Oct17
A STUDY OF DALIT TEXTS- 'Untouchable Spring' AND ' The Prisons We Broke' A STUDY OF DALIT LITERATURE AS AN INSTRUMENTAL KEY IN PROJECTING SOCIO-ECONOMIC CONCERNS
ABSTRACTThis dissertation analyses how effectively literature has been used to project the socio-economic concerns of Dalits. The texts taken for study are "Untouchable Spring"by G.Kalyana Rao and "The Prisons We Broke"by Baby Kamble. While "Untouchable Spring"talks about Dalits in Andhra Pradesh- malas and madigas, "The Prisons We Broke"talks about Dalits in Maharashtra Mahars. The study concentrates on socio-economic issues of untouchability, poverty, deprivation of land, exploitation of labour. It brings to fore the discrimination against Dalits by the upper castes in Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra and shows how the purpose of sensitizing the readers to these issues is achieved by using literature as a tool.INTRODUCTION
The caste system is predominantly an Indian crisis. In no other country it is, as blatantly prevalent as in India. Hinduism claims the division of four castes (Varna) - Brahmanas, kshatriyas, Vaisyas, Sudras. Dalits do not even fit into this hierarchy because they are considered lower than the Sudras. They are called avarnas(devoid of caste) and their touch is impure. Therefore, they are distanced from the upper caste in every sphere of life. This notion is propagated through centuries and has extended to other religions like Christianity and Islam as well.
The term Dalit has its roots in Sanskrit word dal which means oppressed or broken. It has been used in 1930s as a Hindi and Marathi translation of depressed classes. It was used by B.R.Ambedkar in his speeches. The term was popularised by Dalit Panthers and in their 1973 manifesto expanded its referents. It included as Omvedt says neo-Buddhists, the working people, the landless and poor peasants, women and all those who are being exploited politically, economically and in the name of religion (Dutta 2).
For the Dalits, the term dalit is more an identity than a caste. There are other names as well used in different regions to refer to Dalits, including the term harijan (children of god) given by Gandhiji. But they refused to take on those terms. Some have started feeling a sense of pride in calling themselves Dalit. It is no more a shame for them. Dalits are denied their rights and privileges for a long period. They are dominated by the upper castes on political, social as well as on economic terms. They do not own a piece of land; do not have a regular source of income to meet their basic needs. They are denied their education and hence most of them accept theoppression as they are ignorant. They are made to believe that it is the word of god that they are in such a plight. Religious doctrines are used in favour of the oppressors.
Dalits were obviously not allowed to permeate the arena of literature. Their existence was made invisible and they cannot have a voice in any form. Sanskrit which is claimed by the upper castes as gods language was a taboo to the lower castes. However, people did not remain slaves of the dominant. Dalits took to writing as a way of expressing themselves. They took it as a tool to express to their oppressors their state of being marginalized. They expressed their agony, hatred and anger against the betrayal. Dalit literature has agony and pain as its predominant themes. As their main purpose of writing is to express to the society what they undergo, their works are tales of their sufferings. It acts as an outlet to vent out their woes and describe their misery. It lends them an identity of their own. This becomes poignant voice to the voiceless. Dalit writings were always based on experiences, hence auto-biographical and not imaginations and assumptions. They did not stop with just lamenting over their problems. Their retaliation was also captured in their works. They expressed their anger towards their oppressors. Rejection of sub-human status is seen in most of their works. They question the mainstream literature and ideologies that neglect them.
Dalit literature is a newly emerged genre. This does not imply that Dalits started writing only in the recent times. Their problems were represented in literature even in the pre-independence era but they were not labelled as Dalit literature. They spoke about how the society tormented them in various ways.
