Domestic Violence and Sexual Exploitation of Dalit Women in P. Sivakami’s The Taming of Women
Abstract
A lot of literary, political and cultural activities have been done for the improvement and rights of the Dalits- the untouchables or downtrodden of India. A few government policies and acts are also made by the government for the upliftment of Dalits. As a result, they have been forming their identity in conflicting species. But in comparison to Dalit men, Dalit women are struggling more for their rights in the society. Even in the 21st century their status is not changed. They are triply marginalized-by the class, caste and gender. Dalit movements provided them a ground to raise their voice against inequality, injustice, exploitation and oppression. Many Dalit writers and activists have used literature as the medium to express their views. They portrayed the life of Dalits and their sufferings in their works, which they have experienced and seen in their life. The present research paper focuses on the issue of domestic violence and sexual exploitation of Dalit women in P.Sivakami’s The Taming of Women.
Keywords: Dalits, Exploitation, Domestic Violence, Marginalization, Gender discrimination, Oppression.
Introduction
Palanimuthu Sivakami who is known as P.Sivakami is the author of the novel The Taming of the Women. She is a very famous feminist Dalit novelist of India. She was born on 30th November 1957 in Tamilnadu. Her father M.Palanimuthu was an active freedom fighter. He wanted all his children to be self confident and independent. Her father allowed her to go alone and look after herself from the beginning of her life. She completed her under graduation and post graduation degree in history. When she was a student, she would like to write stories in her mother tongue Tamil. Several times she won prizes for her stories. After completing her education, she passed Indian Administrative Service examination. She served as a district collector, additional secretary, director of tourism etc. She remained a secretary ranked bureaucrat in Tamilnadu till 2008. Then she left the administrative services and joined the Bahujan Samaj Party and contested the Lok Sabha poll from Kanyakumari. She founded the Samaj Samathuva Padai.
P. Sivakami would like to write stories from the very beginning of her life. Being Dalit woman she has experienced endless pain and misery of Dalit women. She has seen the triple marginalization of Dalit women- by the caste, class and gender. She wrote what she experienced and saw in her life. She was the first Tamil Dalit woman to write a novel Pazhaiyana Kazhidalum(1989). The novel proved grand literary and commercial success for her. It created a stir among the society for taking patriarchy in the Dalit movement. She herself translated the novel into English and published it as The Grip of Change (2006). She has written four novels, numerous short stories and poems. Her second Tamil novel Anandhayi (1992) also received good response from the reader. Pritham K. Chakravarthy, the translator and the editor of the Blaft Anthology of Tamil Pulp Fiction translated the novel into English and titled The Taming of the Women (2012) to the novel. She is also the founder-editor of the literary magazine Pudiya Kondangi.
A General Perspective of Dalit Women’s Position in the Society
In Hindu caste system the Dalits, the untouchables of India comes at the bottom of the list and actually outside the list. As they were considered untouchables, their shadow and touch were deemed by the caste Hindus. They did some menial jobs like sweeping, cleaning toilets, removing of dead animals’ skin etc. They lived in the cottages outside the village. They did not get healthy food for eating. Their children were not allowed to admit in the school where the children of the upper castes study. They worked as a farm labourers or factory workers. In comparison to their work, they were paid less by their masters. They couldn’t raise their voice against their masters.
Lots of activities and movements have been done for the progress of and improvements of the dalits, but the reformation is found in very slow motion. When the question of the position of Dalit woman’s comes, they are still found in the clutches of patriarchy and caste system. In comparison to Dalit men, the Dalit women are the worst sufferer. There is not equal access for the employment opportunities or justice in the society. Very few girls are allowed to get education. They have to take care of their little brothers or sisters at home when their mothers go for works. The Dalit girls are not allowed play games like their brothers. If they try to do so they are beaten by their fathers or brothers. They cannot marry the persons of their own likes. Sometimes they are married to the person doubles of their age by the family. Like upper caste women, there is no provision of the remarriage of Dalit widows. Their in- laws do not share the property of their husbands with them. They are seduced or physically exploited by their father in laws or brother in laws.
The Dalit women work hard in the fields or factories but paid less than Dalit men. They are often seduced, harassed and raped at the fields or work places. If they file their case in the village Panchayat, they are blamed of seducing the upper castes men. Even their fathers or husbands do not trust them. They have to pay the fine in the Panchayat for no faults of their own. At homes, they are oppressed and exploited by the male members of the family. At the work places they are often harassed and raped by the upper castes men. Being poor they do not get healthy food even in the time of their pregnancy. They are not referred to the hospitals for the delivery. Even the village doctors avoid going to their houses for treatments. The old women help them in their delivery. Many of them die during delivering babies because of improper care. Few days later, after their delivery they cannot take rest like upper caste women. They leave their babies under the care of their girls. In this way they face triple marginalization- by the class, caste and gender.
Violence and Sexual Exploitation of Dalit Women in P.Sivakami’s The Taming of Women
The Taming of Women is a very famous novel by P. Sivakami. The novel was originally written in Tamil by the author and titled as Anadhayi (1992) which was later translated into English in 2012 by Pritham K. Chakravarthy and titled as The Taming of Women. As the title suggests it is about women’s taming. In the novel P.Sivakami exhibits endless pain, misery and exploitation of Dalit women. She vividly evokes a world where women and men are in constant conflict, scrambling for the little power to which they can hold on. It is her superb satiric eye-capturing in comic vignettes the life of women in a village transforming into a small town-that brings relief to this blistering vision of humanity, leaving the reader simultaneously amused and devastated.
