Write notes on the following in about 250 words each: (a) Emergence of Shudras (b) Importance of Dalit Autobiography
21 June
(a) Emergence of Shudras: Indian historian Ram Sharan Sharma believes Dalits were present in the Mauryan period and before. B.R. Ambedkar cites Western historians to say that the Aryan invasion was the mark when Dalits as a section of society with racial distinction came into being. R.S.Sharma refers to Kautilya's Arthashastra on the division of society. According to Kautilya, actors, players, singers, fishermen, hunters, herdsmen, wine distillers and vendors, and similar persons usually travel with their women. This was not the case with the women of the higher varnas, whose activities were limited to the sphere of the home. The outside life of the women of the sudra varna was because of the necessity of working in the fields and pastures for the subsistence of their families. Kautilya provides that wives of sharecroppers and herdsmen are responsible for the payment of debts incurred by their husbands. The status of women belonging to the lower ranks was stronger and more dynamic than was the case with women of the higher ranks because the women of the lower ranks participate in the work outside the home and are a component of social productivity. In the post-Gupta period, two major developments were the decline of urban centers and the paucity of money. There was also a decline in trade and parallelization of power. A related development was the increase in the number of land grants by the state. The land grants carried with them various obligations to the overlord and led to the creation of a class with superior rights in land which extracted the surplus from producers either through rent or labor services. This class of landlords was delegated fiscal, judicial and military authority as well. Brahman priests were recipients of a large number of such grants. The purpose of these grants was both ideological and the extension of the agrarian frontier. By the end of the Gupta age, the Shudras were losing their servile status and had, along with the vaishyas, become part of the huge class of subject peasants in the countryside. Surpluses were extracted by a superior class of landlords, who also had a high ritual status. There is a proliferation of jatis in this period, and varna loses its functional role. During the period, the servants of the household are turned into peasants who would now work day in and day out to provide resources to a new class of landlords to whom grants have been given by the new regime. The Shudras and vaishyas who worked together in society lose their identity at this time and become scattered along lines of divided work. This is meant by varna changing into smaller castes and Shudras are subjected now to a new kind of oppression where one group will be segregated from another and all groups will be bound by the new norms associated with specialized labor. A new set of artisans who came along from other countries in the wake of change in the rulers and leaders in society and their interaction with the artisans in India contributed to new mobility that led to increase in production, study and research. Irfan Habib has brought out the implications of coming together of two different sections of artisans and craftsmen in the 13th and 14th centuries. New techniques of paper manufacture, of making lime mortar and vaulted roof and, quite possibly, some weaving techniques (e.g. carpet making) could only have been established here through such immigrant craftsmen. In course of time, there must have been adjustments within the caste system but in the short run, the lack of craft labour in specific spheres had to be overcome.
(b) Importance of Dalit Autobiography: The autobiography unravels a series of experiences and enlightens the reader about the constraints that Dalits work and look for their identity. Dalit autobiographies deal not only with the caste system as oppressive but also depict how economic deprivation and poverty. Autobiographies are generally written by eminent personalities towards the end of their lives and who have got much to evidence before the world, but Dalit autobiographies are penned at an early age when the author is neither distinguished nor eminent but noted for its depiction of a poignant past that has affected the history of a community. Fiction and poetry have also been written on Dalit’s feelings and emotions. The narrative of the Dalit subject in autobiography bears a close resemblance to fictions. The narratives in both the modes have a similarity. Much of the fictions coming from a Dalit writer may have indirect references to his own life. Poems have also been written. Subjects of the poems have been the actual people, young or old, woman or man; they speak in their own individual voice about the issues of the time and cry out against injustices heaped on them by agencies of intolerance. In the essay The Dalit Vision and Voice: A Study of Sharan Kumar Limbale’s Akkarmashi,” Mini Babu has said that Limbale “projects before the readers an objective and disinterested account of his life…carefully creating the image of his community in conflict with the contemporary social and cultural conditions. The narrator’s self reflects his life in particular and the life of the community in general.” This observation raises the question of gap between the individual and his community. The reader going through the account of the autobiography in such a case would lose out on the plight of ordinary members of that community. Another factor may be that of equation of the individual subject with persons of the higher castes. It might be assumed that the Dalit writer gained acceptance among the educated people in the higher castes and this changed his consciousness about the otherwise existing social divisions. He would not be able to see in true light the uneven nature of social layers in the world around him. Take the case of violence in language which is markedly present in works of Dalit poets like Namdeo Dhasal. They have a directness of expression that transcends mainstream understanding of culture and sophistication. They also use common idiom and even cuss words in some cases. This finds mention in some discussions. Javed Ahmad Lone in his essay “Meena Kandasamy: The Angry Dalit Voice” talks about the unique treatment of language by Kandasamy in her poems. Ahmad has observed, “Kandasamy employs the African-American vocabulary to twist the norms of established language.” Her poem “For Sale” deals with the story of a Dalit who entered the temple that was otherwise shut for Dalits. The language describing this fact is interesting. “He go to da temple, where/his po’ol’ folks ain’t allowed.” It uses an African America word and opened scope for unity between two different sections living away from each other geographically. Besides, Dalit expression is imbued with harshness of true reality. For example, Kandasamy’s poetry is rooted in reality. The poet is in possession of numerous ‘stories’, some of which have got narrated and some have gone unreported. Ahmed says “Kandasamy’s poems portray such a dreadful picture of varied agonies experienced by Dalits that her poems seem as an encyclopedia of painful inventories.”
0 Comments