In Telugu literature, during Bhakti movement in the pre-independence era writers like Vemana, Potuluri Veerabrahmana addressed the issues of the lower castes in the society. They were spoken about even in the twentieth century works. Unnava Laxinarayanas "Malapalli"(1922) and Rangas "Harijana Nayakudu"(1933) portray the miserable lives of Dalits and the unjust practice of untouchability which was widely prevalent in the society. However, they did not try to annihilate caste system. They only tried to make reforms within the prevailing caste system. Consequently the Dalit literary tradition emerged with writers like Bhagya Reddi Varma, Kusuma Dharmana, Bhoi Bheemana. Their works The Bat, The Orphan , Paleru , Cooli Rajuhad great impact on the literary world and the society. The emergence of Dalit literary movement in Telugu is closely linked with the rise of Dalit Movement in Andhra Pradesh. The phenomenon of mass killings of Dalits in Andhra Pradesh began with the Karamchedu massacre (1985). Such atrocities instigated the Dalits to write and voice out against such brutal attacks.
Early Marathi literature spoke about god and spirituality. They did not talk about the lives of the Dalits and their experiences. It was during Ambedkars period that the Dalits realised the need for them to express and retaliate. Ambedkar, who was inspired by Joothirao Phule, had a great influence on the people of Maharashtra. A Mahar himself, having educated as a lawyer, wearing decent clothes, talking the tongue of the British and still working for the rights of the Dalits had a great impact on the lower castes in Maharashtra. His ideals are imbibed by most of them. Therefore, Marathi Dalit literature has definitely the influence of Ambedkar and his ideals. They quote him in their texts even today and see him as an inspirational force. Saran Kumar Limbale calls the period of Ambedkar in the Dalit literature as the period of revival. Bandhumadhav, Sankarrao Karat, Annabav Sade, N.R.Shinde were his contemporaries. Influenced by Ambedkar and Phule, Banurao Ramaji Bagul and others started taking part in the Dalit movement and also in their literary movement. His notable works areJevha Mi Jat Choral(When I had Concealed My Caste 1963), Maran Swasta hot Ahe ( Death is Getting Cheaper 1969). Later works of comparatively new writers like Baby Kamble, Arjun Dangle, Saran Kumar Limbale stood as representations of Dalits in the recent times.
The texts under study Untouchable Spring by G.Kalyana Rao and The Prisons We Broke by Baby Kamble articulate the problems of Dalits effectively. The condition of Mahars (untouchables in Maharashtra) in The Prisons We Broke and Malas and Madigas (untouchables in Andhra Pradesh) in Untouchable Spring are given realistic picture. Untouchable Spring depicts the miserable and neglected lives of Dalits. Rao being a Dalit himself has used the art of story-telling very effectively. Landless untouchables suffer at the hands of the feudal lords and other upper caste people. Their arts and tradition have also become untouchable for the rest of the society. Untouchable Spring as a piece of literature has definitely inspired many minds. The Prisons We Broke is the first autobiography by a Dalit woman in Marathi. It gives a vivid picture of the lifestyle of the Mahar community, the untouchable section of the society. Poverty is life for them. The minute but significant details of their poverty stricken life do not fail to leave an imprinting mark in the hearts of the readers. It talks about how life is difficult for Mahar women. Kamble herself says how difficult it was for her to write and get the book published and that Mahar women welcomed it greatly because it was a realistic picture of their life.
Dalit literature has come a long way since its beginning. Every story of theirs comes from their real-life experiences and they definitely leave a great impression on the readers. Dalits have used this tool of literature, which was denied to them, to reveal themselves to the society. And this has turned out to be a powerful tool in turning the attention of the society towards them.
This research is concerned with the issues of land, labour, poverty, untouchability among the Dalits as portrayed in the texts under study. Chapter 2 will give the readers a detailed analysis of how untouchability is practiced against the malas and madigas in Andhra Pradesh and Mahars in Maharashtra. It looks into the different forms of untouchability and throws light on the cruelty of this practice. Chapter 3 talks about the economic conditions of Dalits as portrayed in the texts. Their struggle for the basic necessities of life is brought to the forefront. Chapter 4 highlights the issues of land and labour. It explains how Dalit labour is exploited and how they are deprived of their lands. Chapter 5 gives an overall view of the topic discussed and specifies the scope and limitations of this study.
