An Exploration of Suppression, Confrontation and
Emancipation of Dalits in Bama Faustina’s ‘Karukku’
|
|
Dr.
Kamalakar Baburao Gaikwad
Head
and Assistant Professor in English
Mahatma
Gandhi Vidyamandir’s
Arts,
Science & Commerce College
Nashik,
Maharashtra, India
Abstract:
‘Subaltern literature’ is meant for its upheaval and resistance
of lower caste people against the high class community. Dalit
literature reveals several facets such as distress, anguish, insurgence,
confrontation and communal advancement of Dalits. It basically reflects the
life of subjugated, crushed and outcast. It is the voice of all the unvoiced
and wrecked men of our society. Bama Faustina has imprinted her own position in Tamil Dalit literature through her
investigational and path breaking novel ‘Karukku’ where she has projected the
caste and gender discrimination, patriarchy, exploitation and victimization of
Dalit women. Here Dalit woman is projected as most oppressive
and mute sufferer and she is rightly hailed as ‘Dalit among dalits’ due to her
subjugation attributes. She becomes the object of ridicule, satire and
discrimination. This discrimination appears before her as a dalit community,
poor in status and simply a helpless woman. Novel portrays the major
transformation from a Dalit girl to Dalit woman who offered her dedication for
the upliftment of Dalit community. It projects the aspects such as crimes,
sufferings and victimization. The main objective of the paper is to explore the suppression,
exploitation, marginalization, poverty, slavery, confrontation and emancipation
of Tamil Dalit Christian women and their continuous struggle to liberate from
the orthodoxical notions of the patriarchal society. The research paper also
creates the awareness about the lifestyle and education of Dalits.
Keywords: Dalit Christian women, Exploitation, Discrimination, Suppression,
Confrontation, Emancipation, Marginalization
About the Author:
Bama Faustina Soosairaj is a well known Dalit
feminist campaigner, writer and educator. She was born on 4th March
1958 in a Roman Catholic (RC) family. Basically she belongs to Paraiyar society
from Puthupatti, Chennai, India. Her original name is Faustina Mary Fatima.
Afterwards she christened her as ‘Bama’. Her
father, Susairaj was an officer in Indian Army and her mother’s name was
Sebasthiamma. Raj Gauthaman, a famous Dalit writer, is Bama’s sister. Bama’s
were originally Hindus but later, they got converted into Christianity. They
were Dalits who worked hard as farm labourers. Bama Faustino took her
education in a small community. Later she graduated from St. Mary's College
Tuticorin. After her graduation, she acknowledged a job as a teacher. She
decided to enter the church at the age of 26 and accepted vows to become a nun.
She remained a nun in the Church for seven years. She preferred to acquire holy
orders in order to avoid the caste-based discrimination. She
read the holy scriptures of the Bible and tried to imbibe the faith and principles
of Christianity among Dalits.
Bama demonstrates the
ground-breaking features of Christianity, equal principles, social justice, and
consideration for all. In ‘Karukku’, Bama delineates her solitary self
exploration through principles of Christianity. Later, she was given the opportunity to help Dalit
youngsters. She was confronted with the same caste discrimination in
Christianity, so she left her position.
Finally, she finished her B.Ed. and enrolled in college as an
instructor. She shares her experience,
‘I appreciated being
myself freedom and select out for all humans. However, my
lifestyles…I have experienced insults and suspicions for deciding on to be
single’.
Later she served as a
nun for seven years. As far as her literary career is concerned, she penned the
novels such as ‘Karukku’ (1992), an autobiographical novel, ‘Sangati’
(1994), ‘Vanmam’ (2002), ‘Manushi’ (2013) second part of
‘Karukku’ and short stories like ‘Kusumbukkaran’ (1996), ‘Oru
Tattavum Erumaiyum’ (2003) and ‘Kandattam’ (2009)
·
Introduction:
Dalit literature is the
literature of practicality and experienced-based. Experience and speculation
goes hand in hand. Authenticity and liveliness are the prominent features of
Dalit Literature. Dalit writers used the language of the outcastes and
under-privileged in Indian society. Dalit literature has the base of ‘Varna’.
