Page 200 - Communication Processes Volume 3 Communication Culture and Confrontation

Memory and Social Protest 175

rituals gives life to myth and the myth maintains the cycle of rituals.
The ritual re-activation re-establishes memories in the consciousness
of the people.
Chuharmal is a mythical figure and also the God of the Dusadhs.
The caste is identified as worshippers of Chuharmal. The Dusadhs
are otherwise characterized as ‘guards’, as they are employed by
high-caste landlords for agricultural work of low standard but related
to high-quality products. Kunwar Suresh Singh (1993) states that in
Bihar Dusadhs’ occupation is basically one of agricultural labourers.
They have dispersed from the Magadh region to many other regions
of Bihar. They have been involved in the work of carrying palanquins,
many landlords have been employing them as lathait (security men
armed with lathis, long bamboo stick) for their security. At some places
they call themselves the descendants of Arjun, the famous hero of
the Mahabharata and link themselves with Gahlot Chhatree (a sub-
caste of Dusadhs). They usually live in villages. Anthropologists as-
sume their language to be Indo–Aryan. Dusadhs use Bhojpur and
Angika language area in the regions of Bihar which have fallen within
their field of study. They use the Devanagari script. While searching
for the historical reasons of the social and economic backwardness
of the people of this caste, historian D.D. Kosambi (1972) proposes
that the reason is that today, as in the past, they have refused to get
involved in production and cultivation of crops. Ranjit Guha (1995)
adds that though they have been serving traditional Hindu castes as
slaves, consciousness of protest had also raised them against dominant
powers and culture, a revolt which results in myths, stories and rituals
of contest.
This memory has produced similar reactions not only in the
Mokama region, but also in Patna, Bhojpur in Bihar and Ballia,
Gazipur, and Azamgarh regions of Uttar Pradesh. In fact, exploitative
social structures prompt legendary figures of a similar nature. Modern
development and mass communication have brought some changes in
mentalities; but although the cruelty of reaction might have lessened,
the forms of retaliation remain the same. The experiences of the
Ramendra Naujawandal dance party in Patna district are the same as
that of Nagesar Nachdal in Bhojpur district. Naujawandal says that
villages that are not inhabited by the Bhumihar caste do present the
play, but they do not play the drama where Bhumihar people live.