Gujarati Dalit Literature: An Overview by K.M.Sherrif

Gujarati Dalit Literature was the product of revolt against the decadent modernism in Gujarati literature modernism in it is hey days in the sixties was a dynamic iconoclastic force in Gujarati literature which swept away the cobwebs  of tradition and effected radical changes in its form and content.  However it had become a spent force by the end mid seventies, when its historical role had already been fulfilled. It had reached the typical situation in which movements having become established tend to be as conventionalised and conservative was the ones they once supplanted. The hour for yet  another radical upsurge  had arrived.

As a literature of protest the nature and direction of Gujarati Dalit Literature were initially determined by the dalit movement in the Gujarat.  The movement provided a platform for dalit writers whose creativity received no attention from a parochial literary establishment there were some attempts to insist upon commitment to the movement as  the first pre requisite for a dalit writer and the classical battle between purists and utilitarians was re-enacted once the sound and fury died down.  However Gujarati Dalit Literature set for itself the task of defining itself in terms of a new form - content dialectic.

The launching of the occasional panther edited by  Rameshchandra  Parmar in 1975 marked the advent of Dalit literature in Gujarati. Following this in a short time a number of publications devoted to dalit writing began publication the chief among them being Akrosh, Kalo Sooraj, Garud, Dalit Bandhu,  Naya marg and Disha the first collection of Gujarati Dalit poetry. Dalit Kavita edited by Ganpat Parmar and Manishi Jani was published in 1981. This was immediately followed by the collection Vishphot edited by Balkrisna Anand and Chandu Maheria in 1983. Gujarat Khet  Vikas Parishad brought out Asmita,  a collection of poems culled from issues of Naya Marg published from, August 1981 to January 1983 with a controversial preface by Joseph Macwan.   

Though Dalit literature represents a parting of ways with modernism two Gujarati Dalit poets,  Joseph Macwan and Mangal Rathod are essentially modernists but attempts to temper the modernist idiom and techniques to suit the new themes is often apparent in their poetry. Poem like jasaghar, maun che mitro (it is silent, my friends) and sandarbh vinano manas (a man of no consequence) bear testimony to this change of direction.

The radical transformation of traditional poetic forms is a marked characteristic of Gujarati dalit poetry the thematic potential of ghazal for instance which was as limited as that of the sonnet. In English literature in the sixteenth century before the advent of Shakespeare has undergone a seachange in the hands of poets like Kisan Sosa, and Bipin Gohel the a ghazal has been liberated from its  filded, pseudo romantic confines and revitalised to  express the agony the ecstasy the hopes and the frustrations of a poetic sensibility tuned into the struggles of oppressed  humanity. “Your poetry owes nothing to the  cacophopony  of any mushaira”  writes Bipin Gohel alluding to the petrification of traditional poetic forms under centuries of feudal patronage. Kisan Sosa,  one of the most distinguished  poets  in Gujarati shows  no predilection for any particular from he is equally at home with ghazal, najhm, geet the Japanese haiku and free verse for him any form is nothing more than a vehicle for what he wants to say. 

Gujarati Dalit poetry has drawn substance extensively from the folk literature of  Gujarat . The rustic rhythms and tunes  of folk songs give to many of poems a unique strength and vitality which are   difficult to reproduce in translation. Shankar Painter’s  poetry relies heavily on them. Raju  Solanki, Yashwant Vaghela, Kisan Sosa and Harish Mangalam have occasionally used them effectively . There is also a tendency to parody folk songs and bhajans , ruthlessly debunking there idyllic settings and nostalgic reveries.  The result may be devastating satire, as in Nirav Patel’s Maro Shamalio ( My dark skinned Lord) which turns a legend about the Bhakti Poet Narsinh Mehta on its heads. 

Dalit writing as  been described as one of the manifestation of post modernism in Indian literature. However the acquisition of the post modernist idiom, modes and attitude has not been uniform in Gujarati Dalit Literature. In poetry Nirav Patel is perhaps the only one to have made a completely break. The persistence  of modernist perception and techniques is apparent in some poets. There is even a harking back to the pre modernists “progressive literature” days. Especially in the poems of “ poet- activists “ . But there are unmistakable signs which show they have chosen the road not taken. When Narsijnhi Ujamba laments that “ emtpy carts which such fancy names – crush a beautiful word like my Penis, or notices “ the tart called language waiting for ages at the portals of the academy worehouse”. staring wrathfully at the eunuchs passing by (words) . One discerns strains of Allen Ginsberg’s  “howl “at the American establishment. Raju Solankli paying homage to the martyrs of the Navnirman Agitation rise like the pot –belly  of the shethia sitting in his sari store in Manek chowk – slums has spilled over the river side. (“To the martyrs of Navnirman). When Shankar Painter stretches  poetry to its limits by  resorting to prosaic narration , or even belligerent sloganeering it becomes a quest for a new form  to embody a new experience. There are also a few poems like Mangal Rathod’s Jalsagar and Pravin Gadhavi’s Nadirshah Avya tyare ( when Nadirshah arrived )  which reach out to a wider post colonized experience. 

In fiction realism appears to be the predominant mode which is natural, considering the fact that it is universally accepted as the most effective mode for depicting lives and times vividly and comprehensively. Joseph Macwan, the fist Gujarati Dalit writer to receive a Kendra Sahitya Akademy award is a realist par excellent. Fiction and real life overlap  in his works , many of his stories read much  like his life sketches collected in Vyathana Vitak. Macwan‘s style and treatment are simple but sensitive and evocative. Other prominent writer who adopted the realistic method to portray the life of Gujarati dallit vividly include Harish Mangalam, Pathik Parmar , Dalpat Chauhan,  Naikal Gangera and Raghavji Madhad. Depicting life in the roads the realism often verges on naturalism.

