Abstract:
The literary expressions of Meena Kandasamy, contemporary Indian writer do not just expose the Dalit predicament in a culture rooted with casteism but also provoke the reader to orient the thoughts to look at the hierarchies regulated by hegemonic structures. In the process of challenging and subverting the received ideologies, she looks forward to alternative forms of liveable society which accommodates all humans without rigid caste restrictions. Her poetry is a clear radical message for fight against all atrocities inflicted on this community and give voice to the otherwise silenced/unexposed Dalit experiences.
This article therefore is an analysis of select poems from the two poetry collections by Meena Kandasamy – Touch (2006) and Ms. Militancy (2010) to substantiate the arguments and thereby situating’ the writer as a staunch Dalit feminist activist whose contribution brought new directions in Indian writing in English.
Key Words: caste, hierarchy, hegemony, feminism, Dalit
Postmodern and Postcolonial literary writings in India have the spirit of revolution and ‘writing back’ for social upliftment and change. Inspired by French Revolution, Marxist Revolution, American Revolution and Indian Philosophers like B R Ambedkar, the chief architect of Indian constitution, many Dalit writers came forward to speak for the oppressed class and give voice to the subdued masses. Dalit writings in India are narratives of pain, suffering, trauma, resistance, protest and social change. These literary expressions document the atrocities against the marginalized communities based basically on caste and gender. The writings are lived experiences of struggle, humiliation and violence. Even the autobiographies do not represent just the self but are representatives of the traumatic experiences of the whole community. Dalit writings not just articulate the sufferings but partake in exposing ways in which victims have struggled and survived. Pramod K Nayar rightly has pointed that Dalit writings is about re-construction of self after traumatic experiences and in the process of finding meaning in life, the Dalit engages in finding the self and the identity. Cathy Caruth too contests, “trauma is not simply an effect of destruction but also, fundamentally, an enigma of survival”. Arjun Dangle, the Marathi Dalit writer, editor and activist suggests, “Dalit literature is marked by revolt and negativism, since it is closely associated with the hopes for freedom by a group of people, who as untouchables, are victims of social, economic and cultural inequality” (Trans. Mukhherjee; 1). Dangle traces the origin of Dalit literature to Ambedkar. It was his revolutionary ideas that encouraged Dalits to speak for themselves and therefore Dalit literature is an expression of this self- awareness; an assertion for a dignified life. Dalit literature today represents the literature for/by the marginalized and subaltern communities. Limbale (2004, 1) too observes that it was under the Indian philosopher and revolutionist Dr. B R Ambedkar (1891-1956) considered as the father of Dalit movement that gave upraise to Dalit writings. Being born in a lower caste himself, he could relate to the experiences of his community and with his revolutionary ideas voiced for self respect, dignity and identity for the dalits. This was later spear headed by the Dalit Panthers Movement in Bombay in 1972, adding a new meaning to Dalit upsurge. Today Dalit writers and activists are fighting against all discrimination not only to gain identity but to bring a social change. Their writings become metaphors of visibility. Literature, the mirror of our lives, plays a vital role in reflecting the actual sufferings of the world through writing. Several writers like Mahasweta Devi, Urmila Pawar, Bama, Shantabai Kamble, Om Prakash Valmiki, Mulk Raj Anand, Arundathi Roy and many others brought the injustices faced by the oppressed class to the forefront and gave a voice to these subaltern classes.
Against this background, this article explores the literary expressions of Meena Kandasamy, contemporary Indian writer and Dalit activist. Many scholarly works have concentrated on Dalit fiction and autobiographical writings but less has been explored in the context of Dalit poetry, emerging from South India. Hence this study which analyses the poetic narrations of Dalit self and womanhood would prove beneficial in the already existing studies on Dalit literature.
