CU-MA-Eng-SEM-IV-Dalit Literature-Second Draft

classmates of the same caste. They were Ram Singh and Sukkhan. They were very good at their research. However, they were always insulted by school teachers and students. Wearing neat and clean clothes, they made fun of other students, and their words were like poison darts piercing their hearts. When the three boys wear old and shabby clothes, others will ask them to go out because they stink! They were humiliated no matter what they were dressed in. When Valmiki reached the fourth grade, Kaliram became the principal. He and his teachers did their best to humiliate and punish Valmiki and his two companions. Almost every day, Valmiki was brutally beaten in class. One day, the principal asked Valmiki to climb a teak tree, break some twigs, and make a broom. When the broom was made, the principal asked Valmiki to clean the entire school. He added that cleaning was the job of his family. Only Valmiki swept all classrooms and playgrounds when other students studied in the classroom. The face and mouth were covered with dust. He wasn’t even allowed to drink water. On the second day, the principal asked Valmiki to do the same job. He cleaned the whole day. On the third day, Valmiki tried to hide in the corner of the classroom. However, the principal found him and asked him to clean it. The boy was frightened and tears ran down his cheeks. He started cleaning and other boys and teachers enjoyed watching it. At that moment, Valmiki’s father passed school and saw his son cleaning the floor. The father snatched the broom from his son, threw it away, and hurriedly yelled at the principal. Kaliram threatened the old man, but he was fearless and decided. He warned Kaliram that his son Valmiki would study there himself and many other students like him would follow him there. Pitaji took Valmiki’s hand and went to the village of Tyagis and asked his son to study at school. The old man made a door-to-door canvassing from each upper caste in search of the right to education for his son. But everyone objected to the idea of having the cleaner’s son study at school. Despite all these insults, the old man was not disappointed. He got up all night without food or drink and thought of many ways to get an education from his theyoungest child ofValmiki. Finally he went to Pradhan’s house in the village and asked his son to study at school. Pradhan was kind and allowed Valmiki to study at the same school. Finally he went to Pradhan’s house in the village and asked his son to study at school. Pradhan was kind and allowed Valmiki to study at the same school. Finally he went to Pradhan’s house in the village and asked his son to study at school. Pradhan was kind and allowed Valmiki to study at the same school. OmprakashValmiki describes his life in the newly independent India of the 1950s as unruly or Dalit. “Joothan” refers to food left on dishes for garbage and animals. Indian Dalits have 201 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

