DALIT LITERATURES IN INDIA This book breaks new ground in the study of Dalit literature, including in its corpus a range of genres such as novels, autobiographies, pamphlets, poetry, short stories and graphic novels. With contributions from major scholars in the field, alongside budding ones, the book critically examines Dalit literary production and theory. It also initiates a dialogue between Dalit writing and Western literary theory. This second edition includes a new Introduction which takes stock of developments since 2015. It discusses how Dalit writing has come to play a major role in asserting marginal identities in contemporary Indian politics while moving towards establishing a more radical voice of dissent and protest. Lucid, accessible yet rigorous in its analysis, this book will be indispensable for scholars and researchers of Dalit studies, social exclusion studies, Indian writing, literature and literary theory, politics, sociology, social anthropology and cultural studies. Joshil K. Abraham is Assistant Professor at G. B. Pant Govt. Engineering College, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha (GGSIP) University, New Delhi, India. Judith Misrahi-Barak is Associate Professor at Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier 3, France. She teaches in the English Department. ‘With this eclectic collection of critical essays, written from a range of positions and raising a variety of issues, it is clear that Dalit litera- ture has come of age.’ —Susie Tharu, Department of Cultural Studies, The English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad ‘The collection includes 21 well-written scholarly essays and a very useful selective bibliography of primary and secondary sources (books, journal articles, book chapters, and dissertations) on Dalit literature. In their excellent introduction Abraham and Misrahi- Barak deal with the history and progress of Dalit literature in India. The book is an excellent addition to world literature, and this reviewer looks forward to studies that examine the contributions of Dalits from all religions of India.’ —R. N. Sharma, CHOICE ‘This volume of essays is commendable because each essay widens out the field of inquiry in a centrifugal pattern. Each widening circle of analysis allows the reader to grasp the intersections of thought and pursue his/her own understanding of the larger questions.’ —Nilak Datta, IACLALS Journal, vol. 2 ‘One final, outstanding quality of this remarkable volume that war- rants special attention is its potential as a research tool. Given the very recent nature of the discipline, the precise and thorough bibli- ographies that conclude each chapter provide precious references for researchers interested in these questions.’ —Lissa Lincoln, The American University of Paris, Postcolonial Studies Association DALIT LITERATURES IN INDIA SECOND EDITION With a new introduction Edited by Joshil K. Abraham and Judith Misrahi-Barak Second edition published 2018 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2018 selection and editorial matter, Joshil K. Abraham and Judith Misrahi-Barak; individual chapters, the contributors The right of Joshil K. Abraham and Judith Misrahi-Barak to be identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. First edition published by Routledge 2016 British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record for this book has been requested ISBN: 978-1-138-59327-5 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-138-59328-2 (pbk) ISBN: 978-0-429-48956-3 (ebk) Typeset in Goudy by Apex CoVantage, LLC CONTENTS List of figures viii Acknowledgements ix List of contributors x Introduction to the second edition: taking stock, updating, moving forward 1 JOSHIL K. ABRAHAM AND JUDITH MISRAHI-BARAK Introduction to the first edition: Dalit literatures in India: in, out and beyond 12 JOSHIL K. ABRAHAM AND JUDITH MISRAHI-BARAK 1 Caste differently 25 G. N. DEVY 2 Caste and democracy: three paradoxes 36 M.S.S. PANDIAN 3 The politics of Dalit literature 49 RAVI SHANKAR KUMAR 4 ‘No name is yours until you speak it’: notes towards a contrapuntal reading of Dalit literatures and postcolonial theory 68 LAETITIA ZECCHINI 5 Language and translation in Dalit literature 86 NALINI PAI v CONTENTS 6 Negotiations with faith: conversion, identity and historical continuity 103 JASBIR JAIN 7 Resisting together separately: representations of the Dalit–Muslim question in literature 118 NIDA SAJID 8 Creating their own gods: literature from the margins of Bengal 138 SIPRA MUKHERJEE 9 Caste and the literary imagination in the context of Odia literature: a reading of Akhila Nayak’s Bheda 153 RAJ KUMAR 10 Questions