Ilavenil Meena Kandasamy (1984 - ) is an Indian poet, translator, fiction writer and activist from Tamil Nadu, India. She has published two collections of poetry, Touch (2006) and Ms.Militancy (2010) and edited The Dalit, a bi-monthly English magazine related to Dalit works. Her fictional works include The Gypsy Goddess (2014) and When I Hit You: Or, A Portrait of the Writer as a Young Wife (2017). For the purpose of this study, some poems from both the collections will be evaluated to understand the aesthetics of Dalithood and situate the writer’s articulations as a fierce voice against the intelligentsia. Meena Kandasamy’s works deserve scholarly attention as it allows applying the discourses on dalit consciousness and situating the writer in the context of dalit feminist writer. Dalit literature continues to grow as new emerging writers come ahead to voice the individual experience at the same time resonating the collective experience of the community at large who were suppressed and silenced since ages. Present dalit writers emerge as activists fighting for the cause of the Dalit right to live with dignity, respect and identity and find a space in the national and international literary canon. According to Brueck (153), new generation of Dalit writers are not just exposing the humiliation and pain suffered but creating a narrative which accommodates self consciousness and introspection and also protecting the Dalit identity. Raj Kumar in his seminal text Dalit literature and Criticism points that the upper caste Hindu writers wrote about ‘untouchables’ and the marginalized section with a sense of pity and compassion and they wrote from their perspective and those texts evoke sympathy for the underdogs. He says that these texts were written in order to bring social reform but failed to present the dalit realities at large. (49-50). He further contests that Dalit writers today condemn the canon as ‘Hindu literature’ and seek to challenge its hegemony (67) through a voice which is crude, realistic and fierce. To this group of writers, belong Meena Kandasamy who uses poetry as a weapon to fight the atrocities that her community has faced.
The primary focus of Kandasamy’s works is caste annihilation and the politics behind dalit feminism. Her oeuvre is a critical response to the discourses that surround discrimination in terms of caste and gender within the Dalit living experiences. Her two collections of verse, Touch (2006) and Ms. Militancy (2010) are vibrant intellectual sites that challenge patriarchy and interpret the social disparities and political injustices that cripple Indian society. Touch (2006) was her first collection of published poetry which has been translated into five different languages. Her second collection, Ms Militancy (2010), retells Hindu and Tamil myths from an anti-caste feminist perspective. Being born in an orthodox conservative family and suffering domestic violence in family, Kandasamy has experienced violence within the family structures and also in the society in terms of caste discrimination. This prompted her to take poetry as a tool for self expression and social activism. She has an acute aversion towards the ways in which social structures assign fixed roles to people on the basis of caste and gender. She took to poetry to voice her concerns and to fight against the atrocities inflicted based on caste discrimination. When asked about the reasons for choosing poetry as a medium she says that poetry is free from academic language and dictum. She says “poetry is not caught up within larger structures that pressure you to adopt a certain set of practices while you present your ideas in the way that academic language is. Despite being an academic myself, I dread academia’s ultra-intellectualizing”. According to her, academic discourses do not use “the language to speak of the oppressed […] the language in which any victim would speak” (Duarte, 2010). At a very tender age, she started writing poetry and translating Tamil Dalit texts into English. Her works are reflective of Dalit community’s fight for freedom and rendering voice to the silenced Dalits, making them audible and visible. Her texts are value addition as it not only raises the issues of Dalits but throws light on the problems faced by Dalit women in India who are victims of double subjugation, both in terms of caste and gender. In this sense, she emerges out as a Dalit feminist articulating her voices against patriarchy in the social structure and also that exists within the Dalit community. This article therefore highlights Kandasamy as a Dalit feminist activist.
Touch is a collection of poems whose foreword written by notable writer Kamala Das addresses the issues and injustices practiced by upper class Hindus in the name of caste. The poems have crude language, gruesome images which mirror the plight of the downtrodden. The title of the collection itself evokes to our senses the practice of ‘untouchability’ permeated in the Indian social order. The poems are pieces of narration about caste, gender politics, political gimmicks, violence and through an unrefined language catch the attention of the reader to think and react on the underlying caste issues. Her works clearly mark protest, resistance and activism. Experimentation with language gives the power to express, agitate and write back. This reminds us of Michael Foucault’s remark in History of Sexuality where he states, “where there is power there is resistance and yet, and rather consequently, this resistance is never in a position of exteriority in relation to power.” (97). Kandasamy lashes at the caste based Hindu Brahmanical order as:
But, you will never have known
that touch—the taboo
to your transcendence,
when crystallized in caste
was a paraphernalia of
undeserving hate. (36-41)
While Touch brings the politics of Dalit experience at the hands of hierarchal structures constituted in social system, Ms. Militancy takes a feminist turn to address the problems faced by Dalit women in particular. For this, she goes back to myths of Hindu and Tamil. She subverts and retells the ancient myths and presents female figures like Draupadi, Sita or Kannaki as bold, assertive and revolutionary. For example, the titular poem Ms. Militancy is based on the Tamil mythical character Kannaki who used her female power in order to seek “vengeance, she made a bomb of her left breast and blew up the blasted city.” (Kandasamy, Ms.Militancy22). These images resonate the power of dalits in writing back their histories to gain visibility and recognition.The notion of questioning and subverting the myths can also be traced in the poem Ekalaivan which denotes the character of Ekalav in the epic Mahabharata who is deprived knowledge due to his caste. She brings this character in the contemporary context of Dalit and iterates thus:
You can do a lot of things
With your left hand.
