Sena Nhavi: The Barber Whose Work Got Done

And here is the contradiction the story sits inside, which most retellings leave out.

What a barber actually did

Not only cut hair.

The Nhavi or Nai community held a fixed ritual function in Hindu life, and it is one nobody could do without.

• The mundan or chudakarana, the first tonsure of a child
• The shaving that precedes many samskaras
• The head shaving of the chief mourner after a death, without which the funeral rites are not completed
• In many regions, a role in carrying marriage messages, in the wedding sequence itself, and in announcing
• And in a great many villages, minor surgical work, since the razor was the only blade in the settlement

So a barber was structurally necessary to birth, marriage and death.

The contradiction

The community that made the rites possible was placed low by the same system that required them.

A man whose hands were needed at every threshold of a household's ritual life was, in most of India, not going to be seated with that household to eat.

This is the same shape this series has recorded with Chokhamela, who did the work of removing dead cattle and was kept outside the temple, and with Nandanar, and with Ravidas, and it is the shape the entire sant movement was formed to attack.

Which is why the Sena story matters

Because the deity in it does the barber's work.

Not the king's. Not the priest's. The tradition puts Vitthal behind the razor, which is a statement about the standing of that labour that could not be made in any other register in the fourteenth century.

And it is why Sain is in the Guru Granth Sahib, in a book that will be read from a throne, in a tradition where the volume itself is treated as the living guru.

Where this is now

Refusing service on the ground of caste is an offence.

Under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes Prevention of Atrocities Act 1989, denying a member of a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe access to a shop, a service or a public place ordinarily open to the public is a criminal offence, as is refusing customary service on caste grounds.

And it still happens. Cases of barbers refusing to cut Dalit customers' hair, or of Dalit barbers being boycotted, are reported from villages every year, and they are prosecutable.

If it happens to you or in front of you

• Police 112, and an FIR under the Atrocities Act, which the police are required to register
• Free legal aid 15100 through the District Legal Services Authority, which costs nothing
• The National Commission for Scheduled Castes, which accepts complaints directly
• Record what happened, with names, dates and witnesses, because these cases turn on evidence

And the ordinary version, which is more common than the criminal one

Somebody in your family will not eat food a particular person cooked, or will not accept water from them, or has a separate cup.

That is not a police matter and it is not going to be solved by an argument at a meal.

What can be said, in a household that respects the sants, is that the tradition already settled this. Chokhamela, Ravidas, Namdev, Sena, Sadhna and Nandanar are in the canon, they are sung in kirtan, they are in scripture, and every one of them was excluded in their own lifetime by exactly the reasoning being used at that table.

A family that sings Sena's abhanga and keeps a separate cup is holding two positions, and it is worth saying so once, calmly, and then leaving it there.

Because it does, and the misuse is specific.

The bad reading

God will handle your responsibilities if you are devoted enough.

Skip the shift. Skip the deadline. Skip the appointment. Something will cover it.

Which is a straightforward misreading and the tradition does not support it.

Why it is wrong

One. Sena was not skipping work. He was refusing a summons.

And the difference is the whole story.

A summons from a king in the fourteenth century was not an appointment. It was an assertion of ownership over a man's time, from somebody who could have him beaten for being late, and Sena was not a free contractor deciding whether to take a booking.

The story is about a claim on a person's hours that the person did not consent to, and the resolution says that claim did not outrank the kirtan.

That is not the same as missing your own shift at your own job.

Two. The sant tradition is uniformly pro work.

This series has now set it out several times because it keeps being needed. Kabir wove. Ravidas made shoes. Namdev printed. Gora Kumbhar threw pots. Savata Mali grew vegetables. Narahari Sonar worked gold. Sena shaved.

None of them stopped. The doctrine that emerges from the Varkari sants in particular is that the trade is the practice, that you do not have to leave the shop to reach the deity, and that the man who abandons his household in the name of devotion has misunderstood the instruction.

Three. And the miracle, read carefully, makes exactly this point.

The work got done.

The king was shaved. The story does not say the appointment was cancelled, or that the king was made to wait, or that the obligation evaporated. Somebody turned up and did the job.

A story in which the labour is completed is not a story recommending that labour be skipped.

How to use it instead

Two usable things.

One. There are hours that belong to you, and the tradition says protecting them is not selfishness.

Fifteen minutes for practice, before the phone, before the demands of the day arrive, is the thing the story is defending. It is not defending a missed deadline.

Two. The dignity of the work itself.

Which is the more useful half for most readers.

The claim in the Sena story, and in the Janabai story, and in the Gora Kumbhar story, is that the deity is willing to do your job. Which is a statement about your job.

