Zukula woke up and yawned silently. As he opened his eyes, he saw his wife, Jalaja, preparing for his trip to the Vanpore market. She had already taken out the morning catch of fresh fish from the small fish pond in front of their hut.
"Get up," said Jalaja. "You are already late for the weekend market."
Zukula got up unwillingly. He hated going to Vanpore, but it was necessary. Vanpore had the biggest weekend market around, and his fish fetched a much better price there than in his tribal settlement.
He hurriedly ate his breakfast, changed into his best clothes, and started towards Vanpore with his basket of fish.
When Zukula reached the market, it was already afternoon, and the other sellers from his settlement were preparing to leave.
"You are late, Zukula," said a fellow Vidari. "Now, you will not get a good price for your fish. I have already sold mine. The highborn who bought my fish was foul-mouthed, but he gave me a good price."
"All highborns are foul-mouthed when they talk to us Vidaris," remarked another. "But at least they don't treat us as badly as they treat the Dhatakis."
Zukula didn't say anything. He hated the way the highborns in Vanpore treated the Vidari tribals.
He chose a spot, spread out his fish, and waited for customers.
The afternoon turned into evening. It had been several hours, but Zukula had not sold a single fish. He was getting desperate now. He knew that if he didn't sell the catch soon, it would start getting stale. All his efforts that day were going to waste. He shuddered at the thought of going back empty-handed and facing his wife.
"Is it a fresh catch?" asked a highborn, approaching Zukula. He was with a friend.
"Yes, sir, it is a fresh catch," replied Zukula.
"Don't trust him," said the friend. "He is a liar! This fish must have been taken out of the pond in the morning. It's not fresh anymore. See, it is smelling foul already."
The highborn nodded.
"How much for the whole basket, all of it?" he asked Zukula.
"Five copper karshikas, sir."
"Do you take us for fools? I know you Vidari tribals well. You all are the same—dishonest."
"Sir, I am not being dishonest," pleaded Zukula. "The fish is worth ten karshikas at least. But it is getting late, so I am giving it to you for five."
"I will take it for three copper karshikas," said the highborn. "Within an hour, it will start rotting and won't be worth even a single karshika."
Zukula hesitated.
"Let us go," urged the highborn's friend. "Why are you still talking to this liar?"
"All thieves and crooks!" he added, spitting on Zukula's face. "These savages should not be allowed inside Vanpore."
This was not the first time Zukula had faced such unprovoked hostility. Still, he could feel his face flushing with anger and humiliation. He controlled himself, took a deep breath, and put on a fake smile.
"Sir, please give me whatever you can," said Zukula. "I will be grateful."
The highborn pondered for a moment.
"You wasted my time," he said. "Now I will give you two karshikas—take it or leave it."
Zukula nodded and handed the fish to the highborn. It was a relief. He wouldn't have to deal with these Vanpore highborns until next week.
It was almost dark. Zukula started walking as fast as he could towards his settlement.
"Are you going this way?" asked a voice from behind. It was a young man's voice. He was dressed smartly. Another highborn, Zukula thought.
"Yes, sir," Zukula mumbled, looking away.
"I am going this way too," said the young man. "Please, let us go together. We can keep each other company."
Zukula nodded. He had not expected such politeness from a Vanpore highborn. He was flattered.
"So what was the purpose of your visit to Vanpore?" asked the young man.
"I was here to sell my fish," Zukula answered as politely as he could.
"Visiting Vanpore must be hard," said the young man. "Vanpore highborns are hostile. They don't approve of Vidaris, Dhatakis, and other lowborns visiting their market. But against the king's orders, they have no say."
Zukula was surprised to hear a highborn say such words. He wanted to speak his mind about the highborns but decided to play safe.
"That's true, sir," he said. "But here, at least I get paid for my fish. So, I ignore the insults."
"Not all highborns are arrogant, though," Zukula added, glancing at his young companion. "A few are kind, too."
"That's true," said the young man. "I don't understand how one human being can treat another human being in such a derogatory manner. No one has ever achieved greatness by showing how insignificant someone else is."
Zukula agreed.
As they walked, the young man kept asking questions, and Zukula answered eagerly. Zukula wanted to ask many things too, but didn't because he felt shy. He was happy that he had found a compassionate friend in a highborn.
When they reached his tribal settlement, it was almost dawn.
"I will be very happy if you visit my humble abode before continuing your journey," said Zukula as they arrived at his house.
His young companion looked surprised.
"Are you sure?" he asked.
"My family and I will be honored," replied Zukula.
Zukula welcomed his new friend inside his house. He told his family to be respectful of his new friend and treat him the best way possible.
