Provocative Objects: The Jhāŗu

Provocative Objects / Spaces

25 February, 2026 -

In India, the broom is far more than a handcrafted domestic object; it is a highly charged political symbol. 

Tool of oppression

Known as the jhāŗu across the subcontinent¹, it is simultaneously ubiquitous and invisible. In this regard, it mirrors the Dalits² many of whom are sweepers. Despite forming a nearly a fifth of India’s population, Dalits continue to suffer from social invisibility and lack of agency within a rigid social order designed to uphold the supremacy of upper-caste Hindu men.

The jhāŗu also “represents” women. This is not only because brooms are largely made and used by women, but because sweeping and other menial household chores have long been—and remain—coded as “women’s work” in a deeply patriarchal society. Gender and caste intersect here and the broom becomes a something akin to a stick—a tool of control and oppression by the dominant group.

Symbol of worship

Paradoxically while the jhāŗu remains a symbol of oppression for a large population of the country who are bound to it by birth³; it is also a highly venerated object that represents Lakshmi—the goddess of wealth. It’s believed that the goddess showers wealth on those homes that are the cleanest. Brooms are worshipped on festivals such as Diwali and are so venerated that disrespecting it—by kicking it or keeping it standing with the handle touching the ground—are highly frowned upon. Certain brooms are even used by the high-caste priests in the inner sanctum of temples.

So while cleanliness is divine, and so is the jhāŗu, those who carry out the work of cleaning are denied dignity. “The marginalised do not consume resources in the capacity that the privileged do. Yet, the discriminatory system makes it the responsibility of the marginalised to ‘clean’ the waste generated by the privileged and then, the ‘cleaners’ are termed as ‘dirty‘, while the dirt-creators promulgate themselves to be ‘pure’.”⁴

Weaponizing the broom

Whether Dalits end up repurposing the broom as a symbol of social justice and the dismantling of caste remains to be seen. Women, however, have already done so. In 2002, on the eighteenth anniversary of the 1984 Bhopal Gas tragedy⁵, women survivors presented thousands of brooms to Dow Chemical (previously Union Carbide), demanding fair compensation for the families of victims. Protesters shouted slogans that were exhortations to beat Dow with brooms—transforming a domestic tool into an instrument of resistance and justice.

Another unusual use of the jhāŗu can be seen in the 19th-century Kalighat paintings from Bengal depicting a woman beating her husband with a broom. Painted by bards (patua) as long vertical scrolls (patas) these paintings were used as props to tell their stories. “Patuas began making these paintings along religious themes but soon moved to a more secular domain with observations on big-city life, commentary on social mores and oddities, and current affairs too.”⁶ This transition occurred to make paintings relevant to contemporary life—much like a newspaper cartoon—piquing the interest of passing customers. The image of the wife or courtesan forcefully asserting dominance  was a shocking reversal of the patriarchal norms. Despite the fact, that these paintings were made by men, it suggests a shift in power dynamics: women were becoming more assertive, evoking the powerful female figure of the goddess Kali, revered in Bengal. It also indicates the rejection of the broom as a symbol of domesticity and its use for emancipation against patriarchal control. 

The broom also functions as a weapon in the iconography of the female deity Śītalā Matā, who wields it to sweep away—or, when angered, to unleash—diseases such as smallpox. Notably, she was invoked again during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Many politicians across the spectrum have used the jhāŗu to address their stance to the broader public—the Aam Aadmi Party as their party symbol to stand for the cleaning up of the corrupt Indian body politic. The ruling right-wing party, the Bharatiya Janta Party has used the broom as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan (Clean India Pledge), that aims to promote a cleaner India. Ironically, India is considered one of the filthiest countries in the world despite being one of the largest broom producers . Many say this has to do with the caste system, as the average Indian tends to throw trash on streets and even in pristine natural surroundings. This behaviour can be attributed to their belief that “someone from a lower-caste would clean the place in any case”. 

Gandhi saw the deeper association with the jhāŗu—and perhaps one that could have had a long-term impact to the cleanliness of the nation had it been accepted by upper-caste Hindus. Gandhi made the broom an instrument of freedom likening it to the idea of the dignity of labour, and opposing caste discrimination. He proposed that the jhāŗu along with the charkha and communal prayer (the other symbols of emancipation), should be used by all Indians to dispose of its association with untouchability.

Craft organisations across India are promoting all sorts of types of brooms to be used from everything from cleaning keyboards to the couch. As a sustainable and completely handmade object, these brooms are aimed at promoting rural economies and ecological balance. Whether this object can find harmony on the socio-religious sphere and transcend its association with the caste system remains to be seen

 

References

1 Although each region has its own local name for the jhāŗu such as prolu in Himachal Pradesh, buari in Rajasthan, jhatayia in Bihar, coonchi-bhari in Central India, and irkili chool in Kerala.

2 Dalits or the so-called “untouchables” or sub-ordinate caste often considered outside the Hindu caste system.

3 In India, caste still defines who cleans cities by Hridi Kundu (Source: https://www.dw.com/en/in-india-caste-still-defines-who-cleans-cities/a-73368510, 2025. Accessed: January 2026) 

4 Cleanliness Is Political: How Caste Dictates Discriminatory Notions Of Pure And Impure (Source: https://feminisminindia.com/2021/07/27/cleanliness-is-political-how-caste-dictates-pure-impure Accessed: December 2025)

5 The worst industrial disaster in India. The final death toll was estimated to be between 15,000 and 20,000. Some half a million survivors suffered respiratory problems, eye irritation or blindness, and other maladies resulting from exposure to the toxic gas from the Union Carbine (now DOW Chemicals) factory. (Source, Brittanica online: https://www.britannica.com/event/Bhopal-disaster)

6 Souvenir Art: The Divine Comedy of Calcutta’s Kalighat Paintings by Shubhasree Purkayastha (Source: https://sarmaya.in/spotlight/souvenir-art-the-divine-comedy-of-calcuttas-kalighat-paintings Accessed: December 2025)

 

Ishan Khosla is an Associate Professor at the School of Design at UPES, Dehradun. He is also the founding partner of The Typecraft Initiatve which was launched in order to create a dialogue with rural folk and tribal communities through craft, type design and technology. He is also the Director of the graphic design studio Ishan Khosla Design LLP. Find out more: www.typecrafinitiative.org and www.ishankhosla.com