Priyanka Sonkar’s book knocks on the discussion of Dalit women

Discussion and conflict are two different things. Which comes first, discussion or conflict? This is not a complicated egg or chicken question. In any society, conflict comes first, and discussion or literature later. This also applies to women’s issues. It is this struggle from whose womb discourse and literature is born. Read this review of Kanwal Bharti

Kanwal Bharti

There are many important books on Dalit discourse in Hindi, but Priyanka Sonkar’s ‘Dalit Stree Vimarsh: Creation and Struggle’ published this year is probably the first book on Dalit women discourse. I did not come across any other book on this subject.

This book has four sections, in which the first section discusses the anti-caste tradition, Premchand’s Dalit consciousness and the struggle and form of Dalit literature. In the second section, while explaining the Dalit women’s discourse, light has been thrown on some personalities like the therists of the Buddha period, medieval saint poetesses, some revolutionary Dalit heroines and the women’s movement of Dr. Ambedkar. The third section is based on the concept of Dalit women’s discourse, black feminist movement, ideology and theory of Dalit women’s discourse and creative literature of Dalit women. And in the last fourth section, exploitation, struggle, Devadasi, Bahujuthai, Chanar rebellion of 1859, Tebhaga movement, Mathura tribal movement, struggle of Phoolan Devi and Bhagana movement have been kept at the center of discussion.

Discussion and conflict are two different things. Which comes first, discussion or conflict? This is not a complicated egg or chicken question. In any society, conflict comes first, and discussion or literature later. This also applies to women’s issues. It is this struggle from whose womb discourse and literature is born. Struggle is not only to fight injustice or to get one’s rights, but also to survive. The struggle for survival is real. From this point of view, the life of a Dalit woman is nothing but a struggle. She struggles to survive from morning till evening. When the experiences of conflict create an awakened consciousness in a person, then only discussion is born. But literature comes into existence when education connects with that consciousness. Since the doors of education for Dalits in India opened after centuries under the rule of Muslims and the British. Therefore, the discourse and literature of the lower classes also came to light in these two periods. Thinkers like Kabir, Raidas, Mirabai, Jotirao Phule, Savitribai Phule and Ambedkar could have existed in these periods, before that their existence could not have been imagined. But Dalit women’s education is a much later phenomenon, decades after India gained independence.

However, Priyanka Sonkar considers the first journey of Dalit women’s discussion to be from the stories of Theris of the Buddha period. This is also worth considering, because undoubtedly Buddha had given prominence to women’s freedom in his teachings of equality, freedom and compassion. Therefore, the author has correctly recorded the history of Dalit women’s discourse in the second volume. She has written that the historical roots of Dalit women’s discourse lie in the discourse of the women included in the Buddha-Sangha. According to him, “She very simply and boldly expresses her feeling of being a human being through stories. Wishing for women’s liberation, these therias create history through poems and stories. Freed from the pain of mind, body and speech, freed from the constraints of caste, caste, gender and society, they sing –

sitting here on this rock

I feel completely liberated

atmosphere of freedom

to my soul and body

Are covered.”

(Priyanka Sonkar, Dalit Women’s Discourse: Creation and Struggle, Pralek Prakashan, Mumbai, page 73)

Priyanka Sonkar has rightly said that making a woman, who did not have any kind of rights in the male-dominated society, the rightful owner of all kinds of rights, such as giving her the right to acquire knowledge and to preach knowledge, was a very revolutionary thing.

  Priyanka Sonkar, author and cover page of ‘Dalit Women’s Discussion: Creation and Struggle’

After the Buddha period, the author has considered the second phase of Dalit women’s discussion in the poetry of medieval Dalit saint poetesses. One of these saints is the fifteenth century poetess Laldeh or Laldyad of Kashmir. Subhash Rai

