Dalit Literature and Cultutre

POETIC JUSTICE Poems are not just mandatory components of a colonial English Language course in school. In fact, they are the exact opposite. They are the voice of native people in accessible languages, not just rhyming verses shrouded in complex grammar.  Dalit poetry has long been used as a mode of resistance. Narrated in personal languages and lived experiences, its less about prose and more about people. It also reminds you that Dalit communities are not homogenous. Verses by Dhiren Borisa and Akhil Kang speak of lives lived as Queer Dalits, experiencing invisibility within invisibility, even in bright and enthusiastic spaces. Sukirtharani speaks about the female Dalit body as the site of upper caste violence. She asserts her intimacy to the Tamil language and speaks best in it. When old age Tamil Poets (all men) described curvaceous bodies of savarna women, it was considered to be beautiful poetry. But when verses are written about Dalit female bodies as sexuall...

Poetry The poem by Meena Kandasamy that deals with the sham created by the “father of the nation” particularly struck a chord with me as it instantly reminded me of two things. Firstly, I was reminded of the Kancha Illaiah piece where he specifically talks about how the Marwadi community helped him financially after which he started telling “harijans” not to eat beef and the Marwadi community promoted the Gau-rakshak ideology. This clearly shows the Mahatma wasn’t as righteous as he claimed or was believed to be, therefore all what he said wasn’t for the benefit for the Dalits as he didn’t particularly have their best interests in mind. Secondly, no matter how revered a person is, this poem gives one the courage to speak up. Find one’s voice and speak the truth, to speak against injustices and cruelties done by people who are believed to be true and honest by the masses. The second point resonates with todays era as the BJP, hides under the garb of religion, sways the upper caste ...

The Power of Poor People’s Laughter (The Flaming Feet and Other Essays- D.R Nagraj) D.r Nagraj begins the chapter by stating"To the adage that man does not live by bread alone, a counter-adage was created; no man who can live without bread has been yet born."  He continues by saying that poor are condemned to eternal begging and this chapter is a mere historical survey of positions taken by the authors imagination with regard to the poor. He compares several autobiographies of Dalit authors in order to give his analysis of how caste, colony, village, and individual personality combine to produce these grand narratives. He attempts to make his readers aware that autobiographies are ideological creations: for example, he discusses a book called Marali Mannige. The theme of this novel dealt with the impoverished life of his people, however the author highlights that they are more than accounts of his life they are creative and include imagination despite being auto-biog...

GANDHI AND THE DALIT QUESTION This piece along with the  Meena Kandasamy's Mohandas Karamchand, is a very interesting and angry verse. The former piece divides the Dalit question into two sectors, Marxist and the ambedkarite approach which proposes to adopt the Gandhian School for a wholesome approach.  The Marxist school reduced the caste problem to that of agrarian labor reforms and ownership of means without actually addressing the problems of  untouchability,  inequality, Brahmanical patriarchy. Their mere focus around land made every other problem seem like a grain.  This approach is more of a militant approach which brings young angry Dalits together in the movement. The issue with this approach lies in the fact that it doesn't solve the problem of breaking the caste hierarchy from its roots though it reduced the incidents of violence. The Gandhian approach focuses on maintaining a cooperative stance. The latter piece criticizing Gandhi of his wilful ...

Reflection Paper 9 Dalit Visibility on Screen  One of the most thought provoking documentaries I’ve watched, which have left an imprint on my mind in some way of the other is “Ram ke Naam”. The same was shown to us in our first year of law school, and in all honesty I had perhaps never given that much thought to the majoritarian politics of our country, which also speaks about my own caste and class privileges. My perceptions and compression from when I watched ‘Ram ke Naam’ the and from watching ‘Reason’ now have changed quite a bit which is why I believe I was able to get a better grasp of the scenario and gravity surrounding these two documentaries, allowing me to understand even clearly the depiction of caste and religion based atrocities. One thing that struck out the most has been involvement of the ‘Sanatan’ organisation owing to my personal experience with them and having seeing the hate politics they perpetuate under the garb of ‘lectures’ and ‘conferences’. ...

