Representation of Women in Laxman Mane’s Upara
Tryambak Wahane Assistant Professor Jagadamba Mahavidyalaya Achalpur
Abstract:
Upara is a Sahitya Akademi Award winning autobiography written in Marathi by Laxman Mane. Born and brought up in a poor Kaikadi family, a nomadic tribe in Maharashtra, he rose to prominence after the publication of his autobiography. It was published in 1980 and awarded with Sahitya Akademi in 1981. It was translated into English by A. K. Kamat as Upara: An Outsider. He was honoured with India’s fourth highest civilian honour Padma Shri in 2009. He was also a Member of Maharashtra’s Legislative Council. Upara is considered as a path breaking literary work that depicts the struggles of its protagonist and unfortunate nomadic people. It records the life of Laxman Mane from his childhood to his youth, till his marriage. It narrates the story of extraordinary resilience and enterprise of its protagonist to study and lead a better life. His awakened self aspires for a respectable life. Besides his life story, Mane also documents the hardships in the lives of nomadic women. The present paper focuses on the representation of women in Upara.
Introduction :
Upara tells the life story of its protagonist who had to suffer severely because of his caste. His caste was placed at the lowest rung by the Chaturvarna System. They were looked down and treated as criminals by the upper caste people. Most of the year, they kept roaming from place to place in search of work. Their traditional occupation was to weave cane baskets and in wedding season they play bands. His father‟s insistence to educate him started this eventful journey. If he wouldn‟t have got this opportunity, he too would have perished unnoticed, roaming place to place, weaving baskets, playing drums in weddings, leaving on
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the periphery near village cemetery or defecation ground, surviving on the leftovers and wearing tattered clothes. His education and contact with the outside world shaped his personality, gave direction to his life and added meaning to it. It sharpened his understandings and sensibilities and awakened him. It dawned upon him that he too has a right to better life like upper caste people. He realized that his caste was his biggest enemy and greatest hindrance in the way of his as well as his community‟s life. Mane‟s life had tested him on every step, but he didn‟t give up. His story is mostly a story of rejection. Despite all the obstacles in his path, he succeeded in completing his graduation. He was probably the first graduate from his community. It was a great accomplishment as none of his forefathers had ever set foot in school. He managed to marry a girl of his choice and his stay in Kolhapur for education brought him in touch with intellectual people who shaped his thought processes. While commenting on Upara Lalita Goswami rightly observes, “The whole book can be summarized as an insignificant man‟s graphic tale of how he tries to get education, marry a girl of his choice and earn a decent livelihood, while facing every kind of negation, rejection and denial.” (Goswami 130)
Brought up in a surrounding of depravity, he had to put up fight with hunger and humiliation. Mane describes how his family used to survive mostly on leftovers received in alms or in exchange of baskets or mending old ones. He recalls how his mother would have to go hungry for days during rainy seasons. Upara is definitely an important literary work that brings to light the condition of Kaikadi community but it is also a very significant document that silently protests the treatment given to women. Upara records the pathetic condition of nomadic women. The story obviously revolves around Mane‟s struggles, but it also captures the struggles of many nomadic women. Mane describes their day to day struggle for survival. Despite sharing the burden of the family in equal measures with their counterparts, they contribution is hardly acknowledged. Along with sharing the load of work with their husbands, these women also used to fulfill their familial duties. In a way their contribution was more than their husbands. They all did this without any complaint. Mane‟s mother, Joshi‟s wife and Kergea‟s wife Tani are the best examples of this. They all share the same luck. The wife beating was a common practice. They always have to bear the frustration of their men. Mane recalls the brutality of his father, “Without a word, he picked
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up a couple of green canes and tied them together. Mother was facing the other side. He went up to her quietly. With one hand he caught her by the hair and with the other started lashing her with the canes. Mother began howling loudly.” (Mane 21) Mane was extremely pained to see the wails on his mother‟s body. The crime she committed was that she had taken side of her son. When he ran away from home to avoid marriage he stayed with the family of one Kerea Vadari. The condition of his wife was no better. Mane writes about the brutality with which Kerea beat his wife. The scene took place when they went to fetch mud from river. As soon as they reached the river, Kerea went away and didn‟t return for a long time. All the while his wife Tani was working alone. No longer able to work further she stopped for a while to rest. Kerea came and saw his wife sitting, without waiting for a minute he started abusing her. When she retaliated as she too was angry, he brutally thrashed her with the baton of pickaxe because his male ego was hurt as she had insulted him in front of a Kaikadi boy. Such was their condition.
