Abstract
Patriarchy subordinates and subdues the fair sex on the basis of gender, a social and cultural construct to divide the two sexes (biological construct). The caste system is the hidden apartheid of ancient India which continues even in contemporary times. Apart from these, several other markers of identity like religion, class, economic position and geographical location also play an important role in discrimination. These interact with each other to give a unique experience of discrimination rather than a conglomeration of oppressions. The intersections of gender and caste in India echo issues of violence, coercion and infringement of basic human rights which can be explained through intersectionality theory. Cultural studies have facilitated the documentation of the petit narrative, thus bringing the subaltern to the mainstream. Literature thus portrays such marginalization, which sometimes challenges the status quo or at times negotiates its way around it. This article intends to analyse the English translations of Pawade’s Antahsphot (1981), Kamble’s Jina Amucha (1985), Sivakami’s Pazhaiyana Kazhithalum (1989) and Limbale’s Akkarmashi (1991) through the lens of intersectionality in the cultural milieu.
Introduction
de Beauvoir says, ‘One is not born woman, but, rather, becomes one’ (1973, p. 301). Female subordination is defined by patriarchy globally. According to Bhasin (1993), patriarchy is the male domination of women in economic, political and social fields. The word ‘patriarchy’ denotes being governed by a father or the patriarch. Walby discarded the concept of biological determinism and said patriarchy is a ‘system of social structures and practices in which men dominate, oppress and exploit women’ (1990, p. 20). As per Engels, in his book Origins of the Family (1990), women’s subordination has its roots in the economy and private property. However, Lerner claims ‘Traditionalist defenses of male supremacy based on biological-deterministic reasoning have changed over time and proven remark-ably adaptive and resilient’ (1986, p. 18).
Women in Indian society are also dominated by patriarchal hegemony. Social cleavages based on gender encourage patriarchy. The position of women deteriorated with time and the final blow came with the Laws of Manu from 200
The constitution of Independent India assured equal rights to women; however, they remain oppressed, struggling for their survival and basic rights. Several feminist movements took place around the world but there was not any significant effect on the current cultural attitudes concerning women. The violence, coercion, humiliation and suppression continue. Many feminist writers protest, challenge and show resistance to patriarchy. Desai’s Cry the Peacock (1963) portrays the symbolic violence and suppression of women. Similarly, Roy’s God of Small Things (1997) presents the domination of man in every sphere. The social status of the majority of Indian women remains unaffected partly due to the effect of other power structures in India. Society has been categorized according to several identity markers which interact and affect each other for discrimination, oppression and corruption. Gender intersects with caste to give profound and unique discrimination.
Caste
The word ‘caste’ is derived from the Portuguese word casta meaning lineage or race and means jati denoting birth in the Indian context. According to Ketkar (1993), caste is a social group having two features—hereditary membership and endogamy. Velassery (2005) said caste can be defined as an endogamous and hereditary subdivision of a group that is hierarchal in nature. The caste system is a closed system of stratification based on their social hierarchy, ancestry, profession and the notion of purity and pollution. Bougle claimed ‘The spirit of caste unites three tendencies, repulsion, hierarchy, hereditary specialization, and all three must be borne in mind if one wishes to give a complete definition of the caste system’ (1971, p. 9). The Hindu caste system, justified by religious texts, divides people into four castes, varna: the Brahmins (priests), the Kshatriyas (rulers, warriors), the Vaishyas (traders, farmers) and Shudras (manual workers). Below these lie the untouchables called Avarnas or outcastes. They had to perform all the menial work and were considered polluted and relegated to the margins. The untouchables are also called Depressed classes, Harijans (children of god) and Dalits. Bhimrao Ambedkar served as a Dalit icon and challenged the Brahmanical hegemony. The caste in Indian Hindu society spreads its fangs in every sphere tyrannizing, exploiting and marginalizing. Dalits protested and challenged the dominant ideology. The Government of India also took several affirmative actions and forbids discrimination based on caste; however, it continues even in contemporary times.
Intersectionality
Crenshaw coined the term ‘intersectionality’ in her essay Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Anti-discrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics (1989) and further elaborated in another essay Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics and Violence Against Women of Colour (1991). The theory had its origin in the oppression of black women in the US due to the intersection of discrimination caused by both their colour and gender. Crenshaw (1991) categorizes three features of intersectionality—structural intersectionality (domestic oppression), political intersectionality (laws and policies ignore them), and representational intersectionality (popular culture misrepresents their suffering). The term now expands to include other identity markers also.
