Globalisation Traumas and New Social Imaginary: Visvakarma Community of Kerala Author(s): George Varghese K.

Reviewed work(s): Source: Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 38, No. 45 (Nov. 8-14, 2003), pp. 4794-4802 Published by: Economic and Political Weekly Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4414253 . Accessed: 05/02/2012 23:13
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Traumas Globalisation and New Social Imaginary

Visvakarma

Community of

Kerala

Withoutbeing able to identify with either the upper castes or the lower castes on caste questions, or with left ideologies or rightistforces on the political front the visvakarmacommunityof traditional artisans in Kerala aimlessly wandersfrom one shelter to another. The changes that are taking place in the self-identity of this community buffetedby new economic forces provide a clue to the process of reformulationof community identities by middle caste groups in recent times.
GEORGEVARGHESEK

noteworthy for their ineptitude in fetching the communally brokeredpolitical privileges. According to Sobha Ramakrishnan, in combination lobalisation withmechanisation is wield- an ideologue of the community, "Visvakarma community could arts and never consolidate itself like other communities either politically ing a devastatinginfluenceon the traditional crafts of India at present.The case of the traditional or communally. It failed to organise politically since it never had artisancommunityof Kerala, otherwise called visvakarmas, a philosophical vision needed for political organisation. On the becomesa sordidtale of pauperisation anddispossessionin this other hand, it could never organise communally also since it context. Thepredicament is pithilyputby one of the community lacked a spirituality that could impart symbolic coherence to the "Visvakarma is in the grips community's aspirations. We have lost the label of the Hindu leaders, Sthanumalayan: community of LPGat present.By LPGI meanliberalisation, pauperisation itself due to the lack of this spirituality and have become outcaste andglobalisation".This stateof thingsis creatingsubtleshifts Hindus" [Ramakrishnan 2003:5]. The visvakarmacommunity's identity had always been pivoted in communityidentityand political behaviour. Thevisvakarma consistsof five subgroups: black- aroundtheir profession, almost aprioristically. Hence their claim community bell metal workers,stonemasons and gold- to brahminism,a stridentrefrainin their centuries long struggle,4 smiths,carpenters, smiths.2They are neithertoo high nor too low in the pollution had always been aligned to the theme of the retrieval of the old basedcasteorderof Keralawhile at the sametime neverfit into glory of their crafts. The craft traditions, it is claimed, go back the apparel of the grimymanuallabourer. Paritywith brahmins to the ancient Indus Valley civilisation itself. Their work manuals hadbeen a stridentslogan for long as well as the argument for inherited from the early history manifest high influence of the recognition of their professionas somethingmore exalted cosmology, geometry, astronomy, physics, meteorology and thanmanuallabour,which they consideras a combination of metallurgy [Somanathan 1987, 1989]. The visvakarmas also scientific,artisticand manualskills rolled into one. The truth strongly hold thatthey were the real architects of the Indus Valley or force of these arguments the community is civilisation and not the brahmins of today who were in fact notwithstanding, still in political wilderness and in the brink of professional usurpers of their glory later. So improvements in their extinction.Globalisation at presenthas addedto theirtraumas. present condition also mean the reinstatement of the dignity of This has also incitedsubtleshifts in theiridentityprojection at their crafts. In the pragmatic terms their demand is that they should be a new community on the consciousness present. Manufacturing of primordial bedrock in the present recognised as the "traditionalor basic labourers"5 and be given glories and its deployment becomesalientin thisprocess.But the due protection, which even the unskilled labourers enjoy in politicsof communal bargain we alsonoticethisagenda on newerpolitical Kerala [Mathrubhumi, February 27, 2003:14; Malayala pitiablyfloundering boulderscreatedby the state underthe fiat of globalisation. Manorama, February 27, 2003:11]. Of course there are certain The community has many peculiarities that make theircase sections of labourers who are recognised as traditional labourers uniqueandprecarious especiallyin the case of Kerala.Firstof by the Kerala government and they are confined to four sectors all theartisan is claimedto be thelargestsinglegroup mainly: coir, cashew processing, fishing and hand weaving. community underthe Hindufold in Indiawith a population of 14 crores.3 According to R S Manian of Pazhayasala from the community, Similarlythis is one of the very few castes in Keralathat has this is unjustsince these professions arevery recentwhen compared its representation outside the state also. It is the thirdlargest to the ancient crafts of the artisans. He argues that the traditional afterezhavas andnairs intheHindu fold[Karmayugam, crafts associated with Visvakarma, the archetypal Creatorof the community November2002:6]. Yet the artisancommunitynever made a Hindu pantheon, bear the stamp of the primordialact.of Creation decisivesocial or politicalpresencein Indiaor in Kerala.In the itself. Living matter like animals and plants were created only caseof Kerala andarespecifically after the creation of the non-living matter like stones and metals. theywerealwaysmarginalised

