G. A. Ghanshyam

“I was ever a fighter, so – one fight more”: Voices  of Dalits from the Margin

 

In the beginning there was no centre.
In the beginning there was no margin.
In the beginning there was no margin, for there was no centre.
If there was no margin, how did centre come into existence?
Then what existed before margin and centre?
There must have been something, for there can never be nothing.

- Rig-Veda

The deliberations pertaining to margin and centre attained significance in the light of the ugly social reality which marked polarization of certain social forces that constructed social structures in different ways under different labels in such a way as would bring them in the centre of these structures and serve their ends. The individual or the groups were marginalized either in the name of religion, race, region, community, cast, gender, and nationality or even ideology. But this relationship between the centre and the margin was temporary and short lived. The centre can subdue and suppress the marginalized voices, but can never silence them forever. Once they find their true voice, they cease to be marginalized.

Often a question is raised whether the marginalized can speak. It is a fact that the marginalized can not remain mute for long, they have to speak and find an outlet for their tears and fears, anguish and anger and thus, register their existence. The question of their identity has assumed different dimensions amongst the creative writers. According to Dennis Wrong the terms ‘identity’ and ‘identity crisis’ have become the ‘semantic beacons of our time’ for they communicate verbally the discontent prevalent in our modern life and society.

The question of identity and identity crisis plagues modern man in his quest to carve out a niche for himself in this world. But the same question assumes a much crucial and gigantic proportion for an individual for whom identity becomes a struggle to survive with dignity and equality. The marginalized, the subaltern, the dalit; call him whatever you may, one thing remains constant and that is his daily struggle for existence as the repressed, downtrodden and exploited section of society.

Gandhi called them Harijans (the children of God), the high caste Hindus called them Untouchables, while they called themselves as Dalits. (Dalit literally means one who is downtrodden both socially and economically) Dalits are those who have been forced to do dirty work, on whom the rules of untouchability is forced, who have been deprived of education and free trade. The practice of untouchability was formally outlawed by the Constitution of India in 1950 but in practice, the Dalits are still subjected to extreme forms of social and economic exclusion, discrimination and torture. Their attempts to assert their rights are often met with strong resistance from the higher castes, resulting in inhuman torture and atrocities.

Discriminated on account of various factors the Dalits are the victims of various structures that constructs society like economic, social, gender based, cultural, etc. Long suppressed into submission and silence the marginalized or dalits have since emerged out of the shadows of centuries of subjugation. Inspired by revolutionary social activists they have now given a voice to their identity through a literature of their own.

In fact Dalit is not a caste, it is a constructed identity, which is a comprehensive term comprising of not only the scheduled castes, tribes and other backward classes but also takes into its purview any person, group or community that finds itself shoved to the periphery like women for instance. In other words:
.       "Dalit" implies those who have been broken and ground down by those above them in the social hierarchy in a deliberate and active way. There is in the word itself an inherent denial of pollution, karma, and justified caste hierarchy. (Zelliot 267)

The term Dalit came into existence in the 1930s as the translation of the phrase ‘depressed classes’ used by the Britishers for the scheduled castes. First used by Jyotiba Phule, the term was later popularized by Dalit leader Dr. B.R. Ambedkar to reflect the situation of the millions of Dalits within south Asia, who are systematically and institutionally deprived of their civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights in every aspect of life. Dr. Ambedkar used the term in his Marathi speeches. Later revived by the ‘Dalit Panthers’ in 1973 to include neo-Buddhists, working people, landless and poor peasant women and all those being exploited socially, politically, economically and in the name of religion, the Dalits are now redefining the word and with it their identity.

Literature pertaining to this specified group of people in society is referred to as Dalit literature, which is in fact an attempt to liberate the suppressed voice of the downtrodden, the Dalits. Dalit Literature is basically the literature written by Dalits in which they have expressed their pain and anguish. The non-Dalit writers who write about Dalits couldn’t come under the category of Dalit writers because they don’t represent the true Dalit Consciousness.