The Intersectionality theory recognizes and tries to find a solution for discrimination against repressed classes due to the merging of several identities with gender. According to Symington (2004), people simultaneously belong to several groups based on social power structures like caste, sexual orientation, ancestry, socio-economic class, religion and geographic location apart from gender. Therefore, each plays a significant part in determining the individual’s position in society. Due to the interaction and intersection of several identities’ women are exposed to layers of discrimination, and denied even basic human rights. Intersectionality helps us to comprehend it better by expressing the views of the sufferers themselves. It emphasizes the basic rights of minorities like women, disabled, coloured, LGBT and native people.
Indian history bears testimony to gender and caste-based discrimination both existing for aeons. The caste-related prejudices can worsen gender discrimination. Thus gender-caste intersectionality exacerbates gender inequalities at every step of life. The government as well as social reformers are putting umpteen efforts to alleviate the problem; however, much has to be done. Intersectionality can play a pivotal role in reducing such disparities.
Manorama observes,
On the whole, the oppression of the Dalit women in India echoes issues such as state violence, denial of land rights, social and legal discrimination, infringement of civil liberties, inferior status, dehumanizing living and working conditions, total impoverishment, malnutrition, bad health conditions, the adverse effect of various contraceptives and the newly invented family planning devices that violate their bodies, illiteracy and ignorance, social ostracism and untouchability maintained by the caste Hindus as well as other religions (such as Christianity). (2008, pp. 451–452)
Cultural Studies
According to the Cambridge dictionary, culture is ‘the way of life, especially the general customs and beliefs, of a particular group of people at a particular time’ (Cambridge Dictionary, n.d., para. 1). The word has its origin in Middle English (meaning place tilled) as well as Latin colere (meaning ‘to inhabit, care for, till, worship’). Both Hoggart’s Uses of Literacy (1957) and William’s Culture and Society (1958) also brought the idea of culture as a way of life. William’s Long Revolution (1961) also defined it as the process to achieve the ideal, documentation of intellectual and creative work. Cultural studies started with Richard Hoggart’s building the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies at the University of Birmingham (1964) which had roots in the Frankfurt school. It expanded the purview of the study of literature by including the social, material, historical and ideological conditions of the time as well as pamphlets, documents, non-written texts, cultural phenomena. Thus, the petit narrative also came to the forefront providing space for the ‘othered’, ‘unheard voices like those of women, dalits or other marginalised communities’ (Gupta, 2008, p. 10).
Lower caste women being a member of oppressed groups suffer due to the presence of social structures that provide denial at each step. They are restricted from entering police stations, temples, or hospitals and also denied basic amenities like water, electricity or postal services. Dalit women are marginalized by both the caste system and patriarchy. Inequalities caused by the hierarchy in society and culture authorize men both within and outside the family to sexually assault, deny education and also lead to child marriages of the womenfolk. She is thus an ‘outsider within’. Power relations, hegemonic discourses and discriminatory dispositions relegate them to the periphery. Bourdieu defines symbolic violence as a ‘gentle, invisible violence, unrecognized as such’ (1990, p. 127). The aborting female child, female infanticide, flesh trade for sustenance and privileging of the male child are commonly seen as symbolic violence. Another category which subjugates and discriminates lower caste women are their own brethren, the upper caste women who cause violence within the shackles of patriarchy. Such inhuman practices caused by the intersection of various markers of discrimination are brought to the mainstream due to cultural studies.
Translation
According to the Cambridge dictionary, translation is ‘the activity or process of changing the words of one language into the words in another language that have the same meaning’ (Cambridge Dictionary, n.d., para. 2).
Translation is the interpretation of the meaning of a text in the Source language to the Target language. It is a process of facilitating written communication from one language to another. Translation plays a significant role in knitting a multilingual country like India with innumerable languages, as a nation, throughout history. Indian literature, culture and knowledge would remain obscure without translation. It brings people of different languages together within India, as well as connects with nations of the world. Apart from the translation of religious and historical texts, fictional and non-fictional works occupy equal importance.
Each language has its vocabulary to mirror human perception and thoughts. Some words which are intrinsic to a particular language and express a particular sense may not exactly have words in other languages to express the same. While translating exact sense has to be preserved by taking into account linguistic, literary and aesthetic, and sociocultural problems. Due to the problem of preserving the last one, the issue of cultural untranslatability occurs. Different linguistic communities interpret realities in different ways thus jeopardising translatability according to the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis of Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf.
