Pavel Hons - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Pavel Hons
Contemporary Voice of Dalit
Dalits have gradually developed different emancipation strategies during their struggle. While al... more Dalits have gradually developed different emancipation strategies during their struggle. While all of them fight against untouchability and discrimination, their positions on other issues may differ. Most of them espouse the ideas of Dr Ambedkar, for whom the prime objective was the eradication of caste. He openly rejected Hinduism and converted to Buddhism. Millions of Dalits followed his example, and many venerate him as a supreme leader to this day. Devendrakula Velalars are an exception to the rule. They reject Dalit ideology. Instead, they prefer to strengthen their caste identity and move up the social ladder. They try to prove that the three Tamil dynasties, that is, Pandyas, Cholas and Cheras, originated from among them. It was only after the ascendency of the Nayak kings that their proud name Mallar was changed into the derogatory Pallar and they were deprived of their land and turned into untouchables. Now they are trying to get themselves removed from the Scheduled Castes...
Based primarily on original sources in Tamil as well as interviews, the article seeks to portray ... more Based primarily on original sources in Tamil as well as interviews, the article seeks to portray the attitude of Tamil Dalit intellectuals and political leaders towards the question of religion. It seeks to discover the role of religion in their discourse and how they utilise religious matters to mobilise their fellow caste members. It maps their efforts to distance themselves from Hinduism and to propagate the particularity of Dalit deities and Dalit religion as a part of their newly constructed identity. Their opinions on the possibility of conversion are also briefly noted. These attitudes are examined from the viewpoint of the differing emancipation strategies of the three major Tamil Dalit castes. The Paraiyar as well as the Arunthaiyar leaders try to reject the Hindu identity, though the common folk consider themselves to be Hindus. The Devendrars on the contrary associate themselves with the Hindu gods and Hindu temples, they claim direct connection with some of them. Even th...
Archiv Orientalni, 2008
The article deals with reduplication in Tamil. It arranges various types of reduplication into fi... more The article deals with reduplication in Tamil. It arranges various types of reduplication into five groups, according to one formal criterion - what is reduplicated. Then it focuses on phonetic reduplication, i.e. partial reduplication where the second word (the reduplicant) copies the phonetic structure of the base word to produce a rhyming pair. It classifies the examples of phonetic reduplication into several subgroups. The first large group contains pairs of fully lexical words, which have been put together because they sound similar and produce a rhyming pair. Here, phonetic reduplication accompanies semantic reduplication. The second large group contains pairs of words in which the second word is a bound word and has no meaning by itself. The eminent example in this category is in relation to echo words. These pairs usually have some emotive connotation and speakers use them to express their attitude towards something. Here, phonetic reduplication can be considered the main fo...
Archiv Orientalni, 2007
This article deals with pairs of synonymous words in Tamil. These pairs are very frequent in mode... more This article deals with pairs of synonymous words in Tamil. These pairs are very frequent in modem Tamil but only a few words constituting these pairs can be considered complete synonyms. Most of them differ in meaning, emotive charge or source of origin. The pairs are arranged into several major groups according to their nature and then commented upon. The article also touches upon the question of the function of these pairs in the language.
South Asia Research
Based mainly on printed sources in Tamil, as well as interviews with Dalit activists, this articl... more Based mainly on printed sources in Tamil, as well as interviews with Dalit activists, this article seeks to map current divergent attitudes of Dalits towards folklore and especially towards the drum. While most activists argue for the rejection of drumming as a symbol of oppression and untouchability, some try to use it as a means of mobilisation. Others speak in favour of the resignification of the instrument and its protection and preservation as a part of their cultural legacy, which they consider to be different from the mainstream. The article also sets out to correlate these attitudes with the ideology of the eradication of caste and points to the ensuing dilemmas connected with emphasising caste-based identities.
Argument: Biannual Philosophical Journal
Based primarily on original sources in Tamil as well as interviews, the article seeks to portray ... more Based primarily on original sources in Tamil as well as interviews, the article seeks to portray the attitude of Tamil Dalit intellectuals and political leaders towards the question of religion. It seeks to discover the role of religion in their discourse and how they utilise religious matters to mobilise their fellow caste members. It maps their efforts to distance themselves from Hinduism and to propagate the particularity of Dalit deities and Dalit religion as a part of their newly constructed identity. Their opinions on the possibility of conversion are also briefly noted. These attitudes are examined from the viewpoint of the differing emancipation strategies of the three major Tamil Dalit castes. The Paraiyar as well as the Arunthaiyar leaders try to reject the Hindu identity, though the common folk consider themselves to be Hindus. The Devendrars on the contrary associate themselves with the Hindu gods and Hindu temples, they claim direct connection with some of them. Even th...
