Dandakaranya, literally, forest (aranya) where the demon Dandak lives. The virtues of malice and instinctive, visceral hatred for the Other have been cherished and nurtured within Savarna Hinduism for thousands of years, obviously.
All too easy to call an entire community demonic. There is even a macabre elegance to the project, in creating a demon, potent symbol exuding just the right amount of revulsion and fear; and yet always lesser than the Aryan heroes – fair-skinned, handsome members of a warrior-race who have travelled so far from the luxuries of their gilded palaces, to nobly and altruistically vanquish the demon and bring civilization to the uncivilized.
The discourse fits right in among many other moral allegories of 'good' triumphing over 'evil' Hindu myth is replete with. If a few eco-systems here and there, and rich, alternate, non-Aryan cultural traditions are destroyed during the sacred battle against the evil demon, it is just unavoidable collateral damage.
Rather than killing him off, better still if the demon can be persuaded to convert to the 'civilized', 'pure', 'superior' Aryan worldview. He will then be an effective soldier for the forces of the 'good', and can be sent off to some distant Lanka to fight on behalf of the civilized against some other demon.
Thankfully, the 'demons' don't always take all this lying down. And so, from Abhujmadh to Gadricholi, from Karimnagar and Srikakulam to the forests of Saranda in the north and beyond – there is now an alternative. The Savarna Hindu state is scared shitless and is on the retreat. This despite all the Garudas (Indian Air Force commandos named after a mythical half-bird, half-man warrior who waged wars for the god Vishnu), Greyhounds, Cobras, Black Cats, and various other assorted beasts unleashed on the demon people by the 'developed' and the 'civilized'.
So what is this alternative like? Would a political and administrative model of this sort work in other parts of this vast nation? How much space does this alternative system allow for dissent? Is the proletariat really dictating how things should be, or are they merely being led along by a section of the intelligentsia driven by their own desire for political power?
The forces of 'good' command enormous martial resources; including a vocal, persuasive, utterly cynical corporate media – priests assiduously fuelling the sacrificial fire to propitiate the neoliberal powers that be (IMF, World Bank, UNDP, et al); praying ardently, as if possessed – demanding the annihilation of all these pesky demons hindering 'development' and 'progress'.
There are other voices around, though. In samizdat, in poetry, in wall-covering graphiti, in lines etched on thousands of bleak prison walls across the country through four decades of resistance – the Others too are there – if only you put your ear to the ground and listen. The roar of spring thunder is rising, and the day when it will crash down in all its fury on the real demons of the world is not too far away.
For now, here is an essay detailing how the demons make their communities work. Do read. This is the sort of essay the likes of Arnab Goswami or Praveen Swamy would run miles to avoid.
Gautam Navlakha. Days and Nights in the Heartland of Rebellion. April 1, 2010.