Abstract:
Dalit literature is a field that arises out of the specific caste system in India which relegate some group to the far margins of the society. It is their misery, poverty, pain, and oppression that get reflected in Dalit literature. Injustice and rightlessness being reserved to some sections of the society exposes the insensitivity of the democratic regime.
Analysing extracts from Shankarrao Kharat’s autobiography ‘Taral Antaral’ this paper tries to connect Dalit literature and Dalit life with Agamben’s concept on modern man as ‘bare life’. Characters in the selected stories with their Dalit context and helplessness are far below the dignity of life that is guaranteed to a political being. Universal provision of human rights and Indian guarantee of fundamental rights stay foreign to some members of the human race. This question of injustice is at the core of Dalit Literature. Through true representation of Dalit realities and their miserable situations, the writer puts the whole discourse of casteism to shame and these wretched characters to pity. They have neither proper space nor an upright voice, hence their existence is stripped of any political significance. This position of a vulnerable identity and precarious exposure to violence that characterise Dalit existence are analysed with reference to the characters and their community to study their ‘bare’ness.
Key Words: Dalit, Caste, Bare life, Exclusion, Personhood, Politics
Literature is built on the base of social discourses. The power relations and prevailing narratives of the socio cultural context get deeply ingrained into the superstructure of literature. What we see or rather perceive through literature is the ideology of the existing conditions. The universal or the national is reflected in the shade of which marginalised and minorities are made invisible and mute. The voices of the underprivileged remain a neglected topic of concern in the mainstream literary scenario. Those who are disadvantaged by gender, caste and race are too small to see in real life and its reflection in literature. Hence it becomes important to amplify the voices that were lost in the common and typical narratives of a society.
Just as literary representation can reflect ideologies, it can also construct, reconstruct and deconstruct the realities and discourses. Subaltern literature explores this possibility to unravel the hidden realities and re-present the varying experiences and its complex expressions to strip the leading literary depictions. Thus it becomes “a means of making a broader political statement by emphasising their marginalised identity position in relation to the dominant society” (Mostern 1999: 51).In the same line Dalit literature in the Indian context “highlights the inescapability of caste identity and the emotionality of discrimination in a different way...and displays a much broader and more fluid set of characteristics and experiences that constitute Dalit identity.” (Sara Beth Hunt, 10-11). It tries to establish a one to one correspondence between the characters in literature and members of the Dalit community. Vimal Thorat explains “ Dalit writers give creative expression to the tragedy of Dalit life through the medium of their own life experiences, ...they make the social, economic, cultural and political affairs of the entire community famous’ (2001: 55). Thus Dalit literature turns the oppression and pain of the community from the personal to the political.
The term Dalit means broken or scattered and it becomes synonymous with poor, exploited, oppressed and marginalised people.They are deprived of their fundamental rights, opportunities, possession of assets and right to equality. Their life from its early stages is punctuated by harrowing incidents of violence inflicted on them and caste discrimination of various extents. Unending oppression and minimal opportunities mark their whole life. Sathianathan Clark remarks that “the subordination and subjection that marks the lives of Dalits in India bring them into the contours of a particularly contextual assemble of subalternity.”(Clark,6)
This marginality reduces the sense of self to the caste prejudices. This one’s identity becomes one of subordination, shame, silence and insult. Dalit literature attempts to echo the supressed and neglected voices of the oppressed and exploited. Victimisation and private /collective pain of the dalit is a challenge to the universally accepted ideal of human rights to which every human being fall heir to. To emphasise these values every Indian citizen is entitled to the fundamental rights and right to equality. Laws and rules being guardians of human rights how come this group called dalits always face violations of the same rights?
According to Benedicto and Brunel ‘Mental, physical and virtual borders are structures and discourses of violence which have been built up to divert us from the policies that defend human rights of coexistence and equality’ (Benedicto and Brunel, 11-12). The discriminatory and exclusionary system which tormented the Dalits was the age old ‘casteism’ that withstood the advent of modernity and democracy in India.
