Quest for Emancipation in the Writings of Dalit Women

The term ‘Dalit’ comes from the root ‘dal’ which means ground-down, broken or oppressed. From times immemorial Dalits have been subjected to oppression due to the unjustness of the caste system. Dalits were punished for the misdeeds that they did not commit. In the name of untouchability, Dalits had to confront various types of discrimination at the hand of the upper castes. These atrocities against the Dalits led them to protest against all these injustices. Since before the independence they have been fighting back against these age old traditions with the help of literature and also by forming organisations like Dalit Panthers. This is evident from the following excerpt from Satyanarayana and Tharu:

… the real originality and force of Dalit writing, which today comprises a substantial and growing body of work, can be traced to the decades following the late 1960s. Those are the years when the Dalit Panthers revisit and embrace the ideas of Babasaheb Ambedkar, and elaborate his disagreements with the essentially Gandhian mode of Indian nationalism, to begin a new social movement. In the following decades, Dalit writing becomes an all-India phenomenon. This writing reformulates the caste question and reassesses the significance of colonialism and of missionary activity. It resists the reduction of caste to class or to non-Brahminism and vividly describes and analyzes the contemporary workings of caste power. (21)

This resistance eventually came to be recognized as Dalit Movement. This movement craves for justice through speeches, literary works, plays, songs, cultural organisation and all other possible means. This movement was started and carried forward chiefly by male Dalit writers like Namdeo Dhasal, Raja Dhale, Arun Kamble, Arjun Dangle, Sharan Kumar Limbale, Omprakash Valmiki, Baburao Bagul, Vasant Moon et al. Though male writers possess a larger share, the contribution of female Dalit writers is also necessary to be mentioned alongside. Among the female Dalit writers the most notable personalities are Baby Kamble, Urmila Pawar and Faustina Bama.

Baby Kamble was the first among Dalit women to write her tormented life story in the form of an autobiography in Marathi. She published her autobiography entitled Jina Amucha which was later translated by Maya Pandit in English as The Prison We Broke. Kamble in her narrative presents the sufferings of Dalit life in two terms: from a Dalit perspective and a Dalit woman’s perspective. In her writings we find how women have been tortured both by the external force that is the upper caste people and by the internal force that is their patriarchal Dalit society. As Maya Pandit says:

Like most dalit autobiographies, The Prisons We Broke is an expression of protest against the inhuman conditions of existence to which the Hindu caste system has subjected the dalit for thousands of years. (N.p.)

In her writing Kamble depicts how the Mahars, Dalit by caste, were always considered as polluters by the higher caste Hindus like Yeskers .The Mahars were not even allowed to travel on the regular road. When they saw any Yeskers on their way, they had to get down and walk by the road side or through bushes; otherwise they had to face severe punishment. The high caste Hindus never ever spared a single opportunity to humiliate the Dalits. They were made to bow down to the Yeskers to show their respect wherever they met. The upper caste Hindus posed restrictions in every field of their life and dictated the ways of their living. They were not even allowed to wear clothes like the Yeskers:

There were caste rules even for how to tuck the pleats. Mahar women had to tuck them in such a way that the borders remained hidden. Only high caste women had the privilege of wearing their saris in such a way that the borders could be seen. A Mahar woman was supposed to hide the borders and the pleats: otherwise it was considered an offence to the high castes. (54)

Kamble shows how the Dalits were deprived of basic needs like food, clothes and shelter. They were compelled to live in the separate colonies and were assigned very degrading works like the skinning of dead animals. They were to eat the leftover of the upper caste people, which A.P Valmiki termed as Joothan. Kamble says that Dalits had to even engage in fighting with the animals like cats, dogs and vultures to collect their foods from the garbage. They are compelled to eat the flesh of the dead cattle.  Poverty and misery was their constant companion from their birth till death.

