Voicing the
Unvoiced: (Re)-Reading Narendra Jadhav’s Outcaste:
A Memoir and Omprakash Valmiki’s Joothan
as an Alternative Narrative of Protest through (Re)-Formulation of ‘Own’ Identity
Dipak
Giri
Assistant
Teacher of English
Katamari
High School (H. S.)
Cooch
Behar, West Bengal, India
Abstract: The present
paper presents the comparative discussion of two Dalit autobiographies Narendra
Jadhav’s Outcaste: A Memoir and
Omprakash Valmiki’s Joothan, though
written in two different regions, languages and cultures, yet focus similar
theme of Dalit’s freedom and emancipation from traditional caste-stigmatised
society which believe in sacrificing the interest of marginalized on the altar
of tradition. The paper also delves deeper into dalit life and struggle in
order to bring into surface those factors which have caused in bringing about a
radical change in Dalit’s life forcing them to come in action from their
passivity and inertness.
Key words:
Autobiography, Dalit,
Idenity, Movement, Narrative, Protest, Rebellion, Voice
Similar to postcoloniality that
brought about a space “for the colonized to write their own histories” (Anand
16-17), dalit movement that occurred in the 1960s when a group of dalit writers
took their pen inspired by the message of Mahatma Jyotirao Phule and Dr.
Ambedkar, “Don’t let your pen be restricted to your own question,” (Nimabalkar
32-33) too unleashed a new dimension and interpretation of Indian caste-bound
society through dalit narratives. To quote Arundhati Roy, “And it is as
important for dalits to tell their stories as it has been for colonized people
to write their own histories” (Anand 16-17). Just as the poststructuralist
views a text as a drastic break away from the hegemonic ways of thought through
its deconstruction, likewise dalit authors look upon the grand narratives of
past as an epistemic domination of upper caste due to lack of dalit’s own
histories related with their bonafide tale of struggle against the dominant
repressive authority and so they move away from those grand narratives of past
to their ‘own’ dalit mini narratives to discover in them the means ‘strategic
narrative’ to protest, to challenge and to create a scope for alternative voice
of micro-narrative and understanding the history of their own from dalit
perspectives. True to the postmodernist viewpoint which decentres the grand
narratives by decentring the mini narrative in order to dismantle the idea of a
unitary end of history, dalit narratives aims at historiographical fixations
that deconstruct to decentre the mainstream and reinserts the silenced dalit
voices. A historical third space is created by this subversion of grand
narrative for the mini narrative which creates scope for voices which are
unheard to be heard: “You have to construct, so to speak, a new space and a new
form, to shape a new way of building in which these motifs and values are
reinscribed, having meanwhile lost their external hegemony” (Thomson 304). In
this respect, dalit autobiographies reflect the true stories of dalit
rebellions through their own language which is free from Brahmin hegemony of
‘Vedas’ and mainstream historiography. These autobiographies subvert the
existing narratives through multi-layered meta-narratives and thereby
strengthen the subject of submission, humiliation and exploitation resulting in
rebellion among dalits. To quote Dangle, “In these autobiographies, relating to
different periods of time and set in different levels of society, we see
varying facets of dalit movement, the struggle for survival, the emotional
universe of dalit life; the man-woman relationship; the experiencing of
humiliation and atrocities; at times, abject submission, at other times,
rebellion”. Among dalit autobiographies which seek authentic voice of dalit
community and present the true picture of contemporary India under the veil of
individual story of humiliation and exploitation, Narendra Jadhav’s Outcaste: A Memoir translated into
English from Marathi Amcha Baap aan Amhi and
Omprakash Valmiki’s Joothan are worth
mentioning. The origin of former is Maharastra, one of the important states of
Southern India, whereas the later is written in Uttar Pradesh which comes under
the territory of Northern India. Though they are written in different regions,
languages and cultures, they serve same object and purpose reflecting the
plight and struggle of dalits. These two autobiographies assert the real and
horrendous history of dalit community which challenges the mainstream
autobiographical cannon and prevailing oppressive discourses. The stories of
their personal life as narrated in these autobiographies give voice to the mute
and offer strength to resist the violence and insult of dominant upper caste
with assertion that stories never die rather turn the individual voices as a
history of the community and culminating it.
