Spoilers ahead
In Thangalaan, Pa Ranjith narrates the story of Arathi, a person who espouses Naga tradition and Buddhism. When spilled, her blood turns into gold. This tale is told through the titular character Thangalaan in the first half of the film, as a story that his ancestors have passed down to him, and which he is now passing on to his children. At the end of the film too, during the struggle against the British, Arathi’s blood turns into gold when it spills on to the ground. Since the film was released, a section of viewers have questioned if Ranjith couldn’t have shown, in the second half of the film, real struggles that were actually waged by Dalits after the British arrived? Did Arathi’s fantastical character really have to make an appearance for a second time?
Arathi’s story in the second half of the film is in fact crucial to Thangalaan, which weaves folklore and history to say that this land, its water, and other wealth belonged to Dalits. After all, that is exactly what Brahminism did: it introduced Brahminical gods and mythical figures into the cultural landscape of Dalits and Shudras, and twisted their folklore. That’s why in every part of the country, you will find stories about how the Pandavas, or Rama, or Krishna had lived in this forest or rested on that rock. In contrast, any trace of Buddhist worship or the presence of Bhikkus (Buddhist monks) has been given a Brahminical makeover. This has happened at the Kolar Gold Fields (KGF) in Karnataka’s Kolar district too.
A hill next to Avani hill in Mulbagal, located near KGF, has been named after Seetha of the Ramayana, and is simply called “Seethe hill”. In Kannada, Seetha is often pronounced as Seethe, and in some parts, as “Seethi”. Mulbagal’s Seethi hill is called so because Seetha is believed to have raised her children Lava and Kusha on that hill, and washed clothes in the stream that flows amid the rocks of Avani hill.
Read: Thangalaan: The gold mined in Kolar’s KGF is indeed the blood of Dalits
Another hill in Byatarayana Betta, which falls in the Doddooru Karappanahalli gram panchayat limits of the KGF taluk, has a similar story to tell. Rama, Lakshmana, and Seetha are said to have lived on that hill. Legend goes that Seetha felt peckish at the sight of a deer on that hill. So Rama chased the deer, and when his arrow struck the animal, its blood turned into gold as it seeped into the ground. This folk tale is still told in KGF, according to theatreperson Achyut, who is also a long-time resident of the region.
Over time, many artefacts that attest to KGF’s Buddhist history have been found. It was in a bid to sneak Brahminism into a Buddhist land, that the golden deer of the Brahminical Ramayana was linked to KGF’s own story of the blood that turns into gold. Besides reaping financial and other benefits from the gold mining, the ‘upper’ classes also made gold their own cultural commodity. To reclaim that pre-Brahminical heritage, it was imperative for Pa Ranjith to narrate the Dalit folktale of Arathi’s blood.
It was not a coincidence that Buddhism and the Dalit cultural identity got Vedicised. There is a context to it which Pa Ranjith has woven into Thangalaan very intricately.
The British who brought Dalits of the Paraiyar community from Tamil Nadu to work in the gold mines in the had also brought Brahmins. An entire village named Devaraya Samudra was established in KGF exclusively for Brahmins. This village still exists in Mulbagal taluk. Back then, only Brahmins lived there. Even today, the majority of the village’s residents are still Brahmins. The British had appointed them as supervisors in the mines, and after Independence, their children became engineers in the very same mines. The children of the Dalits who were brought to mine the gold, became mine workers like their parents.
This period systematically destroyed KGF’s Dalit culture and Buddhist traditions. Over time, the story of a Naga tribal-Dalit woman leader whose blood turned into gold was twisted, and became the story of the blood of a deer, shot by Rama’s arrow, turning into gold. This is an example of how Brahminism captured cultural power along with political, economic, and social authority. A film like Thangalaan, then, is an attempt to reclaim cultural history and identity.
In the film, before the advent of the British, it was the Cholas, followed by Tipu Sultan, who attempted to mine gold in KGF. There were conflicts between Dalit-tribal people and the kings for the gold-laden lands. The film is careful to hint that the conflict was with the Cholas and other kings and not Tipu Sultan. The kings destroyed Buddhism on the directions of the Brahmins. Still, many Dalits supported the kings and ensured that the gold-laden lands fell into the hands of the kings. The film tries to point out that along with the Buddha, Dalits lost their land and wealth too. The Dalits worked as slaves to mine the gold for the British. For them to realise that the wealth they were mining was theirs, Arathi had to appear before them. Arathi’s appearance in Thangalaan signifies the dawn of Dalit consciousness.
The rule of the monarchs had wiped out Buddhism and the Naga tradition, which were pro-Dalit. Under the British, the communists fought for the rights of the mine workers and some were felled by bullets. After Independence, the Republican Party of India, Dalit Sangharsha Samiti, and Dravida Kazhagam all launched separate struggles for the rights of the Dalit gold miners, influenced by the ideas of Karl Marx, BR Ambedkar, and Periyar. When the government said it would shut down the mines, CPI(M) leader VJK Nair proposed that the Dalit mine workers be allowed to run the mines and that a system to facilitate that be put in place. Had these three movements come together and waged a joint struggle under a common flag — one that bore the colours red, blue, and black — for equal distribution of wealth generated by resources, KGF would not have shut down. Instead, it would have been in the control of Dalits.
The climax of the film is about the control of resources. “If we want to save the land and its resources, we must unite. Let’s save it together,” Arathi says to convince Thangalaan, who was on the side of the British. In the end, he is finally convinced. When the British return, all the Dalits roar cries of defiance in unison. Through the final scene, the film Thangalaan expresses an aspiration for India’s future.
A note on the Naga tradition: The Naga traditions are non-Vedic and vary according to the region. In coastal Karnataka for instance, serpents are among the oldest deities, worshipped in the form of Naga Bemmeru. In the KGF-Mysuru region, the Naga tradition refers to tribal communities of Asura rulers. The term Asura refers to indigenous peoples who do not consume alcohol, while Sura peoples refers to Vedic-Aryans who are worshippers of alcohol-consuming gods. In the Sura community, alcohol, gender-based discrimination, and destruction of nature were customary practices. The Asuras were a nature-worshipping indigenous community, which did not discriminate on the basis of gender or varna. Another kind of Naga tradition refers to kings who ruled under the symbol of the serpent. While many kings have had various animals as their symbols, indigenous kings more often than not had the serpent as their
Naveen Soorinje is a senior Kannada journalist. Views expressed are the author’s own.
This piece was translated by Anisha Sheth.