Review of Book on Fr Jacquier, MSFS

Faith and humanity

Sakaal Times
Monday, May 17, 2010 AT 12:00 AM (IST)
Tags: Literature, book, Camil Parkhe,  missionary

Journalist Camil Parkhe has retraced the journey of Fr Gurien Jacquier — a French missionary, who arrived over a century ago in Ghogargaon, Auranagabad, to sow the first seeds of Christianity there in the book Fr Gurien Jacquier of Ghogargaon. The revered missionary made that place his home and did his best to uplift the downtrodden in the region.
Parkhe offers anecdotes about the missionary’s early life and how his contemporaries portrayed him. There are also chapters on missionaries, like Fr Forel and Archbishop Doering. Along with some rare photographs of the missionaries and places, the book tells us how Fr Jacquier dealt with the prevalent social malaises in Marathwada — the exploitation of the tamasha artistes, and the humiliation of the dalits. In all, it is an interesting book about faith, humanity and a noble soul.

Fr Gurien Jacquier of Ghogargaon
By: Camil Parkhe
Publisher: SFS Publications, Bangalore, 2009
Pages: 144

http://www.sakaaltimes.com/SakaalTimesBeta/20100517/4974060955087910067.htm

Exploitation of tamasha artistes and Fr Jacquier

Fr Gurien Jacquier of Ghogargaon

(Catholic mission in Aurangabad diocese - 1892 onwards)



By Camil Parkhe
camilparkhe@gmail.com

Published by: SFS Publications,
PB No 5639
Rajajinagar, 1st Block,
Bangalore,  560 010

