Cyber Literature a Bi-Annual Journal of English Studies
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Estd. 1997 ISSN 0972-0901 CYBER LITERATURE A BI-ANNUAL JOURNAL OF ENGLISH STUDIES Impact Factor- 5.050 (Vol. xxii (Issue 43 & 44), No. I & II, June-December, 2019) PEER REVIEWED REFEREED RESEARCH JOURNAL Special Issue on Dalit Literature CYBER PUBLICATION HOUSE CHHOTE LAL KHATRI “Anandmath”, Harnichak, Anisabad, Patna-800002 Bihar (India) Mob.: 09934415964 E-mail : [email protected] www.cyberliterature.in www.englishcyber-literature.net khatristoriesandpoetry.blogspot.com 1 EDITOR Dr. Chhote Lal Khatri University Professor, Department of English T.P.S. College, Patna EXECUTIVE EDITOR Dr. Kumar Chandradeep University Professor, P.G. Department of English, College of Commerce, Arts & Science, Patna E-mail: [email protected] Dr. Sudhir K. Arora Dept. of English Maharaja, Harishchandra P. G. College Moradabad, (U.P.) India. Dr. Rajendraprasad Y. Shinde Associate Professor of English (Retd.) Kisan Veer Mahavidyalaya, Wai, Satara- 412803 EDITORIAL ADVISORS Dr. Ravindra Rajhans Padma Shri Dr. Shaileshwar Sati Prasad Dr. J. P. Singh Dr. R. N. Rai Dr. Shiv Jatan Thakur Dr. Stephen Gill Dr. Basavaraj Naikar OFFICIAL REVIEWERS Dr. Ram Bhagwan Singh 1 A/4, New Patliputra Colony, Patna- 800013, BIHAR Dr. Binod Mishra Dept. of Humanities, LIT Rookee - 247667 mishra. [email protected] Dr. K. K. Pattanayak Bhagya Residency, Room No.-6, Ambica Nagar, Bijipur, Berhampur- 3, Ganjam, Odisha - 760001 2 CONTENTS CRITICISM Editorial v 1. Dr. R.C. Prasad’s Ambedkarism: Voice and Vision of Radical Sanity — Dr. J.P. Singh —Dr. Kalpana Sinha 1 2. Resisting Endogenous Colonialism in Dalit Representations — Prof. (Dr.) Shanker A. Dutt 11 3. Dalit Literature : An Overview — Prof Ram Bhagwan Singh 23 4. The Subaltern Vision in The Edge of Time — Prof. Basavaraj Naikar 36 5. Contextualizing Dalit Consciousness in the Textuality of History and Historicity of Text — Prof. Bhagabat Nayak 65 6. Transgression of Educational Rights in Omprakash Valmiki’s Joothan : A Dalit’s Life — Milind Raj Anand 80 7. Dialectics of Dalit Depravation : A Study in Om Prakash Valmiki’s Joothan and Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things — Dr. Neeraj Kumar 90 8. Bakha and Nagnath : A Comparative Study — M.S. Wankhede 101 9. Eco-Friendliness in the Dalit Family in Appasaheb Khot’s ‘Kombdi’ —Rajendraprasad Y. Shinde 113 10. Magnanimity of an Indian Saint: The Portrait of an Apostle of God : A Focus on Basavaraj Naikar’s Religious Play, The Golden Servant of God —Dr. R.K. Mishra 119 3 (iv) 11. BANGLA DALIT SHORT STORY Curse of Saturn — Sunil Kumar Das 132 POETRY 1. Letter to My Unborn Daughter — Nandini Sahu 134 2. A RAM RIGS — R.K.Singh 138 3. Untouchables — Bhawna Mishra 141 4. PROGNOSIS IRREFUTABLE — Dr. Manas Bakshi 141 5. PARASITIES — Dr. Manas Bakshi 142 AN INTERVIEW 144 BOOK REVIEW 1. Vijay Chandra Verma 147 2. R.P. Singh 148 3. Trans. Ram Bhagwan Singh & Chhote Lal Khatri 150 4 Editorial Dalit literature in India is now more than sixty-year-old with a concerted beginning from Baburao Bagul’s Jevha Mi Jaat Chorli Hoti (when I hid my caste) published in 1963. Here Dalit literature means literature produced by Dalits themselves. However, if we talk about concerns about dalit in literature by Dalits or non-dalits, it can be traced back to eleventh century in composers of Vachana by Basavanna and others. One of the earliest Dalit writers was Madara Chennaiah, an 11th century cobbler-saint who lived during the reign of the Western Chalukyas and was regarded as the “father of Vachana poetry.” Dohara Kakkaiah, a Dalit poet, also belongs to the same era. The origin of Dalit writing can also be traced back to Dalit Bhakti poets like Gora, Raidas, Chokhamela and Karmamela, and to the Tamil Siddhas, or Chittars. Modern Dalit writing only emerged as a distinct genre with tireless striving of thinkers such as Sree Narayana Guru, Jyotiba Phule, B.R. Ambedkar, Iyothee Thass, Sahodaran Ayyappan, Ayyankali, Poykayil Appachan and others. The term Dalit Literature was first used at the first conference of Maharashtra Dalit Sahitya Sangha in 1958. However, reformers during Bhakti period and after have been raising their voice against evils like untouchability and exploitation of the poor and Dalits. Vivekananda lambasted the Hindus particularly Brahmins for dragging Hinduism into kitchen and making it a religion of ‘don’t touch me’. He exhorted people, “For the next fifty years let all other vain Gods disappear from our minds. This is the only God that is awake…” and serve Daridranarayan, the real god of the Kaliyug. Baba Saheb Ambedkar admitted the necessity of a religion though he was highly critical of Hindu religion particularly for its Brahminical character, caste and varna system. Arundhati Roy has observed: “I do believe that in India we practice a form of apartheid that goes unnoticed by the rest of the world. And