Even after sharing the load of the family they received this treatment at the hands of their husbands. Actually her husband was at fault who went to drink country liquor as soon as he reached the river bed and she was the one who was working all the while. But she had to bear the brunt as she was a weaker and subordinate sex and the patriarchal social set up had bestowed every right on the husband to treat his wife the way he wanted. They both have been conditioned this way, one as the doer of the violence and the other as meek receiver. The wives have always been abused verbally. Big whores, sluts, bitch, adulteress these were the words with which they have been often addressed by their husband when they got angry. These women have to bear all the frustration of their men. Mane recalls how one of his neighbors in Satara demanded his wife to bring and cook meat for him in the night and when she told him that at this time of the night she couldn‟t arrange it, he started abusing her in foul words accusing her of having affair with other men. Mane also writes about one Pingla Joshi who was a fortune teller belonging to Nath Sect. He too would often accuse his wife of committing adultery and call her names. He describes how one day he refused to take his wife in his hut as she failed to return home before sunset. But the poor woman had gone to bring herbal medicine for him as prescribed by Mane‟s father for her husband as he was having high temperature. But he abused her without sparing thoughts for her good
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intention and even refused to take medicine brought by her. He yelled at her, “Bloody whore! You brazen bitch! I‟ll get your mother screwed by a donkey. Sleeping around weren‟t you? (Mane 86) He didn‟t stop there. He asked her to get out of his sight as he didn‟t want to keep any relationship with her. The woman tells Mane‟s mother that in her community a woman must return home before sunset. With heavy heart she tells Mane‟s mother, “I spent all my life with this man. Each bone of my body has been worn out in his service. And seeing him in this condition I couldn‟t possibly let him die” (Mane 87) Despite such a dedication towards her husband and family the women had to suffer mental agonies. But she comes across as a strong woman. When no longer able to bear his accusations, she decided to walk away with her four children. She was not dependent on her husband to look after her children. She told Mane‟s mother that she was capable of taking care of her children. When finally he realized that his wife was leaving him her husband came back to senses and stopped her from leaving him. Mane reveals that there were same restrictions imposed on Kaikadi woman as well. The caste rules prescribed for women dictated that a Kaikadi woman should return home before sunset. If she failed to do so, she wouldn‟t be taken into the house. Even nobody was allowed to give her shelter. She had no other option but to go back to her father who would have to take her to Panchayat and the Panchayat‟s verdict in this matter was considered as final. Mane notes many such incidents where women had to suffer terribly both at home and outside as well. He recalls how a village mob humiliated his mother by tearing her sari and blouse. She had to cover herself with his father‟s shirt to save her honour. On a mere accusation of the theft of canes, his parents were brutally beaten and their clothes were torn by the violent mob who took them to the village chief. Despite repeated requests to let her go, the mob was not ready to forgive her. She was seeking for their mercy and forgiveness, but it fell on deaf ears. One wonders if this could have happened to an upper caste woman if she had erred or would have been treated differently. The mob wanted to humiliate them and wanted to put them in their place that was why she was paraded to the village chief‟s office. Mane couldn‟t forget this humiliating incident. It left him with a deep scar. In the first place he couldn‟t understand what their fault was as his parents often used to bring the canes from the village. Mane ponders if it was such a big crime and deserved the punishments that they received and the question made him restless.
