Resistance and Protest : A study on Dalit literature in Telugu literature

Resistance and Protest:

A study of Contemporary Dalit Poetry

in Telugu Literature

                                        -Presented by

Dr. G. Mohana Charyulu,

 Assot.Prof. of English

Boma Institute of Tech & Sci, (Affiliated to JNTU)

Khammam.

In order to examine Dalit literature in India in general and Telugu Dalit poetry in particular, it is highly essential to have an idea of socio-economic and cultural background of India. Dalit movement in India has its roots in the long history of suppression and struggle for identity and craving for equal status in society. The chequered spirit of the movement could be traced back to 11^th century A.D and it took so long for the movement to reach its present stage of assertion with gusto.

In my presentation entitled “ Resistance and Protest: A study of contemporary Dalit poetry in Telugu Literature” I shall examine Dalit consciousness as reflected in the collections of contemporary eminent Dalit poets like Sikhamani, Yendluri Sudhakar, Satish Chander and Madduru Nagesh Babu. Fresh crop of many Dalit poets in Telugu like Banna Ilaiah, Paidy Terish babu, Gunde Dappu Kanakaiah, China Prasada Murthy, David Livingsoton and a host of others started a new trend in Dalit writings and stood a source of inspiration to dalits. Their poetry reflected the segregation of their lives, experience of violence, murder, rape and other atrocities. In some places, the shadows of Dalits were not allowed to fall upon caste-Hindu people and they were forced to clean the ground wherever they walked to remove the ‘contamination’ of their footprints. In rural areas of India, their colonies formed usually a separate enclave on the outskirts of the village, a kilometer or so outside the mainstream of village. Subjugated and segregated for centuries, the Dalits in India have occasionally expressed their voice of protest before independence, and with the inspiration provided by Babasaheb Ambedkar their voices of protest have found an ideological base. Despite the constitutional protection and guarantees, their suffering continued unabated in most parts of India. Any liberation movement that finds its voice in literature, especially in its nascent stage, speaks of a language of violence. When it finds its moorings, its much needed dignity, the voice of stability permeates through its literature.  African literature during the colonial period and African-American literature during the period of segregation bear close resemblances to the Dalit voices of protest in India. Another similarity we find in the above three categories is double marginalization or double alienation, on account of class and race/community. Apart from social backwardness which is a fall-out of caste system in India, the Dalits constitute, economically, the most disadvantaged sections.  It is in this context of double marginalization that the literature of Dalits must be viewed. But with the inspiration provided by activists-writers in recent times,   people who lived on the periphery for centuries are gradually moving into the centre, and their literature is forming an important segment of the mainstream literature.

I think it would not be out of place if I mention briefly the origin and development of Dalit movement in India. It is proposed that Madara Chennaiah, an 11^th century cobbler-saint is the first Dalit writer who lived during the reign of Western Chalukhyas.  Some scholars regarded him as the father of Vachana Poetry (Free Verse). Next to mention is Dohara Kakkaiah who contributed confessional poems. Bhakti movement in India fought for rights of Dalits in Medieval period that rejected caste system. Dyanaeswar, the 13^th century poet was excommunicated into Dalit status for composing commentaries on existing Puranas and Epic Literature. Another contemporary of Dyanaeswar, Ekanath fought for the protection of the rights of Dalits in society and rebelled against suppression and exploitation during the Bhakti period. 14^th century Dalit poets Chokhemela and Raidas born in a family of cobblers rose to the level of priests and championed the cause of Dalit movement. The 15^th century Saint Sri Ramananda Raya proclaimed that all castes in Hinduism have equal status including Dalits. His poetical speeches marked the spirit of Resistance and reformation in existing systems of practice. Due to isolation from the rest of the Hindu society, many Dalits continue to debate whether they could be considered Hindus or not. As far as the history is concerned, Gautama Buddha, Mahaveera rejected caste system and their preaching eventually became independent religions of Buddism and Jainism. But Bhakti movement of medieval period actively encouraged the participation and inclusion of Dalits in many social activities. Bhagavat Ramanuja Charya of Sri Vaishnava cult established Sri Visistadvaita sampradaya giving top priority to Dalits in day-to-day heavenly rituals. Out of Twelve Alwars of which all Sri Vaishnavas regularly adore as a part of their tradition, three Alwars are from Dalits.  In 19^th century, Brahma Samaj, Arya Samaj and Ramakrishna mission bluntly rejected caste system and embraced Dalits in their activities. In 1936, the last king of Travancore in Kerala issued temple entry proclamation for Dalits. A famous Sikh reformist Satnam movement was founded by Guru Ghajidas. Other reformists like Jyothi Rao Phule, Narayan Guru Ayyankali of Kerala, Jyothi Dhass of Tamil Nadu worked for emancipation of Dalits.