It is about the wretchedness, distress and humiliation of losers who are not
considered as human beings with flesh and blood. The main gradients of Dalit
literature are: embarrassment, resentment and unconquerable anticipation. Dalit
women are exploited and subjugated in their domestic life. Also they become the
object of ridicule and exploitation for the society. During their exploitation,
caste and religion plays a crucial role of double edged sword. According to
Bama, only education can eradicate the label of untouchability and bring the
status to Dalits. If they remain illiterate, caste will become prevalent from
their birth to death. The word ‘Dalit’ is derived from Sanskrit ‘dala’ means
‘rooted in the soil’. In this way, the
word dalit stands for: conked out, demoralized, invulnerable, subjugated and
oppressed. The researcher would like to focus on the key aspects such as
suppression, confrontation and emancipation of Tamil dalit women with reference
to Bama’s ‘Karukku’. These terms will definitely help the readers to
comprehend Faustina Bama’s perspectives about Dalit Christian women in
particular.
Ø Discrimination:
‘Discrimination’ means treating a number of people in a different
way from others. Discrimination can be done on
the basis of race, color, faith, gender, nationwide origin, age,
disability, conjugal status, or political association.
Ø Suppression:
It means to put down someone by power. Its
purpose is to satisfy the obstruction caused by the commencement of irrelevant,
gratuitous, or unfortunate information.
Ø Confrontation:
A confrontation is an irritated divergence, disagreement,
struggle, or encounter between two groups of people.
Ø Emancipation:
The term emancipation means
to set free to someone
from the command of other. Emancipation of woman is an association which helps
to ensure liberty in order to get self-fulfillment and self-development for
women.
·
Literature Review:
1.
G.D.Suresh, ‘Dalit Autobiography: Portrayal of Caste Discrimination in
Bama’s ‘Karukku’, IJCRT, Volume 8, Issue 2, February 2020, ISSN: 2320-2882
This paper delineates
the cast and gender discrimination of Dalit Christian women in church and
outside church. It also projects the attitude and behaviour of society towards
these untouchables.
2.
Shukla, Kaushik. ‘Impact of
Poverty on Gender and Caste in Bama’s ‘Karukku’, Journal of Advances and
Scholarly researches in Allied education, 2018
Here
the researcher has attempted to show the impact and influence of poverty on
gender and caste in Bama’s both novels named ‘Karukku’ and ‘Sangati’.
3.
Thakur, Pallavi. ‘Choosing the Margin as Space for Resistance in Bama’s
Karukku and Sangati’, IJCRT, 2018
The paper portrays the Dalit women as the marginalized entity and it
also focus on the space provided to them in this patriarchal society.
4.
Mol, Arya. ‘Demystification of
Theological Elements in Bama’s Karukku’, IJISSH, Vol-2, Issue-3, March 2017
The ultimate purpose of the research is to highlight the wretched
condition of Dalit women through religious point of view. The researcher uses
religion as the weapon to bring reform in the society.
5.
Kumar, Vijay. Suppression and Domination in Bama Faustina‟s Karukku’,
SSRG, Vol-4, Issue-6, Dec 2017
Researcher has discussed three fold subjugation and oppression through
Bama faustina’s karukku. For this, he has explained origin and history of
Dalits and their status in society considering above said parameters.
·
Suppression, Confrontation and Emancipation
of Dalit women:
Bama Faustina’s ‘Karukku’ (1992), an autobiographical novel, is
first written in Tamil and later translated into English with the same name by
Lakshmi Holmstrom in 2000. It is honored with ‘Crossword
Book Award’ in the year 2000. The word ‘karukku’ means the self
reflection of the inner self. This path breaking work mainly focuses on the
joys and sorrows experienced by Dalit Christian women in the state of
Tamilnadu. Bama faced injustice in her life so she dared to write this novel.
The novel explores the various facets of Dalit community, especially of the ‘Paraiyars’
in the state of Tamilnadu. Bama highlights the several aspects such as
suppression, resistance, caste and gender discrimination and emancipation of
Dalits on the basis of caste and religion. She is the mute sufferer of
oppressive force of Dalit community. She reveals her identity and narrates how
religion and caste shaped her life during her journey from childhood to
adulthood.
Being
a Dalit teacher, she portrays caste discrimination practiced in both Hindu and
Christian community. Here she takes the privilege to share the experiences of
Dalits as her own people. She considers this as her duty and responsibility to
become the voice of voiceless. She dominantly uses her writing ability as an
effective and powerful tool to fight against the dehumanizing caste practice.
She exhibits her anger about the unfulfilled hopes of Dalits who are still in
the surrounding of discrimination and exploitation. She becomes the beacon of
voiceless, enslaved and marginalized dalit people.