of caste, commitment and freedom in Gujarat, India: towards a reading of Praveen Gadhvi’s The City of Dust and Lust 171 SANTOSH DASH 11 Dalit intellectual poets of Punjab: 1690–1925 189 RAJ KUMAR HANS 12 Life, history and politics: Kallen Pokkudan’s two autobiographies and the Dalit print imaginations in Keralam 204 RANJITH THANKAPPAN 13 Dalits writing, Dalits speaking: on the encounters between Dalit autobiographies and oral histories 216 ALEXANDRA DE HEERING 14 A Life Less Ordinary: the female subaltern and Dalit literature in contemporary India 234 MARTINE VAN WOERKENS vi CONTENTS 15 Witnessing and experiencing Dalitness: in defence of Dalit women’s Testimonios 248 SARA SINDHU THOMAS 16 Literatures of suffering and resistance: Dalit women’s Testimonios and Black women slave narratives – a comparative study 260 ARPITA CHATTARAJ MUKHOPADHYAY 17 Polluting the page: Dalit women’s bodies in autobiographical literature 273 CAROLYN HIBBS 18 Intimacy across caste and class boundaries in Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things 287 MARYAM MIRZA 19 Caste as the baggage of the past: global modernity and the cosmopolitan Dalit identity 301 K. SATYANARAYANA 20 Tense – past continuous: some critical reflections on the art of Savi Sawarkar 319 SANTHOSH SADANANDAN 21 The Indian graphic novel and Dalit trauma: A Gardener in the Wasteland 330 PRAMOD K. NAYAR Select bibliography 349 vii FIGURES 21.1 A Gardener in the Wasteland: Jotiba Phule’s Fight for Liberty, p. 11 335 21.2 A Gardener in the Wasteland: Jotiba Phule’s Fight for Liberty, p. 12 337 21.3 A Gardener in the Wasteland: Jotiba Phule’s Fight for Liberty, pp. 20–1 339 21.4 A Gardener in the Wasteland: Jotiba Phule’s Fight for Liberty, pp. 24–5 340 21.5 A Gardener in the Wasteland: Jotiba Phule’s Fight for Liberty, p. 88 345 21.6 A Gardener in the Wasteland: Jotiba Phule’s Fight for Liberty, p. 106 346 viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS No book is written without the help of many people, and this volume is no exception. It has been a long process and without the support of friends and colleagues, it may well never have reached its conclusion. First of all, we want to remember the presence of M.S.S. Pandian in the initial discussions of the volume. It is very painful that he should not be among us when the book is being released. However, his absence is only apparent and his chap- ter in the volume will confirm his presence in the book and wherever it is read. We would also like to thank Prof. Shyamala Narayan who was instru- mental in making the meeting of the two editors possible in 2011. Harsh Kapoor (South Asia Citizens Web) also deserves a special place in our recording of gratitude. The fact that he has designed the cover is only the visible part of the role he played and the support he provided, even if not always knowingly. Also, the research centre EMMA at the Université Paul- Valéry Montpellier 3, under the gentle leadership of its Director Christine Reynier, has offered a favourable academic environment. The members of the advisory board must be thanked as well for having participated in the original selection of articles and for having made useful suggestions during the revising process. Emilienne Baneth-Nouailhetas, Anne Castaing, Florence D’Souza, Nandana Dutta, Geetha Ganapathy- Dore, Nicolas Jaoul, Claire Joubert, Indira Karamcheti, Matt Kimmich, Rita Khotari, Claudine Le Blanc, Elizabeth Naudou, Catherine Pesso- Miquel, Peter Pierce, Jacques Pouchepadass, E. V. Ramakrishnan, Anu- pama Rao, Catherine Servan-Schreiber, H. S. Shivaprakash, Charlotte Sturgess and Alexis Tadié. Finally the editors wish to thank all the Routledge team of commission- ing editors, copy editors and managing editors for their trust, support and the thorough job they have done, as well as Elizabeth Clark and Vicki Briault-Manus for their editorial contribution helping to homogenize the linguistic presentation of the initial volume. ix CONTRIBUTORS Joshil K. Abraham is Assistant Professor at G. B. Pant Government Engineering College, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha (GGSIP) University, New Delhi, India. He completed his master’s in English Literature from Pondicherry Central University, India, and has taught in colleges in Kerala and Delhi. He has worked as a Research Assis- tant at the Department of Cinema Studies, School of Arts and Aes- thetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi. He has presented papers in international conferences in the United Kingdom and in France and is part of the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Research Network Series ‘Writing, Analysing, Translating Dalit Lit- erature’.