Towards a definition of Dalit Narratology:
A critical study of Aravind Malagatti’s Government Brahmana
U S Saranya
PhD Scholar – English Studies
School of Social Studies and Languages
V I T University, Vellore-14.
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Abstract
Dalit literature represents the plight and agony of the Dalits. Especially, the Dalit autobiography represents the communal life of the Dalits rather than that of the individuals. The Dalit autobiographies deal with the pathetic condition of the Dalits. The insult and injury faced by Dalits is portrayed within the reality of the situation. As the Dalit writers try to prepare a platform for Dalit communities consolidating their anger through their writings, the Dalit Autobiography acts as a counter discourse. The discrimination, suppression and alienation that the Dalits are being faced are the contention of the select work of Malgatti’s Government Brahmana (2003) in which the author tries to re-locate the Maali community. The author represents how the Maali community people were categorically othered from the mainstream society in Karanataka. The Government Brahmana is the English translation of Aravind Malagatti’s autobiography in Kannada translated into English by Dharani Devi Malagatti, Janet Vucinich and N. Subramanya.
The proposition of the paper is to deal with Malgatti’s Government Brahmana (2003). The narrative is in the form of episodes which tempt the readers to study all the elements of social life experienced by the author from his childhood to that of adulthood. The paper is aimed at studying the select work in light of Dalit Narratology and its effectiveness in depicting the Dalit lifestyle in an authentic and genuine manner.
Keywords: Narratology, dalits, autobiography, discrimination, alienation, and gender.
Autobiography appeared first in the west in the 18th century. It represents more about private, social, public, political and moral life of a writer. Individual achievements, personal experiences, oppression, imprisonment and struggles of an author occupy core part in autobiography. Unlike autobiography written by mainstream writer, dalit autobiography is not confined strictly to the author’s life or hardships faced by him and happy moments passed by the author though it is narrated in first person. It is the reflection of traumas and wounded psyche of dalits and dalit community. The list of Autobiography are as N. S. Suryavanshi’s Things I Never Imagined (1975), Daya Pawar’s Baluta (1978) mark the raise of dalit autobiography. Narendra Jadhav’s Outcaste : A memoir (2003), Bama’s Karukku (1992), Vasant Moon’s Growing up Untouchable in India (2001), Sharankumar Limbale’s The Outcaste (2003), Omprakash Valmiki’s Joothan: A Dalit’s Life (2003), Aravind Malagatti’s Government Brahmana (2007), Baby Kamble’s Prisons we Broke (2008), Urmila Pawar’s The Weave of My Life (2008) are some of the best examples of dalit autobiographies which spit fire against existing Hindu norms. Baluta (1978) by Daya Pawar is perhaps the first dalit autobiography which shook the upper caste people.
A Narrative is a story, whether told in prose or verse. It involves events, characters and what the characters say and do. Literary study relies on theories of narrative structure: on notion of plot, of different kinds of narrative, of narrative technique. Literary narratives can be viewed in many types including novels, dramas, fables, folk tales, short stories, poetry, etc. There are different types of Narrative they are 1) Adventures 2) Fables 3) Fairy tales 4) Fantasy stories 5) Folktales 6) Mysteries 7) Myths 8) Personal narratives 9) Realistic stories 10) Science fiction stories. This paper is going to deal about the personal narratives in the Dalit fiction. Personal narratives are true stories based on the actual experience in the life. Unlike other literature Dalit literature deals with the real life experience experienced by the writer or by the people in the community. It portrays the real life suffering faced by the lower caste men and women in the form of religion, caste and gender and class. As Dangle feels the motives behind all Dalit autobiographical writings are:
“….. The struggle for survival; the emotional universe of a Dalit- life the man – woman relationship: an existence crushed, under the wheels of village life: the experiencing of humiliation and atrocities; at times, abject submission, at other times, rebellion”.
