An Ode to July

 

Subaltern Theories ( Dalit Perspective)

 Subaltern Theory:
A subaltern study is a branch in postcolonial theory. The concept of the subaltern was mention by Italian Marxist political dissident Antonia Gramsci in his article “Notes on Italian History” which published in his most recognized book “Prison Notebooks” written between 1929 and 1935. The term subaltern means “folks belonging to the inferior rank” Gramsci choose this term to relate to group of the society who are being marginalized under authoritative clique. There were various theorists like Ranajit Guha, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, and Dipesh Chakravorty who on the footing of the term subaltern have formulated their own theories.


 Subaltern theory by Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak:
Spivak has become predominant agent in post Colonial studies .Spivak has borrowed the term subaltern from Gramsci to relate to the subaltern group of Indian society. “Can the subaltern speak?” was first title as “Power, Desire and Interest” (Spivak 217) but later the title was transmuted. This essay is most controversial essay where Spivak tabulate women, non-white and lower caste as subaltern .Spivak in her essay promulgate that the white European have created the binary of self and “others” where the populace belonging to third world countries are appraise as “other”. Identically “the women of third world are even more deeply shadow” (287).Spivak in her essay try to reinvigorate women’s agency. She talks about the widow-self-immolation in India. Where male dominate society who suppressed them and the Britishers who tried to abolish this practice for their own political entail. Here Spivak want to ratify that women are always treated as “other” since they are subordinate to men under patriarchal order as in the introduction to “the second sex”, Simone de Beauvoir talks about the concept of the “other”, but Spivak also depict that condition of third world women is even more poignant. As they are double isolated by their men and also by white upper class. Expatiating about lower caste people in India they are also subaltern under caste hierarchy where they are “other” they are marginalized as Third world people as well as lower caste being. Whereas Dalit women are thrice removed as they are of Third world country, under patriarchy and also due to their caste. Spivak also say that subaltern cannot speak not because that they cannot speak but rather that others did not know how to listen or whenever subaltern tried to speak his voice was mute. Even while writing the chronicles subalterns perspective was never taken into consideration they were jostle at the periphery.

 Dalit as subaltern by Shobha Rajadhyaksha (Shobhaa De):

Shobhaa De in her theory of subalternity considers subalternity as an “absolute ideology” of dominant group. These dominant groups foist their ideas on subservient group. Shobhaa De disseminate this as a lust for power where omnipotent want to control impotent, it is politics of authority. Prevailing groups escalated their ideologies through repressive Apparatuses or through Ideological State Apparatuses as coil by French Marxist Philosopher Louis Althusser or even through hegemony. As the Brahmin caste or upper caste put forward the mythological scriptures like ‘Manusmriti’ or ‘Dharma-Shastra’ to validate their concepts. Where lower caste people willingly started to accept those ideologies and started considering themselves as subaltern, marginalized and inferior to upper caste. Under the hegemony they are been camouflage and bare all oppression. Such hegemony was also spread by the colonizer in Third world countries so they could dexterously control this people.

 Dalit among Dalits (Dalit women) (Shobhaa De):
Accentuating about the Dalit women in Indian context than they have being imperceptible in most of mainstream correspondence. The position of these women was deduced as a sequestered realm that is the reason that no one took interest in studying views or perspective of these lower caste women. As Shobhaa de explains that, kancha Ilaiah, argues that the thinkers like Manu deprived women from their basic political rights. She even talks about kautilya and Vatsayana views about women. Shobhaa de condemn this thinker and demonstrate that this thinkers have not only reduce women position in society but also because of their thinking Dalit women was been double segregated under caste and gender ideologies where they become Dalit among Dalit, subaltern among subaltern. Shobhaa De also mentions about Bakti saints poets who challenged Brahmanical hegemony. There were women saints like Muktabai, Janabai, Soyarabai and other who questioned discrimination. Bakti saints influenced Mahatma Jotiba Phule and Babasaheb Ambedkar who discerns that caste, patriarchy and the poverty are three hurdles that slumber the progress of Dalit women. These two legends tried their best to eliminate this marginalization but even today this marginalization exists.