According to, the first introduction of Laldyad’s works is found in ‘Tarikhe Kashmir’ written in 1730 AD. The first important work on them was done by Grierson. Subhash Rai has mentioned a vakh (composition) of Laldyad, in which she says “Goras prachham saasi late/ Yas nu kenh vanan tas kya naav?/ Parachhaan parchhaan thasis tu lusus/ Kenh nas nishi kya naav drav.” She says, “I asked the Guru a thousand times, what is the name of that which is called ‘nothing’? I became tired and withered from asking. At last I understood that from nothing comes something.” Subhash Rai has not explained this. But the meaning of this speech of Laldyad opens in the nihilism of Buddhist philosophy. This testifies to the influence on them of Buddhism, which was not only the dominant religion of Kashmir in the time of Emperor Ashoka, but was already widespread there before that, and extended to neighboring Ladakh, Tibet and China. Buddhist philosopher Nagarjuna, the originator of nihilism, lived in Kashmir during the Kushan period. Most of the scholars’ opinion about Laldyad is that she was a Brahmin. Subhash Rai also agrees with this opinion. But some details of his life do not match. Such as his opposition to Nirgunaism, pilgrimages, rituals and scriptures. Both Laldyad and Akka Mahadevi had accepted the nudity of the body. But it is said that he was humiliated by the society by stripping him. Subhash Rai has also written that the folk language was considered the language of the lower classes of Kashmir. But the credit for making this language a powerful medium goes to a woman named Laldyad. (Digambara rebel Akka Mahadevi, page 44-47) Priyanka Sonkar has considered Laldyad to be a Dalit caste. Quoting Parshuram Chaturvedi’s book ‘Saint Tradition of North India’, he has written that Lalla or Lal (Laldyad) was a woman of Dhedhava Mehtar caste living in Kashmir, who was from a socially low status family, but had a very high status. Had ideas. It is famous about her that she was a traveling Bhangin following the Shaiva sect. (Priyanka Sonkar, above, page 76)

In this sequence, Sonkar has mentioned the second Dalit woman saint of the medieval period, Janabai (1258-1350) of Maharashtra. Saint Janabai, a highly knowledgeable and neglected person on the path of Bhakti, was a great poet of Bhakti poetry stream. It is said that she was a motherless orphan and lived as a servant in the house of Saint Namdev. Priyanka Sonkar has not mentioned Janabai’s caste. But evidence suggests that he was born into the Matang caste, an untouchable caste in Maharashtra. It is said that Janabai’s parents died in her childhood and as an orphan, Namdev gave her shelter. Some scholars have described Namdev as being of Kshatriya caste, while some consider him to be of tailor caste. But in reality he was a tailor or a Shudra of another caste. If he had belonged to a higher caste, he would never have given shelter to Janabai of the Matang caste in his house. However, Namdev’s influence is considered to be on Janabai’s poetry; But Priyanka Sonkar has considered his devotional poems, which are in the form of about 350 hymns, as a separate stream against the Bhakti stream, in which God has also come in the form of an ordinary human being. In this regard he has quoted this verse of Janabai –

Jana is sweeping the floor

And God is collecting garbage

putting it on your head and taking you away

conquered by devotion

God is working low

Jana says to the widow

How will I repay your debt? (same, page 78)

Priyanka Sonkar, underlining Janabai’s women’s liberation discourse, has written that in the medieval period, Janabai had shown the way to live an independent life by throwing away all the shackles and taboos imposed on women.

Among other Dalit women poets of the medieval period, he has mentioned Rami of the washerman caste of Bengal, who had a love marriage with the Brahmin poet Chandidas. But later Chandidas left him and went back to his Brahmin family. According to him, the sample of his poetry is like this-

let the storm fall upon their heads

who curse good people hiding in their homes

I can’t live in this land of injustice any longer

I want to go there where there is no torture. (same, page 80)

Among other poetesses, the author has made a brief discussion about Uma, Meera, Kamali, Sahajobai, Dayabai, Phulabai, Puli Bai, Dotulamma and Lakhamma etc., whose poetry has a distinct female voice in the Brahmin discourse of the medieval period.

In the third journey of Dalit women’s discussion, the author has mentioned some Dalit heroines of 1857, in which Jhalkaribai, Mahabiri Devi, Udadevi, Ashadevi, Ajivanbai etc. have been discussed. After this, she established Savitribai Phule, Pandita Ramabai, Muktabai and Durgabai as the first school of women’s education in the fourth floor of Dalit women’s discussion; The contribution of these four women has been highlighted. Undoubtedly these women were the revolutionary pillars of women’s renaissance in India. Ramabai was a Brahmin, but she had abandoned Hindu religion, which she considered an obstacle to women’s emancipation. She worked throughout her life for women’s liberation, women’s education and upliftment of widows. Savitribai Phule was India’s first female teacher, while Muktabai was a woman educated in her school, who awakened against Brahminism through her articles and poems. Durgabai was the life partner of Swami Achutananda, the originator of the Adi Hindu movement in North India in the twentieth century, who took inspiration from him and opened a school in Sirsaganj and tried to educate Dalit girls. These women, as the author has written, have made an important contribution to the women’s liberation movement.