An important tussle in Dalit movement took place between Mahatma Gandhiji and BR Ambedker over whether Dalits would have separate electoral colleges or joint electoral. Gandhi began a “Harijan Yatra” to help Dalit people. After getting independence, Indian constitution made special provisions for social and economic upliftment of the Dalits in order to enable them to achieve upward social mobility to overcome and bring closure to historical injustices.  Enough space was provided within the framework for improvement in all spheres but it is only on the political front progress could be observed. On the other fronts, especially in the filed of social relations, because of separation, segregation and suppression in many parts of India, the same protest, pain, agony could be observed. Being illiterate, they have become one of the most exploited and marginalized sections of the society.   It is against this discrimination that dalit writers across India raise their voice of protest.<eÚ&=¿£Ø&ƒT eÖÅ£” <ûeÞøeTTˆ\T Âs+&ƒT   two temples having one God have<ûXøyîTT¿£ØfÉ eÖÅ£” Ôî>·\T Âs+&ƒT          two tribes having one country have we

eÖ³ esÁ|Ÿ¿Ã¿£Ø eTÔáeT+<ŠTyûT ¿±“      for words sake say one religions have we            Å£”\ |ŸeT|Ÿ«  e<ŠÝ Å£”eTTˆ Å£”eTTˆ      but ever fight at the caste problem

                (Intiguttu-‚+{ì>·T³T¼  Jashuva – Khanda kaavyam)

Gurram Jashuva’ Gabbilam (The Bat) was perhaps the first attempt in Telugu to express pain and hurt at the centuries-old exploitation and oppression suffered by Dalits in a moving manner.  Post independent Dalit poetry in Telugu literature reflects the protest, resistance, and struggle for social and economic empowerment. It also mirrors country life. It portrays as to how the members of Dalits live outside the village. They are forced to perform unpaid labour. They are denied basic requirements like access to public land and water. They clean stinking straw beds in the castle sheds of upper caste-dominated villages.  Sharan Kumar Limbale in his “Towards aesthetics of Dalit Literature” says that while non-dalit literature emerges from imagination, the Dalit literature emerges from experience. Most of the Dalit writers corroborate with this view that their life is their literature.