Britishers colonized half of the world and thus English became a lingua franca in many parts of the world. Moreover, the rise of the United States of America as a superpower further popularized English. Therefore, texts from all over the world are translated into English to reach a wider audience. Subalterns or marginalized groups usually write in their regional dialects. Dalit literature with its portrayal of stark realities has its origin in the Marathi language which later appeared in Bangla, Hindi, Kannada, Punjabi, Sindhi and Tamil languages. However, most of them have been translated into English to reach the mainstream. These English translations have given voice to the subaltern. However, despite being a saviour, English serves as a necessary evil. The local dialects carry vocabulary for a particular sense which English lacks and translations are thus robbed of its depth and quality. The cultural difference between the dominant and those at the periphery is often subverted if translated by higher caste to domesticate subaltern texts. The translations fail to capture the radical alterity of segregated Dalit life. When the author himself translates, the result is better. Limbale’s response to his translator evinces out this need when he says, ‘You are worrying about my books and I am worrying about my movement’ (Gurjar, 2022, par. 1).
The Story of My Sanskrit (1981)
Kumud Pawde, a Maharashtrian, Mahar (Dalit), a feminist writer is a founder of the National Federation of Dalit Women. Her Marathi autobiography Antahsphot (Outburst) presents the problems of abuse and oppression of Dalit women. The excerpt The Story of My Sanskrit (Pawde, 1994) voices the barriers, struggles and discrimination while learning Sanskrit. Though she belonged to a well-to-do family she had to bear the brunt of her caste since childhood. She puts up resistance against the discriminatory attitude of society and enters into the public sphere. The so-called educated, civilized upper-caste mothers of her friends mistreated and warned her to stay away from their children. The coercive practice of the upper caste women further adds to her plight who manage to oppress within patriarchy and serve as another identity marker for discrimination. To ward off the notion of impurity attached to her caste, she constantly cleans herself in vain. She was discouraged and disliked for learning Sanskrit which was forbidden for the Dalits and women. Despite acquiring adequate qualifications in Sanskrit, she had difficulty in procuring a job but ironically became a lecturer after inter-caste marriage with Motiram Pawde, an upper caste. She tried to suppress her identity by discouraging her students to praise. The author also talks about the issues in her married life as her father-in-law was indifferent towards the grandson. She also reveals male domination by recounting the tradition of ‘Vat Savitri vrat’, a fast performed by women to get the same husband in each of the seven births.
The Prisons We Broke (1986)
Baby Kamble was a social activist. Her Marathi narrative Jina Amucha (1986), recognized as the first autobiography by a Dalit woman in any Indian language, was initially published in Stree (woman) magazine before coming as a book. Maya Pandit translated it into English with the title The Prisons We Broke (2008).
Despite being an autobiography, the narrative gives an account of the historical, political and sociocultural conditions of the Mahar community in Maharashtra before India’s independence. She claimed in her interview (included in the translation) that it is an autobiography of the whole community since she represents her people.
Inspired by the Dalit movement of B. R. Ambedkar, she shows her protests against the Brahmanical hegemony by portraying the inhuman state of the Dalits. The atrocities caused by the upper-caste Hindus for ages have also been graphically presented. At the same time, she also depicts the positive impacts of the advent of education and conversion to other religions, producing a revolution in society due to the effort of Ambedkar. The wretched conditions, poverty, scarcity and oppression are not only depictions in Kamble’s writing. She also tries to uplift the morale by talking about their strength and grit. Her lived experiences being on the margins of society are dotted with anguish, illiteracy, superstitions, ignorance caused by brutality, suppression and prejudice of the upper castes. Kamble also wanted the lower caste to not be ashamed of their caste but rather feel proud. She said in the foreword, ‘what is there to be ashamed of? … I love our caste name, Mahar- it… reminds me of our terrible struggle for truth’ (2008, p. ix).