Human rights are based on the principle that all human beings are born equal. But in the case of Dalits the irony is that it is their birth into a lower caste that made them unequal. Inequality and inferiority is imposed on them right from the beginning so that they have nothing to hold on to except the human body, biological life and a natural force that compels them to survive. And the so-called ‘inalienable’ rights remain alien to them. Untouchability was a historical reality in India whereby some castes were preordained as inferior, downtrodden and despicable believed to be born from the foot of the God. They were seen as an abomination or pollution hence banned from religious ceremonies. They were not allowed into the mainstream and were driven to the outskirts of the village. They exercised no choice over their profession. In a caste based social system they always got demoted to menial occupations like removing animal and human dead bodies, waste etc. Destined to be poor and hungry they had to feed on the left over of the elite class.In short, Dalit had been living a life of animal in the society.
Dalit literature plays an important role in delineating the pain and agony of exclusion the Dalit community has to endure because of caste prejudice and untouchability. According to Sarah Beth Hunt Dalit literature has “offered new depictions of Indian life from the perspective of the lower castes. (2) She adds, “Hindi Dalit writers have conceptualised Dalit literature as a document of pain, as a weapon of struggle and a force of democratisation in the cultural arena.”(Sarah Beth Hunt, 212).The pain is something so exclusive to their socio, cultural and political experience that no one else in the mainstream society can write on it. Unearthing a history of suffering and oppression and the pain associated with discrimination Dalit literature positions itself opposite the modern discourses of justice and human rights. The physical torture and its pain are closely connected to the mental agony and feelings of inadequacy. Inability to participate in mainstream civic life strips their life off any socio-political significance. More than the abstract mental and emotional pain of caste discrimination, it clutches into the very meaning and essence of human existence. Literature as a space for the articulation of Dalit experience, the torment of remaining at the far margins as an outcast gets portrayed in Dalit literature.
Shankarrao Kharat was a writer with a clear political vision for Dalits which manifested in his body of literature. His works initiate a quest for regaining the lost humanity and dignity of Dalit lives. Though his literary pursuit was a social act, without a trace of anger or rage, he could make his readers travel into the Maharwadas to discover how difficult and humiliating it was to be born and grow up as a Mahar in Maharashtra. Through this heart wrenching portrayals he was cleverly inviting the readers to be active participants in the struggles of his characters. The deplorable characters made them realise the need for change in the personal and social spheres. His life as revealed in his autobiography ‘Taral Antaral’ and other literary works delineate the practice of multifarious levels of ‘untouchability’ that was widespread, direct and sanctioned by the prevalent unwritten law of caste ridden society.
‘A Corpse in the Well’ and ‘The Bone Merchant’, two extracts from Khatar’s autobiographical piece ‘Taral Antaral’ can effectively illustrate the victimisation and dehumanisation that are meted out to Dalits. For achieving his mission to humanise the lives of the marginalised and civilize the imagination of the society, Kharat narrates private pains and collective suffering which drain one of his/her sense of personhood.
‘A Corpse in the Well’ is a story about the discrepancy between duty and servitude when it comes to the Mahar caste. It clearly shows the patterns of power which fosters the higher class and exploits the helplessness of Dalits. The story is set around a ramshackle of a well where a corpse is seen floating. According to the custom, the Mahar on village duty- the narrator’s father, is supposed to guard the body till the police arrive. “I knew clearly the dangers of village duty. It was a perpetual noose around the neck of the Mahar. My father was crushed flat by this duty.”(1) He does his duty the entire night but he is not relieved as the officials are not there yet. He can’t go home or take some food until the duty is over. “I will have time to eat when everything is over with this corpse. Not before that.”(1-2). But in the meantime the officers and village chief have had their fill as “they are officers. How can they work without food?”(2). Anna raises a significant question which is relevant in the progress of the story. “Who cares if a Mahar lives or dies?”(2).