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The artisanswork on the non-living matter like stones and metals The visvakarmas occupy an ambivalent position in the caste (except for wood) that were the first creations of the lord. But order. Distance pollution markedthe early caste system in Kerala, ironically the government gives protection as 'traditional indus- which was prevalent till the 20th century. Though no more tries' to professions associated with vegetal and living matters practised, its spatialisation is still the best indicatorof each caste's like coir, cotton and fish, which were subsequent creations after position within the ideology of caste order. Ayyappan, the ethnometals and stones (interview on March 18, 2003). grapherof Kerala, furnishes us with the spatial scale of this system 'Tradition' and 'labour' have other connotations as well in the as practisedin 1937. The namboodiribrahminwas the solar centre parlance of the brahminic ideology. First of all 'labour' in the of the system. A nairmust keep seven feet away from him, ezhava political economy sense, which means an intrinsic human act 32 feet, a cheruman 64 feet and a nayadi from 74 to 124 feet. that adds a definite value and therefore price to a product, had In turn the various distances between the lower castes were never been presentin the Hindu vision wedded to the caste system. deduced by simple subtraction:the ezhava must keep 25 feet from Ordinarylabour was always considered polluting and menial. In the nair, and cheruman 32 feet from the ezhava. Castes like an upturned ideology the brahmin who spurned the physical nayadis were not only untouchables but 'unseeables' also labourgoverned the Hindu cosmos and the so-called lower castes [Hutton1969:80]. The visvakarma was supposed to stand 24 feet that toiled for the sustenance of the system existed on its fringes away from the brahminaccordingly [ibid]. So he stood eight feet or even outside it. The category of labour was seriously distorted ahead of an ezhava and 17 feet behind the nair. in the Indian ideology and we find only its philosophical hyperThe system was 'audio-visual' with the rules of pollution based boles like karma, dharma, etc, circulating with currency and on sight, touch and sound. The nair who stood seven feet away dignity. The rising in the scale of caste order for visvakarmas could not touch the brahmin. The nayadi who was to remain therefore means reinstating the dignity of their profession on par beyond 74 feet could pollute by sight also. The visible circumwith that of the ancient crafts in the pre-brahminic and pre-caste ference of this sacred space seems to have the limit point at period. At present this is possible only through higher economic 64 feet where the cheruman stood. The ezhava who stood at returnsfor their work and stable working conditions, which can 32 feet away from the namboodiri constituted the middle point be guaranteed only through the protective measures of the of this cosmos. If we add a physical-spatial dimension to the government. ideological hierarchyof Dumont7 the ezhava's position logically But under the imperatives of globalisation the state is already becomes the threshold point between the purity-pollution withdrawing the support to the traditional crafts and industries divide of the system. It means the community that occupied this like coir industry, cashew processing and hand weaving. Under point was neither too polluted nor too pure. In that case the this general turmoil the visvakarma artisans who once hoped to visvakarma at 24 feet stood within the vantageous segment of improve their socio-economic position are floundering on fresher purity. boulders created by the state. The community today is a disBut this did not secure the visvakarmas any socially significant illusioned lot especially with the serious dislocation of the gold- position under the brahminic hegemony. This they believe smiths. They are launching many struggles under the banner of was the result of a historic villainy perpetrated by the brahmins Visvakarma communal organisations and various trade unions. (see below). Their position in the middle of the caste order Their acute sense of futility seems to eventuate the increasing became critical. Being neither too pure nor too polluted made influence of the Hindutva ideology as well as the rearticulation them a pivotal caste between the upper and the lower ones. As of their history with a new logic. The latter looks awkward many a result their professional status became ambivalent. They a time. built temples, sculpted the deities, made their ornaments and these were undoubtedly pure and sacred acts. But the moment these acts were finished they were thrown out deemed as polluted. Thus straddling pollution and purity indecisively The visvakarma community traces its lineage to Lord became their jinxed life state or existential ontology under Visvakarma, the divine architect of the Hindu pantheon. and his brahmin dominance. five children. It is believed that the five children (or five essences) of Visvakarma, Manu, Maya, Tvashta, Shilpi and Visvajna were Ill the forefathers of the five groups among the visvakarma comThe disasters in the occupational front have roused many munity. Manu was believed to be the forefather of the blacksmiths, Maya of carpenters, Tvashta of metal casters, Shilpi of ideological and political responses from the visvakarma comstonemasons and the last one Visvajna of the goldsmiths. The munity, which is especially noteworthy for disunity, factional title 'visvakarma' was adopted only recently, before that the fights and incoherence. This derives from the lack of an integral community was known under the name 'kammalan'. Kammalan vision about the community identity on which their struggles which according to Edgar Thurston, may have derived from the could be launched. This in turn is pivoted on the peculiar way Tamil 'kannalan' or 'kannalar' which means 'one who rules the their profession and caste order are bound up together. The eye or one who gives the eye' [Thurston 1909:106]. This refers argument for upper caste status is inextricably bound up with to the ritual act by the artisan or the artificer who makes the idol the historically claimed merit of their crafts. So their putative coming forward and painting its eyes at the end of the conse- brahminism and the dignity of their crafts go up or sink together. cration ceremony of a temple or a 'vihara'. In Ceylon and south The community identity thus becomes a resilient node that could India, this act of 'eye painting ' or 'netra-mangalya' is believed be pulled from various directions and also one that could be to infuse the idol with the divine powers before which it is only manipulated by a host of ideological and political forces that a lump of metal or clay [Coomaraswamy 1979:70-75: Singer range from hardened Marxism to fundamentalist Hindutva. As 1972: 122].6 Paul Zachariah, the famous litt6rateur of Malayalam told me,

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"This is the most confused community about their own identity in Kerala". The identity of the community suffers from a number contradictions engendered both within and without. The immigrant Tamil goldsmiths consider only themselves to be brahminswhile they hold their Malayali kins to be an inferior and untouchable jati. Even within the Malayali fold there is no unity. As an informanttold me this is because of the 'bad ego' deriving from the nature of the respective professions of each group. "The goldsmith, since he works upon the precious metal, thinks that he is the most superior. The blacksmith, since he works upon iron, which is the most essential and strongest of metals, thinks that he is higher. On the other hand the bell metal worker and stonemason since they make human and even divine forms think that they are the greatest. The very medium they work upon and the natureof the profession foment jealousy towards each other and prevent the community from coming together." Again the community always identified with wrong ideologies and causes at wrong times, thus thinks many influential ideologues of the community. For a long time, to be exact till 1980s, the community identified with communism, which hampered their prospects, according to one of the vice-presidents of the KVS. Almost 70 per cent of the community had always been Left Frontsupportersheaded by the CPI (M) [Karmayugain,April 2002:6]. But the Left Front never did anything worthwhile to improve their condition. Similarly the identification with the communists also prevented them from participating effectively in the freedom struggle led by the Indian National Congress. According to Karamana Balakrishnan, one of the community leaders, "There were very a few freedom fighters from the communitylike Moothapillai Achari from Choorakkattupalayam. The community somehow missed the legacy of the Indian freedom struggle" (interview on March 22, 2003). The community failed to organise under an eminent community leader during the freedom struggle, which in fact happened to many other communities, like the nairs and ezhavas. P R Devadas, the president of K V S, cites another interesting incident. During the freedom struggle, when the outcaste pulayas were organising underthe community leader Ayyankali, the uppercastes beat him up for travelling in a decorated bullock cart ('villuvandi') which was forbidden to the lower castes at that time. In the group that beat up this pulaya leader there was one Kesavan Achari from the visvakarmacommunity who identified himself with the upper castes. This, according to Devadas. shows that "the community always stood with its back turned to history and always failed to imbibe the social changes occurring around it" [ibid:10]. We again notice that it is not the paucity of communal organisations or similar cultural outfits within the community that has thwarted the construction and projection of a viable community identity. The first communal organisation of the smiths in south India was started in 1903 in Madras namely the 'Visvakarma Kulabhimana Sabha'. After that we see a number of communal organisations budding, growing, splitting, merging and vanishing among them. The year of India's freedom 1947 witnessed the formation of the Akhila Thiruvithamkore VisvakarmaMaha Sabha (ATVMS) in the Travancorearea. After 10 years in 1957 it grew into a statewide organisation called Akhila Kerala Visvakarma Maha Sabha (AKVMS). Many local associations coexisted with this frontal organisation while many associations emerged newly due to factional rivalry in this period [Achary 1998:305]. Some of them like Kerala Visva Brahma