Contemporary Voice of Dalit
Dalits have gradually developed different emancipation strategies during their struggle. While al... more Dalits have gradually developed different emancipation strategies during their struggle. While all of them fight against untouchability and discrimination, their positions on other issues may differ. Most of them espouse the ideas of Dr Ambedkar, for whom the prime objective was the eradication of caste. He openly rejected Hinduism and converted to Buddhism. Millions of Dalits followed his example, and many venerate him as a supreme leader to this day. Devendrakula Velalars are an exception to the rule. They reject Dalit ideology. Instead, they prefer to strengthen their caste identity and move up the social ladder. They try to prove that the three Tamil dynasties, that is, Pandyas, Cholas and Cheras, originated from among them. It was only after the ascendency of the Nayak kings that their proud name Mallar was changed into the derogatory Pallar and they were deprived of their land and turned into untouchables. Now they are trying to get themselves removed from the Scheduled Castes...
Based primarily on original sources in Tamil as well as interviews, the article seeks to portray ... more Based primarily on original sources in Tamil as well as interviews, the article seeks to portray the attitude of Tamil Dalit intellectuals and political leaders towards the question of religion. It seeks to discover the role of religion in their discourse and how they utilise religious matters to mobilise their fellow caste members. It maps their efforts to distance themselves from Hinduism and to propagate the particularity of Dalit deities and Dalit religion as a part of their newly constructed identity. Their opinions on the possibility of conversion are also briefly noted. These attitudes are examined from the viewpoint of the differing emancipation strategies of the three major Tamil Dalit castes. The Paraiyar as well as the Arunthaiyar leaders try to reject the Hindu identity, though the common folk consider themselves to be Hindus. The Devendrars on the contrary associate themselves with the Hindu gods and Hindu temples, they claim direct connection with some of them. Even th...
Archiv Orientalni, 2008
The article deals with reduplication in Tamil. It arranges various types of reduplication into fi... more The article deals with reduplication in Tamil. It arranges various types of reduplication into five groups, according to one formal criterion - what is reduplicated. Then it focuses on phonetic reduplication, i.e. partial reduplication where the second word (the reduplicant) copies the phonetic structure of the base word to produce a rhyming pair. It classifies the examples of phonetic reduplication into several subgroups. The first large group contains pairs of fully lexical words, which have been put together because they sound similar and produce a rhyming pair. Here, phonetic reduplication accompanies semantic reduplication. The second large group contains pairs of words in which the second word is a bound word and has no meaning by itself. The eminent example in this category is in relation to echo words. These pairs usually have some emotive connotation and speakers use them to express their attitude towards something. Here, phonetic reduplication can be considered the main fo...
Archiv Orientalni, 2007
This article deals with pairs of synonymous words in Tamil. These pairs are very frequent in mode... more This article deals with pairs of synonymous words in Tamil. These pairs are very frequent in modem Tamil but only a few words constituting these pairs can be considered complete synonyms. Most of them differ in meaning, emotive charge or source of origin. The pairs are arranged into several major groups according to their nature and then commented upon. The article also touches upon the question of the function of these pairs in the language.
South Asia Research
Based mainly on printed sources in Tamil, as well as interviews with Dalit activists, this articl... more Based mainly on printed sources in Tamil, as well as interviews with Dalit activists, this article seeks to map current divergent attitudes of Dalits towards folklore and especially towards the drum. While most activists argue for the rejection of drumming as a symbol of oppression and untouchability, some try to use it as a means of mobilisation. Others speak in favour of the resignification of the instrument and its protection and preservation as a part of their cultural legacy, which they consider to be different from the mainstream. The article also sets out to correlate these attitudes with the ideology of the eradication of caste and points to the ensuing dilemmas connected with emphasising caste-based identities.
Argument: Biannual Philosophical Journal
Based primarily on original sources in Tamil as well as interviews, the article seeks to portray ... more Based primarily on original sources in Tamil as well as interviews, the article seeks to portray the attitude of Tamil Dalit intellectuals and political leaders towards the question of religion. It seeks to discover the role of religion in their discourse and how they utilise religious matters to mobilise their fellow caste members. It maps their efforts to distance themselves from Hinduism and to propagate the particularity of Dalit deities and Dalit religion as a part of their newly constructed identity. Their opinions on the possibility of conversion are also briefly noted. These attitudes are examined from the viewpoint of the differing emancipation strategies of the three major Tamil Dalit castes. The Paraiyar as well as the Arunthaiyar leaders try to reject the Hindu identity, though the common folk consider themselves to be Hindus. The Devendrars on the contrary associate themselves with the Hindu gods and Hindu temples, they claim direct connection with some of them. Even th...