Aleph: New Delhi 2025
This book provides a close look into the dark world of politico-ethnic fantacies that is being promoted by the "Dravidian Model" partly as an ideological carapace to gloss over the rather bizzare social experiment that has been enacted in the Tamil region under the leadership of E V Ramasamy Naikker and his acolytes and to further the political objectives of the ruling dispensation. Academia and Media act in concert one furthering the discourse of the other. If indents for Zyklon are not being filled in Tamil Nadu, the answer lies in the reality that the Indian State is a reassuring presence. Like every kind of fascism Tamil Nadu, for political reason has identified one particular ethnic/caste group for instense campaign of hate and marginalization. And Stockholm Syndrome prevents its victims from even apprehending the scale and scope of their own debasement.
Let us start with the positive elements in this book. Though highly repetitive, especially on the historical aspects of medieval History, the book rests on a solid base of secondary material culled from the published work of Burton Stein, Noboru Karashima, Y Subbarayalu, Nilakanta Shastri amomg others. The geographical locus of the study is entirely Madras and Nothern Tamil Nadu with ocassional forays into Tanjavur and Madurai. The rich history and culture of the Kongu region is completely neglected except for the interegmum of Tipu Sultan and his father. The Kongu region has had a complex history and became the hub of entrepenuership and industrialization early in the twentieth century and as such deserves more engagement.
The obsession with the so-called Sangam Age is paraded throughout the book. Using literary narratives to frame an archaeological culture is always problematic in that it presupposes a clear and unambiguous chronology. The bardic compositions associated with the narrative poems are beset with intractable controversies relating to the dating of these poems and their modes of transmission down to the nineteenth century when they were "discovered" by Dr U V Swaminatha Aiyer. Whitney Cox has demonstrated that the Manuscript Culture prevalent in the medieval period presupposes a professional literate group with the skill set necessary to curate copy preserve the literary works. This being the case there is no truth in the oft repeated fable that the "Sangam Age" and its literary heritage was lost until the Tamil Renaissance rediscovered it.
On page 125 the author writes: "...the general boost that Brahmins received socially from royal diminished the resistance and gave brahmin landlords an inbuilt advantage that servered them multigenerationally in the accumulation of wealth and resources". Of course when grand sweeping generalizations of this nature are made whose purpose is to play along with the dominant dravidianist narrative, we cannot expect evidence to stand in the way. Historical facts tell a different story. The brahmadeyas endowed disappeared from the agrarian landscape in the turbulent thirteenth century when the Chola Empire preciptously declined. Burton Stein has shown through a detailed study of inscriptions that brahmadeyas were not extablished after the 13th century. In fact during the later Chola period the base of royal patronage shifted from brahmadeyas to the rapidly proliferating Saiva mathas that were coming up in the Kaveri region and its environs. So much for intergenerational accumulation that she talks about. This fixation on brahmin privilege is hardwired by vigorous propaganda in political, cinematic and media channels and of course organic intelllectuals will parrot this "wisdom" ad nauseum. Coming to more recent evidence, the fact that less than 40% of the graduates of Madras University who got their degrees in the first commencement were of non brahmin origin. And the list of voters who were elibible to vote in the elections held as per the Minto-Morley Reforms which was on the basis of property qualification is even more damning to this self serving argument trumped up through political grandstanding.
The tales of persecution of Jains of course offends modern sensibilities. But there is no evidence to substantiate the oft repeated horror stories about jains being killed in Madurai on the orders of a Saivte King. Geograhical details are spotty. Is Udayagiri near Sanchi as stated on pg. 94. Does Marco Polo refer to the "Tower of Malla" near Nagapatinnam as remarked on pg. 79. The author ignores one of the most amazing cultural and intellectual contributions of medieval Tamil region. The appropriation and transformation of Kasmiradesa Saiva religion into the Saiva Siddhantha which became institutionalised in the mathas referred to above. Perhaps the reason for ignoring such developments can be traced back to the cautionary words spoken by a prince of the dravidianist movment.
This book written by one trained in "Post Colonialism" must be read with extreme caution as it presnts contentious facts as though they have no context and are beyond debate.