Maha Sabha andKerala Visvakarmala (KVBMS) (KVS) Sangham emergedas rivals to the MahaSabha.Accordingto Vikraman of the Achary,who wrotea thesison the politicalmodernisation a 'Round TableConference' itself was heldin 1966 community, in Aluvaunderthe initiativeof the MahaSabhato resolvethese internecine conflicts(ibid). Then in 1968 an entirelynew assoService Society ciation emergedunderthe name Visvakarma the interests (VSS). But this groupwas alleged of articulating the goldsmiths.The of only one groupamongthe visvakarmas, organisations, year2001 witnessedthe mergingof threeseparate Samooham(TVS) into AKVMS,VSS and Tamil Visvakarma Sabha(KVS). a single frontaloragnisation, KeralaVisvakarma who considerthemselves Also a sectionof theTamilgoldsmiths of brahminic distinct fromothers purity especiallyonthequestion have formedtheirown oraganisation namely,Visva Brahmana Kulodharana Sangham (VBKS). They also organised under two political partiesof their own namely ProgressiveDemocraticFront(PDF)andBharathiya Labour Party(BLP)in 1980s and 1990s respectively,to negotiatemore effectively with the government,but failed miserably (interviews with different communityleaders). The claim to brahminstatus or the equivalent had always beenone of themainstays of visvakarma identity.Theyconsider the brahmins- whom they call 'go-brahmins'with an air of and themselves 'visvabrahmins' have always concontempt stituted the 'Other' of thecommunity.8 Thenotionot the 'Other' in thecase of visvakarmas formas thebrahminic hasan identical one butwith a different the content.In the case of the brahmins Otherbecomesa mediated thanan oppositional categoryrather one. The Otherwas always incorporated througha processof 'inclusivism'and 'hierarchisation' [Jaffrelot1996:4; Dumont 1998] The failureto addressthe Otherin termsof opposition inhibitedthe growthof the Hinduconsciousness,accordingto the Hindunationalists of theearly20thcentury. This is because: Hinduism has alwaysrecognised the existenceof 'aliens'and 'barbarians' But suchgroupsweremadethe object (mlecchas). of discrimination, noton the basisof ethniccriteria butbecause totheprescribed rituals of which theBrahmins theydidnotconform werethe guardians. Oncethis obstaclehadbeenremoved there wasno longer a barrier their socio-cultural preventing integration. In this processthe internal logic of the castesystemrevealsits for assimilation: in so faras the hierarchy a capacity represents basedon the notionof ritualand purity, systemof gradation can find a placein it, below he Brahmins, everyone according to his degreeof conformity with the exaltedvaluespersonified [Jaffrelot 1996:2-3]. by Brahmins The Hinducommunity,for nationalistslike Golwalker,is a of 'lack' in the Zizekianterms[Hansen1997:271]. community Theessenceof thecommunity is emptyandinexpressible. Itcould thandefinedor measured. Thisemptiness also only be felt rather of the of more insidious compromotespossibility production munalimaginaries as 'fantasyconstructs supporting reality',to use a Zizekianexpressionagain [ibid: 181].The lack perceived in thepresent makestheimaginary curvebackto fictionalUtopias and primordial worlds in which the communityin questionis envisagedas the rulersand masters.Castoriadis conceptualises it cogently: It(thesignifier) thecollectivity in question, butit does designates notdesignate it as pure it designates it atthesametime extension; asintention, assomething, aquality ora property. Weareleopards. Wearemacaws. We aretheSonsof Heaven. Wearethechildren Economicand PoliticalWeekly November8. 2003

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Godwillmake over consideredas inert or alienatedobjects of their creatorsbut of Abraham, thechosen triumph peoplewhom his enemies. We arethe Hellenes- the peopleof light.We call somethingthatcontainedthe live creativespiritof the artistor orothers Slav.We are the silpin;morepreciselyinsteadof objectsthey were subjectcall us German, Teutsch, Frank, ourselves, of God, who sufferedfor us..., the namewas not objects.Thiscreativespiritthatshapedtheobjectsof artorcrafts the children them was to denoting thembutat the sametimeconnoted restricted partof the cosmic spiritthat ruledeverything.Hence the thatis notand refers to a signified as well- andthisconnotation of artsor craftswereequallythe vehiclesof Maya,the products but imaginary...[Castoriadis cannotbe eitherreal or rational, of the Absolute.Andtherefore the exclamaplayfulexpressions 1987:148]. tion of the artistor craftsman beforehis or hercreation"Ohow In the case of Hindu nationalism,the Vedic 'Golden Age' did I make it? [Kramrisch 1954:14]. connotesthe primordial which latercollapsedunder of manyaspectslike grandeur, Silpawas a complexconceptconstituted of alienOther. of this primordial art,craft,labour,ingenuity,rite and ritualas well as form and the incursion Now the retrieval of the Otherthrough militant creation.Thereforesilpi more thana mere technicalperformer glorydependson the vanquishing nationalism. becomesan agent of magicaland divine powers.The craftsin The visvakarma thewholeof theculture identityconstructionmanifestsan identical earlyIndia embraced andethosandhence historicalimaginary of similarintensity,but with a construed came to be classifiedas 64 artsor kalakal.Its variegated range and with the same actorsin changedroles. In the includedmundane craftslike potterymakingand blacksmithy, Chronotope9 traditional Hinduworldview,to which the Hindu nationalists magicaland occult practicesand even agonisticartsof love as theVedicworldwasconstructed withspecificnotions laid down in the Kamasutra. subscribed, On the otherhand,vidya or pure of territory, social structure. The Aryansof the sciences formedonly half the numberof arts:thirty-two and in the language Vedic timesweredeemedas the chosenpeopleof god to whom ancientIndia [Kramrisch in Miller 1983:59-60]. the formlessgod revealedthe perfectknowledgeof the Vedas. The silpinsortheartisans of Indus called Valleywereoriginally - the 'Vis' or 'Vissa', derivedfrom the Pali usage 'Viskamma'. Some time afterCreationthey came down to Aryavarta The the Indus laterbrahminism andVindhyamountains, betweenHimalayas territory andits language, thisorigiSanskrit, corrupted - and then became the mastersof the earth. nal Pali expression. and Brahmaputra In this amendation 'vissa ' became'vaisya' the inhabitants in the 'motherof all languages', which signified a lower status. From 'vaisya' the name Theyinstructed theSanskrit, beforefallingintoidolatry andsuperstition [Jaffrelot 'visvakarma' to scholars. From oughtto haveevolved according Thelegacyof theAryans continued thebrahmins thePali 'viskamma' 1996:16]. through thedravidian 'kamma' and'kammalar' took who instituted polytheismand caste system, the pivots of the birthin all probability [Somanathan 1987:28].The vissas worHindu later.Intheensuinghierarchical culture order thebrahmin shippedBrahma andhis demiurge, visvakarma. The latermembecamethe apexpointto whose pre-eminence in the bersof the HinduTrinity,Vishnuand Siva were not important everything Hinduworld was subjugated. in this originalpantheon. Therewere a numberof templesfor The visvakarma renditionof the Vedic world and its legacy Brahmain this period.Later,cleavages rend this Vedic combecomesa mutated versionof the brahminic one. For themthe munityspecificallydueto therivalry betweenthe sagesVasishta havecompletelymisrepresented brahmins theirrolein theVedic and Visvamitra.Vasishta conspired with one of the kings, For Sudasana, times,whichwas nothingshortof villainyandmanipulation. who fought the 10 clans of the artisansand finally aprominent historian fromthecommunity, EdavaSomanathan,10 destroyedthem.The Induscivilisationdeclinedeventuallyand the Hindu religion and brahminicreligion are two different theartisan vissasfled to different of theworld[Somanathan parts Vedic and 1989:76-77;1987]. Vasishtawho was instrumental in the dethings.The trueHindureligion was pre-brahminic, The brahmins egalitarian. only createdthe four caste divisions structionof these artisansnurtured anotherpriestlyclass who andalsothefifthdivisionof untouchables calledthePanchamars became the brahminslater. The brahminsinstitutedthe new later.Sage Vyasawho compiledthe Vedas standsat the prove- HinduTrinityin whichBrahma was given an inferior place.All nance of this contrivance.The Jains used to call this Hindu his templeswere destroyedand the decree was passed that he religioncorrupted by brahmins 'Vyasareligion'with contempt should not be worshipped anywherein the Aryavarta. 1989:120]. [Somanathan And how did the brahmins soarandthe artisans sink?For the Thesenseof 'lack'atpresent thecommunity to ransack visvakarma prompts is discerniblein ideologuesa differentchronotope the reasonsfor it in the Vedic milieu as similarto the romantic the pre-history of India.This chronotope is markedby a deep theorisations of Hindunationalism. As usualthey stronglyfeel scission in the stretchof Indianhistoryfrom the later partof thatthe primordial worldwas theirsand they were the masters the Induscivilisationaround2500 BC to 1000 BC. This is the of it. Thelocus of this pre-brahminic worldwas Aryavarta itself periodthatis called the 'DarkAges' of the Indianhistory.We and the civilisation they gave rise to was the Indus Valley get the faintglimpseof the Vedic periodfromVedasespecially Civilisation. The Vedic Civilisation and the Indus Valley Rig Veda.Then suddenlythereis a gap of 1,500 years with no Civilisation were one and the same. This was an 'Artisan historicaldocuments.Then historyis born anew around1000 Civilisation'in contradistinction to the laterauthentication that BCandJainism andBuddhism followsaround 600 BC.The 1,500 it was aryan/brahminic. It was an egalitarian civilisationwithno darkyearsbetween2500 BC and 1000 BC is the criticalperiod castedivisionsin it. Theartsandscienceswerehighlydeveloped for the visvakarmas. Theyclaimthatin this periodthe brahmins in thismilieuwiththousands of treatises on astronomy, did everythingpossible to deliberately produced erase the tracesof their metallurgy, chemistry,geography,physics, textile technology, glory in the Vedic/Indus 1989:42-43]. period[Somanthan architecture andeven aerodynamics. Theymadeeven aeroplanes The argument goes as follows. We find evidence of scripts usinga rarealloy called 'rajaloham' (royalmetal)[ibid:24-27]. andwritingsin the Indusperiod.The archaeologists havefound In ancientIndiathe artisanwas an artistpar excellence:the out around400 lettersfrom the writingson seals, vessels, etc, 'silpin' or 'silpan'. The productsof arts and crafts were not retrieved fromtheHarappa-Mohanjadaro sites. So if writingwas Economicand PoliticalWeekly November8, 2003 4797