Dalit literature is not a novel concept of this modern era but owes a long history. There are numerous theories about the origin of Dalit Literature. Buddha (6th c. B.C.); the 11th and 12th century writings of Vachana, Chennaiah or Kalavve in Kannada; Chokhamela (14th AD), Mahatma Phule (1828-90), and Prof. S. M. Mate (1886-1957), are hailed as its originators. These great men were deeply concerned about the plight of the untouchables and fought against all the unjust divisions in society. A huge mass of literature is created in the light of their teachings and visions.

Inspired by the writings of the Bhakti movement Dalit literature was also influenced by the works of Afro-American writers. They found a resonance of their urge for self-assertion in the leading visionary of the movement, Dr. Ambedkar, who inspired and motivated the creative instinct of the people to voice the emancipatory spirit through Dalit literature. And so rejecting the century’s old social prejudice and practice of caste, Dalit literature found a voice. Life is a continuous struggle and the subjugated, the Dalits have undertaken one fight more; a fight to affirm and assert their identity.

The Dalit Literary movement started in Maharashtra, the home state of Dr. Ambedkar. A collective endeavour of the Neo-Buddhist elites to create a new culture of social equality, it is based on wider socio-cultural and political ideas to transcend the narrow space of the old concepts of culture and social hierarchy to new and open space. The educated Dalits, belonging to the second generation, who were the beneficiaries of the reservations introduced by Dr. Ambedkar, waged various socio-political movements and agitations for self respect, Dalit rights, equality, empowerment and protest. The new generation Dalits began to produce a powerful body of Dalit literature.

            No longer in need of outside representation, the memorable characters of literature like Munoo (Mulk Raj Anand- Coolie), Bakha (Mulk Raj Anand- Untouchable), Ammu and Velutha (Arundhati Roy- The God of Small Things), etc. have now found the voice to express themselves.

            Mostly rendered in regional languages Dalit literature has been translated into English thereby ensuring a wider readership and acceptability. In 1992 Poisoned Bread was published which is a translation of Marathi writings by Arjun Dangle. In the same year Narendra Jadhav wrote his first book in Marathi Aamcha Baap Aan Mahi (My Father and Us). His next work is a memoir Outcaste: A Memoir published in 2008. Apart from these several works like Bama’s Karukku, Vasant Moon’s Vasti, Sharankumar Limbale's Akkarmashi: The Outcaste, Kishore Shantabai Kale's Against All Odds, Aravinda Malagatti's Government Brahmana, Omprakash Valmiki's Joothan: A Dalit's Life, etc. are like the ever flowing streams of literary creation that constantly and continuously enrich the growing genre of Dalit literature.

            A review of this vast and ever increasing realm of literature is a topic that is even vaster in its scope. In the present paper a few of these works will be analyzed in order to bring a focus on the specific area of literature especially fiction and represent the Dalit consciousness and psyche inherent in such writings.

            In its essence Dalit literature is essentially a voice of rebellion that opposes as well as exposes all forms of oppression and exploitation of the weak, the minority by the stronger majority. As such the analysis will also take into its purview the works of non-Dalit writers who have made an exemplary contribution to Dalit literature through their works and insight into the dalit consciousness and life.

            Omprakash Valmiki’s Joothan: A Dalit’s Life originally written in Hindi and later translated into English is a vivid and sensitive portrayal of a Dalit youth’s struggle to survive with dignity in a world that humiliates and subverts his every attempt at emancipation and progress. The work is an autobiography that reveals the toils and the turmoil of the author’s life as a member of the untouchable Chura community, growing up in a village near Muzzafarnagar in Uttar Pradesh. Traditionally working as unpaid labourers on the fields, they were tortured and exploited by the powerful Tagas. Poverty, starvation, death were their constant companions in the daily struggle for survival. The story not only narrates the grim situation of their life but also reveals the spirit of endurance and courage that inspired them to dare to dream in circumstances that hardly let them survives. Valmiki’s parents dreamt a future for their child that was hopeful of liberation through education. But this pathway out of darkness of ignorance towards the dawn of knowledge was far from smooth. At every step Valmiki had to face discrimination and discouragement, “Whenever I asked questions to my teachers, I was punished. They beat me up, gave me lower marks in the examinations.” (Valmiki 62). Ultimately his persistence paid off but still the hurt remains and he asks with pain, “Why is my caste my only identity?” (Valmiki 134).         Kishore Kale’s Against All Odds is the story of Kale’s life as the illegitimate child of a tamasha dancer. Belonging to the Kolhati community, his mother Shantabai also had to follow the community’s custom of a tamasha dancer. An unwanted child for a dancer who left him in the care of her family to continue her life as a dancer, Kale had to live his life longing for hius mother’s love and acceptance. The novel is a touching tale of the exploitation of the Kolhati women and one man’s endeavour to educate and free them from their misery, to enable them to live their life with dignity.

