Tradition, tradition

Tradition

The vey mention of the word ‘tradition’ brings to my mind the above song from one of my all-time favourite movies, Fiddler on the Roof. The song says that the Jews have a tradition for everything from how to eat to how to work. Tradition governs everything that they do. Without traditions their life would be as shaky as a fiddler on the roof, the character says. The fiddler who plays his fiddle standing on a slopped roof is in a precarious situation. The Jews were in a similar precarious situation. Perhaps we are all in such a situation all the time. Human life is never possible without some precariousness. Look at India’s situation now, for example. Aren’t we standing on a slopped rooftop and playing a fiddle?

Traditions give them the balance required in life’s precarious situations, says the character. Traditions teach each Jew who he is and what god expects of him. The Jews continue to follow their ancient traditions with canine and clannish loyalty. Muslims are not much different though the two cannot see eye to eye with each other. One of the fortunes that befell Christianity is its Westernisation because of which traditions lost their claws and fangs. Marauders cannot afford to cling to traditions. Hindus have been inclined to follow traditions which suited them. They were also clever enough to conceal opportunism beneath the label of tolerance.

I was born and brought up in Kerala which had insane traditions with religious moorings until the last century. One such tradition was that the low caste women should not cover their breasts. In case they happened to have a breast cloth, they should remove it on seeing a higher caste man. What was the reason behind this tradition? The higher caste men loved to ogle. Yes, many traditions are created by people who have perverse vested interests. What’s more interesting is that such traditions also get divine sanction. Scriptures are written by upper caste people only!

What the gods sanction, the kings ratify readily. The kings of Travancore imposed a tax on those exposed breasts. Thus the tradition became a legal stricture as well as a source of revenue.

Remember that only the untouchable women were placed under that stricture. They didn’t have a caste, in other words. They were not eligible to belong even to the last caste, the shudras. That caste system is another tradition.

The upper caste men – Brahmins particularly and then the Kshatriyas too – could mate with the untouchable women of their choice. Untouchability was only in the public. Yet another tradition.

Tradition is quite a weird thing. If we learn about their roots we may be able to liberate ourselves from them. Maybe, not. Traditions get rooted in our DNA, metaphorically. See the way the people of Kerala reacted to the Supreme Court’s judgement to let women enter the Sabarimala Temple. Traditions are deeply entrenched memes. As Mark Twain wrote, “The less there is to justify a traditional system, the harder it is to get rid of it.”

PS. Written for In[di]spire: