Dalit literature

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Dalit Literature

• Arun R M.Phil. Scholar, Institute of
  English, Palayam.

2
Whats in a name?

• Ati-Shudra
• Panchamas
• Untouchables
• Scheduled Castes
• Exterior castes
• Outcastes
• Depressed classes
• 'Scheduled Castes' ex-untouchables
• Harijan

3

• The term, "Dalit" came into existence by 1930s
• It was first used by Mahatma Jotirao Phule
• In Marathi, the word Dalit means ground crushed,
  broken down and reduced to piece
• It became a popular currency with the advent of
  the militant Dalit Panthers
• The roots of the term Dalit can be traced back
  to the Purusukta of Rig Veda
• where we find the first reference of the caste
  system. The hymn describes
• Brahmnoasaya mukamasti
• Bahu rajanayah kruta
• Uru tadasay yadvaishya
• Padabhayam Sudro ajayat
• Expanded its reference to include scheduled
  tribes, poor peasants, women and all those being
  exploited politically, economically and in the
  name of religion
• Dalit is not a caste now a symbol of change
  and revolution

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Definition

• Arjun Dangle has defined Dalit literature as
• Dalit literature is one which acquaints people
  with the caste system and untouchability in
  India It matures with a sociological point of
  view and is related to the principles of
  negativity, rebellion and loyalty to science ,
  thus finally ending as revolutionary .
• It portrays the sorrows, tribulations, slavery
  degradation, ridicule and poverty endured by
  Dalits.

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History of Dalit Literature

• The margins of nation displace the centre the
  people of the periphery return to rewrite history
  and fiction of the metropolis.
• (Homi Bhabha. Location of
  Culture, London Routledge, 1994.)

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Retracing the Reconstructed Indian History
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The Aryan Conquest
HINDUISM Colonialsation


DRAVIDIANS
The
British Conquest
CASTISM
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• HINDUISM
• The Religious Texts
• Manusmriti
• Rig veda
• Pursha Sukta
• The Epics
• The Mahabharatha
• The Ramayana

• CASTISM
• End to evil Customs
• Introduction of Christianity
• Social stratification
• Introduction of Education
• The Government of India Act, 1935

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• Theory of Caste
• Purity
• Pollution

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• We have to re-read the history of India, in the
  eye of Subaltern perspective for getting a better
  knowledge
• Historiography
• We can study Dalit literature as a product of
  time
• The British rule in India helped Dalits to uplift
  their existence as a human being
• Recognition as a human being gave voice to
  express their reactive, instead of creative
  thoughts

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Role of Other Religions

• Buddhism
• Jainism
• Islam
• Christianity

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Movements

• Bhakti Movements
• Non Brahmin Movement
• New Dalit Movements

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• Bhakti Movements
• Challenged the varna system and stratification of
  human society on the basis of caste
• Namdev (AD 1270-1350) belonged to the Shimphi
  (tailor) caste from Maharashtra
• Chokamela (14 century) was a Mahar (untouchable)
  also from Maharahtra
• Kabir (AD 1398-1518) was a a weaver from Utar
  Pradesh
• Raidas( contemporary of Kabir) was a cobbler
  also from Uttar Pradesh
• Sena (another contemporary of Raidas), a barber
  also from UtarPradesh
• Tukaramm (born in AD 1608) was a Kunbi (peasant)
  from Maharashtra.
• The languages used by these saints were the
  local languages spoken by the common people

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• Non-Brahman movement
• Also called Anti-Cast Movement or Enghlightment
• talked about creating a new society with a new
  religion based on the universal ideas of
  liberty, quality and fraternity as put forward
  by the Frendh Revolution in 1789
• Jyotiba Phule, Bhima Bhoi, Periyar, Dr B R
  Ambedkar, Ayyankaliand Sree Narayana Guru

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• New Dalit Movements
• It started its journey from the Dalit Panther
  Movement in Maharashtra in the from the influence
  of Black Movements of North America
• To create anatmosphere of a counter culture and
  to bring a separate identity to Dalits in the
  society
• Like Black Literature, Dalit Literature emerged
  from this movement in the same land and
  subsequently spread to Gujarat, Karnataka, Andhra
  Pradesh, Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Kerala
• Namdeo Dhasal and Raja Dhale established in
  April,1972

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Origin of the Term, "Dalit Literature"

• came into use in 1958, during the first
  conference of Maharashtra Dalit Sahitya
  Sagha(Maharashtra Dalit Literature Society) held
  at Mumbai.
• It found its birthplace as Maharashtra due to the
  contributions from Ambedkar, and Phule
• It looks at history and current events from a
  dalit point of view and tries to spread the
  voice of downtrodden for the liberation of
  dalits
• Before the rise of Dalit Literature, we can find
  Dalit Writings of some main stream Indian Writers
  like Tagore, Premchand, Mulk Raj Anand etc.

