Page 201 - Communication Processes Volume 3 Communication Culture and Confrontation

176 Badri Narayan

Conclusion

The consciousness of lower castes creates symbols and myths of protest
against the domination of hegemonic classes. Because the subaltern
are not able to stand openly against the latter’s control, their protest
finds its expressions in the creation of mythical characters. This gives
the satisfaction of a symbolic resistance. The oppressed then identify
themselves with these mythical figures of their creation and con-
vert themselves too into symbols of protest. If not able to strongly op-
pose anybody, then the mighty myths of resistance are worshipped in
the subconsciousness. Similarly, such heroes are perceived as devatva
(deity). Myths channel and regularize protests through repetition.
Before the 1995 Parliament elections, Laloo Yadav, chief minister
of Bihar, went to the the Chuharmal fair and worshipped Chuharmal.
By political appropriation of a myth firmly imbedded in the conscious-
ness of the lower castes, he was trying to get the support of those castes
linked with the myth. Power entertains two types of relationship with
memory. On the one hand, it wants to utilize it up to a certain extent;
on the other hand, it tries to abolish it, lest the memory become an
asset against the establishment. Thus, social memories have to face
basically three kinds of situations. First, political power wants to draw
upon them for its political interests. Second, feudal powers want to
abolish those social memories that repeatedly recur and rise against
them. Third, people who express their protest through these memories
want to regain and enrich them.

References

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Vol. 1. New Delhi: Rajkamal.
Kosambi, D.D. 1972. The Culture and Civilization of Ancient India: An
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Kundera, Milan. 1990. The Book of Laughter and Forgetting. Calcutta: Rupa.
Narayan, Badri. 1995. Lok Sanskriti Men Rashtravad. Delhi: Radhakrishna.
Ricoeur, Paul. 1969. Le conflict des interprétations, essais d’herméneutique
(The Conflict of Interpretations: Essays in Interpretation). Paris: seuil.
Risley, H.H. 1981. The Tribe and Caste of Bengal. Calcutta: The Bengal
Secretariat Press.