            Narendra Jadhav’s Outcaste: A Memoir is another autobiographical narrative that traces the journey of a Dalit family from ignorance and neglect to knowledge and prominence as an equal and integral part of society. In this transformation of the Dalits an important role has been played by education that has truly proved to be the ticket to freedom. Like Valmiki, Jadhav also depicts the revolutionary changes brought in by education and literacy that eradicates all kinds of caste and social divisions. The book entails the journey undertaken by Jadhav’s near illiterate parents Damu and Sonu from a small village at Ozar in Maharashtra to the city of Mumbai to escape persecution. Belonging to the Mahar community, the story unfolds to represent the struggles and hardships endured by them to ensure a proper education for their six sons. The work is not only a personal tale of endurance and success but inherent in the narrative is the struggle, hopes and aspirations of millions of people forced to live a sub-human existence owing to caste or some other kinds of class distinction prevalent in society.  Jadhav, at present the vice chancellor of Pune University reminiscences in the book his struggle as a young student when he sat at a corner of the class room scared like a rat, yet his determination and the faith of his parents finally triumphed to overcome the age old barriers of subjugation.

            The novel Uchalya by Laxman Gaikwad describes the plight of the Uchalya community, considered as a criminal tribe in the All India Criminal Tribes Act. The novel describes the torture and sufferings of these people and especially of the women who were also tortured and abused by their own men apart from the persecution they had to face at the hands of the police when caught stealing. Laxman’s father however hoped for a better future for his son and got him enrolled in School. Laxman had to face a lot of gibes and discrimination at school but an innate love for education helped him through to grow as a mature and responsible human being.

            In the year 2000 was published Kakka by Vemula Yellaiah, which is an inward looking Dalit novel portraying Dalit experience in terms of poverty, disputes and violence. The events presented in the novel revolve round deprivation, violence, and the question of land, self-respect and the politics of Dalit empowerment. It depicts the Madiga life in transition through three generations: the grandmother, the mother and the lead character, Kakka. The novel narrates the life of the Dalits from before independence when they had to live their life as slaves. Their live does not change much even after independence and they are still victims of discrimination and exploitation. Kakka’s mother faces the dual brunt of discrimination being a Dalit and a woman. She is victimized by her own community and alienated to live alone with her son. The novel reflects the inhuman torture and exploitation they have to endure in order to survive and the growth of Kakka into maturity and realization that the problem of caste exists both within and outside the caste.

            Shosh, a Gujarati novel by Daxa Damodara is a first attempt by a Dalit woman writer to render the Dalit consciousness from a feminine perspective. The novel however does not narrate the story of degradation and exploitation based on caste but is the tale of a woman’s life through various stages of being a daughter, wife and mother. A sensitive portrayal of a woman’s consciousness it depicts the oppression of women in a patriarchal society. Madhavi, the protagonist of the novel suffers from this discrimination since her childhood. Her father grudgingly accepts her birth for he had wanted a male child and later she is married to Purandar, who is more in need of her body than her soul. Alienated and deprived of the emotional security Madhavi finds solace in the friendship of Rajendra, and this relationship is suspected by her husband. Her loss of self and relationships plunges her into a neurotic state wherein she collapses into a coma. It is only her relation with her son, Rahul that saves her and assimilates her back to life. Shosh is a novel, which traces the inner workings of the protagonist in her alienation and depression through the conscious and unconscious corridors of her tormented mind. It is an endeavour to assert the woman’s right to life as a human being unfettered by any restrictions of class or gender.

