choosing the loved one of one’s liking, losing the old ties for creating a new tie, casted away from one’s own community for forming bonds with a suppressed community is what the consequences will be of. So what do these mean? Are the Unmarriageables becoming marriageables? Definitely not.

Instead, what the social ex-communication implicates is the undying hyperbolic enthusiasm of the caste Hindus in ensuring that the stigma of Unmarriageability imposed on the Dalits is retained. By socially excommunicating their own children, the caste Hindu mother and father send a strong warning to their caste community about the dire consequences that will be arising if any of their members intermarry a Dalit.

Some might start from the same argument that I am dealing right now and try to refute my statement by claiming that despite the threat to be ostracized always present, many are going for the inter-caste marriage with the Dalits and therefore, hurriedly they may conclude that Dalits are becoming marriageables. I do not wish to allow such shallow thinking to weaken the existing truth- Dalits are still considered as Unmarriageables.

Upper castes having marriage alliances with the Dalits, which is in fact a social transition within the caste determined Hindu society, needs to be well analysed before terming the state of the Dalits. Such inter-caste marriages are possible when,

(1) The General Will of the caste Hindus,

a)  to consider the marriage in synonymous with their caste;

b) their concept of notional defilement in connection to the Dalit community; and

c)  their theory of infallibility of Vedas guarding the caste system fades together.

(2) The deviant (either the girl or the boy) go against the General Will and marry the individual belonging to the Dalit community. 

Even while understanding the case (2), such deviancy, superficially, cannot be considered as an attempt to change the General Will of the Hindu society. The deviant’s intent is not to change the General Will of the caste system. The deviant’s intent in actuality is not to become a deviant of the Hindu society. Her deviancy is not aimed to remove the blots of the Hindu society. She became a deviant simply because the person she chose to marry happened to be an Unmarriageable. She became a deviant from the society’s perspective and not from hers’. Therefore, her deviancy is not aimed to alter the General Will but to marry the person she loved. Though she married an Unmarriageable, her marriage is not going to sermonise the Hindu society that Unmarriageables are also marriageables. Though hers’ is a marriage between an upper caste(herself) and an Unmarriageable, the marriage is not going to alter the practice of Unmarriageability as it is not attacking the General Will which imposes Unmarriageability on the Dalit community. The marriage does not cure or curse the caste system but is successful to the extent of a girl, who lacks the feeling of caste, marrying the boy whom she loved, against the wishes of her caste prejudiced parents. Inter-caste marriage mentioned in the category (A) of this section is of this kind. Such marriages do not effect a social change that removes the stigma of Unmarriageability imposed on the Dalits. There is no social transition of Dalits from Unmarriageables to marriageables through such inter-caste marriages based on love.

Then, what kind of marriages can bring the needed social transition for the Dalits? It is the inter-caste marriage as mentioned in the category (B) which occurs with the support and consent of the parents of the girl and the boy. But this is possible only when the General Will of the caste Hindus as mentioned in the point (1) fades away. So, the ball lies in the court, solely comprising caste Hindus whose caste feelings and attachments are difficult to be weakened. Hence the marriages under category (B) would not occur often. Though this statement is a normative one, anyone who is aware of the marriages in the Hindu society will not demand empirical evidence to prove that marriages of the category (B) are few. In fact, such marriages are the rarest of rarity and even if happens is insignificant because of their stray occurrences failing to initiate and sustain a social change that could transform the Dalits from Unmarriageables to marriageables.

To conclude, an inter-caste marriage between upper caste and a Dalit should not be construed as caste consciousness disappearing from the minds of caste Hindus. Rather such marriages are the triumph of the love marriages happening between the girls and boys of the present generation who do not care about their caste background and who do not pay heed to their parents’ caste mindset. Their deviancy is to get united and not to protest against caste. They may be united but at the cost of their caste driven parents socially boycotting them. Their marriage might have happened but not with the consent of their parents. Gaining the parents’ acceptance and the absence of ostracism after their marriage are the two indicators of the social transition of the Dalits becoming marriageables from Unmarriageables. Both being rarity, such a transition has not started yet.

Author – A.B.Karl Marx Siddharthar (Email id – karlmarxsiddharthar@gmail.com)

Author of ‘Understanding Unmarriageability: The Way Forward To Annihilate Caste’