As professor C.Nanjundan states in ‘The Dalit’ March- April 2003 that with the spread of the ambedkarite dalit movement after 1990, dalit autobiographies became the norm. Much of contemporary dalit literature is autobiographical, even as they reflect the various facets of dalit movement in different context. Aravinda Malagatti‘s Government Brahamana, the first dalit autobiography in Kannada , is different from other such autobiographies in the sense that it talks about the travails of a dalit in a tone that exudes self –confidence , uninhibited by the constrains imposed by society . It is the lift – story of an educated dalit, which at no stage forsakes the study support of humor.
A word on the title the pharse Government Brahamana‘was coined by brahminical groups in Karnataka. Since the Dalits are beneficiaries of reservation, they are dubbed as government propped brahmins‘. Aravinda Malagatti courageously used this phase as the title of his autobiography, mocking at the very mockery of the brahminical castes, and proved that a dalit is in no way inferior to people of other communities. The text does not exhibit any self- pity, but rather a sense of pride.
According to good reads Government Brahmana is the English transalation of Aravind Malagatti's autobiography in Kannada. It was the first Dalit autobiography in Kannada and has won the Karnataka Sahitya academy Award. It is a compilation of different chapters from his childhood and youth where the author through his experiences expose the cruel Hindu Caste Society which treats fellow humans with less humanity than that is bestowed upon animals
As per The Hindu Book Review the autobiography is very different in substance and style, but extremely rewarding, are these translations of two celebrated works, one of Kannada and the other Bangla. Aravind Malagatti has provided a loaded term of all-India significance. "Government Brahmana" is used as an equivalent to the word `Dalit'. It is imperative that it is used only where unmistakable goodwill exists between conversationalists or correspondents, since the author says that he was teased that way.
Prof. Janet Vuchinich, Ph.D who is one of the translator states about the experience of translating the book from Kannada to English. She appreciates the language and syntax because it reflects the multiple worlds of Dr. Aravind Malagatti lives in and the spoken languages. Dr. Aravind Malagatti's stories in 'Government Brahmana' have spoken to the people of, Karnataka and have now been translated for a larger community. These stories invite the reader into both the pain and the integrity of his life; involve us in his process of creating meaning from a world that can be both ugly and beautiful. Dr. Malagatti opens 'Government Brahmana' with the idea that his life is "ordinary" that of an "ordinary Dalit" surfacing questions that surround any piece of narrative writing. The author takes us into the intimacy of his life from storytelling on his grandmother's lap to the pain of lost love. He breaks down the boundaries of the individual, caste, and race enabling the reader to feel another's experience and share the search for answers. The author states why he has written autobiography at early stage of his life. "The story" of one's life or is the writing of experience about a process of reflection and communication that is a part of life, not something done at the end of life”. Dr. Malagatti writes in the first chapter, "Putting one's life experiences before the people is like becoming chewing betal and nut to those craving, eaten by those who gossip". He says the "Dalitism of a Dalit could simply be caught and held by directly narrating experience". Dr. Malagatti writes at the end of the book, "I say that one must be bold enough to narrate the embarrassing instances as honestly and clearly as those which make us proud"
Often he ends chapters with questions: for example, "How can a Society which does not let even the creations of Vishwamithra make love naturally give a chance to 'human lovers to meet?" "Have you taken bath in such gutter water?" "Have you gargled with the same water and brushed your teeth? (sewage water)" "Didn't they also deserve the same punishment? (the nondalits)" "When non-dalits have such an aversion even towards the names, what would be the plight of the people who have been forced to eat the shit?" "You tell me now, when I have to face such situations, how can I accept the dinner invitations without any reservations?" These questions are directed at the reader. But, he is not answering his own questions, he is truly asking for the reader's thought. In talking about the book, Dr.Malagatti said, "This writing is not to hurt anyone, first I want to test myself". A book like this is not paper and ink but a piece of life that is to be felt, to be shared in a variety of contexts. These stories provide pictures of a social reality to scholars and a validation of personal experience to other Dalits. The personal story becomes bigger than the individual.