The chapter on Gandhi and the Dalit Question was an interesting read. It had divided the dalit question as per the approach carried out by two sects- the Marxists's approach (land) and the value approach. The marxist's view of dalit issue as a land question had made me relate to the Teltumde's chapter on Naxalism and the Dalit Connection. It is indeed true that the early naxal movements had a strong dalit presence in Telangana and Bihar. The oppression of land labourers by the feudal lords had a strong presence in Indian history. However it's quite unfortunate and disturbing that the tag of Naxal is used on almost all dalits by the police forces in today's times in order to inflict violence on them.  This brings us to the next aspect of the reading, which was the Ambedkerite approach. This approach is more of a militant approach which brings young angry Dalits together in the movement. However, the reading had pointed out the downsides to the ambedkarite appr...

                                                     Weekly Summary 12  The poem by Sukirtha Rani “I speak Bluntly” tells a tale of embarrassment, hardship and what seems like a fixed reality. It is poem of a child who is eating dead cows and leftovers of uppercaste which is a common occurrence and practice of the Dalit community due to poverty and in access to food and other resources. The poem also talks about the shame of occupation of the father that the child feels and hides from but with time embraces her caste and the hardship that comes with it. This is the tale of millions in India who belong to the Dalit community where their days are soaked in shame and humiliation at the expense of upper caste for a caste they were born into. This sense of helplessness is born and can only be erased with the death of the caste system. The other p...

Gandhi and the Dalit Question: A comparison with Marx and Ambedkar This piece was a short read. Summarily, it made a distinction in the Marxist, Ambedkarite, and Gandhian methods of dealing with the caste problem. The author takes a critical approach to the Marxist and Ambedkarite traditions and proposes that the Gandhian school will perhaps provide a more holistic approach.  The Marxist school reduced the caste problem to that of agrarian labour reforms and ownership of means without actually addressing the problems of graded inequality, untouchability, brahmanical patriarchy, or other social elements of caste. Their focus was centred around 'Land' It seemed incomplete. Ambedkar's conceptualisation of the genesis of caste lay in a single fundamental statement: The Hindu social order was the root of all evil; i.e., a question of value. It was an inherently violent structure and the only way to tackle it was to assert a Dalit identity and overhaul the entire str...

Dalit poetry like any form of dalit-literature is a reflection of lived experiences. The familiar themes of hunger, humiliation and emancipation appear quite frequently. This short piece will go over a few poems, and analyse them. Ekalaivan This note comes as a consolation:                  You can do a lot of things                  With your left hand.                  Besides, fascist Dronacharyas warrant                  Left-handed treatment.                  Also,              ...

Before watching "Reason" by Anand Patwardhan, I have also watched his other documentary named "Ram ke naam" in my first year of university which shook me and introduced me to the alrernative perspective regarding majoritarian politics. Reason is situaited in current political scenario and was equally horrifying as that of Ram ke Naam. The killings of Narendra Dabholkar and Govind Pansare was truly shocking as there were little or zero coverage about it. The whole episode had caused a a further sense of discomfort given the already known murders of Gauri Lankesh and now the latest, arrest of Anand Teltumbde. The direct involvement of Sanathan organization has received almost no backlaksh and now, the newer illegal actions are being taken under the disguise of draconian UAPA. The documentary's depiction of atrocities on dalits also gave a much clear insight. However, few scenes were reassuring too and showed that the dalit movement is now taking place with full ...

DALIT REPRESENTATION IN FILMS The upper echelons of academia have had long-running debates on the question of "Who speaks for whom?", as in whether a savarna feminist can write about the the lived experience of a Dalit woman, or whether a man can narrate the lives of women, etc. I personally don't believe in fighting about who spoke for whom, and rather focus on what exactly they said. The reasons for this are many, but broadly speaking, there are two important considerations - One, a woman speaking for women could be just as problematic as a man speaking for a woman (internalised misogyny); Two, an outsider speaking about a community that they don't belong to are capable of exercising empathy in the process. For instance, Sangharsh is a rather poignant documentary on Dalit activists in Uttar Pradesh made by a French sociologist.  Sangharsh is honest and raw. The director allows his characters to lead him into their life. He does not ask questions, he does no...

