Naraloka Prarthana Prayer in the Language of Protest

NARALOKA PRARTHANA PRAYER IN THE LANGUAGE OF PROTEST Ashok Kumar M. and Rowena Robinson* Introduction Naraloka Prarthana (2002) is a poem in prayer format through which Madduri Nageshbabu, a revolutionary poet in Telugu literature, challenges the dominant paradigm of prayer in various religious traditions, essen- tially by using Christian idioms of protest. The poet belongs to the Mala caste, born to Mrs. Anasuyamma Madduri and Mr. Zachariah Madduri from Narasaraopet of Guntur district, Coastal Andhra. He is one of the major Dalit poets of recent times. He authored such notable works as Velivada (1995), Rachhabanda (1996), Loya (1997), Meerevutlu (1998), Naraloka Prarthana (2002), and Godavari (2007), which is a collection of poems published after his death. He passed away on January 10, 2005. His works are sidelined and marginalized from the so-called mainstream Telugu literary circles, but he is highly acclaimed by Dalit writers and Ambedkarites in Andhra Pradesh.1 His contribution, through his works, to the contemporary Dalit movement is voluminous, providing direction and ideas with the help of Christian idioms. Dalit Christian theologians in the south continue to remain indifferent to Madduri’s ideas on Christian- ity and Dalit empowerment. While Dalit Christian theology is seen as a reflection of Dalit suffering, aspirations, protest, pathos, and hopes, at the same time, Madduri is different because he seeks to merge Ambedkar’s thought with Christian idioms, thus producing a far more radical political ideology. Further, prayer has been underrepresented in Dalit theology to date. * Ashok Kumar M is Assistant Professor, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Mandi; Rowena Robinson is Professor, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay. 1 Ambedkarites are followers of Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, Ph.D. (1891–1956), also referred to as Babasaheb; he converted to Buddhism, taking many other Dalits (“untouch- ables”) with him. He is considered the chief architect of the Indian constitution. He earned doctorates from Columbia University and the London School of Economics, as well as credentials in law. Andhra Pradesh is a state on the southeastern coast of India – ed. <UN> <UN> 124 ashok kumar m. and rowena robinson In many ways this prayer challenges institutionalized forms of perform- ing prayer. It is exceptional for two important reasons: firstly, it is written in resemblance to the Lord’s Prayer, and secondly the poet himself comes from the Christian milieu in addition to his assertive Dalit Christian iden- tity.2 Like any other poet he has a target audience in his mind, Dalit Christians, to whom he wants to send out a strong ideological message through this prayer. His ideological position is not something that is sur- reptitiously articulated but is openly visible in every stanza. Naraloka Prarthana intends to highlight the grievances and injustice done to Dalit Christians as well as outline an action plan to be implemented in India. It launches a serious critique of the indifferent behavior and political position of passivity opted for by Christians and Dalit Christians against the backdrop of rising Hindu fundamentalism and caste discrimination in contemporary India.3 The poem is a carefully crafted attempt to accommodate power relations within the discourse of prayer in the Indian Christian tradition. By way of reaching out to people with such a proposition Naraloka Prarthana negotiates for social space within the Indian Christian tradition to pro- duce counter-cultural ideas to criticize as well as address issues related to social injustice and unequal power relations between Dalit Christians and dominant caste Hindu groups. In fact, this work remains one of the most profound works of protest literature in Telugu, a language spoken by people of Andhra Pradesh. However, the poet has been systematically sidelined in the Telugu literary circles for a variety of ideological reasons, predominantly due to his profound anti-caste and anti-Hindu religious position. In that sense, he is an unsung hero of Telugu literature. This literary work, with its revolutionary character, gives us many insights with which to think in new ways about the sociology of prayer. Despite its obvious centrality to any understanding of the spiritual worldview of an individual or community, prayer has not often been the 2 In the late 1880s Jyotirao Phule, a renowned social reformer, used the Marathi word ‘Dalit’ to describe a group of people traditionally regarded as the outcastes, oppressed, and broken victims of Hindu society. The word ‘Dalit’ means ‘suppressed’, ‘crushed’, or ‘broken people’. It was the young intellectuals of the Dalit Panther Movement of Maharashtra who began to use the term as a reminder of their oppression. 3 Hindu fundamentalism as a religious and political movement advocates Hindu nationalism, and predicates itself on a hatred of religious minorities, particularly Muslims and Christians, in India. This ideology is championed by the Sangh Parivar, an umbrella term used to describe a range of organisations such as the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Bajrang Dal, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and the like. <UN> <UN>.

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