Faustina Bama expresses her
intense desire that these Dalits should be liberated from all pain, sufferings
and struggles. Her
narrative art creates a prominent position in the history of contemporary
Indian writing in English. Her creative energy boosts her imaginative
expression to the unsympathetic authenticity of scarcity and monetary,
political, and communal exploitations of today’s society. The
main focus of the story lies in its subaltern appearance which gives influence
to practices experienced by herself and those fatalities of communal and
rhetorical ostracization. The novel deals with the internal investigation for
Bama's self-awareness.
‘Karukku’ is the pathetic story of a
Christian dalit woman who recognizes that her Christian identity is greatly
influenced by her Dalit identity. Here her internal and external conflict
appears in the form of struggling inside and outside of the church.
Bama courageously
reveals the discrimination, hypocrisies and double standard nature of Catholic
Church. She solely wishes to overcome discriminative traditions. This
discrimination acts as a wound inflicted on Bama’s and millions of Dalits
conscience. She uses the reference of ‘karukku’, the serrated edges on
both sides of Palmyra leaves as double edged sword. Like ‘Karukku’ she wants to eradicate caste
and gender discrimination from both religions such as Hindu and Christian. Bama
here juxtaposes the caste oppression of dalit Christians by Upper Class Society
as well as Catholic Church.
Faustina Bama
records the experimental reality of Dalits through her Tamil Dalit
autobiography ‘Karukku’. She wants to be a spokesperson of voiceless Dalits and
to reflect their agonies, pains and sufferings to the audience. She highlights
the manipulative politics and corruption of upper class politicians. In order
to expose the cruelties of these so called politicians, Bama takes a stand to
empower the Dalit women by using an effective tool of education. She boldly
highlights several issues of Dalit women such as domestic violence, abuse,
suppression, confrontation, exploitation, sexual harassment, emancipation etc.
Bama’s ‘Karukku’ is a fragmented autobiography in which the events are not
arranged in a logical flow. The entire narrative is in first person. It helps
to understand the meaning of being a Christian Dalit woman. ‘Karukku’ deals
with the life of a Dalit woman and their poverty, struggle, oppression,
exploitation, injustice, misery, identity crisis, quest for self etc.
Bama battles against
the discrimination and humiliation of Dalits. In her writing, she has
delineated the communally marginalized Dalits, sexually subjugated and cursed
women, and thriftily disadvantaged. Bama here attempts to create female
empowerment and to raise their status in male dominated society. She fights
against the tyranny faced by Dalit downtrodden muted women and how their
emancipation built in them. Bama being a feminist writer portrays the image of
women against the environment of restraints. Here Bama highlights a wide range
of harsh realities of Dalits such as favoritism against Dalit women, violence
on poor Paraiyars, police atrocities, sexual aggravation, struggle for their self-respect
etc. She documents the experiences of struggle and discloses the social
inequality of Dalit women.
The discrimination is
done on the basis of caste hierarchy, entry of Dalits in Roman Catholic
churches. It creates an issue of identity crisis and subjugation for Christian
Dalits. They are discriminated by the
state, by the church and by the non-Dalit Christians. For a Dalit Christian,
the Dalit identity overshadows the Christian identity. They are treated as marginalized and
underprivileged. Even they live separately and their cemeteries are separate
which shows their inferior status. These untouchables (Shudras) carry out all
domestic works of upper caste people like Naicker. These Naicker’s expect
highest position and respect from low caste people. They live on the stale food
and eatables offered by these so called upper class people. Even Bama also
experienced the same experience in her schooling days. The treatment given to
her at Naicker’s house was ridiculous and shameful. She could not bear the ill
treatment given to her grandma. She hides their superior status and says,
‘There people were Maharajas who feed us our rice
without them how will we survive?’ (Karukku: 17)
At school, Bama is scolded by her teacher and realized her status as ‘paraya’
by him. He did not allow her to enter into the class due to the accusation of
plucking coconut from the tree which was actually not plucked by Bama. Finally
headmaster abused entire Christian community and allowed her to enter into the
class with the recommendation of priest.
In another incidence, a
Bama was travelling by bus; a Nicker woman humiliated her on the basis of caste
discrimination. Nicker woman moved to a different place. When she joined a job
of Mathematics teacher, another nun showed strange expressions on her face.
Later she joined as a Nun and would like to serve for dalit women. Bama thinks
that if she becomes a nun and enters into a convent, she can work for the poor
children of her community. Thus she took a wrong decision of becoming a nun.
She shares her experience,
‘There was a yearning in my mind to facilitate
other children for their better prospect. I born into the same caste had been
able to do, because of my learning. I truly wanted to educate such children.’
