Author:
Publication: The New Indian Express
Date: August 24, 2004
URL: www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IET20040824025441&Page=T&Title=Southern+News+%2D+Tamil+Nadu&Topic=0&aDate=8%2F24%2F2004
A tug of war between Dalits and
Vanniars in a small village near Tiruchirappalli -- with the latter adamant
that the former can never hope to be relieved of the untouchability scourge
-- has had a completely unforeseen consequence: the local church has had
to be locked for the past three months and both sides have been forced
to seek the divine elsewhere.
The scene of discontent is the nondescript
Purathakudi village in Vaiyampatti panchayat union near Tiruchy.
Nearly 40 Dalit Christian families
live in the street in front of the 100-year-old church of St. Antony the
Hermit, while the Vanniars number around 450 families.
The conflict started in 1987 when
the Dalits refused to do 'traditional duties' like beating drums at upper
caste funerals or removing dead cows.
This defiance irked the Vanniars
who felt the Dalits were becoming too big for their boots.
The Vanniars then refused to collect
the Dalit share of money for conduct of the two festivals and also refused
to share information about church accounts with the Dalits, according to
Savarimuthu (40).
Besides, of the 17 statues of various
saints in the church, the Vanniars allowed only 16 to be taken out in procession
during the festival days, but the other three were not, due to some association
with Dalits in one way or the other.
The icon of Jebamalai Madha, especially,
as it was believed to have been donated by a Dalit. Rayappan (64) said
the church itself was more than a century-old and nobody knew who exactly
donated the statue.
Further, the Dalits were also not
permitted to touch or read the first and second lessons from the Bible
during Mass, he added. Dalits were also not permitted to be altar boys
during the communion for fear that their touch would contaminate the holy
vessels used in service.
When parish priest Fr.Amalaraj allowed
a bull run in the Dalit street during Pongal in 1999, he was forced to
stop this practice following vehement protests from Vanniyars. Even as
tension simmered, Rev.Peter Fernando and Rev.Antony Devotta, former and
incumbent bishops of Tiruchirappalli respectively, took the Vanniars to
task for their treatment of the Dalits, but to no effect.
The church peace committee meetings
would dissolve in chaos with Vanniars abusing Dalits even when the priests
were around.
Such discontent led to the church
being locked up on two occasions and when the last incumbent parish priest
Fr.Charles demanded the keys to the church, hundi keys and accounts, the
upper castes refused to oblige, leading to the church remaining locked
till now.
While the Dalits now have to attend
the church at Manaparai for marriages and christenings, Vanniars have built
a small chapel for themselves some distance away.
Vanniar community sources ruled
out there was no way Dalits could expect to be treated as equals any time
in the near future, whatever the hierarchy might think or say.
Though the Dalits have complained
to the police, it has not helped much as Christian Dalits are not covered
by the Prevention of SC/ ST Atrocities Act.