UNTOUCHABILITY
Untouchability takes birth from caste system. Caste system is the consequence of Hinduism in India which has also spread to other religions. The idea of purity is insisted through the religious texts. The lower castes are not considered to be pure souls and hence their touch is impure and leads to pollution. Nothing is exempted from their pollution- water, food, clothes, god, occupation, but to note that their labour is not impure. The upper castes drain all their strength and extract work from them which benefits the upper castes. Untouchability is a distinct Indian social institution that legitimizes and enforces practices of discrimination against people born into particular castes, and legitimizes practices that are humiliating, exclusionary and exploitative (Shah 4).
Dalits are physically distanced from the rest of the society by making them live in a secluded area from the main village, ooru. In Untouchable spring, we see that these places are termed palli and the village Yennela Dinni consists of ooru and palli. The place where those who belonged to the four castes lived was ooru. The place where malas livedmalapalli, where the madigas livedmadigapalli. Amazingly, all those parts put together formed Yennela Dinni. (Rao 6). It is evident from the proverb, If there is an ooru wont there be a palle?, mentioned in the novel, that this is a practice that has been followed for years without any hesitation. The Mahars, the untouchables of Maharashtra also live under the same conditions. Hindu philosophy has discarded as dirt and thrown us into their garbage pits, on the outskirts of the village. We lived in the filthiest conditions possible. (Kamble 18). From the text we know that the lower castes live separately from the rest of their village. This practice explicitly reflects the discrimination against the Dalits and that they are not accepted among the rest of the society. The starkest form of locational sanction is the social banishmentexpressed in palpably physicalspatial termsof the Dalit settlement to beyond the boundaries of the village (Shah 73).
Residential segregation leads to other practical difficulties for the Dalits. They have to walk longer distances even to fulfill their basic needs. To fetch a pail of water, they have to wait until everybody fetches or wait for someone to pour water into their pots. Sometimes, one had to keep waiting till noon, as scalding sand burnt the feet, for the kind-hearted one who would pour water (Rao 112.). Not only this, they are also not allowed to pass through the ooru because they would pollute the dwellings of the upper castes. The people of the pallis in Yennela Dinni hesitate to go through the ooru even when floods came and washed away their homes. For the first time in the life of Yennela Dinni, so many malas and madigas were walking amidst the houses of upper castes (Rao 32). Yellanna, though a small boy was beaten black and blue for entering the ooru. In Maharashtra, every house in the upper caste lane had chest-high platform, like a wall, to prohibit the Mahars from directly reaching the door.(Kamble 54) The upper castes would stand on them and throw things while they have any transactions with the lower castes. These platforms also denoted their economic status. The higher the platform, the richer the people were.
From the description of the Mahar community by Kamble the reader comes to know that the way the lower castes were treated was humiliating. They were given a status no better than an animal. They had to give utmost respect to their upper caste masters and consider themselves in a sub-human status. Kamble says they were called human only because they had two legs instead of four. Whenever they passed an upper caste they had to pay him his due respect using most reverential and polite terms. Even if it was a child from the upper caste, the oldest among the lower caste had to address him with respect. When somebody from upper castes walked from the opposite direction, the Mahars had to leave the road, climb down into the shrubbery and walk through the thorny bushes on the roadside.(Kamble 52) They were not allowed to encounter them directly. If they did so, even by mistake, that was a big offence for which they were punished. A Mahar woman who had to buy something from the shop, has to say, Appasab, could you please give this despicable Mahar woman some shikakai...?(Kamble 13). And she was not given her things but thrown from a distance. While watching a play, the malas and madigas are supposed to sit far behind the rest of the village and not be visible to the karanams who occupied the front rows. The karanams did not allow the malas and madigas to stage their play because pedda mala and pedda madiga were given the respect which the karanam used to receive. Even the panchayat is conducted outside the ooru if some verdict is to be given to the malas and madigas.