known in the Vedic/Indusperiod how come the Vedas were preservedin the oral traditionfor thousandsof years till they to Sanskritbornonly around3rd centuryBC? were translated who wantedto destroythe The answeris simple.The brahmins theirown glory destroyed of the artisans foist and greatlegacy every traceof historicaland culturalrecordsthat spoke about of scientific andtheircivilisations.So the thousands the artisans treatisesof the Indus period were destroyed.But Vedas were thatwithproper construal sincetheyunderstood theycould spared be used as vehicles to freighttheirown glory also. But to keep the writtenforms the exclusivepreserveof themthey destroyed of Vedas and insteadstartedkeepingthem in theirown heads them.Thus startedthe oral tradition of Sruthis by by-hearting which Vedas were transferred fromgeneandSmrithis through ration to generation for hundredsof years. Only with the of Sanskrit 3rdcentury BC the systematisation by Paniniaround in the writtenform [ibid:96-101,115]. Vedas were reproduced was the last shroudspreadon the corpseof the Vedic "Sanskrit GoldenAge" [ibid: 134]. This also markedthe descentof India from the 'AeroplaneAge' of the artisansto the 'Bullock-cart Age' of the brahmins[ibid:131]. of thecosmoswasdifferent Theoriginal Vedicconception from the laterbrahminic one. It was called 'Visvabrahmam' created thedemiurge of Brahma. Itis interesting to notice by visavkarma, that this cosmos was oragnisedon the principleof 'five' or 'pancha'.Accordinglythe Brahma/Visvakarma originallyhad five faces. He had five childrenfrom whom the five groupsof the artisancommunitytook birth. There were originallyfive Vedaswith Pranava Veda as the last one. It was suppressed by thelaterbrahmins butretained its essenceas theone-word mantra of OM. The variousaspectsof mundanelife also came to be ordered on thisprinciple of five. The landof Induswheretheyliveditself wasPanjab, 'thelandof five rivers'.Theyfollowedanegalitarian administration basedon theruleof five called'panchayat', which constitutes the basic unitof civil administration even at present in India.1Ipanchaguna (five qualities), (a peculiar panchakalyani horse), 'Panchavadyam' (five musical instruments), 'panchakarma' (five practices of Ayurvedic medicine), of cow), (a sacredfood madeof the five products 'panchgavya' Indian 'pancharatna' (fivediamonds), (the 'panchangam' five-part calendar), (foodmadeof five sweet astrological 'panchamrutam' edibles),'panchadukham' (five sorrows),etc, were some of the five-based aspects of this prelapsarian reality [Somanathan Raveendran 1988:13-17]. 1989:51-55; 1998:22-40;Suvarnakar The fourlaterHindulife stages called 'Varnashrama Dharma'. were also five in the earlyperiod.The stage afterdeathwas the fifth one. Deathis only a 'home coming' of the humansoul to the Visvabrahmam to be born again accordingto the Hindu this temporary theology;and,therefore, stage was also deemed as a life stage or AshramaDharma[Natarajanl997:17]. In contraposition to this, the laterbrahmins the reorganised classicalworldentirelyon theprinciple of 'four'or 'chatur'. The five Vedaswerereduced to four.Amongthefive facesof Brahma/ Visvakarma onewaschopped off. Fromthefourparts ofBrahma's four body four Varnaswere born.There came to be instituted Dharmas andfourAshrama Dharmas Fourages,four accordingly. fourarts,fourcraftsall followedfromthis reduction. directions, Even cow came to be veneratedsince it has four legs. This elevationof fourcorrespondingly debasedthe orderof five into thatcameto represent 'panchama' lowly andpolluted everything