             The different facets of Dalit poetry in Telugu literature could be seen in the contemporary Telugu poetry. One can now listen to the warm sounds of alphabet from mild silence and traditional horn of Dalits. Their poetry is a collection of words breaking the clutches of economic chains rolling from their own blood. Insecurity, instability and segregation in their lives provoked them to take to the weapon of poetry, to record their voices of protest. Digambara kavulu (Naked poets) gave new dimension to Telugu Dalit poetry when they released their Third Anthology of poetry in 1968. They dedicated it to a Dalit from Krishna District, Kanchikacherla Kotesh who was burnt alive by the upper castes accusing him of theft. A series of atrocities and massacres against the dalits at Karemchedu, Padirikuppam, Neerukonda, Thimmasumadram and Chundur prompted many of the Dalit poets to come together first time on a platform to launch sustained protests. Taking inspiration from Jashuva, modern poets started asserting their identity. Thus poetry became a means of expressing their resistance and fury.  Many of the Dalit poets upto 80’s and 90’s waged war against suppression which denied them basic human dignity. For a decade and above, the invincible process of resistance and protest of the Dalit poets continuously appeared in the poetry of a few Dalit poets in Telugu literature namely Sikhamani, Yendluri Sudhakar, Satish Chander, and Madduri Nagesh Babu. Their poetic collections released in the recent years not only re-write the history of dehumanization of the Dalits in the name of caste-hierarchy but also puts forth the argument forcefully that the real working class in the country is only the Dalits. They destroy and reverse the established symbols and myths; and construct their own myth in the process of subversion. They created an alternative aesthetic by exploring new horizons of experience that have so far been kept in darkness and silence.  The collections º\¿=ØjáT« “Chilakkoya”, q+~esÁÝq+ “Nandivardhanam”, q\¢¿Ã³ “Nalla Kotu” of Shikhamani, esÁïeÖq+ “Varthamanam”, q\¢ç<‘¿£Œ |Ÿ+~] “Nalla Draksha Pandiri”, ¿=Ôáï>·_Ò\+ “Kotta Gabbilam” of Yendluri Sudhakar, ¿=Ôáï>·_Ò\+ “Panchama Vedam” and €~|ŸsÁÇ+ “Adi Parvam” of Satish Chander and sÁ#áÌ‹+&ƒ  “RatchaBanda”, }sÁT y�& “Uuri vaada” of Madduri Nagesh Babu capture the prevailing Dalit consciousness, their rebellious attitude in finely crafted poetic pieces. Their poetic eye is set on stark reality, on the details of centuries of suffering and the need to assert their dignity. In a defiant mood they opine that history in this country has been full of pythons which swallowed truth. So they draw a conclusion that history itself is the first enemy to the dalit movement. Unlike the pre-independent Dalit poets, contemporary Dalit poets including the above mentioned four poets are now making use of explosive language to explicate their volcano-like ideas stating that no one can stop them in making an independent,  assertive, alternative postures even as they look forward to a new era of hope and equality. Sikhamani created his own poetic idiom by presenting variety of subject and clarity in expression while releasing his collection, º\¿=ØjáT« “Chilakkoyya”, a wooden pin fixed in the wall. The poet deliberately distorts reality into pieces. It is what we can witness in poems like È\dŸsÁÎ+ ‘Jala sarpam (water snake), y�&û nXø—<ŠÆ eÖqeÚ&ƒT Vaade Ashudha Manavudu (he is only impure man) andç|Ÿ$T<Š ç¿ì+<Š N¿£{ì Pramida krinda chikati(darkness under the lamp)’. He felt that poetry is but an expression of anger of Dharma on social realities. The usage of images and metaphors create a new reality from which the original appears to be unreal. Deterioration of values and revered human qualities sprout new shapes in the hands of the poet. He expresses his protest against the established conventions in the society where the distance between men to man can be measured with the scale of caste. 

             The new phase of Dalit writing seems to be more mature, sober, larger in its concerns, more conscious of form, less angry and complaining. Shikhamani questions, 'I question / How the black colour / is allotted to me / When it's not there / In the circus-feats of / Rainbow and the five-colours.' Again: 'I am writing off / the aesthetics of a thousand years / that made the verse untouchable / that made the verse a Vedic ritual / I am the bard / The Dalit bard / who has come to split the bow of colour.'  He apologizes on behalf of caste-Hindus for neglecting the Dalits for so many centuries: 'Forgive me my Dalit! / In the entire poetic history of a thousand years / I couldn't pen a single line about you except / the blindfolded devotion and salivating erotic.  

        By ridiculing the uncivilized custom, convention and the long cherished tradition, Madduri Nageshbabu created a Dalit leader as the real owner of the land in the collection “Rachabanda”. We can find a Dalit woman as the heroin the collection who is wounded by atrocities of upper caste raised her revolutionized Dalit conscious fist (pidikili). The subject of the collection is Dalit life, agonies, pairs and protests of   Dalits. The language he chose for this collection is so tremendous that was actually rejected by ancient rhetoricians. It is a predominant Dalit Kavya which echoed the Dalit tradition and culture against the salient features of the poetry prescribed by the upper caste poets.

                                       

KºÌÔá+>± ‡ s�çÜ Ôîý²¢sÁTÔáT+~       definitely this night dawns

“sÁÝÇ+<Š+>± ‡ N¿£{ì yî\T>šÔáT+~      unhesitatingly this darkness becomes light

yî\T¢yîÕ bÍsÁTÔáTq• sÁ¿£ï¹¿ŒçÔá kÍ¿ìŒ>±          speedy stream in witness of bloody soil

                               

In the poem “I love India” he constructs a nation that extends step-motherly treatment to the Dalits.  He explains the major drawbacks of the country and gives forceful metaphoric expression like swan tiger fangs, nursing serpent, lost lamb, a garden of insecticide plants, rabbit caught in the fox snare, fainted refugee in enemy camp, a wound that can not be healed by any medicine. He loves his mother India but hates her people who made her a long ailing patient. Nagesh Babu expresses his strong belief, hope, and resistance that the day comes where the enemy of the Dalit will make a definite suicide.