If, there was anything to be brought like bundles of firewood inside the house of the upper caste they could so by carrying them to the backyard and making sure that no strand of hair or thread from their sari is left. Otherwise, they said Our house will get polluted. (Kamble 55)
There is discrimination even in the way the saris are worn. Only high caste women had the privilege of wearing their saris in such a way that the borders could be seen. A Mahar woman was supposed to hide the borders under the pleats; otherwise it was considered an offence to the high castes.(Kamble 54)
Literature and arts were always denied to the Dalits. They were neither permitted to enter school nor learn to read anything on their own. In fact, Dalit literature is a celebration of the access to the literary arena by the Dalits. Moreover, their contribution was considered untouchable. The urumula dance performed by Naganna and later by Yellanna was natural and powerful. Yellannas songs were about the realities of life. He sang about Subhadra and Yennela Dinni which were not mere imaginations but songs of life. But they were not recognised. An untouchables song. Thats why Yellannas songs never got written as a book. (Rao 98). Potter Pedakoteswaradus works were neglected for the simple reason that he did not write on Siva but on Potuluri Veerabrahman who spoke against caste restrictions. So many crimes, such hypocrisy as if knowledge is their property. (Rao 63). The fear of the upper castes that the lower castes would question the discrimination against them if they get educated prevented them from acquiring literacy. They want them to remain in the darkness of ignorance. All the people in the Maharwada were illiterate except for my aaja (Kamble 45). Kamble points out the ill-effects of illiteracy among the Mahar community. When a girl is pregnant, the ignorant midwives would thrust their hands into the girls vagina to see how far the baby has progressed. They would spit on their palms and clean the babys face with saliva. They looked at Ambedkar in awe since he was the one who wore western clothes and spoke in English among their community. Mahar women would often become possessed and create a lot of chaos. Mahar people listened to all the orders of the possessed woman since she was considered god. They would strive hard to build temples though they themselves dont have enough food. The upper castes had never allowed this lowly caste to acquire knowledge. Generations after generations, our people rotted and perished by following such a superstitious life (Kamble 37 ).
Religion was a major discriminating factor. The caste divisions laid down by Manu Smriti were upheld by the upper castes. Kamble says the Mahar community believed and followed all the rules imposed by the upper castes in the name of religion. We obeyed every diktat of your Hindu religion, we followed all your traditionswhy did you single us out for your contempt? (Kamble 38). Religious texts were taboo to them. It was told that they would pollute the sanctity of the religious texts if they were allowed access to them. The concocted story of Siva cursing Jambavanta and Chennaiah was told to Reuben by his ancestors which justifies their life of slavery. They were also not allowed inside the temples for fear of pollution. Kamble and her friends tried to enter the temple in their village. When the priest came to know about this he threw them out of the temple. Cruel beasts with two iron legs. One leg was religion. The other leg was caste ( Rao163).
The denial of education and the domination of higher castes force them to do only certain occupations which are considered unclean by the society. Such occupations are usually associated with death or human bodily waste which can cause pollution. It is the job of a Mahar to announce the death of an upper caste to his family members. He had to walk to far off places to deliver the message and get cursed by the family members for bringing them the news. They are forced to clean the dead animals by eating them. They are so much used to it that they dont realise that it is derogatory for them to eat the dead animals. This is the reason why Ambedkar insisted on Dalits not eating dead animals. We must not and will not eat dead animals (Kamble 65). The malas and madigas used to swarm around the dead cattle holding their vessels to get their share of meat. Later they decided they would not do it and when Sinenkadu refuses to eat the dead cattle, Chinna Choudary becomes furious and he is beaten up by the people of the ooru. A report says In Andhra Pradesh, animal sacrifice is a polluting task entrusted to Dalits ....In this ghoulish ritual, Dalits are forced to bite the neck of the animal to kill it.(Shah 107) The pollution associated with leather is so pervasive that in states such as Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, even the beating of drums at weddings, funerals and religious festivals is considered polluting and imposed as a social obligation on Dalits (Shah 107)
