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| Sharan Limbale (extreme left) with Sadhu Binning, Meena Chopra, Humaria Rahman and Arun Prabha Mukherjee; These writers along with Valerie Joan Tagwira (from Zimbabwe who is not in the photograph.) participated in a session on One World, One English, the Many Languages of the Imagination at the Toronto Festival of Literature and the Arts
By Sharankumar Limbale
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Limbale
is a prominent Dalit author, poet and literary critic. The following is an
edited version of the paper he read at the Festival of South Asian Literature
and the Arts’ session on One World, One English, the Many Languages of
Imagination.
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I
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am an Indian Dalit writer. I have written 35
books in Marathi, three of which have been translated into English. I started
writing in 1982 and for the last 30 years I have been writing on the problems
of Dalits.
I am an activist writer. I am
committed to my movement that was started by Dr. BR Ambedkar to emancipate
India’s Dalits. This movement is an integral part of my being. Without the
movement, I cannot write. The movement
is an ink for me. My literature is the literature of protest because of my
commitment to the Dalit movement and the inspiration of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar’s thoughts.
I never have and never will
write for entertainment. I am a writer of people. How can I forget problems of
my people? How can I neglect the cry of my people? The unrest of my people
charges me – to think and to write. Dalit literature is not the literature of
imaginations. It is a literature of atrocities inflicted on the Dalits by high
caste Hindus.
Dalit writer’s objective is to
explain to people his own pain, problems and questions. We are educated and we
know the roots of exploitation of our community. If we stay quiet, it would be
crime against humanity and crime against our movement. It is our birthright to
protest against inhumanity.
For me and for other Dalit
writers, writing is a form of rebellion. Our protest is both on the streets and
on paper. My words are my weapons. For me, struggle is the paper and people are
the contents. Literature is Parliament for me where I want to discuss my rights
and demands, which have been neglected for thousands of years.
When I wrote my first poem, I
wasn’t aware of the form and content of literature. Like me, many Dalit writers
didn’t know the features of literature. We didn’t know the meaning of writing.
We wrote because we wanted to share our pains with others, share our sorrows,
depict the atrocities we face, share and our problems with the people and ask
them to recognize us as human beings.
Our readers were shocked by our
words. For them our experience was new and bitter, and our tongue was very
rude. This was a new, strange and shocking experience for the middle class
readers. Dalit literature is the mirror of the caste society. The traditional
reader of the literature is shocked by this literature. It is through Dalit
literature that the reader became aware of the social reality and inequality.
Not surprisingly, the
traditional reader didn’t enjoy literature, at least initially. After all, how
anyone can enjoy atrocities? How anyone can enjoy the pains and pangs of
others? The traditional reader wants to enjoy the arts and literature. However,
Dalit literature is radically different. There is a conflict between the author
and reader.
Dalit literature creates huge
social tension. This is the tension between haves and have-nots. The haves
asked to the Dalit writer not to write this type of literature, because it
would lead to tension and division in the community. The have-nots ask the
Dalit writer to write about their honest and noble struggle for equality,
justice and freedom.
Not surprisingly, in the
initial phase of Dalit literature, the mainstream literary critics questioned
the very basis of Dalit literature. They asked in all seriousness: Can Dalits
write literature? Can Dalit be subject of literature? They attacked Dalit
literature saying that the dirty experiences of Dalit life would spoil the
literary mainstream.
Their contention was that Dalit
literature is not literature. According to them, “It was the drainage of dirty
water;” it was slang literature. It had to be stopped otherwise it would harm
the religious feelings of the higher castes.
We didn’t care for such
allegations. We didn’t stop writing. For us, it was very simple to write in our
own language and write about the tragedy of our life. And by writing the way we
did, we changed the definition of writing and the writer.
Dalit literature’s distinct
language, its revolutionary ideology, its aggressive character, its refusal to
quietly accept inequality, and the human values ingrained in it has led to many
proponents and opponents of Dalit literature.
Dalits haven’t been portrayed
truthfully or with fairness right from the time of Hindu religious literature
to contemporary Indian literature. As a
Dalit writer, I reject this alienating literary tradition.
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I
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am often asked about the future of the Dalit
literature. I find this ironic because we are worried about our future and our
critics are worried about our literature. Dalit literature is a response to the
exploitation and the humiliation of the Dalits, and as that is unlikely to end
soon, Dalit literature will flourish.
Whenever there is inhumanity
and discrimination in the world, then there will be Dalit literature. Dalit
literature has expanded the horizon of Indian literature and criticism and
transformed people’s preferences. Dalit literature has awakened many new social
strata and made new literary contributions.
Equality, freedom and social
justice are the basis of Dalit literature. Dalits have been deprived of these.
These people were silent and mute in the history. The Hindu philosophy and
ideology is based on inequality. The Hindu religion, Hindu Gods, Hindu culture
and Hindu social fabric deny equality, justice and freedom to Dalits.
For thousands of years Dalits
politely served the high caste society. It was the destiny of Dalit people.
They never revolted against God, religion and social structure. They believe
that this was the way of life for them.
Dalit has been humiliated and
exploited for thousands of years. Dalit is rejected by high caste as human. The
touch of Dalit, the shadow of Dalit and the voice of Dalit treated as impure.
Dalit lived out of village, out of city and in separate sections. Dalit
cannot enter in the temple of high caste. Dalit cannot drink water on the river
bank of high caste. Dalit cannot cremate the dead body in the graveyard of high
caste. Dalit cannot marry, cannot eat, and cannot live with the high caste. He
was only slave. He had no rights.
After independence and thanks
to the revolutionary movement of Dr. Ambedkar, Dalits became aware of their
self-respect and equality. Now, the Indian caste system is changing but not
fast enough. The speed of social change is very slow, but there is change.
Over the years, Dalit
literature has been able to break down barriers, overcome opposition and gain
acceptance and popularity. Why is Dalit literature so popular? Why it is well
received by readers? What is the cause of Dalit literature?
The answers to these questions
are straightforward: Dalit literature is the rebel against exploitation and
humiliation. A common man is the hero of this literature. He revolts against
the inhuman oppression. He wins in his struggle of self-respect. This is the
real beauty of this literature.
Irrelevant of caste, class and
colour, the reader loves the brave tongue and gets motivation from the struggle
of common man. The common man becomes searchlight for him to find way of life.
I believe, the common man is brave and faithful. Dalit literature gives this
message to the readers.
If you want to understand the
literature of movement, if you want to learn struggle of emancipation, if you
want to listen the cry for humanity, I think, you have to read Dalit
literature. It is the literature of life.
Here are some lines from a
poem:
The
church bell rang
Everyone
entered in
The
ajan heard from mosque
Everyone
entered in
The
bell of temple rang
Some
entered in
And
some stood out.
Photo: Basharat Mirza