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• But the works of these writers were not regarded
  as the works under Dalit Literature
• Madara Chennaiah, an 11th century cobbler-saint-
  the first Dalit writer the father of Vachana
  poetry
• Dohara Kakaiah,
• Baburao Bagul the pioneer of Dalit literature

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Baburao Bagul (1930-2008)

• Major works
• Jevha Mi Jaat Chorli(1963), Maran Swasta Hot
  Ahe (1969), Dalit Sahitya Ajache Kranti
  Vigyan", ,"Sud" (1970), and "Ambedkar Bharat".
• Translation
• Death is Getting Cheaper - Another India an
  anthology of contemporary Indian Fiction and
  poetry (1990)
• Mother Indian short stories (1900-2000)

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Modern Dalit Literature

• Oriya Dalit Literature
• Punjabi Dalit Literature
• Rajasthani Dalit Literature
• Tamil Dalit Literature
• Malayalam Dalit Literature

• Marathi Dalit Literature
• Gujarati Dalit Literature
• Kannada Dalit Literature
• Telugu Dalit Literature
• Hindi Dalit Literature

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Tripuraneni Madhusudhana Rao complained Now
the Dalits are trying to bring this pollution of
politics into literature. Why are you trying to
pollute this sacrificed arena of literature? You
want to bring in reservations, marks or whatever.
Reservations should be given in educational
institutions. You should be given some money to
study. Or we could conduct special classesfor
training how to write poetry or how to write
criticism.But not these kinds of reservations.
Why are you asking for reservations in
literature? Did not Sri. Sri. Write for the
oppressed in the world? And havent many
B.C.poets written endorsing the ideology of
Brahminism?Lakshmikanth Rao Guru, you collect the
castes and gotras of all the modern Telugu
poets and their writing and thenmake theories and
then destroy literature. With these you are
polluting literature. Our modern literature is a
literature of class society. In our society, we
have several classes and our modern literature
these are influence of as many classes.
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Forms of Dalit Literature

• Dalit Periodicals Dalit Magazines
• Dalit Poetry
• Dalit Short stories
• Dalit Autobiography
• Dalit Novels
• Dalit Theatre
• Dalit Criticism
• Dalit Translation

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Major Themes

• Pains of untouchability
• Hunger
• Poverty
• Helplessness and bonded-labour
• Injustice
• Atrocities
• Universality
• Humanity

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Marathi Dalit Writers

• Arun Kamble, Shantabai Kamble, Krushna Kamble,
  Raja Dhale,Namdev Dhasal, Daya
  Pawar, Annabhau Sathe, Bandhu Madhav,Laxman Mane,
  Laxman Gaikwad, Hari Narake, Sharankumar
  Limbale,Waman Nibalkar, Bhimsen Dethe, Bhau
  Panchbhai, Ambadas Shinde,Murlidhar Bansode,
  Kishor Shantabai Kale, Mayur Vhatkar, Heera
  Bansode, Joyti Lanjewar, Mallika
  Amershekhbhagvaan Ingle,Narendra Jadhav, Urmila
  Pawar

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Gujarati Dalit Writers

• Neerav Patel, Dalpat Chauhan, Pravin Gadhvi, Raju
  Solanki, Sahil Parmar, Harish Mangalam,
  Bhi.Na.Vankar, Yashavant Vaghela, Pathik Parmar,
  Chandraben Shrimali, Mohan Parmar,Madhukant
  Kalpit, Jayant Parmar, B.Kesharshivam, Raghavji
  Madhad, B M Parmar

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Kannada Dalit Writers

• Prof. B. Krishnappa, Dr. Siddalingiah, Devanooru
  Mahadeva, Deviah Harave, Prof. Aravinda
  Malagatti, Prof. M. N. Javaraiah, Prof.
  Govindaiah, Prof. Chenanna Valikar, Sathyaanada
  Patrota, V. Munivenkatappa, Mulluru Nagaraja and
  Mogalli Ganesha

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Telugu Dalit Writers

• Gurram Jashuva, Kusuma Dharmanna, Boyi
  Bheemanna, Kolakaluri Enoch, Siva Sagar (KG.
  Sathyamurthy), Gaddar, Boya Jangaiah, Chilukuri
  Devaputra, Kathi Padmarao, Boja Tharakam, Endluri
  Sudhakar, Vemula Yellaiah, G. Kalyana Rao, Satish
  Chandar,G R. Kurme, Madduri Nageshbabu, Kalekuri
  Prasad, Gogu Shyamala.Jupaka Subhadra, Jajula
  Gowri, MM. Vinodini, Sujatha Gidla,Thullimalli
  Wilson Sudhakar, Challapalli Swarupa Rani,
  Sikhamani

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Hindi Dalit Writers

• Hira Dom,
• Biharilal Harit, Mataprasad, Rasikbihari Munjal,
  Omprakash Valmiki, Mohandas Neimishrai, Dr. S N
  Singh, Ramjilal Sahauak, Surajpal Chauhan,D R
  Jatav, Kausalya Baisantri

