Ayyankali on Wiki
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Luisa Steur
Nov 28, 2009, 1:47:27 PM11/28/09
to Green Youth Movement
Hi,
I just noticed -- the Ayyankali wikipedia entrance (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayyankali) starts as follows:
Ayyankali (1863–1941) was a leader of the Indian lower caste Dalits known as the Untouchables. He pioneered many reforms to improve the lifes of the Dalits. In 1937 he was praised by Mahatma Gandhi when he visited Venganoor, Ayyankali's home town. In November 1980, Indira Gandhi unveiled sculptor Ezra David's commorative statue of Ayyankali at Kawdiyar square, in Trivandrum.[1]
To me, the fact that Gandhi may have praised Ayyankali is really not something that should be almost the first thing to be mentioned about him. Certainly not since his politics and that of Gandhi surely were at odds.
The second sentence moreover gives the impression he is some kind of upper-caste self-less sacrificing leader trying to "uplift" the dalits or something.....we don't get the impression he is a Pulaya himself, fighting for the rights of his people.
And then that sentence about Indira Gandhi unveiling a statue of him...who cares! There's so many so much more important things to say about Ayyankali than that.
And then the piece goes on to describe how Ayyankali was compared to Sree Narayana Guru....again, it seems all the people that matter here are those that are not dalit (and not Ayyankali).
Anyway, these are just some examples of the bias that seems to linger in this Ayyankali Wikipedia entrance -- which is, by the way, also still very underdeveloped otherwise. I'm not an expert on Ayyankali so I don't think I'm the best person to change this but I'm sure some of the people on this list could easily say some much more relevant and important things about Ayyankali than what is there now....
In fact, even K. Saradamoni's (Marxist-leaning) chapter on Ayyankali's struggles in "Emergence of a slave caste" is already much better than this. And there's a very interesting "brief biography of a dalit freedom fighter" I read on http://www.ambedkar.org/books/AYYAN-KALI.htm that should defintely be included in the references too (and could be used to develop this Wiki entrance) -- it's a pity I cannot find who the author of that "brief biography" is..
Also, Sunny Kappikade at some point gave me a real picture of Ayyankali that had recently been discovered-- all the pictures circulating the net (even on ambedkar.org!) and available on posters are Sanskritized versions where Ayyankali appears as some fair-skinned upper-caste guru rather than a dalit freedom fighter..
Luisa
I just noticed -- the Ayyankali wikipedia entrance (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayyankali) starts as follows:
Ayyankali (1863–1941) was a leader of the Indian lower caste Dalits known as the Untouchables. He pioneered many reforms to improve the lifes of the Dalits. In 1937 he was praised by Mahatma Gandhi when he visited Venganoor, Ayyankali's home town. In November 1980, Indira Gandhi unveiled sculptor Ezra David's commorative statue of Ayyankali at Kawdiyar square, in Trivandrum.[1]
To me, the fact that Gandhi may have praised Ayyankali is really not something that should be almost the first thing to be mentioned about him. Certainly not since his politics and that of Gandhi surely were at odds.
The second sentence moreover gives the impression he is some kind of upper-caste self-less sacrificing leader trying to "uplift" the dalits or something.....we don't get the impression he is a Pulaya himself, fighting for the rights of his people.
And then that sentence about Indira Gandhi unveiling a statue of him...who cares! There's so many so much more important things to say about Ayyankali than that.
And then the piece goes on to describe how Ayyankali was compared to Sree Narayana Guru....again, it seems all the people that matter here are those that are not dalit (and not Ayyankali).
Anyway, these are just some examples of the bias that seems to linger in this Ayyankali Wikipedia entrance -- which is, by the way, also still very underdeveloped otherwise. I'm not an expert on Ayyankali so I don't think I'm the best person to change this but I'm sure some of the people on this list could easily say some much more relevant and important things about Ayyankali than what is there now....
In fact, even K. Saradamoni's (Marxist-leaning) chapter on Ayyankali's struggles in "Emergence of a slave caste" is already much better than this. And there's a very interesting "brief biography of a dalit freedom fighter" I read on http://www.ambedkar.org/books/AYYAN-KALI.htm that should defintely be included in the references too (and could be used to develop this Wiki entrance) -- it's a pity I cannot find who the author of that "brief biography" is..
Also, Sunny Kappikade at some point gave me a real picture of Ayyankali that had recently been discovered-- all the pictures circulating the net (even on ambedkar.org!) and available on posters are Sanskritized versions where Ayyankali appears as some fair-skinned upper-caste guru rather than a dalit freedom fighter..
Luisa
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