        While championing the Dalit cause Yendluri Sudhakar’s collection of poems titled as “Varthamaanam” concerns the poor and oppressed class. The main focus of his poetic light is flashed on the reality in the lives of under privileged and the down trodden. He says that they are only the people who take care of our security, health and food. In the poems like Bloody question, Foot Print and The Present, he unfurled the flag of protest against the suppression and exploitation of the Dalits. He makes a serious debate on the identity of the Dalits in the country where the identity crisis of the Dalits became central to all poets in all languages in India. Another anthology of Sudhakar “Nalla Draksha Pandiri” reflects the lives, sufferings, tears of the Dalit people. He tried to say about the world of suffering, exploitation and humiliation experienced by the Dalits.  The poem “Atmakatha” (Autobiography), he states:

eTjáTdŸuó„ýË H� €eˆ¿£Ôá €$wŸØ]+#á‹&�+~

        (My autobiography was released in the palace of wonders)

‘Mayasabha’, palace of wonders stands for the humiliation of Dhuryodhana, an antagonist in the famous Indian epic “Mahabharat” written by Vyasa, which led to the famous battle Kurukshetra, a war of supremacy between Aryans and Dravidians. In this context, Sudhakar opines that the original inhabitants of India are Dalits and upper castes are the Aryan Invaders on Dalits. ‘Clay feet of my shoeless great grandfather’ a poem by Sudhakar signifies how people who makes shoe in order to protect people’s feet from dust themselves deny to wear it.  ‘Matti kallu’, clay feet stand for association of the Dalits with their mother earth, their poverty and mobility. All these poems emanates from the agony and anger which deeply embedded in the Dalit resistance and protest. The poem,’Our village has no brook’, (Tr. By Dr. K Damodar Rao) describes the mirage of the Dalits. ‘Cheruvu’, the pond is seen but not accessible to the Dalits. It provides water for drinking, bathing, and washing clothes even animals can enjoy this water but not Dalits. The same attitude is also reflected in the poetry of another prominent Dalit poet, Satish Chander. “Nastitu Panchamah’ is the word of ‘Manusmruti’ who dictated the principles of living and categorized   Indian society society into four folds viz Brahmana Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra. He asserted there was no fifth fold in society.  In spite of that many of the upper castes in India treat some of the Dalits as Panchama (fifth cadre). Chander’s ‘Akshara Shayya’( the bed of Alphabet), ‘Aaracheti Randralu’ (the holes in the palm) and other poems clearly depict that the birth of Dalit in India itself is a continuous movement throughout his life. He suggests every Dalit that they shold take the slogan “Spell it with Capital” as an inspiration which changed the attitude of the magazine “Chicago Conservator”. He also quotes examples of the atrocities and suppression of self declared American Intellectuals in the name of research “Clash of Civilization”

        Socially and in the field of poetry, it is inevitable even today the struggle between the Black and the White people in African, American and European countries. The Blacks waged war against the cultural hegemony of capitalistic culture. Everyone thinks to decolonize the literary imagination from the clutches of New Capitalistic Trends. Aparthied or exploitation and suppression whatever the name we may call, will create an airt of the sky in the minds of so many poets throughout the globe. As such, the contemporary Dalit poets in Telugu literature in India are second to none in protesting against the suppression and exploitation in the name of caste creed colour and so on. It is a staring time for their poetry and the Dalit movement in India to have a global identity.

-:oOo:-

References:

1. Sainath, P. “Dalits in India 2000: The Scheduled Castes more than a half    century after Independence”, www.asiasourse.org/dalits/ (2000). 

2."India: "Hidden Apartheid" of Discrimination Against Dalits". Human    Rights Watch. 2002-

3. Leslie, Julia, “Authority and Meaning in Indian Religions”, Ashgate Pub       Ltd, 2004

4. “Harijanaabhyudayam – Aadhunika Andhra kavitwam”, Dr. Kalluri       Ananda Rao, Chaitanya Sahiti Sravanti pub., 1994.

     5.  Sudhakar, Yendluri. Nalladraksha Pandiri, Manasa Prachuranalu. 2002

    

     6. “Chilakkoyya”, Sikhamani, Sri Harsha Pub., 1993.

    

     7. “Ratchabanda”, Madduri Nagesh Babu, Lokayuta Prachuranalu, 1996.

   

     8.  “Panchamavedam” Satish Chandar, Navya Prachuranalu, 1995.