As described above, untouchability is a cruel practice that has many forms. The Dalits are discriminated in the arena of literature, arts, education, and employment. The institution of religion is used to justify these discriminations and to keep the Dalits away from the rest of the society.POVERTYDalits are those people who are considered low by caste. They suffer the consequences of caste discrimination in the society. Ironically, they are also economically backward. Most of the people who belong to higher castes are rich and those who belong to lower castes are poor. This caste class correlation has become inevitable. The Dalits undergo caste discrimination as well as class discrimination. ...it is still true that the privileged (and high economic status) sections of society tend to be overwhelmingly upper-caste while the disadvantaged (and low economic status) sections are dominated by the so called lower castes. (Shah 20)
Untouchable Spring speaking about Malas and Madigas and The Prisons We Broke speaking about Mahars depicts their economic conditions. Kambles text gives a very clear picture of the Mahar community. They did not have proper houses to live. The walls were nothing but stones arranged vertically with some mud coating. They were tiny huts really. (Kamble 7). The little space they had, had to serve the purpose of drawing room, bedroom, dining hall, etc. One corner of the hut was used as kitchen. The clay pots and broken coconut shells were their only exotic culinary at home. There would also be a clay chulha, and a tawa with a big hole at the centre. The malas and madigas also survived in similar conditions. While the elder karanam in the ooru could give fifty acres of wet land to his son when he died, Boodevis father who lives in the palli could bequeath only his nose when he died. For generations after generations they did not have any property of their own. They were always made dependent on the karanams for economic needs.
The malas and madigas were the first to be hit when there was a flood in the village. They did not have properly built houses like the others and moreover they were living in the lower regions. And it was difficult for them to recover from the wrath of the flood because both malapalli and madigapalli were washed away completely and they had to start their lives from scratch. ...it had left a pole standing here and a pole standing there, as if to say that people lived here till yesterday. (Rao 33). They did not have any source of food or income that Narigadu steals rice from the Sahukars shop for which he had to lay down his life.
When the drought hit Yennela Dinni, it was again the malas and madigas who were hit first. One by one people of the two communities started dying. They ate weeds, drank muddy water in order to survive but nothing helped them. They searched for the dead cattle to survive on. They had to fight with the vultures and eagles to save the meat. The four-caste system ate living people. The caste outside it only the dead creatures....Thats why this hunger. Thats why this untouchability (Rao132).Sivaiah and Sasirekha fled Yennela Dinni for fear of death but even on their way all they could see was hunger and death. They were so desperate for food that Sivaiah and Jinkodu stole, actually grabbed the food from the woman of the house, which was half -eaten by her dead husband.
Food was their primary concern. The malas and madigas would vie for the afternoon meal which they received as their wage. Having one full meal a day is a great achievement for them. Some Mahar children went out to beg food from other people. They would collect all the stale food from every household and return home happily. The food collected would be cooked to make a mixture which served as their meal. In times of extreme hunger, they would even go the extent of eating cactus shrubs which were lovely pink pods, big and juicy. But, their seeds were so hard that they stay in their intestines and cause pain like hell. The pangs of hunger were so terrible that they eat these pods well knowing what the result would be. We arent eating them for fun! We have to stay alive. (Kamble 82). Still worse is their hunt for dead animals. They usually get to eat the dead animals of the village since it is considered polluted. At times, when there were no dead animals they would deliberately kill some buffalo with poison. Then they would be called to dispose those animals which they would happily do. The only people to be most happy during an animal epidemic would be the Mahars. There would be number of animals falling dead and they were given the privilege to eat everything. Some portions were infected with puss, they would still eat the animal. This was the extent to which poverty and hunger drives them. The buffalo fair was one time of the year when they could eat as much food as they want. They would wait for the fair every year just to eat. For the malas and madigas, cream of milk and balls of butter were rich food that they could not imagine to have in their lifetime. Dried fish or yendorikalu dried pieces of meat was all that the houses of malas and madigas would have. She would search the entire earth for a morsel of food for the moment. All, only a search. (Rao 65). Their occupations would yield them only little. Martins father stitches slippers and his mother would go around the fields for the invisible grains. They would toil hard at the kapus house and come dragging their feet. (Rao153). Kalyana Rao sarcastically remarks on their poverty, Where one has no property, affection is indeed the property, love alone is life. (Rao121). Similarly Kamble remarks, They were poor of course, but they were very affectionate and simple,.... (Kamble 1).
