 |
| Saloni Walia |
Saloni Walia
M.Phil Research Scholar, Delhi University
Keywords: Dalit,
Mahar, caste, gender, marginal, epic
Abstract
Belonging
to the Mahar community, Hira Bansode is a name to be reckoned with in Marathi
literature. She is considered a resonant voice in Dalit poetry. The selected
piece of work is ‘Shabari’ which will be analyzed in the paper.
The
myth of Shabari who is a tribal woman, finds little mention in Valmiki’s Ramayana. In lieu of serving her Guru
for a lifetime, she is awarded with Rama’s blessing. As a token of reverence,
she offers self-tasted berries to Lord Rama who despite being forbidden to eat
them; obliges Shabari and shows his gratitude. She represents symbol of
selfless devotion in the epic. Bansode questions this stance through her poem.
Along with this, she takes up the injustice meted out to Sita for having been
abandoned by Lord Rama. By talking about a tribal and Brahmin woman together,
Bansode addresses the larger issue of feminism and how women belonging to
different stratas of society and enduring different kinds of miseries are bound
together with a common thread of ‘suffering’.
Transcending
the borders of feminism, Bansode goes one step further when she discusses the
predicament of Eklavya, the tribal prince who too was denied the privilege of
education by the class conscious Dronacharya in the epic Mahabharata.
The paper attempts to analyze these situations from the lens of various
contemporary theories at length.
Research
Paper
Belonging
to the Mahar community, Hira Bansode is a name to be reckoned with in Marathi
literature. She is considered a resonant voice in Dalit poetry. The selected piece
of work is her poem ‘Shabari’ which will be analyzed in the paper.
The
myth of Shabari who is a tribal woman, finds little mention in Valmiki’s Ramayana. In lieu of serving her Guru
for a lifetime, she is awarded with Rama’s blessing. As a token of reverence,
she offers self-tasted berries to Lord Rama who despite being forbidden to eat
them; obliges Shabari and shows his gratitude. She represents symbol of
selfless devotion in the epic.
While
Shabari was a Girijan (tribal), the
poetess is a Harijan[1]
(dalit). It seems she has fused these identities and views them as a collected
representation of the marginalized section of the society. It is through Shabari that she has expressed her
angst. By invoking the mythical Shabari,
Bansode raises some very pertinent issues about caste and gender in the Indian
context.
Bansode questions Shabari’s blind devotion to
Rama through the lines “Was this fulfillment?” urging her to be assertive of
her rights. She has a strong objection over her subservience. She hints towards
the power dynamics at play propounded by the French philosopher and theorist
Michel Foucault[2].
According to him, power works in binaries. The meek surrender of the
‘powerless’ instills power in the other. This is a way of urging the
downtrodden to recognize their hidden power. This can be interpreted to be a
scathing attack on casteism infecting the Indian society.
Moreover,
through her poem, Bansode is also ridiculing religious scriptures who have
propagated this difference. This discrimination took firm roots at the time of
the compilation of Manu Smriti which
infamously introduced the loathsome Varna System. Louis Althusser’s[3] theory
of the Ideological State Apparatus also offers a possible explanation. Even
though his theories were based on the classism prevalent in European societies,
it feels apt to see its implication in a casteist society too. He argues how
the dominant class used institutions like religion to exercise their authority
over their subjects. She calls for the mind to be decolonized and do away with
mental slavery.
Vyasa’s Mahabharata is another scripture which receives her ire. This text
as well as Ramayana are the pillars
of Hindu beliefs which are critiqued. The myth of Eklavya deserves a little
space here. He belonged to the Bhil tribe of Nishadha kingdom and had a dire wish to learn the art of archery
from the ace Guru Dronacharya. Since Eklavya was not royalty, he was snubbed
and refused to be taken under his mentorship by Dronacharya. Saddedned by the
rejection but still resolute to learn the craft, Eklavya makes an idol of his
teacher. He takes blessings from this statue and begins his self-learning. When
discovered by Drona who wanted to polish Arjuna as the superior most archer, he
is dumbfounded at Eklavya’s mastery. In Gurudakshina[4], Drona
asks for his thumb which Eklavya happily agrees to.
The poetess has equated
Eklavya with Shabari as both belong
to the underprivileged lot and were sidelined to the fringes. In addition, the
figure of the teacher is also eyed with suspicion. Blind worship of any person
is condemned. She goes on to question Ram:
Why didn’t you ask of omniscient Ram,
Who knows the past and the future
About the heart- rending sacrifice of Eklavya’s thumb?