ISBN 81-85376-78-6
First edition 2009

Copyright : SFS Publications


Price: Rs 95, US $ 6.75
Published in 2009

22) Exploitation of tamasha artistes and Jacquierbaba

In the 1960s, there was a wave of tamasha-based films in Marathi film industry. ‘Pinjara’ (The Cage), directed by veteran film director V Shantaram, was one of these films. The hero of the film, a school teacher, attempts to prevent staging of a tamasha show in his village. The teacher whose role is played by Dr Shriram Lagoo single-handed disrupts tamasha shows notwithstanding the presence of hundreds villagers gathered there to enjoy this sensuous folk art presented by beautiful women. The school teacher (master) believes tamasha is an unethical art and it is his moral duty to keep people away from it. Even those villagers who enjoy the show do not offer any resistance when it is abruptly brought to an end.
The belief and action of this ideal teacher reflects the attitude of the society towards this old traditional folk art. What this master did in the film produced in 1970s was precisely done in reality in Aurangabad district by Fr Jacquier half a century earlier. A majority of the artistes in this folk art were the members of the untouchable community among whom this priest was working. The French missionary believed tamasha encouraged adultery, involved sexual and social exploitation of the women and other artiste members of the troupe.
In my childhood, tamasha shows used to be held on every Friday - the day of the weekly bazaar - in my home town, Shrirampur. The bazaar site was hardly 500 meters away from home. A tent, smaller than the circus tent, used to be erected on the ground adjacent to the weekly bazaar. From morning to evening on that day, we children used to hear the publicity of the show made on loudspeakers fitted on vehicles having pictures of dancing women with heavy make up and turban-wearing men playing dholkis (drums) and other musical instruments.
The tamasha shows were attended by a large number of men folks, majority of them residents of neighbouring villages. I do not remember any member of my or my friends’ families ever attending the tamasha shows. We children were allowed to see films in local theatres but never ever we entertained the thought of attending the tamasha show. The tamasha shows which consisted of obscene songs and dialogues, seductive dances with reciprocated response from the excited members of the audience was naturally not meant for people with good character, we were told.
Research scholar Dr Milind Kasbe in his book in Marathi Tamasha: Kala Ani Kalawant (Tamasha: Art and artistes’) says, “ the immorality which quietly creeps into this folk art is a matter of grave concern. The feudal mentally of the high caste people forces women belonging to the lower castes like Mahar, Mang and Kolhati to dance on the stage and throw cash towards her to make her strip. The question is why one should preserve this folk art if this mentality is not changed.1
Veteran Marathi stage and film actor Nilu Phule who has acted in many tamasha-related films in his preface to the above mentioned book has said: “Most of the tamasha artistes are people belonging to the so-called backward and untouchable castes like Mahar, Mang, Kolhati, and Gopal. Indebtedness is a major crisis plaguing the tamasha industry. The tamasha troupe owners take loans from moneylenders and the tamasha artistes take loans from the troupe owners. Thus, all constituents of this trade – the troupe owners, the artistes and the labourers – are deep neck into the debt trap. A majority of those offering loans belong to higher castes. The women tamasha artistes have to surrender themselves to the moneylenders if they are unable to repay their loans. I have always wondered why these artistes, despite always living in penury have clung on to this folk art.”
The opposition to the obscenity in tamasha became more vocal after India gained independence. The chief minister of the Mumbai province B G Kher had imposed a ban on this folk art in 1948. A tamasha reform committee, led by Mahamahopadhyay Datto Waman Potdar, was subsequently constituted to recommend changes in the content and performance of the folk art. The committee suggested imposition of conditions like performance as per the written script, avoiding obscene dialogues, ban on the members of the audience physically touching the women artistes. The ban was lifted when the tamasha troupes agreed to abide by these rules. 2
The University of Pune’s Pawala Paththe Bapurao Sahitya, Sangeet, Lok Kala Academy and Pathfinder International had organised a tamasha festival and workshop in Pune in October 2007. A brochure released on the occasion speaks on the origin of this folk art. Accordingly, the word tamasha has apparently has its origin is Persian language and was adopted in Marathi language through Urdu. Some scholars believe the folk art owes its origin to the Muslim influence in the medieval period. The brochure underlines that the folk art remained confined to the Mahar, Mang, Gondhali, Kolhati and Dombari, the untouchable and other depressed communities in Maharashtra. Of course, the patrons of the folk art who socially, economically and sexually exploited the tamasha artistes were the upper caste people.
For centuries, the traditional professions in India have been caste-based and so was the case with several folk arts. Tamasha art was mainly developed and preserved by Mahar and Mang communities. The women of these castes used to sing and dance while the men used to also sing and play various traditional musical instruments like the dholki, tuntune, manjira, duff, Halgi, kad and harmonium. The caste of these tamasha artistes speaks volumes for the social status or reputation enjoyed by this folk art in the society as a whole.
The season for the stage shows of tamasha normally started after the Dasara festival, that is after the monsoon season and ended after the Askhay Trutiya festival which marked commencement of the marriage festival. During the marriage season and also during the annual village temple festival (yatra), the Mahar folks offered music accompaniment.3 I remember during my childhood, sons of my uncles used to play pipani, dholki and other musical instruments during the village marriages. Only after reading this reference recently did I realise the social factors connected to this seasonal job. It meant the seasonal job was also caste-based and that my maternal cousins may have picked up the musical skill from some elder members in the family. Some members of either my father’s family in Wahegaon or mother’s family in Ghogargaon might have been associated with the tamasha trade in some way or the other as was the case with most members of the Mahar community at that time.