Besides, fascist Dronacharyas warrant Left-handed treatment.
Also,
You don’t need your right thumb, To pull a trigger or hurl a bomb. (Kandasamy Touch 44)
The struggle to come out of the caste crippled society is reflected in the poem Aggression and these lines bear testimony: “Ours is a silence / that waits. Endlessly waits / … But sometimes, / the outward signals / of inward struggles takes colossal forms / And the revolution happens because our dreams explode.” (1-2,7-10). Again, the poem Apologises for living on brings the helplessness of Dalit women who are silenced and oppressed outside as well as inside their homes. These women aspire for individuality, freedom and identity of their own.
I was a helpless girl
Against the brutal world of
Bottom patting and breast-pinching
I was craving for security
The kind had only known while
Aimlessly-a float and speculating in the womb (Touch, 122)
Her poem Mohan Das Karamchand, critiques caste and criticises Gandhi for not playing a crucial role in caste upliftment, articulating thus: You knew, you bloody well knew Caste won’t go; they wouldn’t let it go (Touch, 54). In this situation, we recall Dr. Ambedkar who also criticized Gandhi for not paying any due attention to the problem of untouchability and caste system in India. Kandasamy lashes out thus:
Who? Who? Who?
Mahatma, sorry no
Truth, Non-violence
Stop it, enough taboo
Gone half cukoo, you
You called as names,
You dubbed as Paiahs – ‘Harijans’
Ram, Ram, Ram… boo
Don’t ever act like a Saint. (Touch 54)
Many of her poems lash at political leaders, Hindu practices, Brahmin supremacy but celebrate the motives of Dr. Ambedkar in caste annihilation. Many Dalits feel that Gandhi has just given the name harijan for untouchables but did not attempt to do anything for caste eradication. Thus spoke Kandasamy in Hunter: “You dubbed us pariahs—‘Harijans’/ goody-goody guys of a bigot god / Ram Ram Hey Ram—boo” (10-12).
With the experimental narration in terms of form, content and language, Kandasamy uses poetry as a weapon of resistance against the rigid structures and also as a dialogue for negotiation and space in the mainstream narrative. In her interview with Sampsonia Way, she says, “Poetry, it is raw. It is real. It is full of jagged edges. My poetry is naked, my poetry is in tears, my poetry screams in anger, my poetry writhes in pain. My poetry smells of blood, my poetry salutes sacrifice. My poetry speaks like my people, my poetry speaks for my people.”(Duarte).
Another notable feature about her poems is her approach towards the Dalit women who suffer marginalization at various levels. Her poems are marked with a clear indication of “the inseparability of caste and gender identities” (Rege 134). The root cause according to Kandasamy are the religious scriptures which are narratives to determine/uphold gender roles and relegate women to ‘the sacrificing ones’. She argues that the myths and mythological tradition permeates in society and does not give liberty to women for self-expression. In an interview with Dr. Bhagyashree Verma, published in the Journal, Literary Voice, she says, “My poetry is "about the female self and body in ways not 'allowed' by this discourse." Women have been facing sexual abuse and violence for ages but had never been vocalizing their predicaments” (23). Talking about her poetry, she further adds,
My prime analysis of women's reactionary voices suppressed ever, are attempted in the expressive forms in Touch and Ms Militancy; while society does not stop critiquing me, and any woman who writes this straight way, it terminates the efforts to author a poetic discourse that can rebukes the ubiquitous advances of demoralize women who stubbornly endeavor towards opportunities that are hitherto unthought-of. When I declare My poetry 'smells of blood,' my poetry 'salutes sacrifice', it's a 'verdict of truth' as well as the 'agony that speaks of my people,' and I claim that my poetry speaks for my people. (Literary Voice 23)
Kandasamy writes in a very straightforward blunt way with a force of militancy and radicalism similar to that of Kamala Das, the notable Indian poet known for her confessional poetry. She uses language as a fierce mechanism to fight. In the poem entitled Once my Silence held you spellbound, she claims:
You wouldn’t discuss me because my suffering
was not theoretical enough. Enough. Enough.
Enough. Now I am theoretical enough.
I am theatrical enough (Lines 12-14).
In the Preface to the book, Ms Militancy, she declares, “I do not write into patriarchy. My Maariamma bays for blood. My Kali kills. My Draupadi strips. My Sita climbs onto a stranger’s lap. All my women militate. They brave bombs, they belittle kings. They take on the sun, they take after me” (8). She champions for the women’s cause. In the poem, Backstreet Girls, she brings a kind of communion with all Dalit women and asks them to liberate themselves from the clutches of domesticity and oppression under the hands of men.
