Dalit Literature and Cultutre

READING SUMMARY WEEK 5 DALIT AUTOBIOGRAPHIES Sirgapoor Sahil Reddy JGU Id- 20161245 The Major difference between a Dali autobiography and other autobiographies is that the Dalit autobiographies contain no stories of self-achievement, but rather they are stories of denial of opportunities. The autobiographies are characterized as brazen, as most of them contain real-life encounters that the Dalits have faced. These autobiographies are important for us as they help to establish a Dalit hero in the community and bestow their struggles with validity. Their autobiographies also act as memoirs that help establish a Dalit history, as they also talk about the general feelings of the community towards the Dalits. For instance, the example from Joothan where the teacher asks Om Prakash Valmiki to clean the school purely based on his caste, helps us understand Dalit history. With the advent of time, the Dalit autobiographies have changed over time. They have made a shift from “I th...

Akkarmashi – Sharankumar Limbale The word baramashi is used to describe something that’s pure. The word opposite to that is akkarmashi , something that is impure. It is an abuse used within the Mahar community to refer to someone who is an illegitimate child. Calling someone an akkarmashi is more profane and demeaning than calling them a bastard. Sharankumar Limbale’s life was such that the title of his autobiography is an abuse. Through his autobiography he gives us a look into the culture of exclusion and exploitation within the Dalit community.  The two things that stand out are: (i) the strong visual imagery of hunger and the lengths it can drive a person to, such as eating jowar picked from dung-heaps and the leftovers of the better off in the village. As the author comments having a stomach is a terrible thing because it can literally drive you to eating shit. (ii) the author is a half-caste, born of a Dalit mother and an upper-caste Patil man. As he comments almos...

Reading Title: Karukku by Bama Submission Number: 3/10 Karukku is the autobiography of Bama, a Dalit woman who hails from the state of Tamil Nadu. Through the course of the book, Bama captures her lived experience of discrimination in her Convent School, in recreational spaces and in and her daily life. The axis of discrimination faced by the protagonist is worthy of examination as it is at the intersection of several distinct identities, namely that of her being a woman, a person of a lower class, a Dalit and a Roman Catholic. The significance of the book to Tamil Literature is also visible in that it caused a rupture in the field by being one of the first Dalit autobiographies. The essence of autobiographies from marginalized communities is captured by the piece titled “Invisibility of Other Dalits” by Sumit Baudh. Baudh argues that situated knowledge of Dalits is to be acknowledged through personalized experiences which are reflected in autobiographies. Situated knowledge s...

Valmiki's  writing explores how the classification of  caste operates under the socio-cultural environment of the Indian caste system with respect to the struggles of the lower caste. this piece of work shows Valmiki's way of representation of caste and how he thinks Dalits should fight back this system of ill-treatment. the autobiography full of valmiki's personal experiences with caste brings out awareness and puts limelight on the subjugation of the Dalits among oppressors. It pushes the motive of Dalit literature and how it should connect each individual Dalit to other Dalits arround them who have also suffered. Valmiki's writing acts as a pedestal for his community to voice their concerns and to combat inequality while illustrating the trauma that the community had to go through for years. Valmiki's autobiography became a tradition breaking piece of work that shattered the already existing culture of literature.

This week, I will be reviewing Joothan,  an honest literary work written by the verbose Om Prakash Valmiki. While many might be ignorant to the existing caste structures and the politics it ensues, this auto-biography presents the lens that is required to accurately understand the gory underbelly of this system. The term 'Joothan'  literally means food left on an eater’s plate, usually destined for the garbage pail in a middle class, urban home. However, such food would only be characterized ‘joothan’ if someone else besides the original eater were to eat it. The word carries the connotations of ritual purity and pollution as ‘jootha’ means polluted.’ Words like ‘leftovers’ and ‘leavings’ don’t substitute well, ‘scraps’ and ‘slops’ work better, though ‘they are associated more with pigs than with humans.’ Joothan is also unfit for consumption by anyone in the eater’s family or in his own community.  Valmiki, the author was born into the Chuhra caste (aka Bhangi), whose...

