THOOTHUKUDI: An unwritten caste order has barred members of a Scheduled Caste community (Arunthathiyars) for the past 40 years from building houses with entrances facing the homes of dominant castes (Naickers) at Perumalpatti in Kulasekarapuram village panchayat in Thoothukudi district.
The panchayat is located six km from Kovilpatti town on Kadalaiyur Road. The state government gave a piece of land to 35 families of the Arunthathiyar community to build houses in 1986. The Arunthathiyar colony has three rows of tile-roof houses on the northern edge of the village near a hill. People from Naicker community, a Backward Caste, live on the eastern side of the Arunthathiyar colony.
A local youth told TNIE that 70 families live in the colony now, mostly children of the original residents of the village. Most of them are farmhands, construction workers, or labourers in hotels, he said. According to the villagers, each row has houses on both sides with entrances facing each other but the last row has houses only on one side. The residents of that stretch said they are not allowed to build houses with the façade facing the front portion of the houses of dominant caste people.
An elderly woman said, “The caste rule existed ever since the formation of the colony here. We don’t oppose it because we are dependent on these people for our livelihood.” Bhim Rao, an advocate of Kovilpatti, said the Arunthathiyars have been enduring the caste abuse as any resistance against it would put them in trouble.
‘May lose our jobs if we fight dominant caste’
“These Arunthathiyars work in the farms of Naicker landlords and as servants in their houses. They may lose their jobs,” he said. An 80-year-old elderly woman said, “What is the point in speaking about this stuff. No one will give us a solution.”
One Arunthathiyar woman even confronted the advocate saying she doesn’t want anything done that may endanger lives. Lenin, a CPI leader, denied the allegation. Kovilpatti RDO Christy Joy said she held inquiry with the people of both castes. Naicker community people agreed to allow the Arunthathiyars to have openings on the street where they have houses now, she said.