Tongues untied, we swallow suns.
Sure, as sluts, we strip random men.
Sleepless. There’s stardust on our lids.
Naked. There’s self-love on our minds.
And yes, my dears, we are all friends (Lines 8-12).
Kandasamy clearly suggests the myriad ways in which Dalit women suffer due to economic exploitation and sexual harrasement at the hands of upper castes and also by the men of their own community. Dalit women are victims of sexual oppression, economic exploitation and social discrimination. As Tomar (2013) points that the condition of Dalit women doesn’t find space even in Indian feminism and this has turned writers to be militant and more forceful in their fight against ostracization. Tomar again points that Dalit women are portrayed sympathetically or victims of situations by male writers but Dalit women writers always choose to represent themselves as subjects who chose to resist and fight back “like any other victim of social oppression to guard their dignity” ( 2013, 3).
In this context, Kandasamy’s vision is clear; to liberate dalit women from all sorts of oppression. On being asked about her views on sexual freedom she says:
The idea of women being passive receptacles of men’s passion happens to be
the normative idea of sex in our culture – it becomes important for women to
claim autonomy over their bodies, to talk about their pleasure, to talk about
their rights. When oppression seems to be built on the edifice of controlling
women’s bodies, I think dismantling oppression has to begin there too. (Kandasamy The Wire)
Writing about this process of Dalit women consciousness, Gopal Guru, in his essay Dalit Women Talk Differently (1995), contests that neither Dalit men’s writing nor feminist movement took Dalit women’s issues as a subject of discussion. It never occurred in the Dalit narratives and feminist discourses. Hence, Dalit women took the charge of fighting for their own cause, asserting themselves and finding identity. Further, Guru argues that due to their social location, Dalit women can represent themselves better than upper-caste women:
Dalit women’s claim to “talk differently” assumes certain positions. It assumes that the social location of the speaker will be more or less stable; therefore, “talking differently” can be treated as genuinely representative. This makes the claim of Dalit woman to speak on behalf of Dalit women automatically valid. In doing so, the phenomenon of “talking differently” foregrounds the identity of Dalit women. (Guru, 1995: 2549)
He also points that in Dalit women writers, the voice is vehement and has a clear rebellious attitude for the female suffering in a Dalit context which may not be very visible in the male writings. Dalit female writers and activists boldly criticize the patriarchal order within their community. Such a fierce voice is clearly seen in Kandasamy’s verses. Kamala Das in the Foreword of Touch (2006) praised her saying that:
The young courage of the poet in aesthetically cutting the slice of protest into the fabric of ‘Indianness’ and taking initiative in shouldering the responsibility of ‘retelling’ the grounded narratives and “the unkind myths of casts and perhaps of religion… dark cynicism of youth… Revelations come to her frequently and prophecies linger at her lips… (7).
Kandasamy’s revolutionary zeal again resonates in the poem We will rebuild the world. The militant voice fused with anger and despair which calls into a sense of awakening is evoked in these lines.
Once impaled for our faith/ and trained to speak in
voiceless whispers/ we’ll implore/ you to produce the list/
from hallowed memories/ of our people digraced/ as
outcastes/ degraded/ as untouchables at/ sixty-four feet/
denied a life/ and livelihood and done to death/
So/ now/ upon a future time/
there will be a revolution.
It will begin in our red-hot dreams that surge that/ scorch
that/ scald that sizzle like lava/ but never settle down
never/ pungently solidify. (Kandasamy, Touch 61)
To sum up, both Touch and Ms Militancy act as a rigorous platform to resist through a polemic aggressive dialogue using verses that immediately brings afore the Dalit sentiment within the complex matrix of subjugation. Kandasamy uses myth and history to question, challenge and subvert the existing perception of caste based discrimination prevailing in the Indian social order. In this vehement process, she gives an alternate understanding of Indian history which had swept aside the Dalit sentiment for so long. Her poetry offers a stringent critique of hierarchies and casteist ideologies that permeates within social structures in order to control the ‘other’. As Sharmila Rege in her book, Writing Caste Writing Gender (2006), points, “Dalit life narratives are in fact testimonies, which forge a right to speak both for and beyond the individual and provide the context explicit or implicit for the official forgetting of histories of caste oppression, caste struggle and resistance” (2006, 13). The poetics of Meena Kandasamy operates within these discourses and her poetry represents serious activism through a deliberate language and diction to shackle the various constructs that subdue the Dalit populace.
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