The police arrive and inspect the surroundings of the well. It is to be seriously noted that the horse of the constable gets a decent treatment and the hungry Mahar himself had to make arrangements for the horse’s food and care. Finding that the well is in a bad condition and task ahead is dangerous, a solution is sorted out between the constable and the Patil. The Mahar is ordered to take the body from the well, though it is not his duty. Initially, he is not ready as it will be inviting issues against the Mahar for touching a dead body. His resistance invites only threats and abuses from the constable. “You lump of dirt! Are you going to jump, or do I have to whip you?”(3) Left without a choice he slid down into the well in a rope, risking his life. Because, “In those days the oppressive power and prestige of the head constable was tremendous, Against this power, a Mahar was a mere wisp of straw.”(3)
The narrator who is anxiously watching the movements of his father spots a snake inside the well and screams out at his father to come up. But Anna hung dangling on the rope. None was concerned about the safety of the Mahar. The constable was complaining about getting late and issued an order to hurry up. Keeping an eye on the snake, Anna completed his task by tying the rope around the bloated corpse to be pulled up by the other Mahars. His work didn’t end there. He had to accompany the corpse for post-mortem. The narrator had to leave for home seeing his father doing all the deadly work with an empty belly.
While ‘A Corpse in the Well’ puts across the vulnerability of Dalits and how the society exploits their defencelessness, ‘The Bone Merchant’ articulates their deprived state which debase them to sub human trades. The story begins with the declaration, “When I was at school in the village, I was always short of money.” Even as a school boy he had to do different jobs to get a small amount of money. “...anything to get some money. Or there would not have been a single coin in my hand” (35) sets the context and tone of the story. Into such a distressed Maharwada a bone merchant is introduced who will give money in exchange for the bones of animals collected by the Mahar. Hearing shouts announcing the arrival of the bone man “all the children of the Mahars and Mangs had started searching for bones by the side of the stream near the platform. They ran around picking whatever bones they could find.”(35) Because the small amount in return went a long way to reduce their poverty.
Some Mahars out of their dire need started collecting bones so that they could get a fair amount when the bone man visits. But children like the narrator couldn’t collect bones in advance and took to their heels in search of bones. Those who had collected bones in their backyard had a tough time guarding the bones and chasing children away. With this regular business with the bone merchant they earned some easy money which was invaluable for the Mahar people. “The moment they heard that the merchant had come, Sawala and Shiva Mahar looked radiant. Sawala moved quickly, climbed down the steps and ran towards his house like a hound on scent.”(36)
Narrator with his two friends put a combined effort to find and collect bones. They search all possible places and plan to explore the cemetery too. Because for them,“Bones are bones! as long as we get some money for it.”(37) As they feverishly collect bones, crows and kites start chasing them. “Seeing kites and crows above us, dogs started to follow us, the smell of the bones in their nostrils.”(37). Thus the deprivation, need and the ensuing greed degrade them to an animal-like existence where they literally search and fight for bones. As they proceed with their collection they fight with Dama over a skeleton of an ox. They started pulling from different sides. Seeing them fight another Mahar asked them, “Why are you fighting for bones like dogs?”(38) and advises them to share the bones between them. In their attempt to fill in their bundle of bones, the narrator goes to the cemetery and picks some bones and skeletons and happily goes to the bone man. It is only when the bone man explains, he realises the gravity of his action. He returns the human bones in the cemetery and leaves for home happily with the priceless coins in his hand. The reality that even children without fear or a second thought gets ready to take risks and debase themselves to disgraceful things direct our attention to the socio-political system that constructs a virtual barrier. The Dalits are excluded and made to accept the status of ‘other’ by this exclusionary politics preached by caste structure.
The state of naivety and apolitical victimhood that the characters bear in the stories is a result of tortured consciousness, messy environment and the oppressive social system. Caste system in India produces and perpetuates hierarchies of personhood resulting in different levels of people with unequal rights and relationships. Thus some castes are dehumanised and made to occupy a precarious position. The caste based hierarchy is not just a religious, social or cultural organising system but also an ‘othering’ scheme. This ‘othering’ set of dynamics, propagates prejudices, inequality and marginality. ‘Othering’ is defined as “structures that engender marginality and persistent inequality across any of the full range of human differences based on group identities.” (John A.Powell and Stephen Menendian). And being victims of exclusion and ‘othering’ groups and individuals are made vulnerable.