been forced to accept and eat Joothanfor centuries, a word that encapsulates the pain, humiliation and poverty of communities forced to live at the bottom of India’s social pyramids. Although the Dalits were abolished in 1949, Dalits continued to face discrimination, financial deprivation, violence and ridicule. Valmiki talks about his heroic struggle to survive in the prescribed life of constant physical and mental persecution and his subject under the influence of Dalit’s great political leader, B.R.Ambedkar. He talks about transformation and Dalit’s long-hidden and long-denied document of suffering. OmPrakashValmiki’sJoothan is an autobiographical description of his birth and upbringing as a newly independent Dalit or Dalit in the 1950s and one of the first insider views of Dalit life in North India. Joothanliterally means the food left on the plate to go to the trash cans of middle-class urban homes and family pets. It is related to the word Jootha, which means dirt, and such leftovers are called Joothan only when someone else eats them. For centuries, Indian Dalits have been forced to accept and eat Joothanto earn a living. The term summarizes the pain, humiliation, and poverty of this community, which has lived at the bottom of India’s social pyramids for thousands of years. Traditionally, Indian literature has ignored untouchables or described them as victims in need of rescuers, without voice or institution. Valmiki broke new ground with genuine records of these unexpressed experiences. He tells the story of life in the inviolable Chula caste at the bottom of society. His heroic struggle to survive this fateful life of constant physical and mental persecution is the horrifying obstacles he overcame to become the first high school graduate in the neighborhood. Raise awareness under the influence of Dalit’s great political leader, B.R.Ambedkar and his transformation into a speaking subject, witnessing oppression and exploitation. Dalits currently make up about one-sixth of India’s population. Spreading all over the country, speaking many languages and belonging to many religions, they have become a big political force. As a document of Dalit’s long silence and long-denied suffering, Joothan is not only a contribution to the archive of Dalit history, but also a manifesto of the revolutionary transformation of social and human consciousness. Untouchables make up about sixteen percent of India’s population. These people are now routinely referred to as “old untouchables” or “old untouchables” because the untouchables were legally abolished when the independent India passed the Constitution in 1949. However, they prefer to call themselves “Dalits.” Though compassionate senior caste people, anthropologists, historians, and novelists write about Dalits, they are finally beginning to tell their stories. They continue to face stigma and difficulties, but they play an important role in shaping India today. 202 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Valmiki tells an exciting story about growing up in a newly independent Indian village. It is a victorious word for survival, as bad oppression as slavery and apartheid, and for the author to manage to be educated and eventually embrace his identity and become a spokesperson for his community. OmprakashValmiki describes his life in the newly independent India of the 1950s as unruly or Dalit. Joothanis food left on a plate for garbage and animals. Indian Dalits have been forced to accept and eat Joothanfor centuries, a word that encapsulates the pain, humiliation and poverty of communities forced to live at the bottom of India’s social pyramids. Although the Dalits were abolished in 1949, Dalits continued to face discrimination, financial deprivation, violence and ridicule. Valmiki talks about his heroic struggle to survive in the prescribed life of constant physical and mental persecution and his subject under the influence of Dalit’s great political leader, B.R.Ambedkar. He talks about transformation. As a long-awaited document of suffering for Dalits, Joothan is an important contribution to the Dalit history archive and a manifesto of the revolutionary transformation of social and human consciousness. 10.4 SUMMARY “The Prisons We Broke” by Baby Kamble  Kamble’s “The Prisons We Broke” provides a painful and realistic picture of the oppressive caste and patriarchal beliefs of Indian society, especially its own community.  It is not considered her personal autobiography, but can be described as an autobiography of a repressed and conquered Dalit woman who wants her unprecedented suffering to be presented in an audible voice.  Maya Pandhita investigates that “The Prisons We Broke” is an expression of protest against the inhumane living conditions that the Hindu caste system has exposed Dalits for thousands of years.  Baby Kumble sought to beautifully portray the dire situation in Maharashtra. It describes psychological and physical violence against women in the public and private spheres.  “The Prisons We Broke” is about a Dalit woman who wrote in simple words the rituals, customs, pains and struggles of everyday life in the “Maharashtra” community in Maharashtra.  It is a graphic revelation of Mahar’s inner world.  All day about the suffering of women giving birth, the position of oppressed women and their families, old foods those men and women lean, the superstitions they believed in, and how they ruined their lives, the work men and women had to do. 203 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

 It is well illustrated how men were educated and influenced them to fight for their rights. Joothan: A Dalit’s Life by Om PrakashValmiki  In Joothan, Om prakash Valmiki deals with Dalit humiliation by Indian society no matter where they live.  This humiliation stems from the fact that Dalit inferiority complex is anchored in the spirit of the upper caste.  Over the centuries, members of the upper caste have developed an extraordinary repertoire of Dalit verbal and physical accusations idioms, symbols, and gestures.  It is embedded in the literary and artistic imagination and sensibility of the upper caste.  Even the Hindu epics Ramayana and Mahabharata are full of examples of this contempt in which Shudra and Chandara are treated as inferior to humans.  Dalit authors believe that mainstream literature in Sanskrit and many other Indian languages is criticized, weakened, and deconstructed because it promotes these built-in assumptions of Dalit inferiority complex is extraordinary.  The last part of the book describes Valmiki’s experience when he moved from his home village to Dehra Dun, Roorkee, Jabalpur, Bombay, and Chandrapur.  Caste chased him around his neck like an albatross. Unless people knew about his caste, he was considered a decent, educated and decent person. 10.5 KEYWORDS  Downtrodden-Oppressed or treated badly by people in power  Hinduism-A major religious and cultural tradition of South Asia, which developed from Vedic religion.  Otherness-The quality or fact of being different.  Introvert-A shy, reticent person.  Joothan- Refers to scraps of food left on a plate, destined for the garbage or animals. India’s untouchables have been forced to accept and eat Joothan for centuries, and the word encapsulates the pain, humiliation, and poverty of a community forced to live at the bottom of India’s social pyramid.  Controversial-Relating to or causing much discussion, disagreement, or argument: likely to produce controversy.  Aspiration-A strong desire to achieve something high or great an aspiration to become famous —usually plural a young man with political/literary aspirations. b : an object of such desire An acting career is her aspiration. 204 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

