Gandhi’s entry in the Indian freedom movement in 1918 was an important event in the history of modern India. He captured the psyche of Indian society and advocated for the upliftment of the Dalits. He was well aware of the role of literature in the removal of untouchability. Therefore he appealed to the writers to write literature which could initiate sympathy for the subjugated section of the society. Many Gujarati writers followed the appeal of Gandhi and started depicting the life of the untouchables in their writings. Leading writers of the Gandhian phase were Jhaverchand Meghani, Dwiref, Sundaram, Snehrashmi, Dhoomketu, Umashankar Joshi, Pannalal Patel and Ishwar Petlikar. After 1950 few more upper caste writers have presented the Dalit life. The leading contributors in the genre of novel of the modern age of the Gujarati literature are Ramchandra Patel, Pinakin Dave, Jayant Gadit, Raghuvir Chaudhari, Dilip Ranpura, Kishorsinh Solanki, Manilal H. Patel, Dr. Pradip Pandya and Chinu Modi.
In 1992 Chinu Modi – a non-Dalit writer published his Novel Kalo Angrej (Black Britisher). In this novel Modi presented the lives of the Dalits, their culture, caste atrocities, economic problems and psychological trauma very well. The writer had tried to capture the Dalit life as close as he could. The social extremes of the society as presented in the novel are also startling.
Vajesang Thakor and his family, Bhala Bhagat and his family, Mansukh, and Dansang are the major characters of the novel. In this novel the antagonist is more powerful. The narrative of the novel revolves around the protagonist Mansukh and antagonist Vajesang Thakor. Mansukh is a Gandhian worker. He stayed with the Dalits in the house Bhala Bhagat. He took the problems and issues of the Dalits to the government and thus tried to solve them. He also inspired the dalits to follow Gandhian ideology and lived accordingly. He also explained the importance of education to the Dalits and motivated them to be educated. He admitted Sharda for further education in the Gandhi Ashram School in Ahmedabad. He publically read the newspaper to keep updated the villagers of the nation and its issues.
Mansukh behaved politely with all the villagers but Vajesang didn’t like his actions for the development of the villagers. Vajesang ordered him to leave the village but the village Sarpanch intervened and allowed him to stay in the village. Vajesang was not happy with the decision of the Sarpanch. Dalits had been the victim of the social inequalities. On the appeal of the Gandhian worker Dayabhai Kalo, Bhaliyo, Raghlo Dholi, Manoriyo and many others participated in the temple entry procession. Vajesang rushed to the temple with a gun and shouted, “Stop there! Don’t enter the temple. If you move a budge then I will kill all of you. Who allowed you to enter this holy place? Could you enter the house of God? Go and bring some dung and cover up the place with it where your shadows had fallen.”[1] He killed Kala with his rifle in this ruckus.
Vajesang ceaselessly harassed Champabai. She died at last and her body was burnt. He bribed the police officer Mr. Joshi. So Joshi arrested Khema – a Koli labourer who worked in his farms. The real culprit was left to move freely and the innocent and poor labourer was jailed. Thus, the Police officer Joshi’s conduct was as oppressive as the Britishers.
Vajesang Thakor exploited the villagers like the British. He is the Kalo Angrej i.e. Black British in a real sense. The writer had rightly mentioned in the novel, “His involvement in the oppressive acts – murder of Kala, not allowing Dalits to enter the temple, land grabbing of the farmers and the murder of Champabai.”[2] He joined the Congress party and pretended to be Gandhian. He unveiled a statue of Gandhi and thus convinced the Congress president and got a mandate for the election.
In Kalo Angrej the antagonist is more powerful and the kind people have to suffer. The people who are kind are Bhala Dholi, Mansukh and Indrasinh Thakor. They are able to leave their mark because of their good deeds. Bhala Dholi’s brother Kala is killed by Vajesang Thakor before his eyes during the temple entry procession. The murder is an evidence of caste based atrocities and the hatred towards the Dalits. He never forgets the murder of his brother Kala but his kind nature always leads him to live a peaceful life. His kind nature can be seen in his actions. He gave 30 rupees to Dansang – brother of Vajesang – when he lost money in pickpocketing.