            In a similar vein, Aruna represents the subaltern position of women through her two short novels, Elli and Neeli. Both the novels deal with the life of Erukula, the pig-tending community of Andhra Pradesh. The first story narrated through the flash back technique tells the story of the protagonist Elli who leaves her abusive husband and comes back to her parent’s home. The story reminiscences of Elli’s childhood, her marriage to a much older man decided upon by the village elders with a suitable bride price as was customary, and her struggle against violence and abuse. Her opinion or for that matter the opinion of the other women folk are totally disregarded when the marriage is fixed and also later when she is sent back to her abusive husband. In the second novel, the author presents a woman, Neeli much stronger in spirit and courageous than her predecessor. Neeli was helped by her mother-in-law to get back to her parent’s home where she finds love and happiness with Duvva. Supported by the rigid and exploitative customs the society tries to enforce their superiority on Neeli and make her comply but helped by Duvva, Neeli foils all their attempts and walks off defiantly even at the cost of social boycott by the community. Both the novels narrate incidents of women’s exploitation and abuse like that of Malachimi in the name of obsolete and primitive customs, and caste and class consciousness yet a transformation is evident when women will fight back and walk away from such regressive and repressive shackles of slavery.

            Dalit writers have learnt to assert their concerns and their identity in a voice of their own. Mostly written in an autobiographical tone Dalit literature lays bare the stark realities of our modern nation that is still grappling in the blood and mire of its century’s old prejudice and old beliefs. Constituting the oppressed and the downtrodden in its gamut, Dalit literature involves the subaltern voice of the woman as well. In this connection the women writers have given a vent not only to their plight as a second grade citizen in a male dominated society but have also represented the struggle and torment of the other unfortunate brethrens.

            Mahashweta Devi is a name that stands for these unfortunate and subjugated people. In her writings she represents the reality of India’s villages and her poor, exploited and oppressed habitants; the Dalits. In her story Seeds, she narrates the harrowing tale of a landlord’s use of power and force to extinguish the voice of rebellion amongst his poor, landless farm labourers. A tale of exploitation, rebellion and killings, the story reveals the ‘return of the repressed’ for revenge and retribution, and freedom.

In another of her story Bayen, Mahashweta Devi tells of the position of women in traditional tribal societies. Referred to as ‘twice colonised’ women have to walk a tight path on a two edged sword of caste prejudice as well as patriarchy. Chandidasi Gangadasi, the protagonist of the story inherits the job of burning the dead and guarding the bodies as a legacy from her father who was a Dome. A sensitive individual she feels trapped in her duty as the burner of dead bodies. After the birth of her son Bhagirath she wants to leave her job but is not supported by her husband. Later branded as a witch because of her job and her refusal to continue in her work she is forced to live apart from her family and the village like an outcaste. The torment and torture of being labeled a bayen – witch shrouds her life in misery and isolation. Death is the only leveler that equalizes all divisions and liberates her from the curse of being a witch. She is ultimately proclaimed as the mother not a bayen, not a possessor of evil eye.

Women are positioned much below in this hierarchical ladder of caste and sub-caste. Among the Dalit women writers, Bama is a name that stands out. Her novel Karakku is an insightful and touching account of life in a caste-ridden village of Tamil Nadu from a child’s point of view. The innocence of the child shatters gradually with the realization of truth and experience. Bama recreates the innocence of her childhood when unaware of social divisions and untouchability she is amused by a high caste Naickar who holds a packet of vadais brought by an elder of her community, a Paraya. Told the truth by her brother she recoils in dismay and pain.
When I heard this, I didn't want to laugh any more, and I felt terribly sad. How could they believe that it was disgusting if a Paraya held that package in his hands... I felt so provoked and angry that I wanted to go and touch those wretched vadais myself. Why should we have to fetch and carry for these people, I wondered. (Quoted in “Labouring for the cause of Dalits” http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/)

            In her novel she depicts the hardships endured by her people not only at the hands of the high caste but also from the administration and protection agencies. Her indictment of the treatment meted out to the Dalit Christians by the Roman Catholic Church exposes the bleak situation of the Dalits bound in the chains of prejudice that even conversion fails to eradicate.