Veteran Marathi poet Narayan Surve in his article on Shahir Annabhau Sathe also underlines the social stigma associated to tamasha. In his article written in 1969, Surve writes: “Twenty five years ago, the word ‘tamasha’ was akin to an untouchable. Tamasha meant a form of theatre which was not meant for the gentlemen or girls and womenfolk. It included a nachya, (a dancer boy or man with long hair) who made indecent and obscene gestures, sang sensual songs. It was believed tamasha spoilt the cultural taste of the gentle folks. The tamasha artistes are untouchable persons and to see this folk art was considered a sin.” 4
This was the social scenario which prompted Jacquierbaba to persuade the members of untouchable community not to allow their sexual, social and economic exploitation by the higher social classes. He indeed resorted to the coercion route when persuasion failed and the local Christians continued their association with this folk art. The school teacher (master) in the film Pinjara (Hindi version of this film was also made) forcibly halts staging of a tamasha show with the same conviction that the folk art involved unethical, sinful activities. The present Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, R R Patil, has imposed a ban on dance bars in his state, on the ground that the singing and dancing by girls and women in hotels and bars is unethical and sexual, economical exploitation of the women concerned.
In the published writings related to the life and works of Fr Jacquier, I have never come across the campaign launched by this missionary against this folk art. Nonetheless, I have repeatedly heard from my parents and my maternal uncles about this priest’s solitary drive to bring down the curtain down to this stage art for once and for. My two maternal uncles, Shantwan and Waman Shingare, had for some years served as drivers of Fr Jacquier’s horse cart. There is not ground to doubt the credibility of the testimony of the old residents of Ghogargaon who had lived during the times of Fr Jacquier. My Mother, Marthabai, now nearing to be an octogenarian is also among those who had seen Fr Jacquier during his last years.
Fr Jacquier who was based in Ghogargaon since 1896 had earned the respect of the untouchable Mahar community - majority of whom had converted to Christianity - as well as the the upper castes Maratha and Brahmin communities. He also commanded respect among the government officials of the Hyderabad’s ruler Nizam. As an European and highly educated man, he was also feared by the otherwise powerful people in Gangapur and Vaijapur talukas of Aurangabad district. Under such circumstances, when Fr Jacquier single handedly opposed tamasha stage shows, there was hardly anyone who could challenge his moral or legal authority to do so.
Fr Jacquier had understood the social nature of this folk art. After arriving from France, Fr Jacquier had taken lessons in English and Marathi and acquired mastery over both these languages. Later, for several years, this French missionary used to teach the local populace to sing Marathi hymns and bhajans. He must have studied tamasha thoroughly before he decided to oppose on the grounds of its social and ethical implications.
It is said that whenever a tamasha show was staged in the villages around Ghogargaon, Fr Jacquier used to reach there. He would climb the stage and force the artistes to stop the show midway. Tamasha shows are always held at nights and continue till the break of the dawn. Jacquierbaba did not mind losing his sleep to travel a long distance at night if it meant preventing members of his flock from straying away from the moral path. He used to force the women artistes to unstrap the heavy ankle bells (ghoongaroos), each weighing five to seven kilos, and confiscate them. Sometimes, he also cut the long hair of the nachya to prevent him to play the same role at least for the next few weeks. Often, the priest used to return home carrying in his horse cart the dholkis (drums), cymbals and other musical instruments to prevent the tamasha troupe to stage another show.
Considering Jacquierbaba’s the strong opposition of Fr Jacquier to tamasha, it is doubtful whether any shows of this folk art were ever staged in Ghogargaon as long as this six ft-tall missionary was physically able to travel on horse back or in horse carts to stop the shows.
I have often heard my parents saying that two rooms in Ghogargaon’s church complex were filled with musical instruments confiscated by Jacquierbaba during his drive against tamasha. When I visited Ghogargaon in 2005, the local parish priest Fr Stephen Almeida endorsed this view. He told me that even he had heard from his parishioners that the musical instruments were stored in some rooms till a decade back.
Jacquierbaba’s drive against tamasha, of course, had social reference of the century-old period. Now, the times have changed and there are attempts by the government administration as well some cultural organisations to preserve this traditional folk art. However, despite the abolition of untouchability in India after the country gained independence, the caste-related references to this folk art have not changed. The tamasha artistes continue to belong to the lower castes like Mahar, Mang and Kolhati. Despite the state patronage to this folk art, tamasha artistes have failed to achieve economic prosperity or social respect. Artistes playing roles in Marathi theatre shows or in films now enjoy both prosperity and glamour. This fortune has eluded the tamasha artistes.
The exploitation of tamasha artistes has continued to this date as it was during the days of Jacquierbaba. No tamasha artiste would like her or his children to take up this profession. There seems to be some truth in the question posed by actor Nilu Phule as to why these artistes have clung on to this art if it has failed to offer them happiness and prestige. In the light of these circumstances, one may wonder whether the steps taken by Jacquierbaba to end this folk art were indeed in the interests of the tamasha artistes.