The writer presented the life between 1947 and1953 in this novel. He had deliberately chosen the time zone as in 1947 India won independence. The British left India in 1947 but the Indians who are worse than the British made the lives of the Dalits quite miserable. The society didn’t change its highly rigid and orthodox attitude a bit. For all the upper castes Indians caste is the only identity. Many of the Gandhian followers were hypocrites such as Sevantilal and Otamchand. Their clothes were simple but they always tried to grab power through evil deeds. Both of them lived in the Gandhi Ashram but wanted Vajesang to become a member of the Congress Party so that they could have some power to make money. Dayabhai who was a loyal worker of the Congress was also deceived by the pseudo Gandhians. Mansukh lost his faith in Gandhian philosophy because of a change in Dayabhai’s attitude. The writer presented internal struggles of the characters which provided complexity to the plot of the novel. In order to prove the aptness of the title he successfully encapsulated the consciousness of the characters.
Writer had presented the lives of the Dalits of villages around Dholka and Bavla but in reality it presents a Pan-Indian scenario. The novel began with the depiction of the married life of Bhala Bhagat and Amba. Bhala Bhagat lived a simple life. He was compromised with happiness and sorrow. He had faith in God and behaved according to the situation. He was a famous drummer of his area. Amba fell in love with him because of his skill as a drummer. He was poor and Amba supported him in his struggle against poverty. Bhala had four daughters. He was worried about marrying his eldest daughter Khemi. The priest of the Dalits Tapi Shankar arranged her marriage with an aged man but he demanded his cow as a gift in return. He agreed to give his cow as a gift but on seeing the aged man he denied such a marriage. At last Khemi was married to her childhood friend Dhaniya.
Khemi’s younger sisters Samu and Sharda both are young enough to marry. Mansukh stayed in Bhala’s house and he fell in love with Samu. Vajesang’s son Indrasingh also fell in love with a Dalit girl – Sharda. When Mansukh stayed at Bhala’s house, Vajesang didn’t like it and sent a message that his stay in the house of an untouchable wasn't like that of the Sarpanch of Kesardi village. The Sarpanch’s daughter Kamu also had a crush on Mansukh. She never left an opportunity to show her love for him. Once she sat beside Mansukh and tried to tantalize him. Writer had captured the sensuous moments, “Kamu sat beside Mansukh. The fragrance of her body was sensuous. Mansukh realized the situation very well. The person who daily bathed in the river had to be drawn in the flood of the river. Mansukh’s situation was like this man.” [3] But Mansukh didn’t move by Kamu’s sensual efforts. He truly loved Samu.
Dr. Ambedkar vigorously mentioned that education is the only potential tool through which the Indian caste system will lose its vigor. Indrasingh who is an educated man is an example of Dr. Ambedkar’s argument. He studied in Rajkumar College and didn't believe in caste differences. People of surrounding villages were also impressed by his behaviour. Sharda was reading a book when he met her for the first time in Kesardi village. He took interest in her studies. He admitted her with the help of Mansukh in the school of the Gandhi Ashram in Ahmedabad.
After the entry of Indrasingh and Mansukh in the novel the narrative became vibrant. Kala’s murder, temple entry procession of the Dalits and its protest, land grabbing of the farmers, murder of Champabai in all these incidents Vajesang is directly or indirectly involved. Dansang’s attempt to kill Mansukh, Sevantilal and Otamchand’s efforts for Vajesang’s entry in Congress – thus the narrative moves flawlessly.
Vajesang was against the love relationship of Indrasinh and Sharda. He tried to convince in Indrasinh to break the relationship. But Indrasinh truly loved Sharda therefore he wasn’t convinced by his father’s explanation. He was quite adamant to marry Sharda. He replied to his father, “I will marry Sharda and also live in this village before your eyes. What do you believe? You have considered me weak and now I will see who is weak after completing my studies and marriage I will be back. You don't have to pay a penny.”[4] Here the readers applauded the spirited reply of Indrasinh. In order to break his son’s relation with Sharda Vajesang abducted Sharda. Indrasinh tried very hard to find her but failed. Therefore he committed suicide by firing a bullet in his head it. The suicide of Indrasinh makes him weak and feeble man. The man who argued ferociously for his marriage with Sharda commit suicide is not acceptable to the readers. Vajesang was shocked on the suicide of his son Indrasinh. Sharda was released. She went back to her school. Vajesang could not forget his son and his demise. He considered the Dalits responsible for his son’s suicide. At last he went to the Dalit vas and killed almost thirty Dalits. The end of the novel is quite obnoxious. His entry into Congress and the clothes of khadi didn’t change his casteist frame of mind. This massacre reminds the readers of the terrible and ferocious attacks of the Ranveer Sena on the Dalits in Bihar. Only Bhala Bhagat survived in this attack. Sharda was in school so she also survived. When she visited her house on hearing the news she tried to find her mother and sisters. Her father saw their dead bodies in their house. Mansukh was also killed in this attack. In the end Vajesang also hanged himself as he could not bear the death of his son.