Vulnerable people are those people who are relatively incapable of safeguarding their own interests. They may not possess sufficient power, resources, strength or other attributes that are necessary for defending their interests. In short, the vulnerable like the Dalits cannot hope to attain the capability to access freedom and equal rights and be an important participant in social life. Exclusion from social life, weak economic position and lack of political support leave them in a precarious condition. This segregated and estranged state results in dispossession, deprivation, instability and insecurity that they move towards a sub human situation.
Human beings are essentially a living animal with the gift for reasoning and hence able to participate in the political sphere. So a human without capacity to take part in the power structure of the system is devoid of full potential to be called a good life i.e., the political way of life. When a modern man is placed in a position where his competence to speak and engage in the political system is challenged, he/she is reduced to what Agamben calls ‘bare life’. As opposed to good life, bare life is rooted in nature and is biological life common to all living creatures. By this distinction it becomes clear that political existence is different from the simple fact of living. According to this ranking different hierarchical locations are assigned and fields of activities described for good life and bare life. In the caste system the Dalits who are at the lowest level are not worthy to live a good life and hence remain ‘bare’.
Considering the socio-political status of human beings Giorgio Agamben has highlighted the term ‘bare life’ which is applicable also to Dalits in this oppressive context. They too are reduced to ‘bare life’- humans as animals in nature without political freedom. Agamben begins with the mere biological aspect of life which he calls biological life. When natural life gets related to the political life of the ‘polis,’ it becomes ‘bios’. ‘Bios’ is the dignified life and proper way to live as an individual in a group. A human being could only grow to achieve his or her full potential by being a member of the polis. The division between natural and political life transforms certain groups of people as being reduced to 'bare life'(zoe) deprived of any rights.
In the case of Dalits, they are regulated and governed by the caste system and whims and fancies of the elite class and people in authority. With reference to the rights that protect human dignity they can be symbolically represented as ‘naked’, ‘bare’ and in essence politically invisible and irrelevant. These circumstances deprive the individual of power, basic human freedoms and expose them to threats or precarious situations. “bare life which must be excluded and exposed” (Agamben1998, 61). They are deprived of everything except bare life. Bare life is both the counterpart to and the target of sovereign violence. Applying this to Dalit context they remain constant target of violence and exploitation of varying range. The sovereign counterpart is not just an individual or community but the entire socio-political and cultural system which has propagated the myth of Dalit inferiority. “Categories reduced to bare life will have to remain outside the political body” (Jessica Whyte 2013, 20) and stay exposed to violence, torture and trauma.
“According to Agamben, the separation of zoē and bios is constituted by the simultaneous exclusion and inclusion of bare life. That is, the exclusion of biological life from political life is at the same time an inclusion, because zoē is there as that which is excluded: it is included by the very process of exclusion” ( Zembylas , 36). The same strategy of exclusion happens in the case of Dalits too. They are not worthy to be included into the mainstream. But they are obliged to perform some duties and ensure the comforts and superiority of the elite class.
Categorisation and dehumanisation of the downtrodden are founded on the principle of exclusion. When some individuals or groups are excluded and regulated by a power on the basis of unequal, discriminatory standards, 'bare life’ is created. In the article ‘Agamben’s Theory of Biopower’ Zembylas explains, “Agamben’s ‘bare life’ is essentially a life without power relations, that is, a relationship of violence and exploitation”(37). In the case of Dalits they are debarred on the basis of caste and the elite class and rest of the society assumes ultimate power to control them. They are ruled and managed on grounds of caste and exploited to such a level that what remains of them is mere existence.
