Page 148 - Communication Processes Volume 3 Communication Culture and Confrontation

The Donkey 123

The re-contextualization gives a new lease of life to a text other-
wise doomed to die out of complete want of reference. This is sought
to be achieved in practices of cultural action undertaken among the
same subordinated communities to whom the narrative belongs, or
among other similar groups of people who are likely to find some cor-
respondence in their present context with the discursive strategy of
the ancient oral text.

‘The Kindred of the Donkey’: A Symbolic
Identification

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Three narratives from the Vadar community illustrate and substantiate
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the foregoing methodological statements. The three stories reach us
as text only, but the present life condition of the donkey, the focus of our
analysis, is well known, as well as its particular connection with twelve
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communities of very low social status in Maharashtra. The Vadar are
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one of a cluster of twelve castes that, in their own terms, call themselves
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the ‘kindred of the donkey’, gadav gota (gota refers to a caste, relations
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or kindred considered collectively). These castes are: Beldar, Ghisadī,
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Ghongadīvale Vadar, Kaikadi, Kanjarbhat, Kathevadī, Kolhatī,
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Kumbhar, Parīt . , Telangī, Vadar and Vaidu. Their association is that
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all of them maintain donkeys as their main means of transport, work
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and livelihood. They form, therefore, a collective of castes, jatī samuha,
conscious of sharing on this account a similar rapport with the donkey.
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As a result, a bond of fraternity, bhavbandki, binds them up into a
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phratry of sorts, bhaukī, a group of kinsmen, bhavband. The ‘kindred
of the donkey’ have for their work companion an attitude of friendly
consideration comparable to that of the peasants for their bullocks;
they worship their donkey on the day peasant communities worship
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their bullock. The first narrative begins with the jump of Hanuman,
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son of Vayu, to swallow Surya, the sun, and ends up with an account
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of the relentless plight of the donkey, the Vadars’ faithful carrier whose
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toiling life is explained as a curse. The Vadar were proud and happy at
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the end of the narration to show to the collector the pinda of the god
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Śankar under the hoof of their dear animal; this evidence authenticated
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the truth of their narrative as well as their own privileged association