(Karukku: 77)
She was totally confused by witnessing strange attitude and behaviour of
nuns with rich children at convent. She expresses her regret in her own words,
‘I became frustrated. My mind was disturbed. My
conscience was battered and bruised. At last I asked myself, is this life for
me? I left the convent. The convent was well endowed with gifts…It was not
possible for me to bring gifts in nunnery after vacation. Because I was from
poor family and it was not affordable to me as well.’(Karukku: 78)
But her dream very soon shattered because of the rich lifestyle of other
Nuns. The
so-called spiritual people believe that the low caste populace is the second
standard human beings. She
realized the mentality of these religious people and considers that every
moment of her life is a moment of struggle. During her job at convent, she
realized the hollow mentality of upper caste people. Her mind was filled with
innumerable and incurable wounds on which there was no medicine. In ‘Karukku’, Bama has portrayed the
oppression of Dalit life and their discrimination by the upper caste People.
She is unable to change the system set by upper caste people and she doesn’t
have solution for the same. She only reflects her anger through her work. D.T.
Muraleeswari in his paper ‘Broken World of Dalit- A Critical Study on Bama’s
Karukku’ says,
‘Karukku highlights the mistreatment and repression
faced by Dalits at the hands of the church, the police, the upper castes and
the Panchayat.’
·
Conclusion:
In
Faustina Bama's ‘Karukku’, the readers witness the scenario
of suppression, confrontation and emancipation of Dalit women. This
emancipation is possible only through education. The education is the tool
which can defeat the social ills such as subjugation, harassment, oppression,
exploitation, resistance and empowerment. Even it helps to understand how to
rebuke to the church members and priests, nuns to protect from sufferings and
humiliation and how to achieve the status in society. Bama tells us that one
can overcome on identity crisis and question of self discovery by empowering
themselves and good education. As a Dalit, one
must liberate themselves from the clutches of castism and slavery and not
consider as marginalized. They are not supposed to classify them on the basis
of gender, faith and any justifiable legitimate battle. In every
circumstance, they should not lose their patience and should avail the
privileges like others with great pride. It is the self-esteem which makes them
to held their head high. They have the right to come together and fight against
the bias society to gain their identity and look for self-discovery.
Works Cited
Faustina Bama’s ‘Karukku’ New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1992.
Faustina, Bama. Karukku. Trans.
Lakshmi Holmstrom. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2012.
George, Sobin. ‘Dalit Christians in India:
Discrimination, Development Deficit and the Question of Group- Specific Policies’.
Working Paper Series. New Delhi: Indian Institute for Dalit Studies, 2012.
Lobo, Lancy. ‘Visions, Illusions and
Dilemmas of Dalit Christians in India: Dalit Identity and Politics’ Ed.
Ghanshyam Shah. Delhi: Sage Publications, 2001.
Louis, Prakash. ‘Caste based
Discrimination and Atrocities on Dalit Christians’, Working Paper Series. New Delhi: Indian
Institute for Dalit Studies, 2007.
Prasad,
Amar Nath, ‘Dalit literature: A Critical Exploration’, Sarup & Sons.
p. 69, 2007.
Angela
Kalloli, ‘Bama’s Karukku as a Testimony of the Triple Jeopardized’, Lux
Montis, 2019, Vol 7. Issue-2, p. 105-117.
Bhargava,
Rajeev. ‘Multiculturalism, Liberalism and Democracy’, New Delhi: Oxford
University Press. 2009.
G.
S. Reddy, ‘Position of Religion in Dalit Literature: A Case Study of Bama’s
Karukku’ Shanlax International Journal of English, 2018, Volume: 6. Special
Issue-1, p. 94-96.
G.D.Suresh, ‘Dalit Autobiography:
Portrayal of Caste Discrimination in Bama’s ‘Karukku’, IJCRT, Volume 8,
Issue 2, February 2020, ISSN: 2320-2882
Kamila,
A. ‘Marginalization and Discrimination of Subaltern in Bama’s Karukku’,
Shanlax International Journal of English, 2018, Vol-6, Issue-6, p.103–107.
Shukla,
Kaushik. ‘Impact of Poverty on Gender and Caste in Bama’s ‘Karukku’,
Journal of Advances and Scholarly researches in Allied education, 2018
Kumar,
Satendra. Preface. ‘Unheard Voices of Dalit Literature’. First ed.
Jaipur : Y King, 2012. Ix
Kumar, Vijay. ‘Three-fold Subjugation and
Oppression: A Study of Bama Faustina‟s Karukku’, SSRG, Vol-4, Issue-6, Dec 2017
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bama_writer