He apologized to his friend for not being able to entertain him more lavishly.
"My apologies, sir," said Zukula. "My house is small. I won't be able to entertain you the way you are used to."
"Small? My house is smaller than yours," said his young friend.
Zukula felt confused. How could a highborn have a smaller house than a Vidari tribal?
"Smaller than my house? You are being modest, sir," Zukula said with a smile.
"No, I am not being modest," replied the young man. "Whenever you please, you are welcome to visit my Dhataki settlement and see for yourself. It's not too far from here."
Zukula was stunned. He stood speechless for a moment as his demeanour changed.
"Are you a Dhataki?" he asked accusingly. "You never told me."
"You never asked!" said the young man, laughing. "Who did you think I was? A highborn from Vanpore?"
Zukula didn't laugh.
"I want you to leave my house right now," he ordered the lowly Dhataki man.
The young man was confused for a moment. Then he quietly got up and left.
Zukula, fuming with rage, looked at his wife.
"Hurry up and see if he has stolen anything from our house," he shouted. "These Dhatakis are nothing but crooks and thieves!"
Sayings of Jivavarta
He who curses his chains may yet become their keeper.
Some people are champions of equality and compassion only as long as they are its beneficiaries.
— Shon Mehta
Lexicon of Jivavarta
Zukula’s Compassion: Compassion that ends where hierarchy begins.
Zukula Complex: The tendency of the oppressed to become oppressors, demanding equality for themselves while denying it to those they consider beneath them.
——
Philosophical/Psychological/Sociological Concepts
1. Internalized Oppression (The Zukula Complex) (Psychology/Sociology)
Although Zukula is a victim of discrimination, he has absorbed the same hierarchical values as his oppressors. Instead of rejecting the caste system, he reproduces it by treating the Dhataki as inherently inferior. The story demonstrates how systems of oppression endure when the oppressed internalize and perpetuate them.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internalized_oppression
2. Conditional Compassion (Zukula's Compassion) (Moral Philosophy)
Zukula's kindness is conditional rather than universal. He warmly welcomes the traveler while believing him to be a highborn, but immediately withdraws that compassion once he discovers the man is a Dhataki. His empathy depends on social status rather than shared humanity.
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ethics-virtue/
3. Moral Hypocrisy (Ethics)
Zukula condemns the prejudice and humiliation he suffers from the highborns, yet moments later subjects the traveler to the same injustice. The story illustrates the contradiction of demanding equality for oneself while denying it
4. Othering (Sociology/Social Psychology)
The traveler is first treated as an individual deserving respect. Once his caste becomes known, he is reduced to a stereotype—"a thief" and "a crook." The story shows how prejudice strips away individuality and replaces it with group identity.
5. Moral Universalism vs. Tribal Morality (Moral Philosophy)
The traveler extends dignity across caste boundaries, whereas Zukula reserves respect only for those he considers socially equal or superior. The story contrasts a universal ethic based on common humanity with a tribal morality based on hierarchy.
6. Lateral Violence (Horizontal Hostility) (Sociology/Psychology)
This is the displacement of frustration and aggression from the oppressed onto their peers or those perceived to be in a similar or lower social standing, rather than toward the true sources of their oppression. Zukula channels the humiliation he suffers from the highborns directly onto the Dhataki traveler. By acting as an enforcer of the hierarchy, he secures a fleeting sense of power by "punching down" within his own stratum.
——
Shon Mehta is an author and philosopher, creator of the Jivavarta Universe—a grounded sociopolitical world exploring human resilience, social dynamics, and moral philosophy through systems thinking. Her novels (The Timingila, Lair of the Monster), poems, aphorisms, parables, and stories are used in academic curricula internationally and featured by Oxford University Press.
At the core of her work is the Jivavarta Framework, which includes tools such as the Jivavarta Systems Equation: Outcomes = Choice×Structure×Constraint, and the "Survive, Thrive, Strive" Jivavarta hierarchy. Together, her writing and framework form a literary and philosophical system recognized for its clarity, depth, and enduring relevance.
Author’s Note: This is the revised edition of a story originally published in September 2018 as Stories of Jivavarta: Prejudice.
Shon Mehta's work is best understood not simply as an attempt to build a commercially successful fictional universe, but as an evolving literary architecture that employs narrative as a means of modeling complex human systems. Rather than treating storytelling as an end in itself, she uses it as a cognitive instrument through which questions of society, power, resilience, and moral choice can be examined. In this interpretation, Jivavarta functions less as a fictional setting than as an interdisciplinary framework for understanding the dynamics of human civilization.
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