in the brahminic ideology. Under this tainted category came to be included the 'mleccha' (foreigner), nishada(squatter),chandala (the untouchable), avarna (casteless) and the adivasi (tribal) [Walker 1968,Vol II: 172-75].12 The defeat of artisans and the destruction of Indus civilisation by Sudasanaon the counsel of Vasishta resulted in the mass flight of the Visavakarmas to other parts of the world. For Somanathan the Indus civilisation was the 'mother of all civilisations' and the artisans who fled to different parts of the world from the Indus became the creators of cultures in other parts of the world. Deploying an incredible historical Chronotope he tries to authenticate a fabulous Indus-centric theory of diffusion of world cultures. He argues that the first temples in the world were built by the Visvakarmas of Indus, which then spread to other parts of the world with their migration. The sun temples of Egypt and Sumer, the temple of Athena in Troy, the Mother Goddess of Philistines, etc, were Indian gods and goddesses. But it is noteworthy that they were all Vedic gods of the artisan period like Sun, Varuna, Indra, etc, and not the brahminic gods like Siva or Vishnu who emerged later. It was not only the areas surrounding India like Persia or Arabia that came under the influence of the fleeing visvakarmas but even places as far as Egypt, Polynesia and America. The Aztec civilisation was built by the artisans who went there from Indus. The Maya civilisation of South America was another one, which inherited the legacy of the Visvakarmas of Indus. The name 'Maya' itself derived from the name of the second son of Visvakarma, Maya [Somanathan 1987]. Europe also came underthe overriding influence of the migrant artisans of Indus. The gypsies and pagans of Europe were their descendants. The notion of 'commune' in Europe from which communism evolved in fact originated from the settlements of the early artisans. The name 'Viskamma'of earlier artisans shrunk to 'kamma' later. The social order of these artisans was egalitarian and their settlements were called kammakkudi, kammatheruvu, kammakulam, etc. The notion of egalitarian 'commune' derived from these 'kamma' (or Camma) settlements of the early artisans. Marx and Engels who wrote about the Communes of Europe failed to take note of this umbilical relationship with Indus civilisation and the artisan makers of it [Somanathan 1989:18-21].

IV
The identity projectionat presentevinces a more critical outlook and negotiatory spirit as necessitated by the political bargains based on communal headcount and the worsening employment conditions. As a result there has been a deliberate effort recently to put a check on the fissiparous tendency prevalent among the community organisations earlier and a conscious effort to show unity. This had an initial success when the three communal organisations AKVMS, VSS and TVS merged into KVS on March 14,2001, the eve of the assembly elections. This was done primarily to negotiate with both the Left and the United Fronts for more political spoils in the name of the community. The Left Front headed by CPI(M) didn't oblige, so KVS declared open supportto the United Frontheaded by the Congress. The Congress dealt with them better and gave two assembly seats to the community members, one of which they won. The United Front also assured them in their manifesto that if they came to power they would implement the most important demand of the com-

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Figure: Support of Goldsmiths to Different Political Parties 3.16per 8.42per cent cent 27.37per 46.32per
cent cent

D
1.05per cent 1.05percent 12.63perent E3 LeftDemocraticFront O Nationalist Congress Party O No political party

o UnitedDemocraticFront
Janatha Party 1 Bharatia O JanathaDal O No response

Thissurveyis conducted conductedinMarch, 2002, inTrissur. Source:Survey of anotherstudy on gold tradeinthe Trissur amongthe goldsmithsonlyas part The samplepopulation conssted of hundredand ffty goldsmiths cityof Kerala. fromthree areas n-Trissurwhere most of the goldsmithsare concentrated:

this:e nota fo Cherp and Kzha mpattukar. Viyyoor, Though ofthes as a whole, lndicator pllbt: sympathiof the Visvakarma community yetitshowsthegeneratrend

labourers'. munity:thatthey shouldbe declaredas 'traditional Butnothing of thissorthashappened till August2003, aftermore thantwo years of United Frontin power. It is noteworthy that the Visvakarmas have aligned with all the politicalfrontsin the last 20 years in the majorelections. It seemsthatwitheverydecadetheychangesupport. Exceptfor a shortinterlude of the Left Frontin they were the supporters the 1980s. Early ther 1990s saw shiftingthe allianceto BJP. with a few backward communities(OBCs) other They along formedBharathiya LabourParty(BLP) and aligned with BJP in the elections.The alliancebroke miserablylater.Again, as we saw,thebirth of thenew century hadthemshiftingallegiance to the UnitedFrontunderCongress.This alliancehas also not fructifiedin any meaningfulway till now. communal Their becomesarestlessitinerancy politicstherefore from one camp to the other and getting more debilitatedwith eachswitchover.The imagethe community as a wholeconveys is undependability andopportunism formanyfromother political All politicalpartiesin Keralaview themas a takenfor parties. votebankthatcouldbe luredon theeve of the elections. granted Butsuchpoliticalwanderlust, withideological normally equated could be critical in its effects when seen effeminacy, long-term inthebackdrop of thegrowth curveof Hindunationalism in India. The super-saturated Hindu core of visvakarmaideology in conjunctionwith the lack felt from the continuouspolitical debacles couldinciteanethno-religious movement ontheHindutva linesormakethemidentifywiththemainstream Hindutva forces on bargained termsand conditions.It seems thatthe Hindutva ideology is gaining more popularityamong the city-dwelling andthe youths.A surveyin Trissur, visavkarmas whichhas the in Kerala, showsBJPcommanding largest goldsmith population secondonly to Left Frontwhile the rulingUnitedFront support is pushed to the third place. According to informantfrom theHindutva Trivandurm, ideologyis gainingpopularity among the youthof the communitynot as a utilitarian instrument but as a refugeto hold on amidstthe presentconfusions."Thisis just becausethey give respect to our symbols. The BMS has

