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| Dalit Literature: Agony and Protest |
'Kaala rang, khala sthan' [Dark face, low status] pithily seems to point out in Marathi to just one of the forms of discrimination Dalits face.
Dalit literature in Marathi has a long tradition of protest and is a strong presence in contemporary literatures of India.
The Marathi writer Gangadhar Pantwane (1937-2018) is regarded as the pioneer of the Dalit literature movement in Maharashtra. He founded the literary journal Asmitadarsh in 1968 from Aurangabad and curated it for half a century.
Pantwane followed the thought of Ambedkar (1891-1956) - a social reformer. Ambedkar embraced Buddhism on 14th October 1956 at Nagpur, along with 3,65,000 Dalit followers, to exit the caste system of Hinduism.
In his conversion speech the following day Ambedkar observed that Nag-pur was chosen because it was the city of Nag people - the foremost to propagate the Buddhist creed. The allusion goes back to the Puranas when the Aryans were oppressing the non-Aryans. Agasti muni helped one Nag to escape. The Nags were led by Gautama Buddha.
Ambedkar's slogan 'Shikshit bano, sangtith raho, sangarsh karo' [Educate yourself, remain united, continue the struggle.] served to rally the oppressed.
Jyotirao Phule (1827-90) the social reformer from Maharashtra was another powerful influencer.
Chokhamela was a saint poet from the Mahar caste in Maharashtra and lived in Pandharpur in the 14th century. His abhangs served to make people aware of the discrimination which was being practised.
The varkari sampradaya [Bhakti spiritual movement] unique of Maharashtra helped to raise consciousness about social equality. Varkaris worship Vithala, the presiding deity of Pandharpur. The movement was started by Sant Namdev (1270-1350) a poet from Pandharpur.
Namdeo Dhasal (1949-2014) took the Dalit agenda to the ultimate horizon with his fiery poems. Dhasal's father was a stonemason and died of starvation.
'I am of many colours' says another Dalit poet Suresh Bhat (1932-2003) in this poem in Marathi.
रंग माझा वेगळा!
गुंतुनी गुंत्यात साऱ्या पाय माझा मोकळा!
कोण जाणे कोठुनी ह्या सावल्या आल्या पुढे;
मी असा की लागती ह्या सावल्यांच्याही झळा!
राहती माझ्यासवे ही आसवे गीतांपरी;
हे कशाचे दुःख ज्याला लागला माझा लळा!
कोणत्या काळी कळेना मी जगाया लागलो
अन् कुठे आयुष्य गेले कापुनी माझा गळा ?
सांगती 'तात्पर्य' माझे सारख्या खोट्या दिशा :
'चालणार पांगळा अन् पाहणारा आंधळा !'
माणसांच्या मध्यरात्री हिंडणारा सूर्य मी :
माझियासाठी न माझा पेटण्याचा सोहळा !
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