SANGARSH MOVIE A movie as a political arena reaches to entire India and beyond, from the upper caste to the lower class of the country, except that it has to be in the mainstream media or “Bollywood's commercial sector because of the art movies as referred to, hardly ever reach the lower strata of the society if they don’t come in the educated and intellectual category per se. This documentary talks about the statutes of Bab saheb and the excitement of the Dalit communities towards them along with the Mayawati government and the reaction of the upper caste. It shows certain gruesome narratives of the fights and atrocities and the pathetic living conditions of the lower caste behind the shiny upper caste. Anand Patwardhan shows the Hindu extremists in their element of destruction and hatred to every other caste and class. The officials behind this investigation purposely investigate slowly and avoid trying to close this case. Therefore they have lost faith in the people who...

Ranjit Bawa’s, ‘mera ki kasoor’ has been interesting piece of work in Dalit Music with the Upper caste taking offence on their behalf calling it anti-hindu while the Dalits are a part of the hindu community. The offence-taking is to the extent of filing FIRs, because it says the truthful lines like you offer milk to stones but not humans, and you don’t touch humans or eat non-vegetarian food but you dink cow urine like a sacred drink. The song attacks casteim but the upper-caste is feeling attacked because they are indeed the perpetrators of casteism. Ginni Mahi is another rapper who interestingly calls herself a chamar, rather a danger chamar, is an Ambedkar follower who perpetually mentions him in her songs along with their sikh guru, she used various genres from Dalit pop to Bhim Rap. Dalit music in Punjab has also taken a political discourse. Every year on Ravidas Jayanti almost 200 CDs are released by Dalit musicians from Punjab. Another inspiring group of musicians is ...

We demand our dignity, and aren't afraid to die for it- within the first two minutes, Sangarsh highlights the problems that dalits are forced to endure, and that they're fed up. Dabolkar's speech calls for a fight against the caste system that oppresses them. He openly asserts that the formal state apparatuses have never cared and never will, and that the protections that Ambedkar envisaged within the constitution will only be actualised through mobilization. Chants of "Dalit Panther's Zindabad" echo across the gathering as the congregation for the day comes to an end Throughout the documentary, themes of religion, communalism and the role of the state emerge. The juxtaposition of grass-roots anticaste movements with the BSP's rise and fall serves as an interesting analytical tool. Grass-roots anti-caste movements recognise structural problems (the police and local governments being savarna tools), and attempt to deal with them. Disputes around land ...

WEEK 11  Sangharsh and Reasons Sangharsh, the documentary by, Nicolas Joul, sheds light upon the injustices faced by the Dalit community which are still prevalent in the State of Uttar Dradesh. The documentary talks about the statue of Dr. Ambedkar and discusses its importance in the emancipation of the Dalit community and the message the statue proposes to spread among the people of that region who do not consider themselves as free and acknowledge that they survive at the whims of the upper caste who reinforces caste based labour. To portray this situation the documentary delves into some gruesome narratives of the localities and the people who are actually living in such conditions.   Reason by Anand Pawardhan portrays how the belief of religion is deeply rooted in our society. It makes the viewers uncomfortable when it shows what length Hindu extremists go to, to suppress the minorities or anyone who brings doubt to their rigid caste system. At the same time it assur...

Sangrash by Nicolas Jaoul The documentary shows the struggles of the Dalits in Uttar Pradesh. The documentary is filled with symbolism that humbles you. The statue of Ambedkar is representative of the idea of upliftment of Dalits through socio-economic reforms.  The idea of liberation and freedom is relayed from a different perspective. They did not consider themselves free. They were still being subjugated by the upper caste who were mercilessly beating them up and forcing them into bonded labour. Dalit Panther's movement is shown during 1998-2001. Their groundwork is shown and how they collaborate with the government and government agencies to put forth their demands. The comradery within the community and how they deal with problems that arise. They also show their relationship with the Muslims, both of these communities are rejected and marginalised by Upper caste Hindus. The documentary has a powerful impact through the songs that character sings or the background musi...