Apart from the miserable condition of the Dalits in general, Kamble also presents the miserable condition of the Dalit women who were subjected to the oppression of the upper caste people as well as at the hand of their own people. She criticized the customs and cultures which were implemented by the Dalit society on the Dalit women. These women had to experience insecurity, domestic violence and male domination in the patriarchal Dalit community. They had to perform all the household affairs; they had to collect the leftovers from the plates of the upper caste people and gave that to their children. But they had to continue fasting. Girls in the Mahar community got married at a very tender age when they were still children. As a result they had to conceive in their childhood which cost them their health and, sometimes, even their life:

The girl would embark upon a new life that was harsh and arduous. She was a young girl, a child really, still immature. Yet, the poor child had to break all ties of love and go to her in-laws’ house to lead a married life, without even knowing what a husband meant, or what it was to be given away. (93)

Mahar people were usually careless about their daughters-in-law. They were reluctant to pay attention to their food, health and education. So, the daughters-in-law had to spend a tormented life in their husband’s house. If she could not do the household work she was cursed and abused by her in laws. It was believed that giving birth to a child is the rebirth of the mother. In their community, Kamble writes, male children were only given the importance and daughters were deprived of every kind of opportunities:

The eldest son was the pride of the house. He would be offered to the deity as Vaghya or Potraja. Fathers had a lion’s share in preparing their sons for this role. To offer the son as Vaghya or Portaja was considered a great honour and prestige for the family. The father very diligently saw to it that his son was properly trained. (18-19)

Generally, after delivering a child the mother is required to take some food but Dalit men were disinclined to provide that to the new mother. Kamble criticizes that Dalit males could take loans from village Sahukar to celebrate their festivals but they did not take loan to make proper arrangements for the new mother:

Many new mothers had to go hungry. They would lie down, pining for a few morsels while hunger gnawed their insides. Mostly women suffered this fate. Labour pains, mishandling by the midwife wounds inflicted by onlookers’ nails, ever gnawing hunger, infected wounds with pus oozing out, hot water baths, hot coals, profuse sweating—everything caused the new mothers’ condition to worsen and she would end up getting a burning fever. (60)

Kamble comments that as Dalit males were treated like slaves by high caste Hindus so they had the intention to treat their daughters-in-law like slaves. She opines with a bitter tone that probably in that way Dalit males used to release their pent up frustrations:

The other world had bound us with chains of slavery. But we too were human beings. And we too desired to dominate, to wield power. But who would let us do that? So we made our own arrangements to find slaves—our very own daughters-in-laws! If nobody else, then we could at least enslave them. (87)

Kamble has also depicted the influence of Dr. B.R Ambedkar upon the Dalits. She depicted that their society was divided into two parts—one was traditional and the other was modern. The traditional group of Dalits were the followers of age old customs and traditions of casteism and did not pay attention to the revolutionary words of Ambedkar. But the modern group followed Ambedkar in almost every aspect of their life, and they tried to protest vehemently, violating the dogmas of caste. Baby Kamble belonged to this modern group and, being inspired by Ambedkar, she showed her vigorous protest against casteism and subjugation of Dalit women perfectly in her autobiography.

Urmila Pawar is another significant name in the history of Dalit women’s liberation movement. She describes her own life experiences and claims for individual identity through her memoir Aaydan, which is translated as The Weave of My Life: A Dalit Woman’s Memoir by Maya Pandit. The word ‘Aaydan’ in Marathi means weaving of cane baskets. According to Pawar, ‘Aaydan’ is “the Marathi generic term for all things made from bamboo”. It was the main economic source of the Mahar community to which Pawar herself belongs. In her autobiography she presents the story of women for three generations starting from her grandmother to her own. Weaving was an integral part of their life. She writes: “My mother used to weave ‘aaydans’,” but “I find that her act of weaving and my act of writing are organically linked. The weave is similar. It is the weave of pain, suffering and agony that links us” (N.p.). This weaving represents their poverty, suffering, insecurity, and Pawar with the help of her pen painted their pains artistically. Moreover, she also raises her voice against all the injustices of caste system including patriarchal domination.