 Humiliation-To reduce (someone) to a lower position in one's own eyes or others' eyes : to make (someone) ashamed or embarrassed : mortify hoped they wouldn't humiliate themselves in their next game accused her of humiliating him in public feel so humiliated.  Deconstruction-A method of critical analysis of philosophical and literary language which emphasizes the internal workings of language and conceptual systems, the relational quality of meaning, and the assumptions implicit in forms of expression.  Prejudice-Prejudice is an assumption or an opinion about someone simply based on that person's membership to a particular group. For example, people can be prejudiced against someone else of a different ethnicity, gender, or religion. 10.6 LEARNING ACTIVITY 1. Describe howKamble presents brave portraits of Dalit women. ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ 2. State how women in Mahar were the worst victims of patriarchy, caste, gender, and domestic violence. ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ 10.7 UNIT END QUESTIONS A. Descriptive Questions Short Questions 1. Discuss the obstacles that Omprakash Valmiki faces in his attempts to get educated? 2. Trace the first incident which marked the rebellion of valmikis mother against the practice of untouchability. 3. What did the headmaster ask omprkash valmiki to do? 4. Joothan transforms an experience of pain into a narrative of resistance-Discuss. 5. Discuss the role of the school teacher in Joothan. Long Questions 1. Describe the plight of omprakash valmiki. 2. Bring out the extensive details describing the village pond and its environment. 3. Narrate the later incidents in the school in Valmiki’s Joothan. 4. Briefly write about the unequal treatment that Omprakash Valmiki who had to face in his early years. Do you feel this condition is still exist in our society? 205 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

5. Describe psychological and physical violence against women in the public and private spheres. B. Multiple Choice Questions 1. Baby Kamble reclaims memory to locate________society before the impact of BabasahebAmbedkar. a. Mahar b. Patriarchal c. Matriarchal d. Dominant 2. Babytai Kamble identifies___________oppression and uses her life as a source for drawing a rough, real-life picture of her world. a. Female b. Child c. Dalit d. Communal 3. Dalit women would be treated the same by _________in their community. a. Men b. Others c. Father d. Mother 4. Babytai further suggests that the dynamics of power through family and sociological relationships lead to conflicts between_________. a. Men b. Children c. Parents d. Women 5. Babytai acknowledges ____________ credit for launching an intellectual discourse. a. Maharwoman’s b. Dalit Woman’s c. Ambedkar’s d. Mother-in-Law’s 206 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Answers 1-a, 2-c, 3-a, 4-d, 5-c 10.8 REFERENCES References book  OmprakashValmiki:Jhoothan:ADalit’sLife Textbook references  Omprakash Valmiki: Jhoothan: A Dalit’s Life Websites  https://feminisminindia.com/2020/11/24/book-review-the-Prisonss-we-broke-by- babytai-kamble/  https://feminisminindia.com/2020/11/24/book-review-the-Prisonss-we-broke-by- babytai-kamble/  https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9216820-the-Prisonss-we-broke  OmprakashValmiki:Jhoothan:ADalit’sLife 207 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)