as thepatron The god of craftsandlabour. acceptedVisvakarma 'give us vote' psychologythatwe worship'yourgod', therefore, works to a great extent. Moreover,Hindutvagives a better steeped identityto the otherwisefaceless Visavkarmas personal in povertytoday.Theirkhakishorts,the red vermilionmarkon the foreheadand the lathi in the hand renderan immediately identifiableindividuality to people ". But the leadership contradicts this. Accordingto one of the of KVS, there is no substantialinfluence of vice-presidents and on the community. The communityis pragmatic Hindutva wouldonly resortto a politicalline thatcould help them solve in theoccupational front."Everybody knowsthat theirproblems in KeralaBJP is nevergoing to come to power.So whatis the them?Of courseout of suddenresentment point in supporting with the othertwo Fronts,which ignoredthe community,they BJP temporarily as in the earlierelection. What mightsupport is the use of an empty vessel for a man who is hungry?Only a vessel filled with food makesany sense to him. So peopleare not going to support BJPwhichcannotdelivergoods in Kerala in the presentsituation" assertedthe vice-president. Thoughthereis a tentativeswing to the BJP camp this also doesn'tshow a clearpathof progression. their Notwithstanding identification withwhatis potentially negativein theVisvakarma the BJPleadership refusesto sharepowerwith them Hinduism, in any meaningfulmanner. them as a They also try to nurture vote bank.The Left treatedthem badly in the 2001 elections. Whentheyaskedfora specificnumber of seatsforthecommunity membersin returnfor politicalsupportthe leadership retorted brazenly.One of them asked, "Whoin Keralawill vote for a if he is fieldedas a candidate in thepresent situation?" goldsmith withKaramana Balakrishnan onMarch 28, 2003).The (interview UnitedFrontalso ditchedthem afterwinningthe last elections with their support. It seems thatthereare some congenitalflaws at workbehind theirno-escapesituation andperennial politicalmarginalisation. thereis something innatein theirideologyandworldview Firstly, themfromrallying under acoherent thatprevents political ideology or politicalleader.Secondly,thereis some structural elasticity in theirworldviewthat facilitatestheir identification with politicalideologiesof allhues:fromleft,centrist tofarright. Thirdly, thoughthey are the largestsingle communityunderthe Hindu fold in possessionof a religio-ideological as systempotentially as militant Hindu nationalism xenophobic theyhavenevershown any capacityto rallyunderit in a combativemanner. Fourthly, asa corollary totheabove,intheirhands thispotentially explosive of subjection super-brahminic ideology becomesan instrument and self-surrender. The symbolparexcellence thatrepresents the communityis theirpatron lordVisvakarma himself.As mentioned previously he is thedivinearchitect who as the demiurge of Brahma created theuniverse andeverything in it, according to theHindu religion. But this god also suffersfromconfusionsas regardshis status withinthe Hindupantheon.13 In an interesting the complement destinyof the god and his people coincide. The god's exalted Vedic cosmology, the eventual position in the pre-brahminic cuttingto size by brahminic theologyas an artisan god, andthe withlimited andnotemples become present marginalisation appeal anironiccommentary on thedestinyof his peoplewhoalso lived The god is being acted througha similarhistoricaltrajectory. at the which moder recreate andlegitimise forces, upon presentby him in strangeshapesand roles backedup by quainttheologies

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of politics.The formsthe god assumeandthe I foundout thatthis versionis followed in northIndiawhile the andcompulsions hecomesto enjoyalsobecomethesemiotic southIndianversionis different.Again whatPidiliteCompany incumbent legitimacy of how his peoplefarein theirworldlypathatpresent. gave out has beenacceptedby BMS as the imageof theirpatron barometer So let us try to look into this people by gauging this divine lord of arts and crafts. Visvakarma becomessubjectto another barometer. hegemonicappropriaVisvakarma is the HinduVulcan, 'the shaper'of thingsboth tion in the milieuof presentfactionalpolitics.This is expedited in his essence.Likeothergods intrinsic ambivalence He builtthe heavensand palacesof all by another celestialandterrestrial. is also attributed a putativebirthday Kuberaand Ravana'sLankaand Visvakarma the gods: Indra'sVaijayanta, by the Hindu to This like becomes animals also created fabulous thePandavas' according many in the conjectural religion. Indraprastha.He were community.The more philosophicalminded argue that it is Buthismostfamousartefacts s horse,Uchchai Sravas. Indra' of everythingto be bornon lanceand impossiblefor the originalCreator of gods:Indra's theweapons thunderbolts, Kartikeya's a in termssince thatpresupa It is contradiction Visvakarma as Brahma's Shiva'strident demiurge 1967:88]. [Ions particular day. But among those who Karu is alsoknownby nameslike Vidhatri (workman), poses anothercreatorfor Visvakarma. (creator), also thereis no agreement. Takshaka(carver)and also Sudhavan(having a good bow) believe thatthereis a birthday It is under different names: celebrated on two different 'Rishi 1968.vol II:577]. [Walker days Dinam'andVisvakarma TheRishiPanchami Withtheascendance of brahminism, SaivismandVaishnavism Panchami Jayanthi. and Brahma'sstatusfell; and along with it Dinamliterallymeans 'the day of the solidarityof five rishis'. gainedprominence thisdaybelievethatVisvakarma didn'thave also. Vyasa, the crafty compilerof Vedas did Thosewhocelebrate Visvakarma's and a birthdaylike the mortalsbut only a commemoration day in everything possibleto distortthe exaltedstatusof Brahma Visvakarma which his five children(supposedlyfive rishis)came together in theeyes of posterity. hisdemiurge Vyasaportrays to declaretheirsolidarity andprayto theirillustrious father. This as follows: in Mahabharatha follows the rules of Almanac and Hindu with of a thousand changes every Lordof the arts,master Visvakarma. handicrafts, day of theirpalaces,fashioner of year [Achary 1995:221].Following the practiceof their sage of the gods andbuilder carpenter the five groupsamongthe Visvakarma every jewel,firstof craftsmen, by whoseartmenlive,andwhom, forefathers community agreat and deathless (Mahabharathaalso celebratethis as an auspiciousday in commemoration worship of god.theycontinually 1:2592). their patrongod at present. andthe goldsmith of gods Visvakarma becomesthe carpenter Another group celebrates September 17 every year as who withhis own hands 'Visvakarma in Vyasa'slitany.Thecosmicfabricator of Visvakarma'. Jayanthi',or 'as the birthday madestarsandmoonsandheavenlypalacescouldnotwithstand This convention is also rife withcontradictory as interpretations which ruthlessly down- usualin the community. the ideologicalshellingof brahminism The versiongiven by V Natarajan of gradedany semblanceof physicaltoil as sign of lowlinessand Alappuzhais interestingaccordingto him, September17 has of gods, men or monsters.The result: importance decadenceirrespective otherthantheVisvakarma Itis animportant Jayanthi. in a double-bindthanksto the gut dayintheritual Visvakarma Almanac of India knownas 'Kanni Sankrantham'. got entrapped contradiction between his own ontology and the dismissive It was on this particular of the present day thatthe forefathers He wastruncated from Visvakarma on human labour and invented it by brahminism. postures people plough gifted to humanity. to a secondary Ploughrepresents his cosmic largenessand plenitudeas Purusha both the artisantradeas well as agriculture and thereforebecomes the most representative deity and an artisanpar excellence. symbol of the of his statusby brahminism in thepastassumes ancient Thederogation Indian civilisation. Itchanged thecourseof human history times.In my fieldtripamongcommunity altogether. new modesin modern Thiswasa changefrom'localmobculture to universal 'correct'figureof the humanculture'and Visavkarmas I was anxiousto see an iconographically of Indiapioneeredit. Coincithecorrect As I gathered, lordVisvakarma. figurehasfive tilaka- dentally, this becomes the birthdayof Visvakarmaalso. So marked faces. 10armsholdinga bookandwriting this day of manyillustrious constylus,a sword, Indiansin the pastcelebrated an adze, a citron,a cup, a water-pot,a rosary,a cobra(about junctionsas an occasionto honourVisvakarma andhis descenhis neck),a noose, handsbetokening sternness andbeneficence dents [Natarajan 2001:9-10]. Politicsentersin thisconjuncture. (one closed and one open). and a golden sacred thread Mazdoor Sangh Bharathiya 1979:79].ButI couldnotfindone thatmatched (BMS), the tradeunionwing of BJP, has takenon the onus of [Coomaraswamy all thesedetails.All I couldfind in manyhomes,workshops and late to honourVisvakarma andcelebrateSeptember17 bothas with the wayside Oleographvendors were variationsof this thebirthday of Visvakarma andthe 'National Labour Day'. (For one is thatof a single-headed old man manyin the community, such a LabourDay or ArtisanDay in figure.The mostpopular with a sage-likevisage surrounded culture is unheard toPuliyara of.) According by five boys. The latterare theIndian Ventlgopal, the to be five forefathers of the Visvakarma artisans. an ideologuewho supports the BJP,all otherfestivals in India supposed of Pazhayasala told me thatthesedays most are relatedto a particular communityor religion.Visvakarrna FinallyR S Manian of the communitymembersalso do not know who the true Jayanthi is the only secularfestivalin this regard celebrated by Visvakarma is. What they all worship as the true pictureof all people in India.He also resentsthe fact thatno government Visvakarma is a distorted versiongivenoutby PidiliteIndustries. has takeninitiativeto declareit as a nationalholidaytill now the companythatsells adhesiveand tools. (This companysells (Mathrubhumi, September 17, 2002). the adhesiveFevicol andthe companyis knownby the product Among the many attributesof Visvakarma there are also those thanits nameitself.) On a closer look I foundhis versionto be thathave entitledhim to the office of the patronof the 'Indian correct.Visvakarma. as BMShasmadehimof late.Fora communist supposedlythe creatorof the cosmos sits Labourer', leader on a thronebordered by chisels, hammers,saws, tapes,etc, as from the community(who doesn't want to divulge his name), an advertisement piece for tools and paints.On further "What enquiry therearesubtlemanipulations by BMSin thisregard, they 4800 Economicand PoliticalWeekly November8, 2003