Week 11: Sangharsh: This film portrays the Dalit movement in India. The protagonist in this film is Dhaniram who is a Dalit activist. This movie is directed by Nicholas Jaoul a French anthropologist. He also portrays the Kanpur Dalit Panthers’ activities and contribution to the Dalit Movement in UP. This movie also exposes the activities of the Bahujan Samaj Party. Even if this party loses it does not affect the small group of people who continue to fight for the cause of the Dalit movement from a grassroots level. The Savarnas or the so-called upper caste are angry with the Dalit Panthers inciting class consciousness. The Dalit Panthers bring to light not only the physical assault but also the structural violence they face.   They have been oppressed from the beginning. They are still forced to serve landlords who do not pay them in return most of the times. The Dalit Panthers are fighting to break free from the shackles of the caste system. They even ask people to convert ...

Week-11  Anand Patwardhan’s ‘Reason’ and Nicolas Jaouls ‘Sangharsh’ are documentaries that shed light on the current political scenario and how Dalits are being affected. ‘Reason’ depicts how Muslims and Dalits are being attacked by right-wing nationalists under the guise of nationalism. The part of the documentary discusses the 2015 lynching of Akhlaq in Uttar Pradesh. On the mere grounds of suspicion that he had eaten a slaughtered a calf and that the family ate beef. On further investigation it was found that the meat found in their household fridge was not beef but mutton. Akhlaq was killed due to mere suspicion of eating an animal that the Hindus deem “sacred”.   People are free to eat bats, that cause Global Pandemics, markets selling these animals are opened even after spreading a disease worldwide. After seeing the interviews of the victims family and accused family, it is clear to any prudent person that Akhlaq death was a planned murder and the accused had no ...

Dalit Music Art is the easiest way to get into people’s minds. Kings and nobles have in the ancient times paid entertainers to write songs about them and their work to gain support. With the growing political consciousness among the Indian youth protest songs are becoming more popular than ever. Music has been a part of the Dalit community since forever as certain Dalit castes occupation was playing music at funerals and for entertainment. The community has also used is as a medium of self-expression and it is gaining more and more momentum as the community is comparatively freer than ever to assert their identities. The Dalit community in itself comprises of different lower and untouchable castes so the food habits and lifestyle vary and so does their music. Dalit music is an open challenge to the caste hierarchy. The music is a form of resistance, through this music the community is taking back the public space and visibility that has been denied to them for ages. In Punjab...

Sumeet Samos, as Wikipedia describes him, is an Indian Dalit rapper from Odisha and raps jn English, Hindi and Odia. His rap verses are shaped by his experiences as a Dalit boy in Odisha and in his time at Jawaharlal Nehru University. He hails from the Koraput that is notoriously known for maoist activities. His song "Desia Pilia" is about the discrimination that he and other Dalit community members face in Odisha as well as the prejudices that people from other regions of Odisha have against the Koraput district and its people. Sumeet has also written about the meaning behind the title "Desia Pilia" which stands for a collective identity that the Dalits, other lower castes and tribals in Koraput like to be known by. A direct translation of the words would be  "indigenous boy". I think these words have been used to signify their belonging to that region which is ironically also used by most upper castes as an abusive word for uncultured or in simpler ...

Aastha Bhardwaj Reflection Paper 8 Food One of the best ways to learn about a culture is perhaps through a historical and current study of the food consumed in that particular culture. Food ties together cultural practices, community values and several other important parts of any given nation or state, there are different foods and even different spices assigned as notable influences of a particular community or nation. However I had never actually thought of food as a way of understanding the various class and caste biases pertaining to different communities around us, which is why the piece 'Caste on Your Plate: Where is Dalit Food?' has been one of the most interesting reads in a while for me personally as it shows how the food consumption in Dalit communities is innate to the discriminatory practises they have faced historically and still face every day to the date. It is an important realization that caste biases seep into every aspect of one’s life, and unders...