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Women were objectified and treated as commodities. Mane describes how one man mortgages his wife to another man for money. The woman when presented before the Panchayat sought the forgiveness citing her helplessness. She addressed herself as a meek animal that didn‟t have any right on her life. She held her husband responsible for her condition who had pawned her for money for four years. She degraded herself by calling her as an animal. In her defense she says, “Moreover, women are like dumb cows. My husband tethered me at his door.” (Mane 57) It shows how women considered themselves as meek animals with no say and right at all. She couldn‟t have objected her husband when he mortgaged her for money as she was conditioned to accept her husband as her owner and not as her partner. The society had taught them that they were not equals rather a husband. That was why she silently preferred to let her master tethered her where he wanted. She was treated like an object or a thing or an animal that could be traded or mortgaged. It appears as a scene from some movie or a fictional literary work. In another case a Kaikadi man took his wife to Panchayat accusing her of having an affair with a Vadar man and refusing to accept the child in her womb as his own. He wanted Panchayat to nullify his marriage as his wife had deceived him and committed adultery. He bribed the Panchayat members to give verdict in his favour. It was not his wife but he who had committed adultery. He was having an affair with another woman and wanted to get rid of his first wife so that he could stay with his mistress. But the poor woman had to bear unbearable pain and tragedy befell her. She was excommunicated by the Panchayat for the crime she never committed. She went crazy and died afterwards. Nobody knew what happened to her child. Mane writes, “The excommunicated woman went mad and never recovered from the shock. She delivered a baby but nobody knew what happened to the offspring!” (Mane 139) This was how patriarchy social set up which was prevalent even in nomads ruined so many poor women‟s lives. The poor woman didn‟t die a natural death, but patriarchy had killed her and did injustice to a new born. They had to pay heavy price for being women. As if the trouble at home was not enough, some of them had to go through worst form of abuse. They had nothing worthwhile in their lives. They were constantly on a move and had got little to eat. They were surviving in an inhuman set up. To worsen this, these women sometimes fell prey to the demons‟ lust. Upara tells the heartrending story of two such poor women who underwent tremendous pain. The first one is an unmarried Dombari young girl who was
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abducted in the darkness of the night while she was fast asleep after her day long strife to earn money for her family‟s survival. Her poor father tells his daughter‟s story with heavy heart to Mane‟s father. The old father tells, “She had worked the whole day. She danced for a long time, jumped on the rope, lifted a big stone with her hair”(Mane 42) This itself was a harsh life where the girl had to strive hard to earn for her family. But what she further went through crosses the limits of cruelty and was inhuman. The poor man continues, “Her whole body was covered with blood. She opened her eyes and mouth but didn‟t speak a word. What it be Bapu? She lived for two days. Not a drop of water went down her throat she must have suffered a lot….”(Mane 42) The poor girl was brutally raped and left to die. It must have been a great shock to her. She couldn‟t survive the attack. The brutal attack must have left her body and soul with great scars that she lost all her appetite and the will to live. The second woman who suffered the same fate was Mane‟s relative. She was also abducted in the night while she was sleeping. Her mouth was gagged to ensure that she didn‟t make any noise. Her captors didn‟t spare her even after knowing that she was having her menses. She burst out in pain while relating her ordeal, “It was terribly painful….The wolves didn‟t leave me….My body has become a rotten log of wood now!” (Mane 83) The woman was completely devastated. She couldn‟t control herself and put soil in her mouth and repeatedly slapped herself. But this was not the end of her agonies. The Dombari girl‟s struggle ended with her death. But in this case, it would further be aggravated by the lack of support and sympathy for the aggrieved lady. Her husband blamed her and abandoned her. She had to go through further mental trauma. He abused her for ruining his prestige and left her on her own. He cursed her, “Suffer, you bloody whore! Suffer whatever is your fate!” (Mane 84) The poor woman suffered a lot and turned mad. Eventually she died in an utter state of helplessness. As she was beautiful her husband had always objected her taking regular bath and combing hair. He wanted her to live like a beggar woman. He would say, “When we live on the dunghill, we should live like dirt….What if somebody casts an evil eye on you? ( Mane 82) and finally his fear became true. The lust of some devils had destroyed two precious lives. What was their fault? Being born beautiful in poor nomadic families was their fault. They were poor, weak and without any protection. These demons knew very well that nobody would dare to touch them. While discussing sexual violence against dalit women Kirankumar B. and Dr. N.S. Prasantha Kumar rightly observes, “Dalit self especially
