Alpana Gupta

Telugu Dalit Poetry as an Expression of Socio-Politico Historical Change

After the independence and the reservation granted to SCs and STs by the constitution of India there has been an unprecedented upsurge of dalit power in the country. This is noticeable in the formation of BSP government three times in UP. The vote bank of BSP is also increasing in the northern states of UP, Bihar, MP, Punjab, Delhi, Chattisgarh and Rajasthan. The formation of government several times by DMK and ADMK in Tamil Nadu and the onset of Telangana movement in Andhra Pradesh are clear testimony to the rise of Dalit political power in Southern states. The rise of dalit power owes its debt to the revolutionary ideas of Dr. Ambedkar and Jyotirao Phule in Maharashtra, C.Annadurai in Tamil Nadu and Gurram Jashua in Andhra Pradesh. 
The present paper discusses some of the poems of Satish Chander, Jooluri Gowri Shankar, P.C Ramulu, Nagesgh Babu etc. and explores the socio-politico historical realities reflected in these poems. 

Origins of Telugu Dalit Poetry 

Historically, Dalit people in India have been victims of continuos inhumanity, physical brutality and psychological violence. The castiest mythology considered dalits inferior to the so called upper caste people and therefore suited to servility. The dalit suffers in varying degree from hunger, illiteracy, disease, ties to the land, urban and semi-urban slums, cultural starvation and the psychological reactions to being ruled over by others. 
It is because of these reasons there has been in recent years a dramatic rise in the strength of political parties championing the cause of lower caste. Like dalit panthers movement in Maharashtra, Dalit movement in Andhra Pradesh also flared up because of massacres in Karamchedu, Neerukonda and Chunduru. It is against this background that the essence of dalit poetry is to be understood. The aims and objectives of dalit mahasabha organised by leaders like the Katti, Padmarao and Bojja Tarkam influenced the solidarity of lower caste. Poetry brought after Karamchedu movement has declared Ambedkarism as its philosophy. Telugu poetry offers a very interesting portrayal of Dalit reality in terms of Ambedkarism. The tendency to explain the economic disparity in terms of caste system, the vigorous search made for a strong dalit identity, the imaginative rendering of self-respect and the ultimate aspiration for political power are widely felt in Telugu Dalit Poetry. 

Delineation of Caste in Telugu Dalit Poetry 

According to Dalit philosophy, economic disparity can be explained in terms of caste system. Telugu dalit poets consider caste system as their greatest enemy which leads to dehumanisation and alienation. Satish Chander in his poem Voka Jananam Vayida (The Postponement of a Birth) raises the predicament of answering the question of his son who asks “When should I be born?” 

Father, when I should be bron
I stand before the mirror
Its not the system of body that appears
But the process of humiliation 

Yenduru Sudhakar in his book ‘Varthamaanam’ (the present) has discussed the problems created by caste. Sudhakar depicts the various sufferings of the Dalits whose great offence is none other than that of being born in a lower caste. In his poem ‘Nethuti Prasna’ (Bloody question), he states the fact that the Dalit in India feels suffocated for lack of freedom, joy and dignity: 

I am still a prohibited human being
Mine is an expelled breath
Tying a brab tree leaf to my waist
And a tiny spittoon to my mouth
Manu made me a wretched human animal among others
The moment he left a mark of prohibition on my face
My race was gradually murdered 

The above lines bear a close resemblance to the feelings expressed by Langston Hughes for the blacks in the US: 

I am a Negro
I’ve been a slave
I;ve been a victim
The Belgians cut off my hands in the Congo
They lynch me still in Mississipi 
Untouchability, which is the offshoot of caste system in India, has resulted in heaping atrocities on the Dalits by the upper caste people: 
When poured lead into my ears that heard Vedas
When chopped my tongue for speaking that same language
When lacerated my head for the thirst quenched by my sperm
Then itself I became a corpse. 

