Tribals and Dalits in Orissa: Towards a Social History of Exclusion, c. 1800-1950

235 Pages·2019·4.102 MB·English

by  Biswamoy Pati

Tribals and Dalits in Orissa

Tribals and Dalits in Orissa
Towards a Social History of Exclusion,
c. 1800–1950
Biswamoy Pati

1
1
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PREFACE
A s Biswamoy Pati’s Tribals and Dalits in Orissa goes posthumously
into print, I write this Preface for a volume that he will never get to see.
His sudden and untimely demise in June 2017, following a minor sur-
gical procedure, has thus robbed him of what he would have jestingly
termed the ‘fruits of his labour’. Th is study therefore marks the end of
a lifetime of a prodigious publishing output which totalled more than
twenty volumes, consisting of monographs and edited collections of
essays—the latter epitomizing his gift of ‘inclusiveness,’ his ability to
bring together contributors from across the country and the world.
W orking on this last MS of his has been my sole mission over the
last several months. It has been an emotional journey. While preparing
this book for publication, I recalled how, as young people starting out
our life together some three decades ago, we had both enthusiastically
copy-edited his fi rst book R esisting Domination: Tribals, Peasants and
the National Movement in Orissa, 1920–1950 (1993), based on his PhD
thesis. Th at pioneering work which marked a milestone in Orissa’s
historiography brought into focus the forgotten ‘Others’, namely the
tribals, outcastes, and peasants who had been invisibilized by history.
Underlying this research actually lay deeply held, passionate,
political convictions and an identifi cation with those who had been
dispossessed and disenfranchised by history. I remember how in the
context of the early 1980s, when railway networks, and even roads,
viii Preface
barely existed in parts of the western interiors of Orissa, Biswamoy
carried out arduous fi eldwork, interviewing tribal communities in the
remotest areas of Koraput, Jeypore, and the Bonda hills, regions pos-
sibly not visited by any historian before.
Over the years his research on the marginal sections went on to
encompass an extensive range of themes—most notable was his path-
breaking work on the social history of health and medicine; indig-
enous and tribal medicine; leprosy, small pox, and the treatment of
insanity in colonial institutions such as the Cuttack lunatic asylum.
Some of the other key issues he wrote on included the neglected region
of western Orissa with its princely states, the process of Hinduization
among tribals in colonial Orissa; the forgotten role of advasis and trib-
als in the Rebellion of 1857, as well as their role in the Indian National
Movement. Th is last monograph of his brings together many of these
broad strains.
Biswamoy’s serious commitment to research was inspirational for me
as well, his friend and partner. His enthusiasm underlay every book of
mine, even though my own area was so diff erent, centring on the white
woman in colonial India. And as far as young research scholars were
concerned, he was always sympathetic and encouraging, ever-ready to
discuss their projects, chapters, and proposals. He oft en included their
work in his collections of essays and helped them in getting their fi rst
book published. He has thus left behind a legacy of fi ne young scholars.
Th is particular volume could never have been fi nalized without the
help of our dear young friend Saurabh Mishra. Despite his own hectic
schedule at the University of Sheffi eld, and innumerable other commit-
ments and responsibilities, Saurabh took it upon himself to perform
the Herculean task of helping out with ‘Sir’s’ MS in the initial phase. It
was like a mission for him. He took it up at a time when I was not in a
position to be able to concentrate immediately aft er Biswamoy’s sudden
demise. My immense gratitude to Saurabh cannot be put in words.
F inally, I cannot forget the generosity of Dr Cornelia Mallebrein who
responded immediately to my emailed request, with images collected
by her from the western interiors of Orissa, to be used on the cover.
I cannot thank her enough for facilitating this in his last book.
Indrani Sen
New Delhi, 2018
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Th e social history of the marginal people of Orissa has been the focus
of my research for the last four decades or so. Some of the issues that
I deal with in this monograph are also the ones that have occupied
me from my earliest works. In the course of this long journey which
began with my doctoral work in the 1980s, I have incurred numerous
debts both personal and institutional.
I must fi rst thank the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New
Delhi for awarding me a Senior Fellowship which enabled me to work
on this book in an uninterrupted fashion. My sincere thanks to the
helpful staff of various archives and repositories which I have used
over the years; in particular, the Orissa State Archives (Bhubaneshwar);
the West Bengal State Archives and the National Library (both in
Calcutta); the National Archives of India and the Nehru Memorial
Museum Library (both in New Delhi); the Oriental and India Offi ce
Records at the British Library and Wellcome Library (both at London);
and the South Asia Institute Library (Heidelberg).
Fellowships and grants by funding bodies and institutions have
supported parts of my research over these years, including a British
Academy ‘Visiting Fellowship’ at Sheffi eld Hallam University; a ‘Ratan