it is as important for Dalits to tell their stories as it has been for colonized peoples to write their own histories. When Dalit literature has blossomed and is in full stride, then contemporary (upper caste?) Indian literature’s amazing ability 5 (vi) to ignore the true brutality and ugliness of the society in which we live, will be seen for what it is: bad literature.” It is wrong to say that ugliness of society has been ignored in Indian Literature that she calls upper caste literature, a new identity. The pioneering writers of Dalit empathy are the non-Dalit writers like Premchand, Mulk Raj Anand, Padmini Sengupta, Tare Sherka, Bandopadhyay, Gopinath Mahanty, Kanhu Charan Mohanty, Babani Bhatacharya, K. Shivram Karanth, T. Shivshankar Pillai, S. Menon Marath, Mahashweta Devi, Parashuran Mund, Rajendra Awasthi, Shashi Deshpande, Pratibha Roy, Arundhati Roy, Shashi Warrier, etc. The literal meaning of the word “Dalit” is “cut off,” “oppressed,” “downtrodden.” It comes from the Sanskrit root “dal.” Thus, the word represents those separated or distanced from the rest of humanity (Kanipayyur, 540). The term in general is used for castes and classes who have been held inferior by “Varnashrama Dharma.” Dalits, therefore, constitute the most oppressed downtrodden castes in India. The degradation of these people finds a voice in Dalit Literature. The ultimate goal of Dalit Literature is the liberation of Dalits, who have been, for centuries, subjected to the hegemony and inhuman ill- treatment of the upper- castes. According to Limbale, “Dalit Literature is the writings about Dalits with a Dalit consciousness” (Towards an Aesthetic of Dalit Literature, 19) and its primary motive is the liberation of Dalits. According to Prof Arun Kamble, “Dalits are those who have been oppressed religiously, culturally, economically, socially and philosophically by the unjust established social organization” (Narasaiah, 7). Prof. Kamble includes in the purview of the term the oppressed subaltern castes and classes which include SCs, STs, BCs and even minorities. His stand is different from Baburao Bagul, Arjun Dangle and Kardam in taking BCs and minorities in its fold. One can argue that an SC or a BC writer has the same disadvantage in articulating or empathising with the sensibilities of a tribal community that a non-dalit writer has while writing about dalit. Dalit literature a corollary of the political movements of Dalits beginning from Maharashtra and spreading in almost all states of India has come of an age where it has finally got recognition and acceptance in academia and literary field and in public domain. Traditional feudal structure has died out after Independence but the old feudal, imperial 6 (vii) mind-set still persists, albeit in receding degree and one hopes, it will die out in course of time. Gandhian movement, Dalit Panthers movement, Naxal movement, Government’s reservation policy, Anti- SC, ST Atrocities Act and political compulsion of political parties have empowered them to resist, react and retaliate against any act of cruelty and discrimination in the society. The fundamental difference between the aesthetics of Dalit literature and that of other literatures is that the former is the literature of self/ lived experience, insider’s account of atrocities/discrimination born out of caste and varna prejudice while the latter is the literature of empathy if it concerns with the experience gained from secondary sources. Self-expression of traumatic experiences in literature has two-fold function—cathartic and reformative. All such writers are social reformers. They not only appeal to the people of their class in stupor to ‘Arise, awake, and stop not till the goal is reached’ but also to show the brutal face of victimizers to their progeny and aim at sensitizing them and the society in general to the call of humanity. Such articulation of trauma, victimization, subjugation should be encouraged; and it would continue till the accumulated fury in the memory of the class concerned is released and the wound is healed or till we achieve what William Blake Said : When I from black and he from white cloud free, And round the tent of God like lambs we joy: I’ll shade him from the heat till he can bear, To lean in joy upon our father’s knee. And then I’ll stand and stroke his silver hair, And be like him and he will then love me. (The Little Black Boy) The day will come when Dalit literature will evolve itself into the literature of the consciousness of the oppressed, the victimized, the discriminated cutting across caste, class, religion, race, language, gender or political boundaries. I take this opportunity to thank the valued contributors who showed keen interest and made this special issue possible. Special thanks to 7 (viii) Dr Samir K. Sharma for the permission to reprint the paper of Prof Shankar A. Dutta published in Approaches and of Prof J.P. Singh published in Literary Waves.