Pawar presents very minutely the details of oppression and exploitation of Dalit women. By providing the sensitive details of caste discrimination and their limitless poverty Pawar actually draws our attention to the limitations of low caste people-

The upper caste girls always used words like ‘Ladu’, ‘Modak’, ‘Karanjya’, ‘Puranpolya’. They brought such novel items in their tiffin boxes as well as at times we went on excursions. However, I never asked myself the stupid question, why we do not prepare such dishes at home? We were aware, without anybody telling us, that we were born in a particular caste and in poverty, and that we had to live accordingly. (93)

After delineating the caste discrimination, Pawar directly undertakes to visualise the picture of patriarchy and domestic violence in their community. In their community male children are privileged. For instance, she presents the different attitude of her family towards her and her own brother, Sahu. What is more, the exploitation of the women is even seen in the food preparations at home. Pawar writes that separate menus were prepared for men and women. In her book she also presents the dual nature of her father. She describes that to the society and to his clan people his father appeared to be a reformist, but to the female members of his own family he showed his patriarchal attitude. She gives the description of her elder sister Urmila who was continually neglected after her marriage by her father. He never took care of her and consequently she died due to her pain and suffering. She also states how her sister-in-law, Pallavi, also had no freedom and was compelled to live like a slave in their family. She narrates that the incident of beating of wives was frequent in their community. It was even practiced in their own house. Depicting all these incidents Pawar actually intends to show that Dalit women had to suffer the dual burden of their caste and gender; they were doubly oppressed. Pawar goes on to describe even how Dalit girls were sexually molested by their family members or relatives. She writes: “My maternal uncle plays dolls with me and pretends to be my husband, drags me into an alcove and presses me hard” (N.p.).

Pawar in her book raises her voice against the differential treatment of men and women. She said that when any male was promoted he was given the title ‘Bhaushaheb’ or ‘Raosaheb’, but a woman officer always remains with the same title ‘Bai’ irrespective of her position or promotion. Pawar describes that in their community it was assigned that all the household affairs would be done by the females. Once, during a programme, her husband stated that he had to do some household work. It was found by Pawar that an artist, who was there, later told others that: “The poor husband was going to store water at home and this shameless woman was laughing. How easily, men appeared poor and women shameless” (N.p.).

So, with a bitter heart in the concluding part Pawar writes-

Life has taught me many things, showed me so much. It has also lashed at me till I bled, I don’t know how much longer I am going to live, nor do I know in what form life is going to confront me, let it come in any form; I am ready to face it stoically. This is what my life has taught me. This is my life and that is me. (320)

Bama is another eminent personality among the women Dalit writers. She portrayed the pathetic condition of the Dalits who were converted to Christianity with the hope of their betterment. They were promised rescue from their degraded condition, which eventually proved to be futile. She projected the condition of the Tamil Dalits through her two autobiographical works Karukku and Sangati. ‘Karukku’ is a Tamil term which refers to the ‘palmyra leaves’. The speciality of this leaf is that it has serrated edges on both sides, just like a sword. In this sense the title symbolises Bama’s fight against the age old tradition through her pen which acts like a sword. L. Holmstorm gives another interpretation that the word ‘karu’ means ‘embryo’ or ‘seed’. The term also implies ‘freshness’ or ‘newness’ which signifies the advent of new things. Here this new thing is the invention of new kind of literary genre, the genre of autobiography written by Dalit women. In Karukku Bama gives some autobiographical extracts which are mainly concerned with the issues of caste oppression. Here she presents the sufferings, pain, and anguish of her as well as her community. Here, she mainly deals with the problems of casteism. But, her novel Sangati, which means ‘news’ or ‘events’, mainly deals with the gender discrimination among the Dalits. In the first part of the novel she gives a series of events based on real incidents of Dalit community which show the worst plight of Dalit women. On the other hand, in the second part, Bama also shows her protest and gives her views to eradicate this heinous caste system and gender biases.