are trying to foist is a Hindutva duplicate of the revolutionary working class ideology of Marxism. This process of ridiculous cloning forces the scientific and ground-breaking principles of Marxism into motley apparels of reactionary Hindutva". "No wonder the revolutionary concepts of dialectical materialism put on flesh and body in the archaic symbols of BJP painfully disinterred from those recesses of Indian history marked by brahminicoppression and cruelty. Visvakarma becomes a hapless victim of this reactionary exhuming", supplements theoretical minded Gopi, an active member of AKGWU. The celebration of Visvakarma Jayanthi is emerging as an Indian alternative to the May Day celebrations of the world proletariatunder the aegis of BMS, according to many Marxist supporters from the community. There are some interesting interconnectionsdiscerniblein this regard.The word 'Visvakarma' could be split into 'Visvam' which means 'world' or 'universe' and 'Karma' which means either 'action' or in certain parlance 'labour'. Hence Visvakarma is translated as 'world actor ' or 'world labourer'. This is certainly in ideological and conceptual propinquity to the 'world proletariat' of Marxism. Hence Visvakarmabecomes the central pivot of an ideological apparatus that can combat Marxism in its own discursive terms. Tells another Visvakarma leader, "The May Day celebrations also resulted from the actions of the Visvakarma brethrenof America. It started in Chicago with the strike of carpenters for stipulating the eight-hour per day job schedule." The image of Visvakarma is pregnant with more meanings that also represent the existential dilemmas of the community at present.The diminution by brahminism made him a dispossessed god assigned to the status of a rishi or renouncerwithin the divine polis. But in the Hindu ideology 'renouncer' is the most exalted position. For Dumont caste order places human beings within a system of relations and they have no 'being' beyond it. But at another level this 'ultramundaneity' is compensated by a salvation based on transubstantiationand rebirths.This provision for escape from the mundane bonds of world and its rigid social order is epitomised in the figure of the rishi or the archetypal renouncer. He might exist within the society, yet is beyond all the relations within it. He represents universality, transcendence and detachment [Dumont 1998: 184-86, 267-76]. Again, from their claim as brahmins (visvabrahmins) also the theory of renunciation holds, if we look at it from the theoretical perspective of Heesterman who holds that brahmins are also renouncers like the rishis. According to him, the brahmin in the pre-Classicalor Vedic periodofficiated sacrifices andalso imbibed its pollution. Once the brahmingot disengaged from the pollutionimbibing process of the sacrificial rituals later, other lower castes had to take this role. As a result washermen and barbers started performingthe officiating roles in Hindu rituals, especially those related to death and impurity. This was, therefore, the moment of the birth of the caste system also [Quigley 1993:58]. So for Heesterman, the brahmin attained such a position of worldly renouncer in the Classical period itself once he got dissociated from the conduct of sacrifices. Hence nothing could affect him in his new status; he is beyond the pure-impurecomplementarity of exchange [Heesterman 1985:43-44]. But on the other hand, he shows this detachment within society, not outside it like the renounceror rishi as Dumont visualises. Hence this detachment makes the 'pure brahmin a poor brahmin' also. V Natarajan of Alappuzha, a mystic and scholar from the community, highlights this aspect of Visvakarma in his book

VisvakarmaOruJathiyude Peralla ('Visvakarma is not the name of a Jati'). According to him Visvakarma had always been a selfless and high thinking god detached from wealth or comforts. He created all the celestial palaces, divine machines and weapons for other gods. But for himself he built nothing worthwhile, not even a house to live.1 4 He is the renouncer par excellence among the celestial hierarchy[Natarajan1999:74]. Natarajanrationalises the relative deprivation of the majority in the Visvakarma community also on this basis, as the reflection of their own god's self-denial. He argues that though the Visvakarma people had been the true architects of the Indian civilisation they never amassed any materialpossessions for themselves. They built great temples, palaces and all the noteworthy monuments of this culture like their patron in the celestial world. If they wanted they could have built the most ostentatious temples for themselves. In the matterof worship also they in turn identified with the simplicity andauthenticityof nature.Hence they follow an animistic worship known as 'vaccharadhana'.They are therefore the true upholders of the renouncer tradition of the sages and rishis of India. So they have no jati, caste or even religion. He asserts, "to which jati rishis belonged, to thatjati visvakarmas also belong; to which religion rishis belong, to that religion visvakarmas also belong" [ibid:8]. On the otherhand, the brahminsthough they make claims to renunciation and austerity, still follow temple worship and promote materialistic institutionalisation of devotion [Natarajan 1997:50-54]. Without being able to identify with either the upper castes or the lower castes on caste questions, or with left ideologies or rightist forces in the political front the Visvakarmas of Kerala aimlessly straddle one shelter to another. Theoretically they become important as their case gives some important leads regarding the manufacturingof community identity by castes in the middle level especially caught up in the economic throes of post-capitalism and globalisation at present. We should end with the words of venerable Visvavani Natarajan, the first English professor from the community: "The people who once made palaces, temples, great monuments and some of the wonders of the world in India are today making septic tanks and toilets. They grow like the snake-gourds, downwards". [I3 Addressfor correspondence: bobbykala@yahoo.co.uk