I'm sharing something interesting that I've come across during my search for dalit music. In the state of telangana, India's largest tribal festival is conducted on an annual basis in the month of February. The festival witnesses largest gathering of dalit communities as the goddess who is worshipped during the festival belongs to the Koya tribe. However, Hinduization of this festival has begun to take place in the last few decades. I'm attaching articles from the wire and feminism in india which talks in detail about how upper castes are controlling the image of the goddess as theirs and their other  other practices of Hinduization that are taking place during the festival. There are multiple songs on the internet (by upper castes) but most of them as talked above, fail to emphasize on the history and story and are centered around celebration of the festival.  https://www.google.co.in/amp/s/feminisminindia.com/2020/03/18/the-medaram-jana-jatara-indias-largest-tri...

DALIT MUSIC: IN THE MARGINS AND IN THE MAINSTREAM We people always imagine that the lives of the lower class and the lower castes are full of misery – that their songs and stories are only of pain and suffering. But Arivu, a Tamil Dalit rapper who is part of The Casteless Collective, remarked that “ It is not only about pain. Ranjith once told me we should not only dwell on the pain of the minorities but also on their triumphs, their victories .” [1] Neither I nor Arivu (I’m sure) mean to assert that there is no pain. But the implication is that communities have now come to own their music and arts with pride. They sing of their lives, their romance, their pain and their politics, and of course, their Ayya (Ambedkar). The interesting facet of anti-caste music peculiar to Tamil Nadu is that it exists in the margins as well as in the mainstream. In most parts of India, several artists from lower caste communities refrain from singing about their identities for fear of being...

Abhinav Singh 20141297                                                                              DALIT MUSIC IN RAJASTHAN In this week's summary I would like to examine Dalit music in reference to my state Rajasthan. In Rajasthan folk music has evolved into the mainstream music of the state, so the artists who are involved in the folk scene are also the mainstream artists coming from the state. There are three main communities in the state who are associated with the folk music in Rajasthan which are the Langas, Manganiar and Dholis and all three communities acquire low social strata in the society. Langas and Manganiar are Dalit Muslims whereas Dholis are Dalit Hindus. Both Langas and Manganiars were historically dependent on the patrons but the difference was Langas had muslim p...

                                                             Weekly Summary - 10  In the campus of HCU the students were rallying to appeal to other students to participate in Rohith Shahadat Din     and against their VC who was supporting the RSS/BJP government by collectively singing music sang and created by Malayalee Dalit women. One of the songs was a song sang by Dalit women who lived in the bottom of a mountain. The song revolved around their struggles due natural calamities and poverty. The lyrics indicated to how when there is heavy rain ad their crops are ruined their children starve and no one helps with resources. The song also talks about displacement and the government displaces them from their houses and their livelihood without any thought of their well- being. They talk about collectively grief an...

Alkinare Nahor Gache Baga Baga Phul: A tragedy           ' Alkinare nahor gache baga baga phool' that translates to 'big flowers on the riverside'. It is an upbeat song and the melody seems rather joyful. The words of the song convey anything but. A little bit of historical context may make a few things clear. Although this song is not a 'Dalit' song per se, but is a song written by the Santhal Adivasi community in West Bengal. In the mid 19th Century, in 1865, the Doars (Assam) were being made into enormous tea estates; they needed labour. The Santhal Tribals were lured with hope of economic prosperity to go and work in the tea estates. Except they were sold as what can only be termed as 'slaves' to these tea estates, and often through 'brokers'. They were forced into indentured labour.            This song written in a dialect that is a sort of mix of Bangla, axomia and sylheti is a song of the pain and the brutal working ...