The autobiography I read was Joothan by Omprakash Valmiki. Though I was unable to read through the whole thing, whatever I could read really helped me see things through the author's perspective. I think one of the first things that was very intrinsic and important to this autobiography was the fact that he said that no matter how much money he earns or how high up he rises economically, he will always be known by his caste. No matter how educated, learned and well respected he is or becomes, his identity as a "Chura" or a "chamaar" will always remain with him, his caste identity will never leave him. Another important part of the text was the courage of the author's parents to stand up to the upper castes and fight for their family and dignity. This was highlighted in the parts where the author's mother threw the basket with the joothan when the upper caste man told her that the 'joothan' food was for her and her hungry children. Another part w...

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Joothan- Om Prakash Valmiki In Joothan, the author has tried to provide voices to the Dalit experience which s lacking from the our works which are on Dalit experiences. In this book, author starts by explaining his household. Household and their society is a prominent theme when it comes to narration of dalit experiences. Such a setting of scene with utmost detailing is very important to make the reader understand the experiences which have been-'othered' in the mainstream storytelling.     He also explains his daily encounters giving us a resourceful insight into what living like a Dalit entailed. He explains the way he was addressed and how his elders were addressed and our own experience make us realise that they us much more informal tones even with their community elders. His school experience is another important aspect. The flogging and humiliation was a part and parcel of their 'right to education'. The religion he describes vaguely resembles Hind...

Week 4 Parnika Jain           Daya Pawar his autobiography “ Balute”  has taken a stance against the hierarchy of caste. He challenged the social order and asserted his identity. He exposes the despair faced by Dalits and the oppression they suffered when they were denied of their basic rights of food, clothing and other living conditions. They could only earn their livelihood by doing old jobs like cleaning the villages, disposing dead animal carcasses and other such menial jobs. Through Balute Daya Pawar portrays a story of a young Dalit child who works hard, fights to educate himself and how later on in life he is successful. He portrays the hardships faced by this boy. This book was published in many languages for which Daya Pawar received the Ford Foundation Scholarship. This story is set in rural Maharashtra. The lower caste were assigned a place outside the main village area. The villagers believed that this would sto...

Sharankumar Limbale, Akkarbashya (the bastard) Sharankumar’s autobirography details the experience of an illegitimate child of mixed caste heritage, with a high caste father and a lower caste (mahar) mother. Tracing his biography to his earlier days, it details his family’s experience. His mother Masamai was married to Ithal. They were poor grass mowers who worked on a High caste landlord’s (Patil) land. His mother was raped by this landlord Hanamanta. The caste-council subsequently forces Masamai’s mother to divorce her husband Ithal. Sharankumar goes on to highlight how the experience of his beautiful mother as a victim of Patil-led sexual abuse arising out of her lower-caste status exposed her to “double-tyranny”- a recognition of intersectional oppression. His autobiography also highlights the trauma inflicted on rape survivors by societal conceptions. He writes, “A man can eat paan and spit as many times as he likes but the same is not possible for a woman. It is considere...

Week 4 Submission 4/10 Interrogating My Chandal Life: An Autobiography of a Dalit by Manoranjan Byapari The book is about a Bengali Dalit and elaborates on the life of this person,Byapari, who is considered a Chandal or the lower caste who is portrayed as a poor, beaten by caste going through his life in socio political and tragic conditions. Byapari tries to shed light on what he considered to be the highest degree of pain that is being poor and Dalit at the same time and this intersectionality becoming the master to his puppet. The first two chapters East Bengal, Partition and West Bengal” and “Dandakaranya Rehabilitation Project, Food Riots and Calcutta” talk about the tragedies which took place after the partition in the life of a Dalit Refugee who was born in a house which consisted of eight other brothers. The autobiography also delves in the origin of the word “chandal”. The British used to call the Shudras “chandals” during the late 1800s. The author then goes on to tal...

Brief Summary of Joothan, written by Om Prakash Valmiki  Autobiographies are usually stories of success and achievements. One’s life must be ‘extraordinary’ for it to be worthy of being written about. What then entails a separate ‘Dalit’ autobiography, different from any other kind? The Dalit narrative is rooted in hardship, struggle, strife, grief, hurt, and discrimination. It doesn’t have a ‘happy ending’; there is no end. The word joothan means left-over and it is symbolic of how Dalits are compelled to live their lives, as an unwanted residue of an otherwise ‘structured’ society.  The autobiography of Valmiki follows his suffering from childhood, struggles of blatant humiliation and discrimination in the classroom where his teachers would actively humiliate him and try to reinforce his inferior status. His father had to go door-to-door begging the upper-caste Tyagis for permission to send his son to school to learn. The strongest act of resistance he claimed was whe...

