CASTE OPPRESSION IN THANJAVUR 67 practice of untouchability. Cohesive Action Among the Harijans In contrast, the rapid response of the Harijans to the call of the peasant movement and their subsequent militancy is striking. Beteille observes that "segmentation" is much less among them than among the other castes; Gough too remarks that they did not pay much attention to seniority by age or sex. Labour was their livelihood and people of all ages worked in the fields. While this might perhaps be too simplistic a description, it is certainly true that community of action among the Harijans is emphasized. This was essentially a result of the basic opposition between the untouchables and the landlords who have been accustomed, historically, to dealing with them as a collectivity. For the 'insubordination' of one individual, the entire caste group would be penalized. Therefore, internal caste matters were speedily settled by the Harijans lest the landlords should intervene (as had been their traditional 'right') and punish the collectivity. Gough writes of an incident during the late nineteenth century "when a group of Pallors serving one of the four Brahmin lineages are said to have 'quarrelled5 with their masters and demanded higher pay. The Brahmin lineage responded by evicting them and replacing them with a new group ofPallors of the Tekkotti (Southern) Pallor sub-caste, whom they brought from a Brahmin village in Kumba-konam." Later, in response to pleading from the untouchable community, the old group of labourers was reinstated.15 This situation of collective dependence on the landlords bred a unity among the untouchable labourers which was expressed in their caste assembly. The historical role that these caste assemblies have played requires a great deal of detailed study. Apart from expressing certain internal features of caste, they have also, historically, provided the basis for collective action. The existence of a forum for regular meetings provided a useful beginning for the organization of the Harijans. All the Harijan men met every new moon night in their temple courtyard and as the peasant mo vement in Thanjavur grew in strength, the landlords learnt to dread these meetings.16 In 1942, while a new moon meeting was in progress, two watchmen of a mirasdar, whose workers had threatened to strike, were sent into the Harijan area to terrorise the women, while the men were away. In the clash that followed, the two watchmen were killed and a ban on kisan activities was subsequently promulgated.17