DALIT FOOD Just like all other aspects of our lives, caste also penetrates our food. There exists a prominent caste hierarchy in food and ingredients. The food habits are an extension of one's position in society. Another interesting aspect if the representation of food in the cinema. While we might have progressed enough to portray Dalit characters (which are still heavily stereotyped) the filmmakers still haven't been able to portray the food of Dalits. Movies like Newton try by telling the protagonist the red-ant chutney.  But Dalit food is still to gain its fair share. Much like a lot of Dalit cultural practices, their food habits also offend the upper castes, who time and again try to thrust upon them their food habits. One such incidence is the ban on cow slaughter by the central government which comprises of Hindu Upper Caste Men. A simple calculation of food items and their cost tells us that beef was the only available item of protein for the lower caste. This furt...

Dalit Music A simple google search to explore Dalit Music shocked. The underrepresentation of  Dalit Music and Culture in Mainstream Cinema was evident. I was also surprised to see so many Dalit singers who had never engaged with their identity in order to assimilate with the upper-caste dominated Bollywood. Singers like kailash kher and Sonu Nigam were a few names I recognised that I did not know belonged to the Dalit caste. I also came across shailendra - a lyricist who did not let anyone know of his caste. His song, after his death published a book of his poems disclosed his caste identity as from cobbler community from Bihar, and then suddenly the famous song he had written- ther ja jaane wale- Boot Polish makes so much sense. The last stanza of the song is basically a mockery of the priest who also takes money for his services, and the songwriter finally says that they are equal now as slaves of money.  Kailesh Kher's songs also seem to carry such subliminal messages ...

Week 10 Dalit Music  Summary 9/10 India due to its diversity is home to numerous cultures and one such element of these cultures is music. The Dalit community is no exception to this. In the urban areas, the Dalit’s have the “Gaana” songs which are mostly prevalent in the slum of Chennai which is also known as the black town of Chennai. The popularity of Gaana songs was mainstreamed by Tamil cinema due to continues use of this music in the Tollywood industry. Another addition to Dalit music by Tamil Nadu is the Parai Music. Today a Band knows as the Castless Collective has given a Rap form to Dalit music because the current generation find it easier to connect to the genre of music and consequently the music produced by this 19 member band is famous not only in India but even internationally. Ginni Mahi, also produces majority of her songs while following the ideologies of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar.   Looking at the political aspect of this music. The Parai Songs in the Tamil Na...

Music- a political symbol? Music is used as a symbol by the Dalits. It symbolizes resistance. It was and is a political tool as it portrays the sufferings of the Dalits then and how they are trying to free themselves from the hegemony of caste. (Resistance and identity through music- National Herald). Shantanu Kamble claims that music in the hands of the oppressed is a tool to garner the attention of the mass towards an equal society. It is a tool used for revolution. But they face backlash. Dalit music is currently entering the main stream modes of entertainment in India. From Dalit pop to Bhim Rap. Dalit music has entered genres like rap, metal and rock. Ginni Mahi is one of the most popular Dalit pop singer from Punjab. Willuwandi is a Kerala based rock metal band. Willuwandi means bullock cart. This is a reference to Mahatma Ayyankali from Kerala, who drove a bullock cart on the public road in 1893, a time when Dalits weren’t allowed to be seen publicly. Dalit music in Punja...

IS FOOD DIFFERENT FOR SAVARNA AND DALIT? Every culture is defined by the food they eat, Brahmin or Jain food like the majority votes, and popular cinema has been capitalized enough to form a major part of the mainstream movies and media but similar to the Dalit culture, Dalits and Dalit history; Dalit food has also been neglected and never taken in to form a part of the India which is seen daily by the people to increase its popularity and prevent their neglect as an outcaste. In Caste on your plate, Manjiri Indurkar has briefly assessed how the Indian cinema has always shied away from depicting and exploring Dalit food, even when they focus completely on the lives and culture of Dalits, there is never enough discourse on the nature of the food. Dalits are also a part of the Hindu religion, yet, against the popular belief, aren’t vegetarians as the world is made to believe, ruining the sanctity of their religion but only 33% of the Indians are vegetarians, as opposed to the comm...