As the fifth pillar of Dalit women’s discourse, the author has mentioned Dr. Ambedkar’s women’s movement, Hindu Code Bill and Mayawati’s contribution to Dalit politics. But his analysis on this subject is critical, which proves him to be a conscious critic.

For example, while throwing light on the women’s movement of Dr. Ambedkar, the author writes that the important time of the women’s movement led by Babasaheb Ambedkar was in the 1930s and 1940s. However, according to him, Ambedkar had started the women’s movement in 1920 itself, when for the first time Dalit women participated in the meeting of the Bharatiya Bahishkrit Parishad organized under the chairmanship of Kolhapur King Shahuji Maharaj. In this meeting, Tulsabai Bansode and Rukmanibai had laid essential emphasis on women’s education. Mahila Mandal was established in Bombay in 1928, whose president was Ramabai Ambedkar. Dalit women also took an active part in the temple satyagraha led by Babasaheb. Similarly, in 1929, thousands of women protested under the leadership of Babasaheb Ambedkar and Tanubai to enter the Parvati temple of Pune. The author has given details of the struggle and movement of Dalit women till 1940, which are very important to understand Babasaheb’s women’s liberation discourse.

In this section, Priyanka Sonkar has also given an important discussion on the Bahujan movement of Kanshi Ram and Mayawati that emerged in Uttar Pradesh in the 1980s. In this, he has kept Mayawati’s politics at the center especially in the context of women’s liberation. He has praised Mayawati’s political rise as the first Dalit Chief Minister, but he has also explained why Mayawati could not become an inspiration for the women of the Dalit community, and did not pay attention to the issues of Dalit women during her rule. Could. He has written that by allying with Brahminism, Mayawati has caused huge damage not only to the Dalit movement but also to the liberation struggle of Dalit women. He has further written that Babasaheb Ambedkar had considered Brahminism and capitalism as enemies of Dalits, Mayawati did the politics of their development. The author’s analysis on Bahujan politics is undoubtedly noteworthy.

The third section is important from the point of view that it discusses the concept of Dalit-women’s discourse, the black feminist movement and its relationship with Dalit women’s discourse, the ideology and theory of Dalit women’s discourse and the creative literature of Dalit writers.

There is a difference between the concept of Dalit literature and the concept of Dalit women’s discourse only on this point that as much as a woman understands or can understand her mind and liberation, a man cannot understand her pain nor her liberation. The very concept of. Therefore, from the point of view of thinking, pain and treatment, women’s literature is more authentic than the literature written by men about women. Therefore, Dalit women’s writing chose its own path. But it is interesting that Priyanka Sonkar used the thinking of male writers Bajrang Bihari Tiwari and Subhash Gatade as her basis to underline the women’s discussion, whereas the thinking of many Dalit women writers is present. She should have consulted Hemlata Mahishwar’s book ‘Women’s Writing and Time’s Concerns’ published in 2006, which is an important book on Dalit women’s discourse in Dalit literature. Ramanika Gupta’s women’s discussion was also worth mentioning in this context.

Priyanka Sonkar writes that while talking about Dalit women’s discourse, first of all it is necessary for us to know what exactly is the black feminist movement that went on in the West and whether it has any similarity with the Dalit women’s discourse that went on in the nineties. ? But it is surprising to realize its dissimilarity from the women’s movement started by Dr. Ambedkar so soon.

Priyanka Sonkar believes that just as the autobiographies of black writers changed the entire discourse of America, in the same way the biographies of Dalit women also helped in bringing about the change. Black women have been victims of apartheid here, while Dalit women have been victims of caste discrimination. (same, page 137)

Under the ideology and theory of Dalit women’s discourse, Priyanka Sonkar has given references to many feminist women activists and writers, but she could not create any ideology at her level, which was expected from her. She reiterates the same opinion here that where feminism is limited to the camp of upper caste women, Dalitism has been limited to the camp of men, in which Dalit women’s discourse has been born due to Dalit women not getting a place.

But what is Dalit women’s discourse? In response to this, she supports Rajni Tilak’s opinion that after not finding their existence in feminist history, Dalit women themselves started writing the history of their struggles. She considered Dalit women’s discourse to be influenced by Savitribai Phule, Pandita Ramabai and Babasaheb Ambedkar. But he has not discussed its models and principles, which can be disappointing for researchers.