References:
1) Dr Milind Kasbe: Tamasha: Kala Ani Kalawant (Tamasha: Art and artistes) Marathi book published by Sugawa Prakashan, Pune (2007) (page 9)
2) As above, page 29
3) V M Dandekar and M B Jagtap, ‘Maharashtrachi Grameen Samajrachana’ (Rural social structure in Maharashtra), Publisher: D R Gadgil, Gokhale Institute of Economics, Pune 411 004 (1957) (Page 20)
4) Narayan Surve, “Manoos, Kalawant Aani Samaj” (Marathi), (Human, an artiste and the society), Published by Popular Prakashan, 36 C, Malaviya Marg, Mumbai, 400 034 (1992), (Page 68)
5) Dr Milind Kasbe: Tamasha: Kala Ani Kalawant (Page 51)
* *

Untouchability and dalits in 20th century

Fr Gurien Jacquier of Ghogargaon

(Catholic mission in Aurangabad diocese - 1892 onwards)

By Camil Parkhe
camilparkhe@gmail.com


Copyright : SFS Publications
Published by: SFS Publications,

PB No 5639
Rajajinagar, 1st Block,
Bangalore, 560 010


ISBN 81-85376-78-6

First edition 2009


Index

i) Preface- Bishop Edwin Colaco, Aurangabad diocese
ii) Fr Marian Fernandes, MSFS Provincial, Pune Province
iii) Fr Stephen Almeida, parish priest of Ghogargaon
1) A pilgrimage to Ghogargaon
2) Arrival of Christianity in Nizam’s Hyderabad state
3) Ghogargaon – First MSFS mission in Nagpur diocese
4) Fr Marian Thomas, Mission founder
5) Fr Jacquier- From France to Ghogargaon
6) Untouchability and social scenario in 20th century
7) Dalit Christians during pre-independence era
8) Portrait of Fr Gurien Jacquier
9) Boosting morale of Dalit Christians
10) Foundation of Borsar mission
11) World War I: MSFS priests in Jesuits’ Nagar missions
12) Fr Jacquier in Rahata
13) Fr Berger in Kendal
14) Social scenario in Rahata, Sangamner, Kendal
15) A Jesuit’s tribute to MSFS priests
16) Christianity in Marathwada (1915-1923)
17 Fr Forel in Borsar mission
18) Christ the King Church, Ghogargaon
19 Lohgaon-Bidkin mission - Paithan
20) Archbishop Doering’s visit to Ghogargaon
21) A missionary’s dilemma
22) Exploitation of tamasha artistes and Jacquierbaba
23) Jacquierbaba challenges custom of untouchabalility
24) First local vocations: Fr Monteiro, Bro Taide
25) Jacquierbaba in his twilight years
26) Civic reception to Jacquierbaba
27) Called to eternal reward
28) Ghogargaon: Two sons of soil ordained priests
29) Formation of Aurangabad diocese
30) Parishes in Aurangabad (Marathwada) diocese
------