The life of women has been focused in her work, bringing to the forefront both the private and public spheres of the lives of Mahar women. The women suffered physically and emotionally in their families due to patriarchal hegemony along with the miseries caused due to their lower caste and class. The women were doubly or triply marginalized but they suffered more due to the intersection of different identity markers with gender. She claims that she too had to hide her work for twenty years before it saw daybreak and was published. Through a Dalit feminist perspective, she succeeds in revealing, criticizing and resisting the power politics and brutality of the women folks. The women are shown to suffer from a very young age. There is just a change of masters after marriage. Young girls less than 10 are married off and tormented and tortured mercilessly by their husbands and in-laws. Poverty and ignorance of the lower caste further add to the adversity which is marked by hunger, unhygienic state, ailment and mishap especially when a woman bears a child. Apart from portraying the inhuman form of atrocities and discrimination faced by women, Kamble also shows them possessing survival instincts and putting up resistance to bring transformation. The women are represented here as torchbearers who start educating their children, inspired by Ambedkar. Moreover, they are also portrayed as all-powerful in resisting several norms attached to their caste. They try to stop eating carcasses, ancient misconceptions and joining political meetings.
In the end, Kamble claimed she was a ‘product of the Ambedkar movement’ (2008, p. 125). She herself being a Marathi Dalit woman credited the Ambedkarite movement for her improved life. She worked for the upliftment of her people. She resisted, protested and brought to the mainstream, the plight of women caused by the intersection of gender and caste and also showed them as agents of change.
The Grip of Change (1989)
P. Sivakami, a former bureaucrat, challenged social and political issues contributing to Indian Dalit feminist writing in Tamil. Some of her famous works include Pazhayana Kazhidalum (1989), Kurruku Vettu (1999), Nalum Thodarum (1989) and Kadaisi Mandhar (1995).
Sivakami in The Grip of Change (1989) portrays the plight and sufferings and brings to our notice the dual oppression of poor, vulnerable Dalit women due to gender and caste both by upper caste and Dalit men.
The sufferings of Dalits are continuing for several decades and a dismal image of oppression and caste bias is shown in the characters Kathamuthu, Thangam, Gowri and many others. Once regarding the issue of low wages Sivakami comments, ‘In continuance with the traditions of the society they lived in, the lower castes had learned to tolerate the intolerable’ (2006, p. 76). Sexual assault and molestation are weapons used against Dalit women to suppress them. Thangam, a childless widow has to bear the brunt of her brothers-in-law both in terms of fulling lust as well as denial of the right to land. Being helpless Thangam seeks refuge by working in the fields of an upper-class landlord Paranjothi Udayar. However, her misery does not end and the landlord rapes her continuously. She narrates, ‘I didn’t want it. But Udayar took no notice of me. He raped me when I was working in his sugarcane field. I remained silent, after all, he is my paymaster. He measures my rice’ (2008, p. 7). When this is revealed, Udayar’s brothers-in-law beat her miserably and threaten to kill her. The dichotomy of the upper caste is visible when he abuses her, ‘Ungrateful whore! … A parachi could have never dreamt of being touched by a man like me! My touch was a boon granted for penance performed in her earlier births!’ (Sivakami, 2006, p. 31). Thangam, a victim of rape, sexual abuse and physical assault seeks Kathamuthu’s aid, however, even that turns against her. She is ‘othered’ at each step due to the intersection of discrimination by the social structures, gender, caste and economic status. The story also shows the predicament of Gowri, the daughter of Kathamuthu who has to face a lot of hurdles, casteist comments while pursuing her education. Despite humiliations and abuses, she is shown as the epitome of change, by educating herself. The novel postulates the stereotyping by patriarchy and the caste system, exposing the oppression at the same time showing a gleam of hope and growing consciousness. Sivakami in The Grip of Change (1989) has endeavoured to champion the cause of her community in her narrative.
Dalit women write from a Dalit feminist perspective, exposing and critiquing the several identity markers which intersect to exploit them harshly. Their lived experiences are testimony and serve as a protest. Expression and suppression of the self are common features in such narratives. Several regional languages are replete with such narratives of protests and resistance against hegemonic orders.
The Outcaste: Akkarmashi (1991)
Sharankumar Limbale, a Marathi author, poet and literary, is famous for his autobiography Akkarmashi (1991). Towards an Aesthetics of Dalit Literature (2004) is one of his most significant critical works on Dalit literature.