The novel Sangati is knitted with three cords. The first thread deals with the events told by various women of the society. The second section projects the conversation between the narrator and her grandmother, Paati, who is presented as the observer of three generations and narrates her stories relating the past with the present. And the third section is imbued with the opinions and approaches of the narrator based on the events she observed. To locate the condition of the female of her community she narrates the story of an ordinary lady of her community. When that lady named as Mariamma was returning from the field, she was obstructed by her upper caste landlord, Kumarasami Ayya. He tried to pull her in a bush to molest her but she managed to escape. Bama interprets the story in two shreds. Firstly, when she tries to reveal all the incidents to the society, she is warned by her friends to keep that in secret for her own safety-

It is best if you shut about this. If you even try to tell people what actually happened, you’ll find that it is you who will get the blame; it’s you who will be called a whore... Are people going to believe their words or ours? (20)

This incident proves that a lower caste female’s voice was always subdued under the pressure of upper caste people. They were trained in such a way that they cannot raise their voice against the upper caste people. Usually the elder women of the community took the charge to make the younger ones ready to obey the norms of the caste ridden patriarchal society. The next part of this incident is also similar or even more dismal when Kumarasami goes to the head of the Dalit community out of his feeling of insecurity that Mariamma may convey the incident to others. He goes there and spreads the rumour that he has seen Mariamma and a village boy Manikkam who were ‘behaving in a dirty way’. Considering his allegation, a trial was held against Mariamma and Manikkam in their own community. It is to be noted that women were asked to stay away from that meeting. This gesture of the people shows the inferior position of Dalit women even in their own society. Finally, in the trial, Kumarasami’s allegation was accepted and the accused were declared to be punished. This shows the submissive attitude of the Dalit people who thought that it was impossible for the upper caste people to tell a lie or it was impossible for them (the Dalit) to go against their (upper caste people) word. So, Dalit people had no way but to accept the discourses which were created by the upper caste people. They were unable to go against their oppressors because of their Dalit identity. Here, Bama criticizes the Dalit people for their spinelessness. She says that Dalit male only could vent their unused anger and frustrations against their wives and daughters not against their tormenter:

Even though they are male, because they are Dalits, they have to be like dogs with their tails rolled up when they are in the fields, and dealing with their landlords. There is no way they can show their strength in those circumstances. So they show it at home on their wives and children. (65)

Bama poses a question here: “Then, is it the fate of our women to be tormented both outside their houses and within?” (65) She recalls how she was once warned by her grandmother not to go against the system. As she doggedly followed the age old tradition so she tried to force Bama to obey the same patriarchal authority and caste domination. She even criticized her (Bama’s) impudence which she considered to be the negative impact of her education:

From your ancestors’ times it has been agreed that what the men say is right. Don’t you go dreaming that everything is going to change just because you’ve learnt a few letters of the alphabet. (28-29)

Bama writes that even though the entire village knew that Mariamma and Manikkam were not guilty, nobody had the courage to stand for them. Through this incident Bama also showed another form of gender discrimination when she mentioned the form of punishment. When Manikkam was fined for hundred rupees, Mariamma had to pay the double amount for the equal ‘offence’. This discrimination of gender is frequently evident almost in each and every incident of this book. Dalit male and female usually were engaged in same type of activities, but male wagers were always paid higher than the female workers. Besides, girl children were looked after in a very careless manner. They were always neglected:

It is quite true that the women in our street led hard lives. That’s how it is from the time they are very little. If a boy baby cries, he is instantly picked and given milk. It is not so with the girls… (7)

This was because girls were considered as the transient members of the family as they were bound to move to their father-in-law’s house. So they were ignored inhumanely in their homes. They were unable to enjoy even their childhood. They had to succumb to the various norms set up by the patriarchal Dalit society.

In our street girls hardly ever enjoy a period of childhood. Before they can sprout three tender leaves, so to speak, they are required to behave like young women, looking after the household, taking care of babies, going out to work for daily wages. (75)

Bama says that Dalit society is very shrewd to appoint elder females of the community to modify the mind of the young girls and tries to construct their values and behaviour according to their (male) wish. Young girls were trained by the older females to follow the rules and norms implemented by the patriarchal society as it was their duty to serve the male. They were taught not to protest against male atrocities or torture. They were forbidden to play with the boys. They were restricted to play kabadi or marbles; instead, they were instructed to play with the toys which are related to household affairs, like cooking utensils:

Even when we played ‘mothers and fathers’, we always had to serve the mud ‘rice’ to the boys first. They used to pull us by the hair and hit us saying, ‘what sort of food is this, di, without salt or anything!’ In those days we used to accept those pretence blows, and think it was all good fun. Nowadays, for many of the girls, those have become real blows, and their entire lives are hell. (31)

In her book, Bama also clarifies another shocking fact that, in spite of their subjugation, Dalit women are in better plight than the upper caste women. Upper caste women are in more deplorable condition than the Dalit women. She claims that lower caste women enjoy liberty more than the upper caste women. Bama says that Dalit women share more economic liberty than the upper caste women as they work in the fields or in factories. They are not completely dependent on their husbands or sons/children. In contrast, upper caste women are compelled to live in a more vulnerable situation and they often don’t find a way to be out of their deplorable condition. They are oppressed under the pressure of patriarchy and religion.

Bama, in the first part of her novel, shows the utter helplessness and frustration of the Dalit women. But, in the second part, she presented the struggling educated and enlightened Dalit women who are capable of fighting and protesting. At the beginning of the novel she presented herself as a mere girl child, but towards the end of the novel we find her as a progressive lady with full of courage and revolutionary ideas. She questions against all the prejudiced notions about caste discrimination and patriarchy. She cries to have equality and justice for the women. She says: “If we believe that someone else is going to come and uplift us, then we are doomed to remain where we are, forever” (N.p.). Here she takes the place of a pioneer and agitates for the liberation of Dalit women, and instigates other Dalit women to snatch their own liberty from the captivity of Dalit patriarchy: “It is we who must uphold our rights. We must stand up for ourselves and declare that we too are human beings like everyone else” (66).

Works Cited:

Bama. Karukku. Trans. Lakshmi Holmstrom. Chennai: Macmillan, 2000. Print.

—. Sangati (Events). Trans. Lakshmi Holmstrom. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2005. Print.

Dangle, Arjun (Ed). Poisoned Bread: Translations from Modern Marathi Literature. Hyderabad: Orient Blackswan, 2009. Print.

Guru, Gopal. “Dalit Women Talk Differently.” Gender and Caste. Ed. Anupama Rao. New Delhi: Kali for Women, 2003. Print.

Harlow, Barbara. Resistance Literature. London: Methuen and Co., 1987. Print.

Kamble, Baby. The Prisons We Broke. Trans. Maya Pandit. New Delhi: Orient Blackswan, 2009. Print.

Limbale, Sharankumar. Akkarmashi: The Outcaste. Trans. Santosh Bhoomkar. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2003. Print.

—. Towards an Aesthetic of Dalit Literature: History, Controversies and Considerations. Trans. Alok Mukherjee. New Delhi: Orient Longman, 2004. Print.

Oakley, Anne. Taking it Like a Woman. London: Jonathan Cape, 1984. Print.

Pawar, Urmila. The Weave of My Life: A Dalit Woman’s Memoir. Trans. Maya Pandit. New Delhi: Columbia University Press, 2012. Print.

Purushotham, K. and Bheemaiah J. “Our Exit From the Left was the Beginning of the Dalit Writing: An Interview with Vemula Ellaiah.” Journal of Literature and Aesthetics, Vol. 9, No. 1 and 2, Jan-Dec 2009. Print.

Rege, Sharmila. Writing Caste/Writing Gender: Narrating Dalit Women’s Testimonies. New Delhi: Zubaan, 2006. Print.

Satyanarayana, K & Susie Tharu. The Exercise of Freedom: An Introduction to Dalit Writing. New Delhi: Navayana, 2013. Print.

Valmiki, Omprakash. “Authors’s Preface to the Hindi Edition.” Joothan: A Dalit's Life. Trans. Arun Prabha Mukherjee. Kolkata: Samya, 2014. Print.

Wankhade, M.N. “Friends, the Day of Irresponsible Writing is Over.”  Trans. Maxine Berntsen. Poisoned Bread: Translations from Modern Marathi Dalit Literature. Ed. Arjun Dangle. Hyderabad: Orient Blackswan, 2009. Print.