At the end of this section, the author has presented a description of the autobiographies, poems, stories and other works and magazines of some Dalit writers. This is also just a description, whereas discussion of some important works was necessary.

The fourth and final section of the book is important in that it discusses some of the disgusting social practices and rebellions of Dalit women. There is also a discussion on sexual exploitation, in which the author has discussed the views of Dr. Tej Singh, Uma Chakraborty, Mohandas Naimishrai, Rajendra Yadav, Kancha Ilaiyya Shepard and the views of Sushila Takbhaure, Baby Kamble, Kousalya Baisantri, Tulsi Ram, Dr. Dharamveer and Baby Haldar. Quoting the autobiographies, details of gender discrimination in society and homes have been presented. After this, the author has described the nature of rape that occurs with Dalit women and has enumerated several categories of rape. Namely, landlord rape, officer class and caste rape. She has given this description on the basis of Radha Kumar’s book ‘History of Women’s Struggle’. From some other sources also he has described some incidents of rape of Dalit women. One of these incidents is from Shahpur village of Uttar Pradesh, where a Dalit woman went to the field to defecate, when Natthu Singh, an upper caste of the village, raped her. When she mentioned this to her husband, Natthu Singh and his son entered the woman’s house and beat her husband, fearing which he fled the village. When the victim woman went to other houses to plead, Nathu Singh dragged her from there, stripped her naked and paraded her around the village. No one tried to save him, and the police also refused to file a report. Similarly, the author has mentioned two incidents of Madhya Pradesh quoting Manimala. Among them, one was a Dalit woman and the other was a tribal. Both those women were also stripped naked and paraded around. Women’s Commission also often remains inactive in the case of Dalit women. According to the author, there are two reasons for this, one is that Dalit representation is often not there in these commissions and only upper caste women are the officials, whose class character is biased and insensitive towards Dalits.

While discussing the Devdasi system, the author has rightly named it as the prostitute offering of Dalit women in temples. According to the author, the number of Devadasis in Pune is around six thousand and in Maharashtra and Karnataka it is ten thousand. However, the number of Devadasis may be much higher, because this disgusting practice has not been completely eradicated yet. If the Devdasi system was established by the Brahmin priests for their debauchery, the Thakur landlords for their lust established the ‘Bahu Juthai’ system, which was prevalent in most, if not all, villages of India. This practice not only sexually exploited Dalit women but also crushed their self-respect. Under this tradition, loads of newly married brides from lower castes used to descend on the mansion of Thakur Zamindar. His first night was with Thakur. Although, the author has not made any specific discussion on this practice in this chapter, but from the point of view of Dalit women’s struggle, the author has made an important discussion on the resistance of Nadar women of Dalit caste. This was a very cruel and disgusting tradition of the Indian society, under which Nadar women in Travancore, Kerala were not allowed to cover their breasts. Therefore they kept the upper part of the body naked. Not only this, the state used to collect breast tax from women who tried to cover their breasts. Christians were the first to take cognizance of this uncivilized tradition. When Christian missionaries preached Christianity among them and some Nadar women converted to Christianity, they started covering their bodies. For the first time in 1814, during the British rule, Colonel Munro, the Diwan of Travancore, issued an order to all Christian Nadars and other Nadar women to wear blouses. According to the author, despite this order, upper caste men continued to force Nadar women to keep their breasts naked with the help of their power. Eight years later, the government again issued an order to cover the breasts, after which some Nadar women started wearing decent clothes. But the pressure from Brahmins and feudal lords was still in opposition. Priyanka Sonkar has written that this entire movement was not only directly related to the fight for women’s liberation, but also to the history of India’s independence. As a result of the resistance of Narayana Guru and other reformers and non-caste women of Kerala and pressure from the British, the King of Travancore finally had to issue an order to end this practice on July 26, 1859. Such shameful practices are proof of how cruel India’s Brahminism and feudalism was towards Dalit women.

At the end of the book, Priyanka Sonkar has discussed class economic exploitation and Dalit women’s struggle in detail, under which some important women’s movements and struggles have been described. These include Chanar rebellion, Tebhaga and Telangana movement, Mathura tribal movement, Bhagana movement, Phoolan Devi struggle and Bhanwari Devi episode. Although the author, while introducing her readers to these movements, has also briefly discussed the leftist movements in them, which was necessary, but the lack of critical analysis that was required here is glaring.

(Editing: Rajan/Nawal/Anil)

Courtesy : Hindi News