Akkarmashi (1991) recounts the dehumanizing influence of caste discrimination in Hindu society by depicting the struggle against poverty, scarcity, oppression and violence. The story depicts the angst and anguish of an illegitimate child, born due to ill effects of caste oppression as well as the vulnerability of Dalit women. The Dalit women are relegated to the periphery and are condemned to evils like rape, sexual exploitation, child marriage, illiteracy, divorce and forced prostitution. The narrative documents the victimization of the author’s mother Masamai who is forced into sex and motherhood by the encroachment of her body by the upper caste. Sanger said, ‘No woman can call herself free who does not own and control her own body’ (1990, p. 250). Limbale describes the miseries of women both by internal and external intrigues and their heart-wrenching ordeals for subsistence. Santamai, his grandmother, worked hard to meet ends, eating bhakris (bread) made from the undigested grains of jowar (Sorghum) from the cow dung. ‘She gave no sign of being assaulted by the stink of dung. She just pushed it into her mouth, and it went down her stomach, whereas the dung heaved up mine’ (Limbale, 2005, p. 11). The family’s liquor business caused much furore, ‘Many a time I saw them holding my mother’s hand while she served them drinks. I was helpless, the very nature of this liquor business was such’ (Limbale, 2005, p. 29). It also attracted the policemen as well as affected the family members. ‘The street connecting the village to the Maharwada was full of drunkards. Drunkards accepted liquor from the house of a Mahar but not water. They had affairs with Mahar women but wouldn’t accept the food they cooked’ (Limbale, 2005, p. 35). Dalit women were thus oppressed due to the intersection of marginalization by both caste and gender continuously. The torment of the women is shown even within the community. ‘The Mahars are a very fierce people.… They will force us to sleep with them’ (Limbale, 2005, p. 27). Masamai was beautiful, therefore, forced to divorce her husband, leave her children by the upper caste landlord, Hanmanta Limbale and satisfy his lust. ‘To be born beautiful among Dalits is a curse’ (Limbale, 2005, p. 37). The upper caste Patils used Dalit women to satisfy their sexual desire producing many illegitimate children with no identity. The author said he hated her mother’s life, ‘mortgaging herself to one owner after another and being used as a commodity? Her lot has been nothing but the tyranny of sex’ (Limbale, 2005, p. 59). Once two men wanted to share his mother’s body. ‘That night she hugged me as she slept and cried a lot. Her sobbing was like the explosion of a Volcano’ (Limbale, 2005, p. 61). Mahars dedicate their girl child to God. Limbale said, ‘Why are such customs laid down for Mahars only?’ (2005, p. 93). The autobiography depicts the torments of the caste system, gender roles and power relations that subjugate and oppress women apart from describing the trauma of illegitimate children.
Conclusion
Post-colonial critical literacy shows that even after the end of colonial rule the ideology of colonialism continues by the hierarchies and categorizations created in society based on gender and sex, upper caste and lower caste and so many other criteria. Patriarchy expects women to be traditional, religious, submissive, and subordinate to men and depicts them in dichotomy, binary representation either as an embodiment of purity or degraded as evil. Mill said, ‘All women are brought up from the very earliest years in the belief that their ideal of character is the very opposite to that of men; not self-will, and government by self-control, but submission, and yielding to the control of others’ (1975, p. 444). Caste system has survived for 2,000 years discriminating and dehumanizing the lower caste. Cultural studies have expanded the purview of literature thus voicing petit narratives. Dalit writings and feminist writings have protested and challenged such notions of oppression. de Beauvoir (1973) asked women to write themselves about their experiences. Feminist writings especially Dalit feminist writings expose and resist the hypocrisy of our society which traumatizes women. Another violence is seen by upper-caste women against lower caste women who act as agents of power and privilege within the fetters of patriarchy. Pawde’s The Story of My Sanskrit depicts such discrimination which serves as another identity marker for violence. Pawde’s Antahsphot (Outburst) (1981), Kamble’s The Prisons We Broke (2008), Sivakami’s The Grip of Change (2006), Limbale’s The Outcaste: Akkarmashi (2005) and many other such narratives represent the vulnerability and despair of the women in facing the oppression due to gender and caste which increase manifold due to the intersectaion of discrimination caused by each of the identity markers. All these writings resist inequality, challenge patriarchy, reject the established Hindu caste system with the stigma of untouchability and recount the agony of the internalization of pain by Dalit women. These writers also show a gleam of hope in despair. Bringing these issues to the mainstream, affirmative government policies, empowering the subaltern to access their basic human rights and providing education would to a great extent solve the problem of extreme oppression and violence. Spivak’s (1998) question ‘Can the subaltern speak?’ indeed has an affirmative answer.
Footnotes
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author received no financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.