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Abstract
Dalit literature opposes religious hypocrisy, the Hindu caste system and privileges of birth, and respects the language of the people. This article discusses the different literary forms practised by Dalit writers; poetry, drama, the short story and the novel. Although Dalit literature in Gujarati is connected to the literature written by upper caste Gujarati Hindus, it differs from that tradition in many ways. Literature is a mirror of society to which it is so inextricably linked that it cannot be discussed without consideration of social problems. However, Gujarati writers often avoid such discussion and instead rely on western literary forms and critical values. Unlike Gujarati literature, Dalit literature deals with the problems faced by the lower castes using the language of these people, more often than not drawing on the forms used in the oral tradition.
Notes
1 The Babri Mosque in Ayodhya was destroyed on 12 December 2002 by Hindu fundamentalists who claimed that the Hindu god Ram was born on the exact spot where the mosque was erected. When the Indian judiciary did not accede to their demand that the mosque be handed over for the construction of a temple, they demolished it. To date the site remains disputed; a small temple has been constructed there, but the Indian Supreme Court will not allow a Ram Temple to be built.
2 Muslims in Gujarat were slaughtered by Hindu fundamentalists in retaliation for the alleged burning by Muslims of a railway carriage full of Hindus on their way to a pilgrim site in 2002.
3 The epic Ramayana describes the life of Lord Rama, and his war with Ravana, the king of Lanka, after he abducted Sita, Rama’s wife.
4 Saraswatichandra is the eponymous hero of a novel written by Govardhanram Tripathi in 1901. Saraswatichandra is a learned author and poet from Gujarati elite society. Kano and Jeevi appear in Pannalal Patel’s novel, Malela Jeev [The United Souls] (1941); Kaak and Manjari are protagonists in Gujaratno Nath [The King of Gujarat] (1917), the Gujarati novel by Kanaiyalal Munshi.
5 According to Hindu mythology, Manu is considered the forefather of all humans. He is regarded as the author of Manusmriti, an allegedly important work of Hindu law and Indian society but which is controversial for allegedly codifying the caste system and its exploitative statements on women.
6 Born in 1134 in Karnataka into a Hindu family, Basavanna was a philosopher, social reformer and great humanitarian. Fighting against the orthodoxy of Hinduism, he wished to abolish the caste system. He was also the prime minister of the Southern Kalachuri Empire in South India and started a literary revolution by writing Vachana Sahitya. Vachanas literally means “that which is said”; a form of Kannada poetry which evolved in the 12th century, Vachanas are brief disconnected paragraphs that are epigrammatical and allusive, which conclude with one or other of the local names by which Lord Shiva is worshipped. On Basavanna, see the article by Jasbir Jain in this issue.
7 In the medieval era, the spiritual and literary tradition of Bhakti (Spiritual) poetry became popular. Seeking union with the divine through the path of love, devotion and surrender, the Bhakti poet‐saints of all castes and both genders composed lyrics of devotion in their native tongues. Prominent Bhakti poets include Kabir, Meerabai, Sri Chaitanya and Surdas.
8 Adi Shankaracharya (the first acharya in his lineage) played a key role in the revival of Hinduism in the 8th century when it had begun to decline under the influence of both Buddhism and Jainism.
9 Narasinh (the fourth incarnation of Lord Vishnu who appears in half‐human, half‐lion form), Nakalank (the tenth incarnation of Lord Vishnu which is believed to appear to wreak havoc in the modern age; some sections of Dalits worship a historical local king Ramapir as Nakalank) and Shakti (the mother figure, worshipped in various forms) are the local deities, which are omitted from the Brahminical Hindu legends.
10 Eklavya, a Shudra, was refused education by a famed teacher called Drona. Later, Eklavya mastered archery without any formal training. Learning about Eklavya’s mastery, Drona asked him to cut off his thumb, which Eklavya did following the tradition of gurudakshina (gifting to the teacher) as he perceived Drona as his guru, though Drona had no direct part to play in Eklavya’s education. The sacrifice of the thumb was demanded so that Drona’s skill in archery could never surpass those of his actual pupils, the Pandava and Kaurava princes, whose story is narrated in the Indian epic Mahabharata.
11 King Bali, who prided himself on his generosity, was approached by Lord Vishnu in the form of a dwarf. He asked Bali for land measuring three and a half strides and in the first stride took over the entire Earth, in the second the sky, and in the third the underworld. Still half a stride was left and Bali offered his own body for that.