Notes
[I am thankfulto the Centrefor DevelopmentStudies, Universityof Bergen, Norway, for giving the financial assistance for this study. I gratefully andGunnar acknowledgethe able guidanceandhelp given by Bruce Kapferer Haalandof the Departmentof Social Anthropology,University of Bergen, Michael Tharakan of CDS, Thiruvananthapuram and P J Cherianof KCHR in this study. I also thankPrabhashof the Departmentof Political Science, KeralaUniversity JDevikaof CDS, Thiruvananthapuram Centre,Kariavattom, andTKVinodanof Kollamforarranging andfortheirencouragement seminars, and extending criticism.] 1 He made this observation in a community meeting in Alappuzha in October 2001. 2 The total strengthof the visvakarmacommunity in the absence of exact census data is a conjecturedissue. It is getting revised by the community leadership every time according to Vikraman Achary, who wrote a seminalthesis on the political modernisation of the community.The caste association, Akhila Kerala Visvakarma Maha Sabha (AKVMS) came out with different estimates from time to time. In the year 1991 the estimate was 2 million. But by the middle of 1990s the figure became

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2.5 million [Achary 1998:152,n 55]. At present the apex communal organisationKeralaVisvakarmaSabha (KVS) claims the community's total strengthto be 12 per cent of Kerala's populationand 4.3 millions [Karnayugam, April 2002:7; November 2002:7[. Vikraman Achary calculatesit to be 2.5 million and I think that is the more reliablefigure. 3 This claim is made in the official monthly of the apex community organisationKVS [see Karntayugam,November 2002:3]. 4 Perhaps it starts with their filing of a petition in the court of the Vijayanagara king to ratify their Brahminic status in the 17'hcentury. They got a favourableverdictin 1678. With the Britishestablishingtheir rulejust after,the Sanskritisation efforts of many lower castes got a new fillip .The colonial census records gave them a chance to change their taintedcaste names and social attributesand therebymove up the social hierarchy symbolically. The Tamil Kammalans utilised this chance changedtheircastenameto 'Visvakarma opportunely; theywho hadalready Brahmins', entered the British records in this new name [Srinivas 1962:69]. 5 Accordingto ThengamomBalakrishnan, a prominentcommunistleader from the community, the service of the community is 'basic' since it is bound up with the life cycle of human beings. " The scissors that cut the umbilical cord with which the human life begins to the coffin in whichone is interred afterdeathare madeby the Visvakarma artisans". a trade union leader from Kollam, "the According to Padmalochanan, traditional artisan'scraft is like the mother's milk since it is very basic. The mechanisedimprovisationsare just like the artificial milk powder producedwhen the mother's milk is in short supply". 6 Anotherpopular interpretation of 'Kannalar'is that the artisans make things so pleasing that it 'opens the eyes' of people who are thereby to buy them. Yet anotherone is that 'Kammalan'derivedfrom persuaded 'Karmmalan' meaning'one who rulesover the Karma'or 'thepractitioner selfless acts' 7 The distance pollution with its precise orbital positions for other castes vis-a-vis the NamboodiriBrahminbecomes an ultra mundanegloss to the ideological hierarchyof Dumont [Dumont 1998]. The physical space itself was charged with the sacred on the touch of the Brahmin and revertedto the non-sacred with his withdrawal 8 Thoughthe caste system theoreticallydifferentiatesall othercastes from one's own it is only certain castes that are more or less in closer propinquityin the pollution- purity scale that become the perceived 'Other'to one's own caste. In Keralathis is evidentlyat work.The famous oppositionin this case is between nairs and ezhavas who consider each other as the archetypal 'Other' to each other. A nair or ezhava might not feel the gut oppositionto othercastes as they feel towardseach other. In the case of visvakarmasthey never mention any other castes as their 'Other' other thanthebrahmins whomtheybelievehaveusurped theirglory. 9 The concept is borrowedfrom Mikhail Bakhtin who uses it to analyse narratives, literary especially the novel. 'Chronotope'means 'space-time' andhe uses both time and space in the Kantiansense as absoluteaprioris of perception.His argumentis that in narrativesalso there is a specific way in which time and space are integratedwhich facilitates a specific kindof readingof the texts [Bakhtin1981:84]. Like the literarynarratives historicalnarrativesalso can be enframedwithin specific Chronotopes, especially if they contain fictional elements as in the case of visvakarma historicising. 10 EdavaSomanathan is one of the organic intellectualsof the community in the Gramscian sense. His historiesof the communityare writtenfrom a pro-community perspective.Therefore,there are lot of exaggerations and anti-brahmin tirades in them. They are noteworthy for phantasms andthe way Visvakarma as a global community. communityis portrayed He is heavily relieduponin this analysis since thereare no otherhistories written of the community. 11 The visvakarmasof Tamil Nadu still follow this patternof community administration according to G S Ghurye [Ghurye 1994:392]. 12 For Prabhati Mukherjee'pancha' was a source of 'irritation, conjecture and speculation'in the early ideology especially in the case of Rigveda [Mukherjee1981:19]. For Georges Dumezil 'five' was very important forVedic world;it was Vedic formulaitself. Divisions by certainpreferred numbersoccur in manyculturesas a sort of motif. Seven was a preferred numberin the early Indo-Iranian culture while Irish preferredto divide their encompassing reality with five like the Vedic India [Dumezil 1973:9-15]. 13 Itwas BenjaminWalkerwho observedsomewherethatthe celestial world with its 33 crore gods and celestial beings is much more populatedthan

the earth over which it rules. So as a characteristicsubstructure of the Indianideology the heavenly world also should have its caste hierarchy with gods occupying different asymmetric stations. 14 But as usual there are so many interpolationsand false interpretations about his status. One is regardinghis abode. According to Payyannor N.Kesavanachari his abode is the Mount Meru the cosmic centre of the Hindu universe [Malayala Manorama, September 17, 2002, p 8).

References
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