Narendra Jadhav’s Outcaste: A Memoir is the story of
struggle and success of a dalit family in Maharashtra spanning three
generations of the family concerned .The autobiography can be read “in two
levels- it’s the story of a family on the one hand; it’s also about the social
metamorphosis that has taken place over the past 80 years” (Anand 32). The book falls into four divisions entitled ‘Up
Against Bondage’, ‘Towards Freedom’, ‘The Struggle’ and ‘Making of the Second
Generation’. Apoorva, seventeen year old daughter of Narendra Jadhav and the
youngest member of the fourth generation of Jadhav family tells the Epilogue of
the narrative. The narrative is written from Damu’s viewpoint. Damu Runjaji Jadhav, father of Narendra
Jadhav associates with the first generation of the family and is the central
figure of all the incidents described in the narrative. Narrated from the
perspectives of father, mother, himself and his teenage daughter, the memoir narrates
Damu’s whole struggling journey from a small village in Maharashtra to Mumbai.
This journey proves the most crucial event in Damu’s life giving his and his
family a true identifiable life from their past anonymousness. The journey is a
transition of Damu’s family from poverty-stricken life to a life of dignity and
recognition.
The image of Damu in Narendra
Jadhav’s Outcaste: A Memoir is an
image of a rebel who is in against of present society which looks upon low born
people worse than animals. In his Author’s note, Narendra Jadhav presents us
Damu as, “not a leader…but he refused to define himself by circumstances and
aimed at shaping his own destiny” (Jadhav xi). The portrayal of Damu goes beyond the ordinary portrayal as it
has given force and energy to dalit movement. When the narrative starts, we
find Damu as a member of Mahar caste living at Ozar village of Nashik District
in Maharashtra. Mahar caste comes under the category of untouchable caste. The
people of Mahar caste perform menial works which include dragging the dead
animals, conveying the message of death along with guarding and protecting dead
bodies. In return they get the stale food from the houses of Savarna people.
Inspired by Ambedkarite Movement, Damu stands against the tasks assigned to the
Mahars. He protests the duty of ‘Yeskar Mahar’. ‘Yeskar Mahar’ is the
privileged Mahar whose duty is to beg for ‘Baluta’, a special right bestowed on
a fortunate Mahar to collect the stale food from every Savarna household by
begging. He also refuses to obey the order of a Fauzdar even after being beaten
severely to get the corpse of the Savarna woman out of the well. When his
eldest cousin tries to remind him the conventional duty of Mahars, he came in
rage and replied him haughtily: “What
kind of a tradition is this that treats Mahars worse than cats and dogs?” (Ibid
10)
After being humiliated from Fauzdar
and Mamledar, Damu decides to leave the village that very night. He flees away
with his wife Sonu to Mumbai for new prospect of life: “together, they started walking towards freedom” (Ibid 26).
Struggling there hard Damu gives his family and his next generations a life of
dignity. He has to work at various places to run his family- in the Railways,
the Port Trust and some textile mills. He never compromises with difficulties
and hardships and his continuous labour finally gives him everything he has
desired in life. He responds to the call of Ambedkar and joins the Ambedkarite
Movement for the emancipation of dalits involving himself actively in the Mahad
Satyagrah (1927), the Nasik Temple Entry Movement (1930), the conversion
movement (1956) and other dalit movements. His participations in these dalit
movements give him the sense of dignity as a human being, the sense which he
later teaches to his family members. His philosophies become the life-guiding
principle to his next generations. His visions of life have a far-reaching
influence upon all the members of the family.
Inspired by his father’s vision of life, Narendra Jadhav affirms, “Dignity, after all rests in the mind
and heart . . . and soul. I have to reclaim it not from outside, but from
within. And for that I must cut off the albatross of the caste system from my
soul, once and for all” (Ibid 214). Following the foot prints of his
grandfather and identifying herself among dalits Apoorva, Jadhav’s daughter
forgets her past identity as Mahars. Dalit identity gives her a certain confidence
and pride to turn down her assigned status as a low caste Mahars. She feels: “Now I think, I know who I am” (Ibid
263). Frank confession of Sonu to her husband Damu shows clearly how Damu’s
decision in being identifiable with dalits has added a new happy chapter in
their life: “We proudly proclaimed
ourselves dalits, with our chin up”
(Ibid 178).Thus Damu, in spite of having low birth, sets the minds of his
family members free from the stigma of caste teaching them the value of
humanity.
Inspired by Ambedkar’s message, Damu
takes the weapon of education to fight against the prevalent caste system and
this weapon proves very effective. His sons get fame and recognition becoming
educated. Education has earned for them a distinctive place in the society.
Jayavant is an IAS officer who is striving for upliftment of dalits. Dinesh who
is an administrative officer at the Mumbai Municipal Corporation is working for
the welfare of dalits. Last but not the least, Narendra, the youngest son of
the family is the Vice Chancellor of University of Pune who is trying to keep
contributions on the development of dalit community. Damu even strives to give
education to his wife Sonu, something that was very rare in those days. His
efforts bring colour as his sons attain high positions in their professional
fields.