Though excluded from the rational human society, Dalits get included as an ideal, disposable human tool suitable for a dangerous task. The Mahar is exposed to all types of abuses, violence and hazardous assignments. It is not because their valour, merit and spirit is acknowledged, but because the system is ready to give up this unworthy being called Mahar. Most of the disgusting jobs are imposed upon them. In the extract ‘A Corpse in the Well’ the duty of the Mahar is illustrated. It cannot be called duty proper, rather a servile occupation that can get extended, intensified and fatal at times. And the Mahar’s bare life has no chance to opt out of it. It is a lifelong bondage where the Dalit is a mute victim. If he desperately protests he will be overflowed with abuses. “If he said no, the constable wouldn’t stop till he had drubbed him soundly” (3).
In Agamben’s words a bare life is equal to human beings who “could be so completely deprived of their rights…that no act committed against them could appear any longer a crime” (1998, 171). The constable is there with the responsibility of implementing law and justice. But he becomes an agency of injustice and violation of rights for the Mahar. It makes clear that like bare life he is outside law. “The originary relation of law to life is not application but abandonment” (Agamben, 29). The law remains indifferent to the injustice meted out by the Dalits while it takes care of the interests of the upper class“He who has been banned is not, in fact, simply set outside the law and made indifferent to it but rather abandoned by it, that is, exposed and threatened on the threshold in which life and law, outside and inside, become indistinguishable” (Agamben, 28)
Zembylas interpretation of bare life holds good for the Dalit community. “inhabitants were stripped of every political status and wholly reduced to bare life, bare life, excluded from the political community and exposed to death at every turn.” (36). The sovereign authority against them is so powerful that they cannot raise their voice or protest. In the story ‘A Corpse in the Well’ the narrator attempts a protest but is beaten with the baton and called ‘a little worm’. The kind of violence they are capable of keeps him restrained though he is infuriated by the injustice done to his father. The Mahar, Anna in ‘A Corpse in the Well’ is a victim of exclusion, exploitation and violence that a bare life suffers.
‘The Bone Merchant’ deals with a subtle revelation of ‘bare life’ in Dalit context. In the peripheral level the extract just presents an incident that helped the narrator get some money amidst dire poverty. On a deeper analysis the powerlessness and deprivation that gradually degrade people to a bare life emerges. Bare life is not simply about the minimum level of existence or biological life, but rather “a zone of indistinction and continuous transition between man and beast” (Homo Sacer, 109).To this explanation the Dalit community in the extract ‘The Bone Merchant’ is qualified. And the characters include all the people in the locality, elders and children alike. Their area is almost like a dumping yard with carcasses lying around, as they are entrusted with the job of dealing with such repulsive stuff.
Even the children express little loathing towards this nauseating task. They have internalised the falsehood that they are for such hideous things. The Dalit characters in ‘A Corpse in the Well’ are not happy with the authority that suppresses and exploits them. It is out of helplessness that they obey the orders cursing the police under their breath. But ‘The Bone Merchant’ presents a group of Mahars who are excitedly hunting for dead animals, collecting bones from the decaying carcasses, impatiently fighting with kinsmen over bones and competing with dogs and kites for their share. Some don’t even mind going over to the cemetery and taking human bones. We can’t miss the debased atmosphere where the whole scenario gets transformed to an inhuman and barbarous environment. The readers feel pity for the Mahar when they are pleased at the prospect of a better meal ahead.
While reading the piece we experience the concept of being ‘human’ crumpling at different levels. The political and the ontological differences between human and inhuman, the distinction between man and animal gets slowly erased and here it is very much closer to bare life, denied of choice, devoid of resources. This figure is something neither an alien nor a normal member of human species. This situation is not an automatic process, but systemically produced condition resulting from the creation of a socially dead and economically exploited being called Dalit.
Stripped of political significance and exposed to murderous violence, it refers to an individual who can be killed without legal consequences. Bare life is the damaged, wounded and endangered figure whose political life is marked by the lack of ability to speak out and hear and to act according to will. The bare life of the Dalits is what remains after unlimited exposure to violence and violation of rights. The whole community of Dalit is reduced to a population which is disposable and can be destroyed with impunity. It is an enslaved life of a ‘nonperson’ which serves the interests of the sovereign authority and is defined as a tool or property. Banned from the mainstream of affairs they are left without a proper place. Their survival is at risk, as they are made powerless to protest the exploitation and abuses.