Autoethnograpy and caste system in India

“Auto-ethnography invites writers to see themselves and everyone else as human subjects constructed in a tangle of cultural, social and historical situation and relation contact zone.” (Brodkey, 1996:29).

Auto-ethnography is a form of research where the writer uses self-contemplation and his own work to disclose his own experience and relate it with the wider cultural ethos, political praxis and aesthetic strategies. While auto- ethnography contains elements of autobiography, it still goes beyond the ‘selves’ where it becomes the collective experience.  Ellis and Bochner have divided auto-ethnography in two different approaches of ‘evocative’ and ‘analytical’ approaches. Evocative approach encompass writers owns story and analytical approach comprehend the extensive sets of social aberrant.

Most of the Dalit autobiographies rather than rendering the personal  ‘I’ emphasis on collective experience of the Dalits.  In this autobiographies the orator is the leading character testify occurrence delineated.

Enunciating about Dalit women writers, as scholars like Gopal Guru and M.S.S. Pandia affirms that Dalit women’s autobiographies dissimilitude from the autobiographies of Dalit men’s where Dalit men confabulate more about “self’s”. Rather than community, at the contrary Dalit women in their chronicle locus their community at the median rather than self. These Dalit women writers not only wrote about their own suffering but about the suffering of their people. These writers’ questions caste hierarchy and accomplice the modification of independent person, yet becoming the voice of marginalized coterie.

Bama’s “karukku” and Pawar’s “The Weave of My Life: A Dalit woman’s Memoirs” are example of auto -ethnography.  Where the “I” of account itself proffer the voice of collective. Bama and Pawar trace their personal repression, subjection along with the Dalit women of their own community. Their work becomes exegesis repugnant experience of Dalit women in general. Bama says in her interview affix to her third novel ‘Vanmam’, “Before 1993, I was unknown, Today, when I say “I”, it includes people like me. All these things together form our collective identity and help us all to act together. I cannot claim for myself of an individual, a Dalit woman, I am part of collective awareness I carry their voice”. (Vanmam, p. 151). Even in ‘Karukku’ in first chapter, she starts with unified “our”. “Our village is very beautiful” (p.1), or when she talk about her community she say: “Most of our people are agricultural labourers” (p.1). Even Pawar don’t start with “I” but she start her narration by delineating women of her village. “Women from our village traveled to the market at Ratnagiri” (P.1).

Dalit women writers also use their own regional dialect in their work, similar to that of African American women writers like Toni Morrison, Gloria Naylor who characterize their own dialect in their works. This writers use their own dialect to establish the unique voice of their community it also become the momentous element of auto-ethnography. Same use of regional dialect we can ponder in Bama’s and Pawar’s autobiographies.

What is Anthropological study of caste system in India?

The rudimentary definition of Anthropology is study of human but it also appends study of human societies and cultures and their development in this many years. The term is derived from Greek words arthropos means “human” and logos means “study”. This word was innovated during the Renaissance in France and through there it was been fraternize in English in 18thcentury. But it was during 19th and 20th century that bonafide study of modern anthropology was developed by Franz Boas who is consider to be the founder of modern anthropology and also consider to be the father of American Anthropology. He emanated the concept of “culture” as “learned behaviors” where he gave important to study of human culture. As he proclaimed that to study human it is important to study his culture. Because culture have direct ascendancy on human behavior.
In India also we have the branch of Anthropological study. In N.K. Das work “Dalit protest, Dalit literature and Dalit feminism. Towards a New Anthropological Approach”. Das study the caste system in India and its ramification on the people belonging to this caste amalgamation. In the study Das mention that under the caste system the people of lower caste call as “Dalit” have faced oppression for many centuries. But due to the new thinking, democratic political institution the old thinking is crumbling down Dalits are getting their rights but still in this modern globalized world the caste ideology is not totally repudiated. According to the study the people of Dalit category subsume total 60 percent of Indian population. The Anthropological survey of India has identified that from this 60 percent there is only 20 percent of Dalit population that gets prerequisites and are emancipated and are not under any caste partisanship. A new emphasis on women as a person, as gender category is emerging as a recent trend in anthropology. Where N.K. Das also focus of Dalit women and their representation in the culture and society. There are many Dalit women writers who are articulating their pain, their dissent in their works but still the condition of Dalit women is not completely change in this many years. Here N.K. Das is not only trying to be the seeker of truth but also of justice. Das also state that there is political necessity for holding on the Dalit category. Where Das at end circuitously questions today’s politics, also ask various other questions that, why even in globalized world there is such marginalization? When will it end? Even most of Dalit women writers also arouse same questions which also includes Dalit women writers like Bama and Urmila Pawar.