Being Dalit women, she has portrayed the pain and suffering of Dalit women in the most realistic manner. She has taken a female protagonist named Anandhayi to represent the pain of Dalit woman. She has presented the endless domestic violence of Dalit women through her character. Through the minor characters like Lakshmi, Kala, Arul, Dhanam, Poongavanam and Neelaveni she represents day to day physical beating, sexual harassment, inequality and gender discrimination of Dalit women. Though the novel is factious, the experiences shared are real.
The Taming of Women opens with the speech of Anadhayi, the protagonist of the novel. She is the wife of Periyanan, the antagonist of the novel. He is a government sub contractor and farm owner. He is shown as womanizer and power monger. He is not satisfied with what he has. In the beginning of the novel Anadhayi is found pacing up and down in the dark room. Her contractions had started; by dawn the baby would be born. She had given birth to four children and it was her fifth delivery. Unlike the middle class or higher class women she is not shifted to a hospital for delivery. Neither doctor nor nurse is called by her husband or family members to take care of her. Her husband is also not found around her who is considered as the care taker after her marriage. The previous four deliveries were done under the care of Muthakka, the maid of the house. Her labour pain had started; she was sobbing. She was in need of her husband for moral support. But her husband had brought a new woman at night and taking sexual pleasure with her in other room of a two storeyed house. When Anadhayi smelt of it she hid herself in the gap between the steps and the wall. For a moment she forgot her labour pain and cried, “Saami…Let the slut come down and she will get it from me. She who has climbed up has to climb down.” (Sivakami 4)
After a long wait, the door opened upstairs and hushed voices. The tall women came down the stairs Anandhayi collected all her courage and grabbed the hair bun of that tall woman tightly. She abused the woman for having relation with her husband. She swung the woman several times holding her hair. The woman fell down on the ground. She screamed for help. When Periyannan listened the noise downstairs, he came down and released the woman from Anandhayi’s grip and pushed her aside. She crashed to the ground with a loud sob. Periyannan did not wait there to watch whether she was injured or not. She went up the steps. As usual, on the next day he went out for job work came in the evening. He neither asked about Anandhayi nor about new born baby. Sivakami represents the picture of heartless husband who takes sexual pleasure with his wife and let her alone to die during her pregnancy. Sivakami raises a question towards Dalit men’s cheap mentality. She questions how a man can be so selfish who takes sexual pleasure when his own wife is in labour pain.
From the very beginning of the life, Dalit women are usually beaten by their fathers, brothers at their fathers’ house and later by husbands at their husbands’ house. Government has made many acts for the protection of them but Dalit women cannot revolt against men sometimes because of fear or affection towards the male members of their family. The twentieth century is going on, woman has reached on the moon and running their own business but the Dalit women are found where they were in the past. The girl like Kala can neither ride a bicycle nor marry partner of her own choice. Sivakami shows how they are punished if they try to do it. One day Periyanan returned from his business work he saw Kala driving a bicycle on the road, he got angered on Anandhayi and her daughter. Sivakami reveals how he treats his wife and daughter. She was beaten for no fault of her own. The narrator expresses, “As soon as Periyanan entered he grabbed Anadhayi by her bun and dragged her up…Get up, you bitch, bloody pimp!” (Sivakami 83).
Anandhayi was unaware why her husband was beating her so she asked him what her fault was but Periyanan did not reply her and picked up the grass broom lying on the ground and went up to her . She beat her mercilessly as if she were an animal and did not stop till she went unconscious. When she fainted he turned to Kala who hid herself in the room. His mother requested him not to be so cruel with them but he did not care of his mother’s words. An old woman was blown hardly and fell on the wall. Kala was also beaten. Her body was swollen because of her father’s blows. When she came to age, her father decided to marry her to the elementary school teacher. Kala did not like the fellow so she denied marrying him. When Periyanan knew, he used bad words for her own daughter. Sivakami narrates,
Is she going to be his wife or just sleep with him? How dare she say she doesn’t like him? Let her say that once more and I’ll skin both the mother and daughter alive. (Sivakami 113)
Sivakami reveals that girls are treated like pet animals by the male dominated society. To marry a person of her choice is like a dream to her which can never be fulfilled in the society.
In The Taming of Women Sivakami reveals the real nature of men who is not satisfied with one woman. Periyanan, a womanizer attracted towards Lakshmi, a fair skinned woman. He lived with her outside the house. He made her his mistress. She was not told he was the father of six children and had a wife. When she came to his house she knew the reality but it was worthless for her. Several times she tried to run away from his house but every time Periyannan used his political power and brought her back. He used to beat her and took sexual pleasure whether she wanted or not. Tired of daily torture she committed suicide as the solution to get rid of him.
In the novel, Sivakami also represents sexual harassment and exploitation of Dalit women through the minor characters like Poongavanam and Neelaveni. Poongavanam fell in love with Duraisami who cheated her and left her alone when she was pregnant. She became unmarried mother of Duraisami child. Neelaveni, another minor character of the novel had her own tale of suffering. She was a very beautiful girl. Every village men were attracted towards her. Beauty was a curse for her. She was harassed sexually by her teachers. As a result she had to leave school and remain unmarried throught her life.
Conclusion
To sum up, it can be said that P.Sivakami is the real representative of the pain and suffering of Dalit women. She is successful in drawing the old age oppression, exploitation and harassment of Dalit women. In The Taming of Women she reveals the present status of Dalit women. She raises the question against domestic violence and sexual exploitation through her characters realistically. It looks that through her novel she wants to give the message to the reader that there should be end of this old age exploitation and oppression. Women should be given equal opportunity in the field of education. They should be free to choose their life partner. There should be the provision for their remarriage. There should be equal space for women in all the fields.
References