6) Untouchability and social scenario in 20th century

Fr Gurien Jacquier arrived from France in Ghogargaon in Aurangabad district when the 20th century was about to end. The British had by that time established their political rule almost all over India. Aurangabad district was at that time a part of the princely state of the Nizam of Hyderabad. Ghogargaon became Fr Jacquier’s permanent home. He was transferred from there twice but returned to his ‘home’ again where he spent his twilight years and chose this obscure village as his final resting place.
The role played by this missionary in transforming the prevalent social, religious structure would be known only when one takes into consideration the feudal society, the rigid caste structure and the barbarian, inhuman custom of untouchability, called by Mahatma Gandhi as the scourge on humanity. In the 20th century, the human habitation was not found located at one place in the village. Some people preferred to stay on their farms, a cluster some 10 to 12 homes used to locate elsewhere and it was called as Wadi. The central location of the village where a majority of the villagers lived was called as ‘Gaothan’. This main site of the village used to well fortified with a wall and a main tall entrance to protect the villagers from dacoits and other unwanted unscrupulous elements. This fortified wall was called as Gaokusu. Only the people belonging to the high caste were permitted to live within the protected walls of the gaokusu. The others, the outcaste people, were condemned to live beyond the village territory and were allowed to step in the village only when their services were required by the upper echelon.
The high caste community which lived in the village enclosure included those belonging to the first three of the total four varnas or the chaturvarnas. The three varnas which enjoyed social dignity included Brahmins, Kshatriyas and the Vaishyas as described in the Manu Smriti, the law book of Manu. The upper caste community too was divided into various sub-castes and groups, with some groups claiming the superiority of their sub-castes and the others contesting these claims.
The people belonging to the last Varna, Shudras were those who lived outside the village fence wall. The main outcastes, also referred to as untouchables, were the Mahar, Mang and Chambar (cobblers). Besides, there were also some tribes and nomadic tribes which had inferior status in the social structure.
                Unlike the other upper and lower castes, the Mahars are found almost in all villages in Maharashtra. According to some scholars, in fact, Maharashtra has earned its name, the Rashtra (nation) of Mahars, from its dominant Mahar population. Veteran anthropologist Dr Iravati Karve has said that except the Mahars, no other caste, not even the Maratha or Kunbi, has its presence in all villages of the Maharashtra state in India. 1
The untouchables are those whose even sight was considered as inauspicious and bad omen and the upper caste people considered it to be a sin to touch them. The upper caste people had to bathe again to purify themselves if any time they accidentally touched the untouchables.
Some books published in Marathi during the early years of the 20th century throw light on the social situation, the caste-based barter system and the condition of the untouchables in Maharashtra during this period. Trimbak Narayan Aatre who had served as a tehsildar during the British regime has written a book in Marathi, entitled ‘Gaogada’, ‘the village chariot’ which was published in 1915. 2
Another relevant book is ‘The Mahar folk- a study of untouchables in Maharashtra’ written by Rev Alexander Robertson and published in 1938. 3
Maharashtrachi Grameen Samajrachana (The Social Structure in Rural Maharashtra)’ is another book, written by economist Dr V M Dandekar and M B Jagtap, his colleague at the Pune-based Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics which throws light on the social structure prevailing in the 1950s when the country had got freed of its political shackles. 4
The horrifying predicament of the untouchable communities is also reflected in the autobiographical writings of the Dalit writers published in Marathi after 1970s.
The settlements of the Mahars and the Mangs, located outside the village’s boundary walls used to be called as the Maharwada or Mangwada, respectively. In Vaijapur and Gangapur talukas of Aurangabad district where Fr Jacquier worked, Maharwada was ironically referred to as the Rajwada (the palace). Many residents of the Maharwadas in these talukas were converted to Christianity by Fr Jacquier and his MSFS priest colleagues. Nonetheless, a century after their conversion, these settlements are referred to as Rajwada even in 2008. So much is the rigidity of the caste system in India.
The villages which had a boundary wall from all sides to protect the villagers from the thugs and dacoits had an entry gate, the Wes. The gates used to be closed after sunset and opened only after the break of the dawn. The wes was guarded by a weskar, a member of the Mahar community. The Weskar would function as a watchman, keeping a close vigil on the people entering and going out of the village. He would also stand as main witness in the event of any civil or criminal dispute in the village.
The settlement of the lower castes and the untouchables was always on the lower directions of the river or steam. This enabled the higher caste people to collect or avail of the flowing water before it was contaminated by the touch of the lower castes people or the untouchables. There was a hierarchy even among the so-called higher castes and the flowing water was consumed as per this social ladder.
Accordingly, the Brahmins who unquestionably stood at the top of the social ladder availed of the river, stream water first, followed by the upper caste people such as the Marathas, goldsmiths, Kunbis, Malis and others. Even the untouchables had hierarchy among themselves and their locations of river/stream water consumption were fixed accordingly. In the lower caste hierarchy, the Ramoshis and Chambhars stood on a higher plain, followed by the Dhor, the Mahar and the Mang. The Bhangis or the scavengers stood at the bottom of this social pyramid. Of course, in practice, the Mahars considered themselves higher than the Mangs or the Chambhars and the vice versa.
When the rivers or the stream dried during the summer and in areas where there were no flowing sources of water, the entire community within the village boundary and the outside had to depend on the wells. Most of the times, each of the upper castes and the lower castes people had their independent wells. The untouchables had to depend totally on the mercy of the higher caste people when they had no wells of their own or when these wells got dried during the summer. The untouchables were forbidden to draw water from the wells meant for the upper castes and they had to wait near the wells for some good soul from the upper castes to take pity on them and pour water on their hands to quench their thirst. But the upper caste man or woman would take care to pour from safe distance lest he or she be defiled by the touch or shadow of the untouchables. In the history of the humankind, no other parts of the world ever had such most inhuman, cruel traditions. Perhaps, even the slaves during the ancient period were treated with more consideration!
The treatment meted out to the untouchables was worse that the treatment given to the slaves during ancient period. The barbarian social practice of untouchability perhaps had only one parallel in the history of human kind – the treatment given to the black people – the people of African race who were denied basic human rights in their countries or in Europe and America on account of the colour of their skin.
It was the total contempt for the inhuman custom of untouchability that led to Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar to launch a stir to open the Chavdar Lake at Mahad in the Konkan region of Maharashtra in 1927. Even after this agitation, the public water bodies in Maharashtra were not thrown open to the untouchables. The high caste people also refused to open the public temples to the Dalits.