VOICE OF UNTOUCHABLE MORTALS BORN FROM THE FEET OF THE CREATOR: THRICE MARGINALIZED DALIT WOMEN IN INDIA IN SELECTED NOVELS OF URMILA PAWAR'S THE WEAVE OF MY LIFE: A DALIT WOMAN'S MEMORIS AND BAMA'S KARUKKU

In the traditionally contrived caste system or caste echelon the life of Dalit people is wretched because, they are consider as untouchables and are subjected to bestiality, vehemence and dehumanization.  Particularly asserting about Dalit Women who are oppressed among oppressed, their lifes are thrice sombre.  Women are always consider to be marginalized gender, but when it comes to Dalit women they are placed at the bottom of the caste edifice where they are been thrice marginalized and exploited on basis of caste, gender and class.

The term marginalization means to propel an individual or a group at the brim, give them lesser importance and also exclude them from all their virtues.  According to the Varna System a Hinduism the society is divided into four Varna’s or Castes on basis of their birth, aptitude and vocation .Where it is firmly believed that Brahman was born form the mouth of the creator, whereas Sudra was born from the feet of the creator as said in “Purushasukta” and so Sudra becomes of lower rank in caste hierarchy and this is the reason why Dalits are always consider to be a marginalized caste in India.  Due to this vicious caste system folks belonging to the lower caste are been deprived from all prerequisites of life and they are also been callously brutalized.

On the contrary, Dalit women faces immoderate quandaries of themselves from last so many centuries, which till today even in this contemporary world has not completely remould.  Dalit women to some extent moieties the muddles of the gender exploitation and economic destitution with other women but unfortunately the Dalit women also have to bear caste differentiation which other women’s never faces.  Dalit women have to undergo treble depreciation due to caste, gender and class and this thrice marginalization creates the vital problem for Dalit women, it becomes formidable for them to prevail over this marginalization. They also have to suffer from caste based segregation and atrocities. Dalit women are harassed due to their lower caste where upper caste male can sexually assault Dalit women. Whenever there is conflict among the upper and lower castes.  Dalit women’s always becomes the victim as they are facile prey.

Dalit women are not only subjugated because of their caste identity but also because of their gender.  Under patriarchy this women’s faces the violence in their own community.  Dalit women are brought to demean by her own family especially by the men of the household who due to their subdued status shed their vexation on this women.  Dalit women also have to suffer because of their class as they are been denied of all the equities and property rights.  They remain aloof from all the assets and affluence they are denied from their rights not only because they are women but predominantly as they are lower caste women.

The struggles and sufferings of Dalit women was consistently over sighted by mainstream male dominated literature which also include mainstream feminist writers.  To some extremity they were also been evaded by Dalit men writers.  So, Dalit women writers by themselves started articulating their own as well as other Dalit women experiences.  Where they also converse about marginalization, aboutgender configuration and also questioned casteism.  Notably in Bama's and UrmilaPawar's autobiographies they not only share their toils to conjure their idiosyncratic mishaps but specifically pivot on thrice marginalization of Dalit women in India.