The clothes worn by the Mahars were only rags. They stitched different pieces of cloth that they get to cover their body. When girls reached puberty blouse pieces offered to goddess would be used as napkins. A life without food, living space and clothesit was a story of permanent deprivation and suffering. (Kamble79) . Thus poverty has entrapped them, preventing them from moving towards better standards in life.LAND AND LABOURLand and labour are economic concerns for Dalits. The upper caste feudal lords are in complete authority of all the lands and extract their labour. Since Dalits are landless, they do not have a permanent source of income to rely on and eventually become totally dependent on the landlords who exploit their labour in all possible means. Sometimes they tolerate this because, even the meagre amount which they get paid becomes essential for them and sometimes they are made to believe that it is their duty and privilege to slog for the upper castes. They do not enjoy the fruit of their toil.
During the construction of a canal in Maharashtra, the workers mainly Mahars got paid at the rate of one cowry shell per basket of soil removed. After a day longs labour, the labourer could make only a maximum of ten paisa per day and was expected to manage the family.
In the patils chawadi, though the Mahar would not be allowed inside, he had to do any work that the patil assigns to him. It can be spread across various localities. He has to run to all the different places to complete the work. And in return what he gets is some bhakris (food) which he must collect from different houses which would be thrown into the blanket that he carried with him.
Kamble points out that it is the Mahar who spends much of the labour for a marriage in the upper caste family. The Mahar would be summoned eight days before the marriage to do all the menial jobs in the family. He has to do everything from collecting firewood for cooking and sweeping the house. The girl who is getting married cannot go out to defecate after applying the ritualistic haldi. She would defecate in the garbage pit and it is the duty of the Mahar to clean it. After having worked so much, what the Mahars get is only leftover food which they can eat only if they sweep the pandal clean. And when the mamledar sahib comes the Mahar has to take care of his horse. The yard has to be cleaned, fresh grass has to be brought, horses coat has to be brushed. The horse gets sufficient food but not the Mahars.
Though Mahars were exploited, they were made to think that it is their duty to do these jobs. They believed that it is the greatest privilege of a Mahar to have the yeskar stick, which he brings when he begs for leftover food from every household. And everybody in the Mahar community looks up to the Mahar who has got the privilege to acquire the yeskar stick.
When somebody dies in an upper caste family, the message has to be conveyed to all their relatives who live in far off places. It would be physically tiring for any human being to go to different far off places on foot. But the Mahar is expected to do that job for the upper castes every time there is a death in their family. It was on the Mahars labour that these idle parasites lived. The condition of the Mahars was no better than that of bullocks, those beasts of burden, who slogged all their life for a handful of dry grass. (Kamble 80). Each generation left their children to serve their oppressors and quietly got wiped off from the face of the earth. (Kamble 104)
Malas and madigas did not own land for themselves. For generations they had been landless. Karanams were the only community who owned lands. If at all, Reddys had some land they were just under- tenants. But, malas and madigas did not have even a cent of land. Since there was no permanent source of income, they had to be dependent on the karanams in the village. Yerrenkadus father was a watchman at the elder karanams mango grove. His duty did not stop with guarding the mango grove. He had to practically live there all the time and do all the work. It was bonded labour. It was told that he had a piece of land but nobody knew about it. In fact, a mala or a madiga could not live in Yennela Dinni without doing bonded labour. (Rao,26). Malas and madigas would slog in the fields of karanams. They ploughed the fields. Made beds. Watered them. Plucked weeds....Separated the chaff from the grain. They did everything.(Rao 42). They used to work for months on karanams fields to get his profit. But they neither got a part of the harvest nor proper wages for their labour. For each days work, what they received was only one meal. They would slog all day just for the afternoon meal. Subbireddy, who worked under the karanam asked for the accounts since he was about to leave the village. The karanam refused to settle the accounts and did not stop with that. He killed him for daring to ask him for accounts. There were lands which were supposed to be given in exchange for the work. Malas and madigas did not even know that they had rights over these lands. Everything was encroached upon by the karanam. After extracting their labour in his fields, he grabbed their lands too. The baskets used to measure for the indentured malas and madigas...used to be half the size of the normal ones. (Rao 154).