However, there is a wind of change because of the political situation in the country. Dalits are no longer going to take it lying down. They are protesting against this hydra headed monster of caste system and voice their assertion, self-assurance and self-confidence in their poems. Consider the following two excerpts from Sudhakar’s poems: 

I am an erupting volcano
No one can blow me off
Mine are feet of fire
No ropes can fasten upon my eyes
My head is a proud flag
No one can destroy me
Dalits are in a mood of violent protest: 
Today mine is a burning face
My hands are thunderbolts
I am walking sword the now
Nobody can touch me
I am an awakened tiger.

Recreation of History 

Hindu gods, Hindu mythology, Manuwadi culture are anathema to the Telugu Dalit Poets because they are symbols of cruelty and bestiality. Jyotirao Phule observes:
“In order, however to keep a better hold on the people they devised their weird system of mythology, the ordination of  caste, and the code of crude and inhuman laws to which we can find no parallel among the other nations.” 
Hence the Dalit poets subverted the Hindu concept of mythology, created their own mythology by deifying rakhshashas, Ravana, Eklavya, Shambuka, Bali, Arundhati and other underestimated figures as their ancestors. Satish Chander describes Ekalavya as the ‘Great grand father to Dalits’. A Telugu poet, Suryavamsi states about Ekalavya: 

You have Vishnuchakra with you
Be it so:
You maintain Arjuna’s Gandeeva
Bhima’s mace, Drona’s tuft of hair
Let them all be with you
You have Rama’s arrow
Anjaneya’s tail
And Parasurama’s Axe
You have authority with you
Elegance with you
Let them be yours
But
We have only Ekalavya’s sliced thumb with us
And this is enough
To fight you all. 
Marathi Dalit Poet Trymbak Sapkale also treats Ekalavya in the same fashion: 
Oh Ekalavya
You ideal disciple
Give me the finger you cut off
That will be my fulcrum 

Daya Pawar in one of the poems denounces ‘the thirty-three crores of gods dancing arrogantly in the back alley.’ Thus dalit poets are trying to subvert the divinity behind shastras and mythology and are creating a new history. 

Exploration of Connection of Telugu Muslim Poets with Telugu Dalit Poets 

A new historical perspective has emerged in the poetry of Muslim poets who tried to explore a link between Dalits and Muslims. Khaja, muslim poet, has found his Muslim-roots in the lower castes of India. He states that most of the Muslims in India are Dalits who got converted into Muslims on account of the fear of brahminism: 

“I forgot my mother all these days
I forgot my blood forgot my roots
In a system where survival is impossible without brahminisation
I too became a bearded Brahmin and asked my elder brother to move away
Considered my younger brother inferior…
But after this excavation after this rethinking
I am going to step into my father’s house
I am going to receive my parents heritage
By the Vedas that injured me all these years by history
I am declaring that I belong to the majority
Though I am a Muslim by religion I assert that I am a Dalit by caste” 
Because of this sense of integration Muslims can be in a position to warn the Hindu upper caste saying that they would like to rule this country. 
Arjun Dangle has said that ‘Dalit’ means masses exploited and oppressed economically, socially, culturally in the name of reigion and other factors”. If this definition of “Dalit” is accepted, Muslims can also be included under the category of Dalits. 