Bansode
uses an accusatory tone where she is not even sparing Shabari. If the oppressor is held responsible for committing
atrocities, so is the oppressed who is not fighting back. Shabari is being reprimanded by the poetess for merely receiving
his blessings. Is justice reserved only for the highly born? What about the
common folks? The questions posed here forms the essence of Dalit writing in
literature. It is the very backbone of the Dalit movement.
Furthermore,
the poem can be put in a postmodern model too as it counter questions the genre
of grand narratives. French philosopher and theorist Jean Fran├зois Lyotard
favours the need to step out of the perception set by such texts in his book The Postmodern Condition: A Report on
Knowledge (1979). The entire universe cannot revolve around the hero and
his great journey. It is also about the untold histories that were never
recorded or given any heed in the mainstream.
She does not stop here:
Why didn’t you ask
About blameless Sita’s exile?
Where
was his Dharma when he abandoned his
wife? Ram’s justice is put under scrutiny. Here the battle of the sexes enters
the scene. Patriarchy is severely censured. The construct of masculinity is
demolished that demands loyalty from the wife but spares all the men. Why is
not the same parameter set for the husband? Why doesn’t he have to give Agnipariksha? These questions are
relevant in the contemporary context.
Moreover, it is noteworthy that Sita
unlike Shabari was a high caste Hindu woman. She was the daughter of a Brahmin[5] adopted
by King Janaka of Videha[6]
whom he stumbled upon while ploughing a field. Sanskrit scholar of Marathi
roots and a social reformer Pandita Ramabai ridicules the rigidities Manusmriti imposed on the higher caste
women in her book The High Caste Hindu
Woman (1888). They were kept away from education and those who were
educated were mostly self-taught and homeschooled. She even described the life
of a single woman, whether widowed or forsaken was an easy target for the
society to malign.
Through Shabari and Sita, feminist angles are
also explored. Their mention together in one poem calls for a unique sisterhood
in resisting suppression. Birth into high caste makes life easy for a woman-
this is a fallacy. Sita’s case proves it still does not assure social security.
In this sense, all women are alike.
Thus, casteist, sexist and religious politics
have been targeted by Hira Bansode in her radical poem ‘Shabari’. Her verses
urge for the formation of a new canon which decentralizes Brahmanical focus in
epics and makes way for ‘Marginal Narratives’.
Works Cited
Althusser, Louis.
“Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses”. Lenin and Philosophy and Other Essays. Monthly Review Press. 1971. pp.1-31,
Foucault,
Michel. Discipline and Punish: The Birth
of a Prison. Penguin. 1976.
---------------------
History of Sexuality: The Will of
Knowledge Volume I. Penguin. 1976.
Lyotard, Jean
Fran├зois. The Postmodern Condition: A
Report on Knowledge. University of Minnesota Press. 1979.
Saraswati, Pandita
Ramabai. The High Caste Hindu Woman.
Jas b. Rogers Printing Co: Philadelphia.
1888.
Endnotes
- These nomenclatures were given by Mahatma Gandhi.
- Foucault discusses his idea of power in Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison (1976) and the first volume of History of Sexuality (1976).
- French philosopher and theorist. His idea of Ideological State Apparatus (ISA) was discussed in his 1970 essay Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses: Notes Towards an Investigation.
- Graduation fee in English. In ancient times, the ‘Guru’ or the teacher was paid in lieu of the services offered by him to his ‘Shishya’ or student. This is for the education and guidance given by him to his disciple. The repayment could be in any form and the student had to oblige. It was a form of reverence towards the teacher.
- It is contested. Though various myths are associated with her birth legend.
- Ancient Hindu kingdom sprawling geographically from Bihar to Nepal.
No comments :
Post a Comment
We welcome your comments related to the article and the topic being discussed. We expect the comments to be courteous, and respectful of the author and other commenters. Setu reserves the right to moderate, remove or reject comments that contain foul language, insult, hatred, personal information or indicate bad intention. The views expressed in comments reflect those of the commenter, not the official views of the Setu editorial board. рдк्рд░рдХाрд╢िрдд рд░рдЪрдиा рд╕े рд╕рдо्рдмंрдзिрдд рд╢ाрд▓ीрди рд╕рдо्рд╡ाрдж рдХा рд╕्рд╡ाрдЧрдд рд╣ै।