When Subbireddy came to the karanam, he only agreed to work under him for payment. But, later he was reduced to a servant. The karanam gradually took over Subbireddys cattle, did not pay his wages and made him his bonded labour. He had an eye on his wife Rangayi and that is the reason for the karanam to allow Subbireddy to work under him. Rangayi had to wait for the karanam every night under the banyan tree. It was not as if Subbireddy did not know this. He could not do anything since his livelihood depended on the karanam.
The relation between a landlord and a labourer always worked in favour of the landlord. They perpetuated this master-slave relationship in order to retain authority over the slaves and gain all the economic benefits through this relationship.
This is how the upper castes held the Dalits under their clutches. They made them entirely dependent on them to lead their lives. But the irony is that the upper castes are the real parasites who depend so much on the labour of the lower castes and cannot do without them.CONCLUSIONIt is heartening to see that literature which did not accept Dalits into the mainstream is now being effectively used by Dalits to express themselves. Both Rao and Kamble have come a long way before writing these texts. Raos ancestors lived outside the village and faced alienation by the rest of the society. Their arts and literature were not given due recognition. They were considered untouchable. He says Untouchable Spring is an exploration of this.
Similarly, Kamble has faced social oppression throughout her life as a Mahar. Her community lived on the periphery of the society serving the upper caste lords. She has written the ordeals underwent by her community for the past fifty years. Though Maharashtra has seen writers protesting against the caste system even from the 19th century, it was not a cake walk for Kamble to put down her experiences into words. She used to hide her writings so that her husband would not see them. It took her twenty years to publish her writings.
These writers have used literature effectively to portray the problems of Dalits through these texts. They give a peek into the lives of Dalits in Andhra Pradesh malas and madigas, Dalits in Maharashtra Mahars. Untouchability, poverty, exploitation of labour, deprivation of land are the main issues highlighted by these texts. The purpose of sensitizing the readers to these issues is achieved through these texts.
The issues raised by these texts are relevant even today in several parts of the country. As we see in the texts that physical segregation is one of the common forms of untouchability, Uthapuram village in Tamilnadu had a wall built in the middle of the village. This was to separate the lower castes from the rest of the society since they were considered impure. Similar to the references in the texts about Dalits not being allowed to enter the temple, lower caste people in Vedaranyam, Tamilnadu were not allowed to enter the temple where upper castes worshipped. It was only after peoples long struggle that they were allowed inside the temple. Discriminations like the above mentioned happen all over the country.
Nevertheless, there are limitations for this study. Political concerns do not gain as much significance as the socio-economic concerns dealt in the texts. Kamble being a Dalit woman talks about the oppression faced by the Dalit women on the basis of caste and gender. This study does not carry a gender perspective to the problems of Dalits but only concentrates on the socio economic issues which are common to Dalit men and women as human beings. This study opens the scope for further research in Dalit issues namely political concerns in the issues of Dalits and comparison of Dalits with the Afro-Americans.
WORKS CITEDDutta, K.B. Dynamics of Dalits: Old Issues and New Challenges. New Delhi: Akansha Publishing House, 2005. Print.Kamble, Baby. The Prisons We Broke. Trans. Maya Pandit. New Delhi: Orient Blackswan, 2009. Print.Rao, Kalyana.G. Untouchable Spring. Trans. Alladi Uma and M.Sridhar. NewDelhi: Orient Blackswan, 2010. Print.Shah, Ghanshyam, et al. Untouchability in Rural India. New Delhi: SAGE Publications, 2009.
