Page 186 - Communication Processes Volume 3 Communication Culture and Confrontation

Memory and Social Protest 161

Massacre of Memory

Dateline: 19 June 1978. In a village named Ekauni, near Daudnagar,
Aurangabad district (Bihar), a marriage party arrives at the house of
Nonu Sahu. The dance nautanki (a dance drama) is being performed.
In the village square, just as a love scene of the dramatic presenta-
tion ‘Reshma and Chuharmal’ (a folk drama very popular in Eastern
Uttar Pradesh and Bihar) starts, a bullet is fired from the audience
and enters the chest of the actor playing the role of Chuharmal. A
roaring sound echos, ‘Stop this nonsense’. A stampede follows among
the spectators.
This is a real event which occurred in the interiors of Aurangabad.
As a result, two groups were formed in the village. One was led by
the Bhumihar (landlord) and the other comprised the lower castes
of Bania, Koiri, Chamar, Dusadh and others. The tension increased
and conflict broke out between the Bhumihar tola (quarters) and the
Purvi tola (the area populated by the lower castes) of the village. In
fact, the bullet was fired by a Bhumihar youth because Reshma, the
central female character of the play, belonged to his caste. The feudal
Bhumihar upper caste perceived this memory as an insult to their caste.
On the other hand, the lower caste reactivated the same memory as a
record of protest against the feudal and elite classes of the region. Five
murders have occurred during this prolonged conflict, besides many
minor conflicts and agitations.
I came to know of this astonishing event from the files of Bhojpuri
local daily Tatka. In an attempt to understand the internal social
dynamics, I asked, how does a memory gets transformed into caste and
class tensions, how and why some people want to preserve a memory
while some other people try to avoid it? In fact, the murder of the actor
was symbolic, but the attempt to murder a symbol was productive of
intra- and inter-caste tensions. The police (Daudnagar station) consider
the event simply as a murder resulting from caste tensions simmering
for a long time. However, it is clear from the memories of local people
and conversations with villagers that the cause of the caste tension
in the village was the drama of Chuharmal. The feudal and elite class
reacted saying that ‘the drama was played to insult us’.
The event remains imprinted as Ekauni Kand in people’s memory.
Every event called ‘kand’ contains flashing elements, the memory