            What constitutes the gamut of Dalit literature and what not, is a debate that continues regarding the writings of many non-Dalit writers writing on the issue. But being a comprehensive term that it is, Dalit literature does enclose in its scope the writings of women.

A woman is also a Dalit, a subaltern, a non-entity who has to face discrimination and abuse at every step of her life. Writers like Arundhati Roy have depicted the inferior and discriminated status of a woman who is denied a life of her own. In her novel The God of Small Things Roy depicts the caste ridden Indian society and the subverted position of women. Through the story of Ammu and her quest for freedom and love that ends tragically, Roy depicts poignantly the atrocities committed in the name of caste wherein people in power the ‘lantern’ dominates and subjugates forcefully the ‘mombatti’. Velutha, a Paravan has to pay the price of loving Ammu, a high caste woman with his life. All attempts at liberation are nothing but illusions, mere fleeting shadows of liberty that elude from grasp. Ammu tried to escape the confines of her life at Ayemenem by marrying a man she meets in Calcutta. Later after her disillusionment with marriage she seeks refuge at her parent’s home, which is grudgingly accorded to her; even in love she fails to find security for society thwarts all her efforts to find a space of her own. She dies alone and isolated from her life and relations.

Forced to live a sub-human existence by her own people a woman has nowhere to take refuge but her own ‘self’. This is a quest that she shares with the other exploited sections of the society discriminated against on the basis of various social, economic and political factors.

Mogalli Ganesh, a second-generation writer illustrates the reality behind the socio-political reformation that fails to improve the Dalit situation in the country. In his story The Tehsildar, he exposes the prevalent angst in society among the communities that results in violence and destruction. In the story the Tehsildar in an attempt to empower the landless Dalits employs reformative measures and gives them land for cultivation. The act results in retribution and destruction by the administration and police along with the high caste men.

The Dalit movement is an anti-caste movement fighting for the construction of a modern secular and democratic Indian identity. And Dalit literature is evolving towards this sense of collective identity and solidarity, and addressing the oppressed, the untouchables, the victims, and the oppressors. Education has proved to be a boon for the communities to obliterate all kinds of discriminations and rise above caste and any other kind of divisions that divide society and men. Dr. Ambedkar called education ‘the milk of a tigress’ that gives strength to the suppressed men and women of society to raise their voice against all forms of exploitation and oppression. It is education that has created Dalit literature and has enabled them to assert their identity and grievances in an unbridled voice full of promise and potential.

A brief analysis of the works that constitutes Dalit literature brings to our focus the fact that it is essentially the literature of the downtrodden and suppressed folk of society, which doesn’t require our sympathy or pity but the right to live their life with dignity and equality like human beings. Written mostly in the autobiographical mode Dalit literature is truly the maps the Dalit spirit; the human spirit of endurance and courage at its core. To conclude in the words of Brecht’s Mother Courage, ‘The poor need courage’: the life of the people left neglected and made to suffer by society need courage to survive, to endure, to fight the daily fight of survival. And the assertion of the Dalit consciousness through literature is one fight more to make the society aware of its hidden, dark truths that need to be confronted in order to change and transform into a better and Equalitarian tomorrow and will perhaps lead to the conviction that
In the end there will be no margin,
In the end there will be no centre,
In the end there will be no play,
In the end there will be a free play of playlessness

Without margin……..
Without Centre……..

 

 

 

Works Cited

Zelliot, E. From Untouchable to Dalit: Essays on Ambedkar Movement, New Delhi: Manohar Publishers and Distributors, 2001.

Omprakash Valmiki, Joothan: A Dalit’s Life. Trans. Arun Prabha Mukherjee. Kolkata: Samya, 2003.

Quoted in “Labouring for the cause of Dalits”, www.hindu.com/thehindu/.