There was however the need to go beyond conventional realism to explode new methods and techniques to work out a more dynamic manner of perceiving reality. Mohan Parmar, who is perhaps the most accomplished practitioner of short fiction in Gujarati today was the pioneering figure in this search for new pastures, although several of his outstanding stories show him as a master of realism too. The use of the regional or the caste dialect and the stream of consciousness technique for first person narration, a predilection for this table and allegory and frequent recourse to fantasy are the Hallmarks of this stream of Gujarati Dalit fiction of which the accomplished Madhukant Kalpit and Dashrath Parmar a new comer are to other notable practitioners. The sources of inspiration are unmistakably the rich folk traditions of Gujarati literature, not western models. 

Considering the sparsity of fiction published by Gujarati writers ( in all there are not more than couple of dozen novels and a few hundred stories) The comprehensive picture of dalit life in Gujarat  one gets from them is remarkable. In diligent, all - embracing portrayal  of social life , in vivid characterisation and flair  for detail , they can be compared without fear of exaggeration with the work of the French realist  and naturalist of the nineteen century. ‘Gujarati Dalit Varta’  the selection of the stories edited by Mohan Parmar and Harish Manglam published in 1987 faithfully represents the range and depths of Gujarati Dalit fiction.

The contibutions of the Gujarati Dalit Literature to drama is negligible. the onlyi play  which is distant to survive the vicissitudes of the dalit movement is Raju Solanki’s Bamanvadni Barakhadi 

(  ABC of Brahmansim) which was written and performed   during the anti reservation agitation of 1981. A scathing attack on upper caste attitudes and politicians- criminal- builder nexus which held cities in Gujarat in a vace  like grip. The play had successful performance in the eighties   to its credit . Dalpat Chauhan’s Patan na Gondrethi , One of the prize winning entries in a national drama competition organized by All India Radio is yet to be published. An organized theatre on the lines of IPTA Or Jan Natyam Mandali still remains an unfulfilled dream.

Dalit writing in Gujarati is marked by the unique versatility of many of the writers, quite a few of them at home in more than one genre. The most prominent among them include Harish Mangalam , Pathik Parmar Pravin Gadhavi, Raju Solanki and Dalpat Chauhan. Perhaps this versatilities has resulted in diffusion of their creativity , and impression one is likely together when comparing them with the likes of Mohan Parmar,  Kisan Sosa and Nirav Patel who have resolutely stuck to one genre.

A discernible phenomenon   in Guijarati Dalit Lilterature is the invocation  of a subaltern mythology as a foil to classical Hindu my theology which had functioned as the ideological bulwark of caste hegemony for centuries disfiguring assimilating or marginalising as it suits purpose. Sub-culture outside the pale of the mainstream and concealing the deep divisions in Indian society . Ravan and Eklavya,  don the mantale of epic Heroes. Budha wields the Sudarshan Chakra . The quest of the golden age leads to the ruins of Mohan- jo- dero and Harappa and the caves of Bhimbetka. Undoubtedly there is something regressive about this invocatioin of a mythical past it significance however lies in the fact that it is a form – in fact the most effective form of resistance to the orchestrated glorification of main stream tradition by fundamentalists facilitated to a large extent by the popularity of recent epic based mega serials on television.

Any discussion on Gujarati Dalit Literature would be incomplete without a reference to the non dalit writers who have associated themselves  with the movement and made signal contributions to it. The rule of Indukumar Jani, editor of Naya Marg, the premier publication of dalit literature in Gujarati in fostering talented dalit writer has been widely acknowledged. The contribution of Pravin Gadhavi , poet and short story writer  also merits more than a passing reference. A number of story depicting dalit life and attitude from the dalit point of view have   been written by non dalit writers . Dhiraj Brahmbhatt’s controversial story Tame Pabane Joyo ? (Have you  seen Paba?)  A vitriolic satire on upper attitudes written in the back ground of the anti reservation of 1981 has had few parallels in Gujarati Literature.

Despite its credible achievement in poetry and fiction Gujarati Dalit Literature suffers from the absence of a corpus of criticism which could have  expounded the nature and objective created by the movement and codified the aesthetic principles which give significance to it. All great movements which made their  impacts on literature had their  whole schools of criticism. The romantic revival in english literature witness a spontaneous overflow of both creative and critical talent. More than century later new criticism provided the ideological bulwark for modernism. 

A few critical essay on Gujarati Dalit Literature have been collected , the notable collection being Harish Mangalam’s Vidit , Mohan Parmar’s  Ansaar and Samvitti, co authored Harish Mangalam and Mohan Parmar . This critical essays are distinguished more by their  ‘ combat value’ then by  their theoretical strength. Sporadic fleshes of critical inside apart, few attempts have  been made to analyse the form content dialectic peculiar to Gujarati Dalit Literature or to lay down the canons of its aesthetics . it is a case of creative writing having to speak for itself. However without being naïve enough to dismiss criticism as crutches which they are better off without Gujarati dalilt writer can take some consolation from, the fact that there works are eminently competent to speak for themselves. 

Prof.K M Sherrif (b.1962) writes in Malayalam and English and translates among Malayalam, English, Hindi, Gujarati and Tamil. His publications include "Ekalavyas with Thumbs" the first selection of Gujarati Dalit Writing in English translation and "Kunhupathumma's Tryst with Destiny", the first study of the Malayalam fictionist Vaikom Muhammad Basheer's fiction in English. Sherrif is currently attached to the Dept. of English, University of Calicut.