LUX MONTIS Vol 7 No.2 July 2019 BAMA’S KARUKKU AS A TESTIMONY OF THE TRIPLE JEOPARDISED ANGELA TERESA KALLOLI A SSI . P ROF . C HRIST COLLEGE M YSORE SYNOPSIS An autobiography is distinguished from a testimony in that the former is merely talking about the events in life while the latter is written with a purpose. Bama has woven the two together making her work into a testimonial autobiography. She was a victim of the triple jeopardy of being a woman belonging to an untouchable caste and a member of a religious minority group. When Bama speaks as the representative of the subaltern community, Karukku becomes the testimony which depicts not only her life but also the life of the Dalit community to which she belongs. Testimonial literature gains prominence when there is an urgency to communicate a problem of poverty, subalternity, imprisonment, struggle for survival, and so on. Bama’s unusual way of writing her autobiography demands the immediate response and attention from the readers. Key Words Casteist Oppression, Untouchables, Disillusionment, Religious Intolerance, Dalits Bama is a celebrated Dalit woman writer in Tamil whose works have been translated into English, French and several other regional languages for that pristinely rural taste every reader experiences as he or she goes through the pages of her books. Born as Faustina Mary Fathima Rani in Puthupatty village, near Madurai, in 1958, she assumed the pen name Bama and published her debut autobiographical work Karukku in 1992. Two more novels Sangati and Vanmam were published in 1994 and 2002, respectively. Her short stories Kusumbukkaran (1996), Oru Thathavum Erumayum (2004) and Kondattam (2006) smack of that original native flavour. Her latest novel Manushi, the sequel to Karukku, is soon to be published. Karukku is the first Dalit autobiography in Tamil by a woman writer who opted to use the rustic language of the Paraya community as her medium to discuss various forms of violent oppression unleashed on 1 LUX MONTIS Vol 7 No.2 July 2019 Dalits – the jeopardy due to social setup, gender bias and religious intolerance. Susairaj, her father, was employed in the Indian army and Sebasthiamma, her mother, along with her grandmother, was a labourer who toiled for the landlords, to bring up their five children. Their family converted to Christianity way back in the eighteenth century. She did her schooling in her village and completed her degree at St. Mary’s College, Tuthukkudi. Following the completion of the B.Ed. degree, Bama started working as a teacher. Her life took a turn when she took the sacred vows to become a nun, as an attempt to break away from caste bonds and pursue her goal to help poor Dalit girls. She expected that she could work with the poor Dalits and create awareness among them but unfortunately she was shocked to find that her desire could not be fulfilled as she was posted in a convent in North India. After seven years, Bama left the nunnery in protest against the discrimination the Church meted out to Dalit Christians. After a period of disappointment and disillusionment, Bama slowly dispensed such thoughts and began to gain strength to defend herself and her community in positive terms, thanks to Rev. Fr. Mark S.J. and Fr. M. Jeyaraj, who encouraged her to write and gave her moral support to build self confidence and self respect. Presently she is working as a school teacher at Uthiramerur, near Kancheepuram. The word ‘Dalit’ has its origin in Sanskrit, meaning ground, suppressed, crushed or broken to pieces. “Dalits are a bloc of castes in the lowest rungs of social hierarchy that stand condemned as untouchables.”(Mathew 3) “Dalits are all those who are oppressed: all hill peoples, neo-Buddhists, labourers, women, destitute farmers and all those who have been exploited politically, economically or in the name of religion”(Holstrom xviii-xix). Dalit literature is the representation of the Dalit reality to enable the development of a new consciousness and identity among Dalits. Bama’s works are among those that are evaluating and exploring a changing Dalit identity “Bama seeks an identity but seeks a change which means an end to that identity” (xix). Karukku, her first autobiographical work explains the sufferings of Dalits. ‘Karukku’ means Palmyra leaves, which with their serrated edges on both sides are like double edged swords. She describes her caste-based trauma in corporeal terms: Not only did I pick up the scattered Palmyra Karukku in the days when I was sent out to gather firewood, scratching and tearing my skin as I played with them. The driving forces that shaped this book are many events that occurred during many stages of my life, cutting me like Karukku and making me bleed… (xiii). She recollects the unjust social structures which plunged her into ignorance, made her feel trapped, feel suffocated and the desperate urge to come out of these made her bleed. 