Dalit mythology

In 1873 Mahatma Jyotiba Phule wrote a book in Marathi that shook the foundations of Hindu society It was called Ghulamgiri or slavery It treated mythology as protohistory as was the trend in the 19th century and argued how the story of devas gods conquering asuras demons is actually the story of Aryans arriving in India and overpowering local communities This led to the establishment of the caste systemmdashwith the Brahmins who were Aryan invaders establishing themselves as purer and superior and the locals being reduced to impure Shudra slavesThe book begins with mocking the irrational idea of a lotusborn fourheaded Brahma as the origin of all creatures on earth his pure mouth giving rise to the Brahmins and his feet giving rise to impure ShudrasIt then proceeds to argue that the Matsya fish avatar of Vishnu is really code for fishshaped boats used by Aryans to travel from Iran to India He conquered local asuras led by Shankha conch Later Dalit scholars argue that asura means farmers asu life ra giver and not enemies of suradrinking gods as proposed by Brahmin scholarsLater conquerors came in larger boats that moved slowly and so came to be known as turtles which inspired the tale of Kashyapamuni the turtlepatriarch They fought local kshatriyas who had their back to the hills which inspired the story of the turtle Kurma carrying the mountain on his back Kshatriyas the book argues come from people who fought for the land kshetra and carried weapons kshastraThey were local people who were enslaved by Dwija which does not mean twiceborn as Brahmins argue but those descending from the second dwi group ie the other groupThe local kshatriya kings Hiranayaksha and Hiranakashapu contemptuously referred to their conqueror as Varaha or pig and the name stuck Hiranakashapursquos Prahalad was tricked and indoctrinated into the Aryan ways by an Aryan king who liked to wear lion skin Narasimha and so he opposed his father As the book proceeds we see how Vaman and Parashuram used trickery and violence to establish Brahmin hegemony in India defeating Asura kings like Bali and BanaLong before the Brahmins came says the book the land was controlled by local administrators who were crushed by Aryans like Vaman and Parashuram For example Khandoba deity of Jejuri retains memory of a leader of the unit known as khanda He would hit mar enemies on the face tond rather than on their back hence came to be known as Martand He was the enemy ari of wayward strongmen or wrestlers mall hence called Malhari He even composed the music melody called Malhar Mhasoba worshipped in fields even today comes from Mahasuba or revenue collector of Baliraja These were original Indian gods before the arrival of Brahmin gods Also read Kya aapke mercury mein retrograde haiAre these stories true They are as true as Brahmins writing books to establish Shiva as a herosaviour of IndusHarappan cities casually renamed as Saraswati cities They are as true as social media videos of cultural organisations insisting despite not a shred of evidence that Aryans migrated out of India to Europe They are as true as gurujis proclaiming that Egyptian pharaoh Rameses was named after RamWhy should one privilege Brahmin fantasy over Dalit fantasy We need to read both to appreciate the mythology beneath the mythological fiction Imagined histories are a powerful tool of politicians amongst those who want to establish ghulamgiri and those who will not submit to ghulamgiriThe author writes and lectures on the relevance of mythology in modern times Reach him at devduttpattanaikmiddaycom