MAKERS OF MODERN DALIT HISTORY by Sudarshan Ramabadran and Guru Prakash Paswan; Penguin, 2021. Pp 172; Rs. 399
To anyone who is not a
Dalit, any discussion on Dalit icons instantly brings to mind the names of B.R.
Ambedkar and then social reformers like Jyotiba and Savitribai Phule as well as
politicians like Babu Jagjivan Ram, Kanshi Ram and Mayawati. Names like Sant
Janabai and Soyarabai (key figures in the Bhakti movement), Dakshayani
Velayudhan (the first Dalit woman graduate), Kerala folk musician Ayyankali and
Telugu poet Gurram Jashuva would be mostly unheard of – except perhaps in the
regions/states they hailed from, and even then, it is quite possible that their
caste may not be known. For example,
everyone familiar with the freedom struggle would know that Udham Singh killed
Sir Michael O’Dwyer; hardly anyone would know he was a Dalit.
Makers
of Modern Dalit History attempts to address this lack, profiling
eighteen personalities who are believed to have shaped Dalit history and
consciousness. Regretting that many of these personalities “have been redacted
from mainstream historical and intellectual discourse”, the authors say the book
attempts to “enable them to be a source of inspiration to the Dalit community”
(though they also say the book is not just for a Dalit readership). This is, no
doubt, an important task – any community which has suffered oppression for
centuries (and continues to face discrimination and humiliation) needs more
than one or two iconic figures to look up to.
The profiles of the lesser
known personalities are eye openers. Nandanar, one learns, was the only Dalit
Nayanar (the sixty-three Saivite saints from Tamil Nadu). Janabai, a
maidservant of Sant Namdev, earned the title of Sant. Dakshayani Velayudhan was
not only the first Dalit woman graduate but was also a member of the
Constituent Assembly.
And yet one finishes the
book with a sense of discontentment, as the chapters fail to flesh out the
individual personalities or highlight pivotal incidents in their lives.
Take the example of
Dakshayani, who was from the Pulaya community in Kerala which was forbidden to
walk on public roads and whose women were not allowed to cover the upper part
of their bodies – at the most, they could use beads. The fact that she was the
first girl from the community to cover her upper body with cloth is buried in
the chapter! What gave Dakshayani the courage to do what she did, what was the
reaction to her very inspiring act of defiance? One doesn’t know. Apparently
the name Dakshayani (which means Durga) was never used by the depressed classes
told. Who chose the name? What role did her parents play in her evolution into
a strong woman?
Of the six pages on Rani
Jhalkaribai, two are about how Indian academia has been unfair to historical
figures like her. This is a general problem, not specific to her. Kabir, we are
told, was one of the few figures in history to have undertaken holistic
intervention to end casteism. But one would have liked more details on how
exactly. His being equally critical of Hindu and Muslim orthodoxies does not
explain his approach to Dalit upliftment. This lack of elaboration on such
crucial issues is a lacuna in other chapters as well and, unfortunately, stands
in the way of a good book becoming a great one. For this, the publisher has to
bear the larger blame. This is the kind of shaping of a book that editors
should do.
Perhaps this could have been
addressed if there was conceptual clarity: is the book about people who
determinedly shaped Dalit consciousness or people who became icons because they
overcame innumerable odds to achieve success?
One reason for this shortcoming
could be, as the authors admit at one point, lack of information about these
figures. Perhaps they could have spent some more time researching and writing
about the lesser known figures if they had consciously decided to leave out the
more well-known personalities? The life and work of Ambedkar, Savitribai Phule,
Jagjivan Ram, Kanshi Ram, K.R. Narayanan have been very well documented. Fitting
them into this has resulted in their achievements being summarised in nine to
ten pages, which does not capture the magnitude of their achievements.
Their inclusion was perhaps
necessitated by the title of the book – any compilation of modern Dalit history
without these figures will be preposterous. But what if the book was about
Forgotten Dalit Icons or The Other Dalit Icons? Then perhaps space could have
been devoted to the other thirteen personalities, which include Ved Vyasa and
Valmiki, and how they `made’ modern Dalit identity. Also, other lesser known
personalities could have been included; there could have been a chapter on,
say, Dalits role in the 1857 war of independence.
The conclusion chapter,
which lists what the authors call ‘today’s Dalit heroes’, is quite problematic.
This is not to question the credentials of those included – Milind Kamble and
Kalpana Saroj of the Dalit Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (DICCI),
economist and Rajya Sabha member Narendra Jadhav, educationists Bhalchandra
Mungekar and Sukhdeo Thorat, to name just five. These are very worthy names.
The problem is really about exclusion.
Two names come readily to my mind – that of Chandrabhan Prasad and Bezwada
Wilson.
Prasad was, along with
Kamble, one of the driving forces behind the setting up of DICCI; indeed Prasad
has been advocating Dalit capitalism for long. He is at the forefront of
shaping a Dalit narrative that is more empowering rather than the purely
atrocities-led narrative that finds favour in popular discourse. Prasad and DICCI
seem to have parted ways but mentioning Kamble and not Prasad makes the authors
as guilty of airbrushing personalities as the academia they accuse of redacting
the personalities that figure in this volume.
Wilson has been campaigning
relentlessly against the practice of manual scavenging – an occupation that is
still reserved for Dalits. Ideologically, he is the exact opposite of Prasad
and Kamble; not for him ideas like Dalit capitalism. His criticism of right
wing ideology and politics can be extremely harsh and strident. But that should
not have led to his being excluded from any list of those shaping the modern Dalit
narrative and situation.
These quibbles, however, do
not detract from the importance of this book.
It is actually more than a compilation of profiles. The nearly
forty-page introduction gives an insightful snapshot of the history of Dalit
awakening, including the evolution and importance of the term Dalit. It talks
about how subaltern literature has come to represent the quest for dignity. It
takes readers through early Dalit literature in the nineteenth century – from
Maharashtra, the erstwhile Central Provices, Bengal and Punjab, with special
praise for the last. “No other language perhaps has so far had Dalit literature
of such high literacy calibre.”
There are, no doubt, a number of academic works doing much the same. But those would not appeal to the lay readers – Dalit and non Dalit. This book does and that increases its value immensely. Sudarshan Rambhadran and Guru Prakash Paswan deserve to take a bow for this work; and they deserve applause.