2 LUX MONTIS Vol 7 No.2 July 2019 Bama’s reflections on her childhood, in a caste divided village in Tamil Nadu, makes her recreate her experiences as a Dalit child in Karukku. The innocent child Bama, unaware of untouchability, witnessed an elder from her community bringing some vadai’s in a small packet held around with a string. Though she was amused at first, she learnt from her brother that Naickers are of the upper caste and they, the Parayas are of the lower caste and therefore the Paraya must not touch them lest they be polluted. She comprehends the humiliation of being a Paraya, “Had the name become that obscene? But we too are human beings” (Karukku 18). Likewise the upper caste Naicker women would pour out the drinking water from a height of four feet, while Bama’s grandmother, ‘Paati’ and others received and drank it with cupped hands held to their mouths. The untouchability practised was very terrible for her to bear. It was heart wringing to see her Paati keeping her vessel near a drain and the Naicker woman tipping the left- over into the vessel. But Paati said, “These people are the Maharajas who feed us our rice. Without them how will we survive? Haven’t they been upper caste from generation to generation and haven’t we been lower caste? Can we change this?” (Karukku 14). Poverty and illiteracy have driven the Dalits to the extreme that they almost accept the upper caste domain. Dalit children are victims of negative stereotyping and of the aspersions cast by teachers who have internalized these stereotypes. Bama records her experiences of being victimized thus at school and college in her Karukku which is simultaneously an intense personal experience and that of a community. If any untoward incident happened at school, the blame would undoubtedly fall on the slum children who were unaware of it. Though Harijan children were considered untouchables, they were used for cheap labour like carrying water to the teacher’s house, watering the plants and they were made to do the entire chores that were needed for the school. The much maligned Paraya community is often considered to be dirty and ‘naturally’ prone to criminal activities. When Bama was in her seventh standard, she was wrongfully accused of having stolen a coconut from the tree which stood in the school compound. Hence, when the headmaster said, “You have shown us your true nature as a Paraya” or when the priest said, “… after all you are from the Cheri. You might have done it. You must have done it” (Karukku 17), they were voicing the negative opinion propagated about the Paraya community or Dalits as such. There were other similarly embarrassing situations which reiterated their oppressive state. Bama, after graduation, began to look for jobs and it was then she realized that “even with an education one has to face many difficulties when trying to earn a livelihood. Being a Dalit creates a problem” (Sangati 119). It was sad to note that Bama, being an unmarried Dalit woman was not easily accepted into the fold of society. It was hard to find lodgings as it was to find employment, “People hesitate to rent houses to Dalits” (Karukku 120). The depiction of the machinery of the state and its inefficiency in helping the Dalits in anyway, is an important subtext in Karukku. The legal system, the police, the legislature, providing 3 LUX MONTIS Vol 7 No.2 July 2019 access to and admissions in schools and colleges prove quiet ineffective in their final implementation as the people involved in executing these policies are often themselves full of pre-conceived notions of essentialized caste related behaviour. Bama to her surprise heard her lecturer announce, “Will Harijan students please stand; the government has arranged that scheduled caste students should get special tuition in the evenings” (Karukku 19). Only two students stood up and one among them was Bama. The other students were ‘bitter with contempt’ and she was filled with a sudden rage. Even if the government prefers to call this as ‘positive discrimination’ or ‘affirmative action’, the effect it created is to intensify the prejudices instead of removing them, “It struck me that I would not be rid of this caste business easily, whatever I studied, wherever I went” (Karukku 19). After entering a convent as a nun, she had a very different and trying experience which proved that casteism has infiltrated into religious institutions too. To her dismay she found that the convent did not care for the poor and low caste children. The trauma of discrimination was so severe that they were made to feel a strong sense of alienation leading to self doubt and questioning of their very identity.