Tata Fellowship’ at the London School of Economics; a ‘Baden-
Wuerttemberg Fellowship’ at Heidelberg University; a ‘Career Award’
Fellowship and a ‘Research Award’ Fellowship awarded by the
x Acknowledgements
University Grants Commission, New Delhi; an ‘International Visiting
Fellowship’ at Oxford Brookes University; and a ‘Visiting Fellowship’
at the Department of History, Aarhus University, Denmark. Grants
from the Indian Council for Historical Research, Wellcome Trust, and
the Charles Wallace India Trust also helped me to do research work
at London.
Several of the ideas contained in the book have been presented
at seminars/conferences and lectures; conferences of the Society
for the Social History of Medicine at Queen’s College, Oxford; the
American Association for the History of Medicine at Johns Hopkins
University, Bethesda; the European Science Foundation at Wolfson
College, Cambridge; the South Asian Studies Institute, University of
Heidelberg; the International Institute of Asian Studies, Leiden; the
International Convention of Asian Scholars at Singapore; the two
conferences of the Orissa Research Programme at Salzau, Germany;
the two conferences on the Princely States and India’s Independence
at the University of Southampton; the conference organized by
Goldsmiths College and Edinburgh University at London; the
European Conference on South Asian Studies, University of Zurich;
the International Conference on Asian medicine, Changwon, South
Korea; the South Pacifi c Workshop, at the University of Canterbury,
New Zealand and the International Leprosy History Symposium at the
Sasakawa Memorial Health Foundation, Tokyo. In India, recent
lectures and conference presentations at Utkal University, Berhampur
University, Adaspur College (all in Orissa); Jadavpur University,
Ramsaday College, IDSK, Calcutta University (all in Kolkata); the Centre
for Contemporary Studies (Nehru Memorial Museum and Library),
Jamia Millia Islamia and the National Archives (all at New Delhi).
Most recently, the National Conference on ‘Anthropological Histories
and Tribal Worlds in India’, at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study,
Shimla; the Conference on ‘Th e Caste Question and the Historian’s
Craft ’ at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, New Delhi.
I wish to thank all those who interacted with me at these forums, with
their questions, suggestions and comments: these have helped me to
sharpen my focus and my arguments.
I am grateful to all those whom I have interviewed in the course of
my research. I cannot forget the ‘unknown’ tribal folk of Koraput,
Kalahandi, and the Bonda hills around whom my life’s work has
Acknowledgements xi
revolved all these years, and from I have learnt so much about the
meanings of social exclusion.
I also acknowledge the encouragement I received at various stages
from Professors Amiya Bagchi, Amit K. Gupta, Hermann Kulke, K.N.
Panikkar, and Sumit Sarkar. Th e friendship of Amar, Amit, Arun,
Bahuguna, Bhairabi, Gopi, Lata, Madhurima, Mark, Mayank, Mridula
Ramanna, Pralay, Prasun, Rajesh, Raj Kumar, Rajsekhar, Ramakrishna
da, Sanjukta, Sarmistha, Sekhar, Shashank, and Waltraud has sustained
me in various ways. During research visits to England, there was
always Manu, Menka, Samiksha, and Saurabh to provide laptops and
blankets and add cheer to our stay. Special thanks to Manmohan for
his help at all times, and also to Ranjana, Saurav, and Shilpi.
I appreciate the keen interest taken by Oxford University Press,
New Delhi, in this monograph. I also wish to thank the two anonymous
reviewers for their helpful comments and suggestions.
M y parents who always encouraged my research are not here to see
this book; Alekha Bhai, Bhauja, Bindu, Jiban, Sukanta, Tina, and my
nephew Sobhan have always been supportive. My fi nal thanks goes to
Indrani, my friend and companion throughout this long journey; she
has not only been actively involved with this work, but with everything
else that I have written in the past.
E arlier versions of some the chapters have appeared as follows:
Chapter 2 (as ‘Rhythms of Change and Devastation: Colonial Capitalism
and the World of the Socially Excluded in Orissa’) in Social Scientist
(Vol 44, No. 7–8, July–August, 2016, pp. 27–51); Chapter 3 (as ‘Survival,
Interrogation, and Contests: Tribal Resistance in Nineteenth Century
Odisha’) in Uwe Skoda and Biswamoy Pati (eds)., Highland Odisha:
Life and Society (New Delhi: Primus, 2017, pp. 23–48); and Chapter 6
(‘Alternative Visions: Th e Communists and the State People’s Movement,
Nilgiri 1937–1948’) in Arun Bandhopadhyay and Sanjukta Das Gupta
(eds), In Search of the Historian’s Craft (New Delhi: Manohar, 2018,
pp. 435–62). I thank the publishers for their permission to use
them here.
Biswamoy Pati
New Delhi, 2017
ABBREVIATIONS
AICC All India Congress Committee
AISPC All India State People’s Conference
BL British Library, London
CDM Civil Disobedience Movement
CFLN Confi dential File on Laxman Naiko at the Mathili
Police Station
CPI Communist Party of India
EIC English East India Company
FIR First Information Report
HPFR Home Political Fortnightly Reports
I OR I ndia Offi ce Records, British Library, London
NAI National Archives of India, New Delhi
NGO Non-governmental Organization
NLS National Library of Scotland
NMML Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi
NPARI Nilgiri Praja Andolanara Itihasa (Th e History of the
Nilgiri Prajamandal)
OLAP Orissa Legislative Assembly Proceedings
ORP Orissa Research Project
OSA Orissa State Archives
PCC Provincial Congress Committee
PW Prosecution Witness