In ‘A serious sketch of an Inhuman system’ Dr. Rahmath Tarikere states that the Dalit literateurs in Kannada have so far chosen the literary forms like poetry,story and novel to given an expression to their perceptions and experiences. But Arvind Malagatti‘s Gowrment Brahmana ( Government Brahmin) stands out as an answer to these queries. This autobiography records the experiences of the author till his adulthood. That too those of his childhood, school and college days. About these Malagatti writes
“Whether to write an autobiography at my young age is a question which has tormented me. The reason being that the time for writing an autobiography in Kannada literature is when one‘s hair grays and the head shakes….There is no need for the hair to turn gray to share one‘s experiences. There is no need for the teeth to fall either. To give a factual presentation of one‘s life means becoming the subject of a public debate when one is still alive”.
Gowrment Brahmana is not the picture of one individual. It is the pictorial presentation of a traditional and ritualistic society which does not know the real meaning of human hunger, which does not take note of their feelings, and which doesn‘t accept their love as love . His writing is serious which analyses his pain philosophically. At times his criticism of the social behavior appears to hover around the edge of impatience. The strength of his writing lies not only in his unique experience but also the poetic way he has expressed them. These writings exhibit the qualities of a poetry, an essay or a story. Whatever the experience one undergoes, the feelings they bring about are real and lasting.
In the research article ‘Identity Crisis and Search for ‘Self’ in Aravind Malagatti’s The Government Brahmana’ R.Janani states that in exploring the text one has to see the collective consciousness of being a Dalit and the individual identity crisis. The autobiography of a Dalit, therefore, traces the individual identity among the collective community. The text is not a lamentation. This text scrutinizes the search for ‘self’ by an individual, which reflects the plight of the whole Dalit community’s search for identity. The story is about an ordinary Dalit and his experience is chosen to create a social change. The story questions the ‘self’ in every form and makes even a Non-Dalit to think. The writer breaks down the boundaries of the individual, of caste and race and he has given the most minute details from slices of his life. The text in a way breaks the cliché of the stereotypic representations of the Dalit.
The book is made up of 21 episodes, a translator's preface and an informative afterword which helps sharpen non-Kannada reader's perception of Indian Dalit literature in general and Aravind Malagatti's in particular. Government Brahmana contains 22 chapters, which can be dividing into two broad categories. The first category includes like coins on the Corpse, Tomorrow‘s turn of sweeping is Malakatti‘s .The She buffalo on heat and he-buffalo that followed it, Hundaya‘s house slashed, My colony My study etc. Fundamentally these chapters give expressions to the anguish born out of the personal experiences of a dalit. The chapters that fall into the second category which though excluding dalit consciousness, are those that could be written by even a non- dalit writer. To mention a few such chapters My ex-beloved, Some Girls who Flirt with Future, My Debut at the Boozer‘s Table , Revolt, Brahmanism, Coffee Over a Cup of Tea, Marxism and After Meal Plate etc. In this category one can observe that the thick dalit voice gets diluted and stifled except for caste exploitation, humiliation, these chapters could have been written by any young writer.
In the chapter ‘with you reader before you read’ malagatti says to the readers how he was brought up by his chikappa and aayi after the death of his dad by scorpion bite and he shares his experience of being tormented and put to shame in various stages of his life. He had to save on food and clothes to give something for next generation. His aayi was his great support and thought him many things in life her untimely death left him wither. The author states how he faced struggles in his life as a dalit and the way he was deprived to enjoy the rights of his birth as a human being. In the second chapter ‘coins on the corpse and the wedding feast’ in this the author narrates his experience of getting money during death ceremony and his stomach being filled during wedding feast. The death ceremony of the uppercaste would always bring joy to the dalits as they would throw coins on the corpse and it would fall on the floor and other people would walk on it and the dalits would get it after the corpse is gone. In the wedding ceremony the dalits will be given food and in order to avoid repetition after having food they would be asked to dip their hand in ink water such was the state of struggle for money and food in the community.