Published Paper Details:

This paper presents plurality of Indian Social Set-up and its implications. SC ‘s in Karnataka were not only poor and landless but they remained relatively uneducated. One of the earliest ways that was invented by the landlords to subjugate the SC ‘s was to make them landless. As a result of this began to depend upon their labouring capacity. Many of them became bonded labourers in Karnataka and that became a family occupation. In the hands of the land lords, SC ‘s were ill-treated not only as untouchables but also as bonded labourers. In some regions SC ‘s enjoyed a space, however minimal, distinctive to themselves and in some regions which came under colonial influences such a space gradually emerged for them. SC ‘s in Karnataka were not fortunate in this regard. Culturally SC ‘s in Karnataka share all the features which make their status low as elsewhere. Food habits like consuming left-over food, eating the meat of dead cow, and dress habits mark the SC ‘s of Karnataka as different from others. Besides, all the changes that have taken place in the conditions of the SC ‘s have not altered these conditions significantly. Their presence in the world of literature is relatively a late arrival as compared to Maharashtra. The advent of the British has had a different impact with regard to SC ‘s in Karnataka. As the K.K. Kalvekar report says the Brahmans, even though they were small in number, had dominated all the sectors opened by the British to Indians. Making use of English education, Brahmans became much more dominant by getting hold of powerful administrative posts.208 It was in this background that the non-Brahman movement came up in India which began to challenge the domination of the Brahmans. However, such a development in Karnataka did not open up any considerable space for SC ‘s. The Dalit agenda was sadly missing in the non-Brahman Movement of Karnataka. It began to dawn on SC ‘s early in Karnataka that there were two sources of exploitation that they confronted: the Brahmins and the so-called backward castes. The non-Brahman movement in Tamilnadu and Maharastra began to raise fundamental questions against the social practices and urged for drastic social reformation. This did not happen in Karnataka for the simple reason that the nonBrahman movement was not only led but also dominated by the land lords who felt that the opportunities created by the British have been enjoyed by the Brahmans alone. This situation along with their being landless, powerless and divided across identities made the Dalit constituency in Karnataka much different from the other states. Prof. Krishnappa has argued that the Dalit Movement in Karnataka was to come under the sway of Gandhism keeping a low profile compared to other states where the Gandhian perspective came to be challenged early on.