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Oriya Dalit Writers

• Bichitranad Nayak. Jagannath Malik, Krushna
  Charan Behera, Gobind ChandraSeth, Ramachandra
  Sethi
• Basudeb Sunani, Samir Ranjan, Sanjay Bag,
  Pitambar Tarai, Ramesh Malik, Chandrakant Malik,
  Kumaramani Tanti, Supriya Malik,Basant Malik,
  Akhila Nayak, Anjubala Jena, Mohan Jena, Samuel
  Dani, AnandMahanand, Panchanan Dalei, and
  Pravakar Palka

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Punjabi Dalit Writers

• Bhai Jaita alias Jeevan Singh, Sadhu Wazir Singh,
  Giani Dirt Singh, Sadhu Data SinhArif, Gurdas Ram
  Aalam, Hazara Singh Mushtaq, Sant Ram Udasi, Lal
  Singh Dil
• Balbir Madhopuri, Siri Ram Arsh, Sulakhan
  Mit,Gurmeet Kalarmajri, Madan Vira, Manjit Kadar,
  Bhagwan Dhilon, Buta Singh Ashant, Manmohan,
  Mohan Tyagi, Mohan Matialvi, Jaipal, Iqbal Gharu,
  larnekKale,Sadhu Singh Shudrak

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Rajasthani Dalit Writers

• Swami Gokul Das, Ratna Kumar Sambhariya, Charan
  Singh Pathik, Dr Gopal Sahar,

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Tamil Dalit Writers

• Ka. Ayothi dass Pandithar
• Rev.John Ratnam , Rettamalai Srinivasan, K.
  Appadurai, Periasamy Pulavar
• P. Sivakamy, Bhama, Artist Chandru, Abimaani,
  Azhagiya Periyavan, Poomani, Pratibha
  Jayachandran, Chanakya, Dharmanna, Vizhi Pa.
  Idhaya Vedhan, Yazhan Adhi

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Malayalam Dalit Writers

• Poykayil Yohannan (Appachen)
• K.K.Govindan, K.C., Kattakkada, V.K. Narayanan,
  Kallada Sasi, Kallara Sukumaran,K.K. S Das,
  Munthoor Krishan
• Ayyappan, S.K. Raghu, Kesavan Kannankuzhi, M.T
  Jayamon, Kaippuzha Jayaraj, Kaviyur Muralai,
  Kottayam Devadas, Sunny Kavikkadu, P.K.Samkutty
  Pattomkari, Thuvayoor Raghavan, Divakaran
  Kadavanthra, C P Prakash, A K Rajan
• A Arun, K V Sasi, O K Santhosh, K K Shinymol

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Dalit Feminism

• Feminism represented only the voice of
  upper-caste/middle class women, and neglected the
  question of social justice. The question of caste
  became crucial to feminist politics and a new
  need was felt to analyze the feminist movement's
  blindness to caste.
• DaIit feminist writing aims at bringing out the
  experiences of both physical violence and
  symbolic violence, which operate at two levels
  upper-castes committing atrocities on daIits,
  patriarchal violence that daIit women suffer from
  within and outside the caste. It is important to
  understand the caste and gender dynamics of
  violence in the society to understand caste
  violence.

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Barna, Kumud Pawde, Meenakshi Moon, Baby Tai
Kamble
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Dalit Consciousness

• a complex process as it incorporates several
  complexities like political consciousness
• the understanding of the Dalits politics,
  processes of political socialization and
  political culture among Dalits, its impact on the
  construction of political consciousness and its
  different ways of expressions including
  literature

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• Political consciousness performs the following
  tasks
• Subjective understanding of the self
• 2. Transmission of knowledge from one generation
  to another
• 3. Objective cognition of the socio-eco-politico-c
  ultural conditions
• 4. Critical relationship with other communities
  and the structures of powers and economic
  controls and
• 5. Transforming society consciously with a
  visionary movement

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Dalit Aesthetics

• Sharan Kumar Limbale sets the following 'tests'
  for the fomation of the Dalit aesthetics
• Author experiences be authentic
• Those experiences be generalized/universalised
• Those experiences should not be just region
  specific
• Texts should instil inspiration for egalitarian
  social system

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Conclusion

• Even though Dalit Literature has flourished a
  lot, it is still facing some kind of
  discrimination from the main stream literature
  just as a Dalit is facing from the society
• Education is the ultimate means to vanish the
  boundary of Marginalisation both in Literature
  and in the Indian society

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Bibliography

• Dr Narayan Das, Dalit Literature Contents, Trends
  and Concerns, Centrum Press, New Delhi, 2014.
• M. Dasan, Counter Cultural Discourse and Dalit
  Literature in India, ABD Publishers, Jaipur,
  2014.
• N Shantha Naik, Dalit Literature Our Response,
  Daryl Book Publishers Pvt. Ltd.,New Delhi, 2012.
• Zakir Abedi, Contemporary Dalit Literature,Arise
  Publishers Distributors New Delhi, 2010.
• Raj Kumar, Dalit Personal Narratives Reading
  Caste, Nation and Identity
• Nirupama Rao, The Caste Question, Permanent
  Black,2010.