Contemporary Voice of Dalit, Ahead of Print.
Though popular culture is celebrated among people across the country, the admiration for folklore and performing arts is very limited. In the domain of folklore, performing art forms are categorized and stratified based on ‘who is performing it’ or ‘who is eligible to perform’ with a benchmark of the social status of purity and pollution. This article discusses and reflects the dilution of casteism and fabricated caste identities and prejudices in oppari, ancient folklore and a musical dirge song performed in Tamil Nadu, which is considered as a polluted, discriminated cultural outcome and custom to be performed and etched with people belonging to oppressed classes in society. It also keeps a close lens and discussion on change in oppari, the role of casteism and its revamp in the contemporary scenario and sociocultural aspects of oppari within the realm of caste and performance.