Ramnamis: India
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[ From the archives of the Times of India]
Prakash Hatvalne
A 100 years ago, Ramnamis, denied entry into temples, protested by getting the Ram tattoo all over their bodies. But the new generation doesn’t need it anymore
Members of the Ramnami sect, the agonised community of people wrote ‘Ram’ all over their bodies as a mark of both protest and rebellious identity when upper castes refused to let them enter Hindu temples. Many of them have the tattoo not just all over their body, but even on their eyelids and tongue. Dujeram, of course, is just proud, not tattooed. Things have changed since the time his father and grandfather before him went through the painful process that made Ramnamis stand out wherever they went. “There is no need to go against what we thought was the ‘mainstream’,” he says as it becomes clear that Rajaram and others of his time will be the last of the tattooed lot. Elders like Rajaram, too, are happy that the new generations have been spared the pain, the humiliation and the punishment. “There won’t be anymore of those the world saw as freaks,” one of them says triumphantly. “India has changed, and with it we have too.” It was more than a 100 years ago when some Satnamis of present-day Chhattisgarh, forced by the Hindu caste system to the bottom of the social pyramid as untouchables and refused entry into temples, had tattooed the name ‘Ram’ on themselves under the leadership of Parasuram. Denied access to their god, they had tattooed his name all over their bodies to become inseparable from him.
The Ramnami movement had gripped large sections of dalits in Champa, Janjgir, Raigarh, Bilaspur and other districts by the banks of the Mahanadi river. Some, like Teerathram, who called themselves nakhshikhRamnamis, went to extremes to lodge their grievance, spending excruciating hours to fill up every centimeter of their bodies, even tongue and eyelids, with the ‘Ram’ tattoo. “When our fathers got the tattoos, it was a question of faith. But there is awakening now and we have moved on,” says Dujeram. The Ramnamis have. Rajaram, an illiterate, could make his son an engineer. Dujeram’s son Yaman, in turn, studies in Class VIII in an upscale school of Raipur and doesn’t even know what the Ramnami movement was all about. Today, only 1,537 Ramnamis — spread over 360 villages — have tattoos. There are fewer nakh-shikhs around. Though some younger ones do tattoo Ram on their wrists in deference to the tradition, Jai PrakashBanjare, a 36-year-old post graduate, says “even this is not mandatory”. Most Ramnamis, across generations, still come together at the annual Bade BhajanKaMela, a celebration that takes place on the banks of the Mahanadi in December-January. Tikaram, an elderly member, says, “For the past 102 years, the community has been gathering here without a break to sing songs in praise of Lord Ram.” At the end of each festival, the date and venue for the next are announced.
A visit to the fair is like a pilgrimage among the Ramnamis. The highlight of the gathering is the ritual reading of the Ramayan. A copy of the text is placed on a makeshift platform and the elder Ramnamis sing Ram Bhajans in the local dialect. Those who don’t have Ram tattoo on them wrap a cloth around that has the word printed all over it. At the end, the priest, who wears a headgear made of bamboo and peacock feathers, distributes prasad. But even the two-day extravaganza has begun to reflect changing social mores of the Ramnamis. The ritual, in fact, is only a small aspect of it — there are now swings, games, film screenings, food stalls and ice cream counters. And most Ramnamis are happy that they are now just normal people who find happiness in normal things. As Teerathram says, “Now, no one hates us. We are accepted by the society.”