FEMALE AUTOBIOGRAPHY In her autobiography, Viramma, a Dalit woman living in Pondicherry discusses her life and struggles through an intersectional lens. She discussed her childhood, her premature marriage, childbirth, instances of sexual harassment, and employment. She delves into how women from her caste were deemed to be promiscuous and others often did not take allegations of harassment made by them seriously due to the notion of their 'loose' character and sexual prowess. This is contrasted with the harassment of a savarna woman, whose allegation is taken seriously and action is taken against the perpetrator. Further, she delves into an instance where she nursed her employer's son. At a later instance, when the boy has grown into a young adult, he refuses to give Viramma water. This marks a stark contrast, as the very child that she breastfed and nursed, refused her something as basic as water due to her Pariah status. However, despite this narrative of oppression...

DALIT MUSIC Arivarsu Kalainesan, fondly called Arivu amongst Tamilians is a popular playback singer who has sung songs for mainstream setups. However, his focus lies on writing music and poems about caste and poverty. He is highly inspired by Ambedkar and Buddha, and his music brings to life many of their ideals. He is a proponent of the Arivoli movement which is a southern left literacy movement and got introduces to these ideas by his parents who discussed these with him. His family used to attend Dalit culture events which celebrated anniversaries of leaders and organized protests. He is currently working on writing lyrics a project called the 'Casteless Collective' and had made raps on Ambedkar by drawing inspiration from various Dalit poems. While many have deemed his raps anti-Indian, others appreciate his ideas and welcome these into mainstream cinema and music. He was written various songs for other pertinent social causes such as the LGBTQIA+ movement, and his rap...

WEEK-2 CAA/ NRC SUMMARY The Citizenship Act and the National Register of Citizens are a part of the same agenda of the Saffron Clad party. Implementing the CAA-NRC would make Dalits, Adivasis, OBC’s, Women and Muslims even more insecure. Such an act was said to arise out of a manuwadi mindset, one cannot help but think about Babasaheb Ambedkar and Dalits while discussing the manusmriti. The Constitution has been dis-regarded and principles of equality and fraternity left as holy shrines that are only accessible to the upper caste Hindus. Dalits and Adivasis belong to the lower economic strata of society and have been supressed further in order to make them stay there, under the garb of caste. After years of suffering, Dalits and Adivasis will be left state-less and forced into detention centres. On one hand political leaders and activists have fought and after years of struggle been able to implement some change in the law.   All this will be nullified by the implementation ...

SUMMARY- MUSIC My first realisation was that I wasn’t even aware about the lack of representation of Dalits in the sphere of music. Their music is an example that shows us about how scarcely they are represented in every sphere and despite having beautiful albums these bands are not popular. In todays day and age when some like “Dhinkchak pooja” can go viral, it is strange that very few people have heard of these musicians. The lack of awareness and representation of Dalit music is akin to their existence in our lives; extremely essential but not respected or applauded. Their struggles and realities of the atrocities they face are a part of their music, maybe that is the reason we don’t listen to them. The truth is always bitter. The Dhamma Wings band motto is “The band for truth” I heard their songs called “Jai Bhim Se” which is a tribute to Babasaheb Ambedkar, wherein the lyrics thank him for his contribution to Dalits and his continuous fight for equality. The song was shot in ...

While I was looking for various punjabi Dalit singers and their songs, I continuously kept coming across the most popular one, Ginni Mahi. What was interesting was that her music is called Chamaar Pop. She emerged as a popular singer after 2016 when there was a violent attack on the Dalit community in Punjab. Her music has become like fight songs for the Dalit protestors who are seeking to break this caste mould and make themselves free from this long drawn caste persecution. Ginni Mahi also states how proud she is of her Dalit roots and she writes and sings these songs with pride for her community. There were 2-3 other singers also that I came across who first were only writing for their community but were soon writing also from a political viewpoint. Singers like Raj Dadral and Roop Lal Dheer were initially only writing songs to represent their community but after the murder of Sant Ramananda of the Ravidasia community, their songs started to become politically motivated to repres...