JOOTHAN “Purdah-observing Tyagi women sat on Dabbowali’s shores without worrying about decency” in itself is an oxymoron which also metaphorically shows the real Indian culture where the Brahmins appear to be pure but ate pork and drank alcohol in the night at the untouchables residence who they didn’t touch. The fence between their houses showcases the huge literal and metaphorical divide between the humans of red blood and different caste. The series of stories highlight the inhuman, rather animalistic treatment given to the Chuhras where even the dogs were treated more humanly than the actual ones, they were not even allowed to enroll themselves in government schools, humiliated no matter how they dressed. When finally the author was given admission in the school, he beaten up by the teachers, made to sweep the entire school, hurled abuses at, made to sit on the floor away from the Taga kids, some were also sexuallu abused by the teachers.They got a leftover roti at noon every d...

First thoughts on the book Joothan “Joothan” written by Om Prakash Valmiki, gives us insight into the Dalit rural lives in post colonial - independent India. The first quarter of the book was a painful experience to read. Almost every page had an instance of a cruel/oppressive act faced by him and his community. The title “Joothan” means leftovers of the food. Leftovers of food were given to Dalits by the upper castes. The book also mentioned about the non payment of wages of any kind to Dalits. They labour was fully exploited by the upper castes and in return, they were given nothing. When the author’s mother worked hard for a day and asked for the leftovers at an upper castes house. However, she was insulted by asking her to eat from the garbage. She in response showed resistance & yelled back at the uppercase and stormed out of the place. I believe that this act of the author’s mother might have inspired him to never settle for insults and try to revolt. The auth...

Interrogating my Chandal Life- An autobiography of a Dalit  Manoranjan Byapari is a Dalit writer who is well known for his articles in Bengali literary magazines. Even though he received no formal education, his experiences with life, trauma, and achievement have made him a profound writer, and recipient of the Suprabha Majumdar prize in 2014.   In his autobiography 'Interrogating My Chandal Life", Byapari traces his journey from a child faced with immense exploitation, hunger, and unemployment to a man who questioned oppressive institutions and emerged as a well-known activist and writer.  He mentions in his story, a rather profound quote wherein he refers to himself as a man everyone would have seen. He says this in an attempt to point out the inevitable roles that each individual is destined to play, in a society infested with caste and untouchability. He grew up as a refugee child, who had to fight for food and see his sister and father die during to a ...

READING SUMMARY WEEK 4 INTERROGATING MY CHANDAL LIFE – A DALIT AUTOBIOGRAPHY Name – Sirgapoor Sahil Reddy JGU Id- 20161245 The autobiography of Byapari Manoranjana starts from the Barisal district of East Pakistan, which has become Bangladesh today. In the first chapter of the book, he mainly explains his family lineage and caste lineage of the Namashudras in order to establish the social setting in which he was born. One of the most striking aspects of the chapter is the ouster of the Namashudras, from the caste of Shudras into the Chandal caste, by the Sena ruler Bhallal Sena. The ouster implied that Namashudras would be treated as untouchables and not Shudras, even though they were originally amongst the Shudra caste, at the wish of one King. Thus, they were ousted from the villages, as the Chandals were supposed to reside outside the village areas, and were not permitted from being a part of Brahmanical activities. Thereby again showing that the Caste system and variou...

Abhinav S ingh 20141297                                                                                           AKKARMASHI The autobiography I would summarize this week is Akkarmashi . It is the autobiography of the Dalit author Sharankumar Limbale. Akkarmashi means impure of blood or illegitimate.  In Akkarmashi , Limbale describes his state of insecurity.  It is about an untouchable family and community struggles in particular.  Portrays the feeble condition of caste-based early Indian society, t his extract is the anger filled description of caste discrimination and humiliation that the Dalit children faced.  Through Akkarmashi,  Limbale reveals his inner conflicts of being a Dalit. He is from an oppressed community where he fe...