Omprakash Valmiki’s Joothan, though written in different
region, language and culture, conforms to the same tone and temper of Narendra
Jadhav’s Outcaste: A Memoir. The very
title of Omprakash Valmiki’s Joothan reminds us the custom of
begging ‘Baluta’ from Savarna
household in Mahar community in Nashik as the very word ‘Joothan’ in Hindi
means scraps of food left on a plate, intended either for feeding animals or throwing into the garbage. Both ‘Baluta’ and ‘Joothan’ are excess of
food left by the eaters. Again, education which is the solution of every
problem becomes the main motto in both. Just as Damu works hard to give
education to his children to fight against unjust and irrationality, likewise
Valmiki’s parents never gave up their struggling life in their noble mission of
educating Valmiki. Both these memoirs are inspired by the message of Ambedkar
for the empowerment of dalits in India. Both these writing reveal the reality
of dalits in the present social set up. Both aim to reform the conditions of
dalits. Both inculcate in dalits the spirit of dignity and fill in them the
true passion for freedom and equality from foot to the crown.
Omprakash Valmiki’s Joothan narrates the story of a dalit
boy confined into the four walls of a village school which proved for him the
caste stigmatized walls of torture and inhumanity and his escape from those
walls. Valmiki belonged to Chuhra caste which was known as the lowest caste at
Barla village which was the birth place of Valmiki situated in the district of
Muzzafarnagar, Uttar Pradesh. Those who
belonged to this caste during Valmiki’s time had to do menial works like
sweeping the roads, cleaning the cattle barns, mopping the floor, getting
involved into disposal of dead animals, working in the fields during harvests
and performing other physical labour for upper caste people, including the
Tyagi Brahmins. People of Chuhra community were of low birth and they often
became the victims of inhuman treatment. People of upper caste, including the
Tyagi’s abused them and instead of calling them by name, they called them out,
“Oye Chuhre” or “Abey Chuhre” in insulting way. During his boyhood, Valmiki’s total
family worked hard, yet they could not meet “two decent meals a day” as “they
often didn’t get paid for their labour” (Valmiki 24).
Valmiki’s “Joothan” is penned with
the tears of pain and anguish of a little dalit boy experienced during his
childhood at school. Valmiki suffered ill-treatment both from his fellow
students and teachers when he was attending school. “The Tyagi children would
torment me by calling the son of Chuhra. Sometimes, they’d beat me up for no
reason. It was a strange painful life that had made me an introvert, irritable
and short-tempered. If I got thirsty in school, then I had to stand near the
hand-pump. The boys would beat me in any case, but the teachers also punished
me. All sorts of stratagems were tried so that I would run away from the school
and take up the kind of work for which I was born” (Ibid 13). He was not
allowed to take part in school activities: “I was kept out of extracurricular
activities. On such occasions, I stood on the margins like a spectator” (Ibid
16).
He
did not get permission of entry to experiment in chemistry lab and when he
complained the principal against the chemistry teacher, no action was taken. As
a result he performed poor in chemistry examination. “Not only did I do very
poorly in the lab tests in the board exam, I also got low marks in the oral,
even though I had answered the examiner’s questions quite correctly” (Ibid 65).
He was not allowed to sit with the children of upper class: “I had to sit away
from the others in the class, and that too on the floor. The mat ran out before door” (Ibid 02). Not only had the students
and the teachers but other officials of the school also treated him worst than
animals.
The most important side of the book
is the educational support of Valmiki’s father which needs to be
mentioned. Just as Jadhav in ‘Outcaste:
A Memoir’ is indebted to his father Damu who adopted every means to give him proper
education, likewise Valmiki’s father showed great interest in making Valmiki
well-educated. He was ready to brawl all odds hindering on the way of Valmiki’s
education. At one occasion, when Valmiki was forced to sweep the playground of
the school by the head master without the knowledge of his father, his father
was passing by the school and seeing his son sweeping the playground he asked
him the reason and knowing that Valmiki had been being made sweep for the last
three days he faced the teacher and walked away holding Valmiki’s hand saying
loudly enough for the head master to hear, “You are a teacher…So I am leaving
you. But remember this much, Master … This Chuhre ka will study right here…in
this school. And not just him, but there will be more coming after him” (Ibid
06).
Valmiki’s father was highly ambitious
about educating his son. Valmiki had many debts to his father who took every
possible means to bring him on the road of success through education. It was
only for his father that Valmiki could pursue his higher education after
completing his school education. But
stigma of caste left him nowhere. Education added fuel to his smouldering heart
but the fire smouldering within his heart found no outlet: “I have struggled
for years end to come out of the dark vaults of my life” (Ibid 27).