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Dalit woman had to face the worst form of discrimination. She has to confront the conflict of sexual harassment which is sponsored by the Hindu caste society itself. Upper caste men treat dalit woman as the self made for sex. Even more, they treat dalit women as sexual object to quench their sexual needs.” (Kirankumar B. and Dr. N.S. Prasantha Kumar 689) It was only because of this fear that Mane‟s mother felt that a nomadic woman should be as inconspicuous as possible. That was why she avoided having regular bath or combing her hair. She says, “A beggarly woman should always behave like a lady. She must not behave like a nautch girl from the tamasha in make up. Otherwise, she will meet the same fate as Paru.” (Mane 85) How one could justify this? How uncertain and difficult their lives had been? There was no talk of any justice. The worldly affairs went on as usual. The culprits were never brought to the justice and let free to commit other such despicable crimes. The powerful people always have this right to exploit poor and helpless people as they have no voice. They have to suppress their cries and anguish and have to carry on with their living. Furthermore they would be blamed by their own people, the way Mane‟s mami was blamed for paying attention to her looks. In the annals of time so many innocent poor women might have suffered this fate and have been crushed untimely. Their soul tearing cries might have gone unheard and unnoticed.
The women from upper castes too have their own problems. Mane writes about a girl named Ratna from a rich family who had suffered immensely as she had to come back from her marriage pendal without marrying as her to be husband refused to marry her because of a trifle issue. As the haldi applying ceremony had taken place nobody came forward to marry her. Despite having money and born in an upper caste family the girl became the victim of superstitious rituals and inhuman practices where the life of a girl bore no value. The illogical practice ended in a tragedy for this poor girl. When unable to bear this stress, the girl went crazy and eventually died in misery. Mane also describes how women were conditioned to accept themselves as inferior to their husbands. He describes how a group of neighborhood women in Satara argued with him when they saw him washing his wife‟s sari. When he tried to reason with them he was labeled as an educated bull. They called name to his wife and said that she was committing sin and would go to hell for making her husband wash her clothes. They shared their experiences how they had to work even when on death
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bed. One woman described how her husband had once thrashed her when she asked him to pour some water on her hand. She says, “We had no courage to look our husbands in the face! We worked even when we were on death-bed. How could one say „no‟ to one‟s husband! Having been born a woman if you are destined to do this work, should not you do it? Is your wife a woman or an ass? (Mane 202) This was how women looked down upon themselves and didn‟t shy away from abusing a woman.
Upara faithfully records the condition of women in the then society. The present paper finds nomadic women suffering on three levels. Firstly, they suffer on account of their so called low caste status. They were humiliated for belonging to lower caste. The society never appreciated their contribution and degraded them to the level of animals. Secondly, they suffer because of their economic status. They were poor and were deprived of any regular income source. As a result they had to be on constant move in search of work throughout the year. Had very little to eat and wear, always living on the outskirts of the village near dunghills. Thirdly, they suffer because they were born as women. This suffering will be double fold. They would suffer at home for being the „other‟, less important and subordinate creature and demons from the outside world would be waiting to ravage their honour. They would do everything to support their family, but still wouldn‟t receive any credit for it. They would be verbally abused and thrashed quite often for little things. They had accepted the life of servility and subordination. Their beauty would become their enemy because of which they would have to go through humiliation and terrible pain as the lustful eyes would always follow them. They would be barbarically assaulted. Thus, in Upara Mane portrays the tragic lives of nomadic women and at the same time he also comments on the condition of women from upper strata of the society. Mane lends his voice to the sufferings of these helpless women and brings their pathetic tales to the fore so that the outside world could understand and feel the pain these women had gone through.
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References:
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