I have summarized chapter 2 and chapter 5 of the text that discusses Buddhism and feminist reformists. Buddhism is a welfare religion- "Bhaujan Sukaya, Bahujan hitaya" both Buddhism and the feminists discussed in the following chapters, criticize Hinduism for perpetuating caste. Caste is essential to Hinduism and is a projection of Brahmanic ideas. Buddha had different views as to who is a Brahmin and how people from high castes are supposed to act. For example- He says that one qualifies as a Brahmin not only by his birth but by his/her deeds. In his opinion rulers should be righteous, and provide for his subjects- follow the wheel of dhama. Buddhism as a religion is opposed to caste. On the other hand Brahmins believe that they are supreme by virtue of being born a Brahmin and the main duty of rulers is to enforce sanctions on people of lower castes. Buddhism put forth this idea of equality, as even lay persons could attain Nirvana, it wasn't something that only Br...

I will be summarising chapter 4 and 5 from Understanding Caste by Gail Omvedt. Chapter 4 talks about Jyotiba Phule and the developments he made in education for women. He was considered as one of the first feminists who encouraged his wife to educate herself and teach young girls. Moreover, even when his wife was unable to bear children, he refused to divorce her which in that time was considered to be a very bold move. Further, he encouraged English education of women and their studies. Around the same time, there were women like Tarabai and Ramabai along with Savitribai Phule who were also encouraged into education and took up educating people, especially women around them. Ramabai, for example was an upper caste Hindu Brahmin but converted to Christianity. Even then she accepted the idea of India with Hindu. Within this sphere, they attempted to include women education, which included women belonging to different castes, including the backward castes. But somehow, they continued to...

After reading the chapter on Phule – Remembering the Kingdom of Bali, I was taken by surprise to know about the arguments regarding alternative history to the Aryan invasion and how it’s related to slavery, the reformist education by non-Brahman teachers and about the hypocrisy of progressive Brahmins in Maharashtra. What truly seemed interesting to me is that Phule’s act of proclaiming an orphanage for children of Brahman widows and adopting on those children while his work is centered around attacking Brahmin dominance and his true enemy is Brahmin supremacy. It was interesting to read about Phule’s work on mixing mythology and history to break notions of Brahmanism and provide alternative perspectives that would explain caste realities in India. He was writing at a time when the caste system was in transformation but he was still keen to notice the existing hypocrisy during that time and call it out, which was deemed to be radical. He also provided an alternative perspective to th...

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RESPONSE PAPER Reading Title: Seeking Begumpura by Gail Omvedt (Chapters 10 &11) Submission Number: 2/10 Chapters 10 & 11 of ‘Seeking Begumpura’ are a reflection on Periyar’s and Ambedkar’s views on the problem of caste in India. While Marxism and Socialism were recently up and coming in India at the time of their writing, both Periyar and Ambedkar differed from the Marxist-Socialist vision on two counts: 1.      Caste is a bigger issue than capitalism. Periyar, coming from a small town in Tamil Nadu, stressed excessively on the issue of caste as a bigger one than the issue of capitalism. Ambedkar too, along similar lines, was convinced that caste was the most significant enemy of a harmonious Indian State. 2.      Marx was not a believer in the idea of organized religion. He called it the opium of the masses. Both Periyar and Ambedkar were concerned with reforming Hindu religion and cleansing of its caste violence, but they...

I will be reflecting on one chapter in  Seeking Begampura-  Hinduism and Patriarchy The former examines the relationship f women with Hinduism as a religion, and whether their caste statuses within the Hindu structure in any way ameliorates the oppression meted out to them on the basis of their gender. The chapter begins with an analysis of Jyotibhai Phule’s work with educating lower caste children. Unlike some of her counterparts, her experiences within the four corners of the household werent too oppressive. Her husband was surprisingly supportive, allowing her to be educate and not divorcing her when she couldn’t have children.  Prandita Rambai’s journey with regards to her becoming disillusioned with the hindu structure is fascinating. While always a staunch feminist, her earlier work seemed to buy into upper-caste ideology, seeing the caste system and bhramanical domination as merely the smartest becoming rulers. However, as her later writings show, she ide...