During his stay at DAV College in
Dehradun, Valmiki came under reading of Ambedkar which opened a new chapter in
his life: “A chapter about which I had known
nothing I felt” (Ibid 72). He
was forced to leave college for poverty but his interest in reading never
stopped. He considered books as his best companions: “Books were my greatest
friends. They kept up my morale” (Ibid 79).When he was on his post in Jabalpur
and came into his own, he did extensive study on Chekov, Dostoevsky, Zola,
Hemmingway, Turgenev and other western writers. He appeared first as a poet and
a columnist, next as playwright and short story writer. His present
autobiography Joothan was published
when he was at his age of maturity as a writer.
Dalit Autobiography is a
distinctive literary form in the sense that it shifts from personal ‘I’ to
universal ‘We’. This shifting from individualism to universalism differentiates
such autobiographies from mainstream autobiographies where the autobiography
only centers round personal experiences of the autobiographer concerned. On the
other hand, dalit Autobiographies deal with double aspects– both the individual
writer and the community he or she belonged to.
Transformation of individualistic ‘I’ into universalistic ‘We’ makes
such autobiographies completely distinctive literary form. Moreover, these
autobiographies also surpass other forms of dalit written written by non-dalit
writers. Dalit writings by other
non-dalit writers hardly reach to the sensibilities of dalit and often overlook
the acuteness of dalit humiliation and act as a distance from self discovery
from dalit viewpoint. On the other hand, these dalit autobiographies represent
and validate the alternative discourse of ‘dalit-graphy’ to face the regime of
non-dalit oppressive discourse. In this regard both Jadhav’s Outcaste: A Memoir and Valmiki’s Joothan, contrary to narratives written
by non-dalit writers which, under the cover of dalit life and struggle as their
main theme, appear merely a story outside the circle, brings out stories of
dalits as well as their social subjugation and naturally pathos turn into
protest against the physical and psychological domination in a confessional
way.
Derridean deconstruction has been an
effective tool to challenge the multifarious injustices done to the
marginalized. Derrida in his essay Structure,
Sign and Play in the Discourse of Human Sciences brings home that western
philosophy is logocentric where in its search for a core meaning (i.e. logos)
presence is privileged by rejecting absence. In the same way, Indian grand
narratives of upper caste written in past is logocentric where upper caste is
at the centre and dalits are on the margin and so need to be decentered through
mini narratives written by dalits. In Jadhav’s Outcaste: A Memoir and Valmiki’s Joothan, the challenging historiographic strategies comprise
questioning, deconstructive readings, reinsertion of the silenced voices and
counter historiographical positioning. Both Damu in Jadhav’s Outcaste: A Memoir and Valmiki in Joothan are not mere individuals, rather
they represent their community. Their autobiographies turn into the voice of
millions. They give voice to those who are unheard; they give action to those
who are inactive and they give identity to those who are identity less. They
successfully explore those questions which remained unexplored for ages. The
age-old concept that the caste stigmatizes one’s life from which one cannot be
completely free is challenged by them. They believe if one cannot completely
free from the stigma of caste, one can certainly weaken the effect of this
stigma if one educates oneself properly as education is the solution of all
kinds of problems. Both autobiographies turn the silence of dalits into
revolution truly conforming to the message , “Educate, Unite and Agitate”, once
given by Ambedkar, the Messiah of dalits
as a summoning message for all dalits to come in action. Transforming dalits
from a mere ‘being’ to a powerful ‘becoming’, both Narendra Jadhav’s ‘Outcaste: A Memoir’ and Omprakash
Valmiki’s ‘Joothan’ prove more a
voice of a class than an autobiography of an individual. Reversing the dominant
upper caste and non-dominant dalit binary oppositions and giving the privileged
status to the oppressed dalit of the two opposites through deconstruction of
grand narratives, both the texts strives to open up a new space of thinking and
knowing.
Works Cited
Anand,
S. Touchable Tales: Publishing and
Reading Dalit Literature. Navayana Publishing, 2003.
Derrida, Jacques. “Structure, Sign and
Play in the Discourse of the Human Sciences.” Modern Criticism and Theory: A Reader, edited by David Lodge and
Nigel Wood, Pearson, 2007.
Jadhav,
Narendra. Outcaste: A Memoir. Viking,
2003.
Nimabalkar,
Waman. Dalit Literature: Nature and Role.
Translated by Vandana Pathak & Dr. P.D. Nimsarkar. Probodhan Prakashan, 2006.
Thomson,
Alex. “Deconstruction.” Literary Theory
and Criticism: An Oxford Guide, edited by Patricia Waugh, Oxford University
Press, 2006.
Valmiki,
Omprakash. Joothan: A Dalit's Life.
Translated by Arun Prabha Mukherjee, Samya, 2003.