This stubborn attitude of the high caste community had led much exasperated Dr Ambedkar to declare his intention in 1927 to give up Hinduism and to embrace another religion which would offer him and his followers a dignified life. Despite his threat, there was no change in the attitude of the higher caste community, forcing Dr Ambedkar and his numerous followers to give up Hinduism and embrace Buddhism in 1956.

“During our survey of 72 villages, we have not come across any incident of the untouchables availing of the water at the public wells in their villages,” wrote veteran economist V M Dandekar and his companion M B Jagtap a few years after India had gained Independence. 5

This was the social situation prevailing when Fr Gurien Jacquier arrived in 1896 to preach the gospel in rural parts of Aurangabad district. The only people who positively responded to him and embraced Christianity were the Mahars, the untouchables. It was indeed a great challenge to socially and spiritually shape this most oppressed community. The French missionary took the gauntlet and did not give up till he breathed his last in the same village five decades later.
References:
1) Iravati Karve, ‘Mahar Ani Maharashtra (Mahar and Maharashtra), ‘Paripurti’ (Marathi), published by Deshmukh and Company Pvt Ltd., 473, Sadashiv Peth, Pune 411 030 (10th edition 1990), (page 74)
2) Trimbak Narayan Aatre, ‘Gaongada’ (Village Cycle) Publishers: H A Bhave, Warada Books, 397/1, Senapati Bapat Road, Pune 411 016 (Third edition, reprinting 1995)
3) Alexander Robertson, ‘The Mahar Folk- A study of untouchables in Maharashtra – The religious life of India series’; Publishers- Y M C A Publishing House, 5 Russell Street, Kolkata, Humphrey Milford, Oxford University Press (first edition 1938), second edition published in 2005 by Dr Ashok Gaikwad, Kaushalya Prakashan, N-11, C-3/24/3, HUDCO, Aurangabad (Maharashtra)
4) V M Dandekar and M B Jagtap, ‘Maharashtrachi Grameen Samajrachana (The Social Structure in Rural Maharashtra), Published by D R Gadgil, Gokhale Institute of Economics, Pune (1957)
5) As above; Page 10