Dalit Feminist Consciousness 

            Jyoti Lanjewar rightly says that “Dalithwad and womanhood themselves are the very basis of Dalit women’s social positions. To be a  dalit and a female is to suffer from the double jeopardy of castiest discrimination and deplorable gender bias. Dalit women’s predicament is exactly the same with that of black women. 
Challapalli Swaroopa Rani expresses this feminist consciousness very powerfully with the imagery of ‘blue jay’ and ‘pricing thorns’: 
“I am a blue Jay
Caught up in the thorny bush & tossing about
Whatever is the direction I move to
all thorns prick me alone
These are not the thorns of today
These are the chains of slavery
that were arranged all around me from generation to generation.” 
The misery of the dalit woman is revealed through the image of ‘a blue jay’ ‘caught up in a thorny bush’ and the expression that ‘all thorns prick me alone’ suggests that Dalit woman is attacked by all oppressive forces. The poetess makes it more clear by saying: 
“It’s as if I am
In between the devil & the deep sea
Always some danger is felt hissing around me
When have I lived my life as mine actually,
While male chauvinism at home
gives a hard slap on one cheek
caste dominion slaps publicly on the other cheek.” 
Thus Swaroopa Rani makes a bold effort to show the oppressors of Dalit women.
Dalit women are aware of two facts (i) High caste women never hesitate to look down upon lower caste women. Gender solidarity and sister bonding does not work in this connection. (ii) dalit men are ready to exercise their authority on their women irrespective of their caste consciousness. 
Madduri Vijaysree warns all men to do away with foul language that insults women: 
“In presence of your arrogance
In presence of your plumpness
Hey! Beasts
I warn you not to insult your mothers among others
by using foul language.” 
Muslim women face different oppression. Their life is absolutely conditioned by their religion. Shajahana has tried to show the predicament of Muslim women in a realistic but  moving way, she has mainly concentrated on the feelings of Muslim women when they wear ‘burkha’: 
“When a burkha was put on my mother’s face
like the purdah at the door way
I didn’t know when that it was a curse on a life full of dreams!” 
The poetess goes on depicting the misery suffered by Muslim women when compared to other women. She airs a feeling of protest at this boundless agony: 
“I have the strength to break stones to earn a few chips to satisfy my hunger
I have enough and more moral strength to break the shackles you have bound me with.” 
These lines fill the hearts of Muslim women with the courage to break the shackles of misery. 

Power Dynamics 

Dr. Ambedkar remarks, “Democracy is not merely a form of government. It is primarily a mode of associated living, of conjoint communicated experience. It is  essentially an attitude of respect and reverence towards fellowmen.” Dalit poets are desirous of this kind of democracy. They maintain that Indian dalits are the only potentially revolutionary force in India today. They reject the ideals of the upper caste notion of Indian society based on the ideas and values of Manu and ‘Varna Vyavastha’, these poets, have become the propagations of the principles of equality, justice, liberty and rationality. 
Dalit Panthers declared the political yearnings of the dalit world: 
“We do not want a little place in Brahmin Alley. We want the rule of the whole land.” 
Dalit poets in AP grew positive to Dalit Power concept. Vemula Ellaiah feels that the upper caste people are minority in their number so he wants them to come down. Katti Padmarao declares: 

My symbols are
black crow
black hill
black tar
black sea
My journey is towards
the black state 

Dalit poets feel that old history can no longer hide the exploitation done to the dalits. No force can undo the rising Dalit movement. 
In conclusion, it can be said that Telugu dalit poets offer two solutions to the dalit predicament. The first solution is to join hands with the upper class people to create a more humane society in which there will be no humiliation and exploitation of any kind: 

These clouds
Must be vanished
These walls must be ruined
This silence
Must be burst
This gum must be dried up
O Man
I want real citizenship
Will you give?
What do I want
I want you
I want a place in your heart
I must wash my hands at your home
you must come to  my hut
And ask our girl for marriage
we must become
Relatives
Friend! This country
Must become ours
As we walk hand in hand
This uneven earth must become smooth
Will you come? 

The other solution is capturing political power through Dalit solidarity. Both Telugu and Marathi poets are in support of Dalitbahujan Movement regarding the capturing of power and using it for soical transformation and economic emancipation for the lower caste people as necessary. 

 

 

References

Anand, Mulkraj & Eleanor, Zelliot. Gyan Publishing House. New Delhi.1992.

Egudu, R.N.  ‘Responses to Aparthied’ in Modern African Poetry & the African Predicament. London: The Macmillan Press Ltd.1978.

Narasaiah, G. Lakshmi. Jooluri Gowrishankar: Pada Mudra. Tenali Poetry           Circle. 1994.

Reddy, S.K.  Ellaiah G Vemula: Bahu Vachanam. Nallagonda: Neelgiri Samithi.                1996.