After reading the novel the readers must have a question about freedom. The fruits of freedom are enjoyed by whom. Mansukh tried to change the situation of the Dalits but there was not a small change. They are still oppressed in every realm of life. The society which is described as Kalo Angrej ceaselessly tries to oppress the Dalits. The dual standards of the upper castes society is exposed by the writer. Dalits are also responsible for such a trivial life because they consider it as a fate and tolerate all the oppressions. The writer has mentioned in the novel, “first poverty, second illiteracy and the most dangerous the hatred of the upper castes have given the Dalits unending slavery. The Dalits are habituated to the slavery. When Vajesang comes to the temple of Lord Shiva he selects only upper castes men to join him in the worship.”[5] The Gandhian worker Dayabhai does not accept it. He appealed to the Dalits, “Tomorrow we will go to the temple of Lord Shiva. Then Manor replied, “It’s not possible. God is polluted because of low caste people such as us.”[6] The talk between Dayabhai and Manor suggests that Dalits could not even think of getting their basic human rights. Dalits are overpowered by the authoritarian power of the upper castes. The objective of the writer must be to expose the dictatorial and tyrannical conduct of the upper castes for the Dalits and he has achieved his objective quite successfully. The title Kalo Angrej aptly suggests it. Mansukh also mentioned in the novel, “Gandhi could dispel the British because they were foreigners but how could he dispel our own citizens?”[7]
Writer’s attempt to intervene in the social customs of the Dalits is not needed as he is a non-Dalit and thus it is a futile attempt. Writer has talked about separate houses of different sub-castes of the Dalits and tagged them as Harijanvas, Antyajvas and Valmikivas. He separately mentioned about these castes but hadn't presented the detailed inter relationship of these castes at all. This is the limit of a non-Dalit writer where he can describe about the relationship between the Dalits and non- Dalits but not the Dalits.
The novel is divided into 35 chapters. Each chapter opens with a song which presents the frame of mind of the characters. The experimentation is liked by the readers. Arvind Vegda, a well-known Dalit writer, remarked for the songs in the beginning of the each chapter, “All the songs not only present the frame of the mind only but also all of them are poetic also.”[8]
Thus the end of the novel is tragic but unfit to the narrative. Indrasinh’s suicide and massacre of the Dalits show the eagerness of the writer to end the novel. The end of the novel exposes the failure of a writer to understand the psyche of the Dalits and their world. Chinu Modi is a well-known name in the field of Gujarati literature. Whatever Dalit life he has observed he has depicted in the novel. Therefore one may find the depiction of Dalit lives not as real as a Dalit writer but his effort is commendable. Vajesang pretended to be Gandhian and wore Khadi clothes. He uses Gandhian philosophy as a mask to hide his cruel face quite successfully. He is the main culprit for all the atrocities on the Dalits. Joseph Macwan in his Novel Angaliyat has also remarked on the murder of the protagonist Teeha, “This is our Swaraj and this is the Ramraj written on our foreheads.”[9] In his novel Angaliyat and short story “Ramraj” Joseph Macwan has exposed the banality of politicians who bluntly present them as Gandhian. Chinu Modi has also exposed such Gandhian followers in his novel Kalo Angrej.
References:
- Modi, Chinu. Kalo Angrej. Ahmedabad: Parshva Publication, 2nd ed. 2003. p.45
- Ibid. p.25
- Ibid. p.10
- Ibid. p.237
- Ibid. p.42
- Ibid. p.247
- Ibid. p.271
- Macwan, Joseph. Angaliyat. Ahmedabad: R.R. Sheth & Co. 2nd ed. 1988. p.263