Understanding Caste From Buddha to Ambedkar and Beyond Submission 3/10 The book, “Understanding Caste From Buddha to Ambedkar and Beyond” by Gail Omvedt sheds light on the caste system is it exists in India while also elaborating on the origin and history of the system. Chapter 1 of the book talks about the inception of Hinduism and gives a brief origin story of the name and the religion itself while also talking about the Indus Valley civilisation and the involvements of the Aryans. The chapter then elaborates in the idea of Brahmans and their origin as given in the Shastras and their authoritarian ideologies. We also see later in the chapter the the difference of opinion which Gandhi, Ambedkar and Nehru had. Gandhi portrayed himself to be a Hindu before anything else, while Nehru considered Brahmanical Hinduism as the national religion of India. Ambedkar has always been against the caste system as it exists and the chapter also includes exc...

Week 3 Parnika Jain In Gail Omvedt’s book- Understanding Caste, the two chapters that interested me were “Hinduism as Brahman Exploitation” on Jotiba Phule and “Hinduism as Patriarchy” on Ramabai, Tarabai and the early Feminists. Jotiba Phule has drawn a parallel between the Europeans who colonized many countries and the Brahmins who have pushed their tainted ideologies on us. However he claims that the inhuman laws and crude ideologies of the Brahmins is found nowhere else in the world. Jotiba Phule also said caste system was nothing but a system of slavery. He called it deception as it was cleverly imposed on the people on grounds of religious beliefs. He also wanted the shudras and the ati-shudras to come together to fight this oppression. He compared this exploited mass with the Blacks of America. He propounded that this deception was based on an incorrect reading of the Vedas. He reinterpreted these myths. Over the years after getting inspired by Pandita Ramabai and Tarabai ...

Seeking Begumpura Seeking Begumpura is an excellent collation of great literary figures like Kabir, Ravidas, Phule, Ramabai and Ambedkar. Its description of dalit-bhaujan and striking ideals of casteless classless society promise an independent India which would be development- oriented, socialist, democratic and thriving. In, Phule Remebering the Kingdom of Bali, the author gives a very descriptive biography of Jotirao Phule by focussing on the asura- King Bali and his just rule. The chapter begins with setting record straight on Jotirao Phule’s name and its anatomy. Then it continues to inform us of the humble background of Phule which was a key component of his inspiration and the fuel behind the radical ideas of casteless society. The author explains the unique stand of Phule on the various religions. His reasoning behind forceful Islamic conversions as a way of liberalization astounds me to say the least. Phule’s analogy of Aryans and Avatar of Vishnu is well craft...

Effects of CAA and NRC on the minorities of India General public view of the CAA and NRC clubbed together is that it is anti-muslim and that’s all. As much as it stands true it is not the complete truth. The NRC and CAA clubbed together are not just anti-muslim but anti minority in its essence. While the problem with CAA is very clear, that is leaves out muslims to attain citizenship in India and blatantly denies that muslims can be persecuted in Islamic states. The problem with NRC is even more complex and thus gives the present regime an opportunity to dismiss the claims of the people of India as mere paranoia and hysteria. The present regimes till now has not confirmed what will be the documents required in the process of NRC for a Indian citizen to prove their citizenship again but a lot of emphasis is being laid down on property documents. Documents that can prove you to be a citizenship through lineage. This approach in itself is very classist. The problem is that the m...

Seeking Begumpura: A brief summary of ‘Kabir and Ravidas/Envisioning Begumpura’ and ‘Ramabai/Women in the Kingdom of God’ Gail Omvedt is perhaps one of the most renowned scholars in the field of Dalit history, Dalit politics, Anti-Caste movements and women’s rights in India. She has written extensively on burning issues and has made her stance as an activist clear. In her book, ‘Seeking Begumpura’, unlike several other works on caste, delves into understanding the historicity of caste through revisiting sites of movements by anti-caste leaders (leaders of course, understood not in terms of their ‘activism’, but the impact of their presence, their practice, and their preachings.) Kabir and Ravidas/Envisioning Begumpura Both Kabir Das and Ravi Das were considered the revolutionary poets of the Bhakti movement as contemporaries. They were often understood as ‘confrontational’ in their approaches to bhakti; saguna and nirguna bhakti. However, both of them were subaltern, o...