A person who cuts hair, drives, cleans, cooks, delivers, sits at a counter or works a machine is doing work the tradition put a god's hands on.

And a person who looks down on that work is arguing with their own scripture.

Where to go

• Pandharpur, for Vitthal, which is the centre of the whole Varkari world
• Bandhavgarh, Madhya Pradesh, with which Sena is most commonly associated
• Any gurdwara, where Bhagat Sain's composition is part of the Guru Granth Sahib

A daily practice from this entry

• Vitthal Vitthal, or the Haripath, in the Varkari manner
• Sena's abhangas, of which there are few and which are short
• And the household test this entry ends on: whether anybody in this house eats from a different plate, and why

Who: Sena Nhavi, Sena the barber, of the fourteenth century, placed by most accounts at Bandhavgarh and by some at Bidar, and counted among the Varkari sants of the Vitthal tradition of Pandharpur. He left a small number of Marathi abhangas, and one composition in the Guru Granth Sahib, where he appears as Bhagat Sain in Raga Dhanasari.

The story: he was barber to the king, which was a fixed appointment rather than a trade you chose. One day the king sent for him and he did not come, because he was at worship with other devotees in the middle of kirtan. The tradition says somebody arrived at the palace, shaved and dressed the king and left, and that the king was more satisfied than he had ever been, and that it was Vitthal. It does three things at once. The deity covers for the devotee, which is the surface and the version that gets retold. The deity does manual work, which is not incidental, since Vitthal in these stories does the specific labour of the specific caste in question: he carries Janabai's water and grinds her grain, mends Gora Kumbhar's pots, works Kabir's loom in the northern versions, and here shaves a king, and a tradition that wanted to flatter its deity would not have him holding a razor over a customer's throat. And the summons and the kirtan were in competition for the same hour, and the story resolves it by saying the summons was the interruption, which is an extraordinary thing to say about a king in the fourteenth century.

The bhagats in the Guru Granth Sahib were chosen, and the selection is pointed: Kabir the weaver, Ravidas the cobbler, Namdev the calico printer, Sadhna the butcher, Dhanna the farmer, Sain the barber. That is not a list of saints who happened to be poor but a curated argument about who is authorised to speak about God, assembled by people who could have filled the volume with brahmanas and did not.

The barber's position: a barber did not only cut hair. The Nhavi or Nai community held a fixed ritual function nobody could do without: the mundan or chudakarana, the shaving that precedes many samskaras, the head shaving of the chief mourner without which funeral rites are not completed, roles in carrying marriage messages and in the wedding sequence, and in many villages minor surgical work, since the razor was the only blade in the settlement. So a barber was structurally necessary to birth, marriage and death, and the community that made the rites possible was placed low by the same system that required them. That is the shape recorded here with Chokhamela, Nandanar and Ravidas, and the shape the whole sant movement was formed to attack, which is why the tradition puts Vitthal behind the razor.

Where this is now: refusing service on the ground of caste is an offence. Under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes Prevention of Atrocities Act 1989, denying a member of a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe access to a shop, service or public place ordinarily open to the public is criminal, as is refusing customary service on caste grounds, and cases of barbers refusing to cut Dalit customers' hair, or of Dalit barbers being boycotted, are reported from villages every year. If it happens: police 112 and an FIR under the Atrocities Act, which the police are required to register; free legal aid 15100 through the District Legal Services Authority; the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, which accepts complaints directly; and record names, dates and witnesses, because these cases turn on evidence. For the ordinary household version, the separate cup, the tradition already settled it: Chokhamela, Ravidas, Namdev, Sena, Sadhna and Nandanar are in the canon, sung in kirtan and present in scripture, and every one was excluded in their own lifetime by exactly the reasoning being used at that table.

The misuse: the bad reading is that God will handle your responsibilities if you are devoted enough, so skip the shift. It is wrong for three reasons. Sena was not skipping work but refusing a summons, and a summons from a fourteenth century king was an assertion of ownership over a man's time by somebody who could have him beaten for being late, not an appointment he was free to decline. The sant tradition is uniformly pro work: Kabir wove, Ravidas made shoes, Namdev printed, Gora Kumbhar threw pots, Savata Mali grew vegetables, Narahari Sonar worked gold and Sena shaved, and none of them stopped, the Varkari doctrine being that the trade is the practice. And the miracle makes the point itself, since the work got done and the king was shaved, and a story in which the labour is completed is not a story recommending that labour be skipped. Use it instead for two things: there are hours that belong to you and protecting them is not selfishness, and the deity's willingness to do your job is a statement about your job, so a person who cuts hair, drives, cleans, cooks, delivers or works a machine is doing work the tradition put a god's hands on.