Having placed the Dalit existence as bare life, the significance of this narrative strategy in Dalit literature needs to be explored. Dalit writing was an integral part of the argument within Indian democracy over the role of caste and its invisibility in the public field. Owing to the crushing historical background and inadequacy of the system they were denied a much needed personhood. Through the narrative of pain and disclosure of shame, these narratives were articulating the aspiration of individuals to personhood and the community to a dignified recognition and realisation of full citizenship.
The corpus of autobiographical writing by Dalit writers like that of Shankarrao Kharat retraces the journey of Dalit individuals with all its setbacks and challenges. They are not at all ashamed of their Dalit identity, but finds this delineation is important as it “is aimed at documenting Dalit suffering in order to invoke a sense of shame.”(Sarah Beth Hunt, 190)
Though the autobiographies are chronicles of individual pain and communal suffering the recovery of personhood remains the focus of these literary utterances. The background of poverty, the language of helplessness and an aspiration for rights make up Dalit literature. In this framework the conventional literary models that cover up the ugliness of the system are turned upside down. The romantic model of innocent and idyllic village is deconstructed as the site of the most ruthless forms of caste discrimination, poor living conditions and violence. Emerging from these miserable circumstances the young Dalits educate themselves and wish to change the system of exploitation which has severely handicapped their sense of the self. Tendencies towards inferiority complex are so internalised that a feeling of mental and spiritual deficiency lingers even after they achieve a better social position.
Dalit autobiographical writings, dwelling on personal pain and distress, try to reconstruct the idea of pain as something unnatural and as having traumatic effects on one’s identity and psyche. The assaults on the communal and personal bodies traumatize them and disfigure the self image of the victims. Mohandas Naimisharay writes, ‘Dalit literature is not the literature of pain, torment or freedom, but rather it is the power and identity of those who fight’(Naimisharay 2002:19). Inscribing Dalit life and disclosing the bareness of its reality becomes a political act whereby the powerless class ripping off its ego expose the counterfeit reality that has been embedded into the conventional literary and social consciousness.
Works Cited
- Agamben, G. Homo Sacer: Sovereign power and bare life (trans. D. Heller-Roazen).Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.1998.
- Benedicto, Ainhoa Ruiz, and Pere Brunel. Building Walls: Fear and Securitization in the European Union. Barcelona: Centre Delas D’Estudis Per La au, 2018.
- Clarke, Sathianathan. Dalits and Christianity: Subaltern Religion and Liberation Theology in India.New Delhi:OUP.1998.
- Dangle, Arjun (ed.). A Corpse in the Well: Translations from Modern Marathi DalitAutobiograhies. Bombay: Orient Longman.1992.
- Powell, John A, and Stephen Menendian. “The Problem of Othering: Towards Inclusiveness and Belonging” in Articles. www.othering and belonging.org)
- Mostern, Kenneth. Autobiography and Black Identity Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999
- Naimisharay, Mohandas. ‘Marathi aur Hindi Dalit Atmakathaen’ (Marathi and Hindi Dalit Autobiographies), Uttar Pradesh, 30 (1): 19–25. 2002.
- Thorat, Vimal. “Dalit Jivan ka Dastavej: Dalit Atmakathan” (A Document of Dalit Life: Dalit Autobiography), in Jayprakash Kardam (ed.),Dalit Sahitya.Delhi. 2001.
- Whyte, Jessica. Catastrophe and Redemption: The Political Thought of Giogio Agamben.Albany: SUNY Press, 2013.
- Zembylas, Machalinos. “Agamben's Theory of Biopower and Immigrants/ Refugees/ Asylum Seekers: Discourses of Citizenship and the Implications for Curriculum Theorizing” Journal of Curriculum Theorizing .Vol. 26, No. 2, 2010. Pp.31-44.