Caste and Race: Equations of Marginalization...Caste and Race: Equations of Marginalization By S. M. Basha Associate Professor of English Osmania College, (Autonomous), Kurnool. 2016

Caste and Race: Equations of Marginalization

By

S. M. Basha

Associate Professor of English

Osmania College, (Autonomous), Kurnool.

2016

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Caste and Race: Equations of Marginalization iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

My special thanks to the University Grants Commission, South Eastern Regional

Office, (SERO), Hyderabad, for sanctioning financial assistance for Minor Research

Project.

I express my profound gratitude to the following persons who have been of immense

support during the completion of this project.

Mrs. Azra Javed, Secretary & Correspondent, Osmania College (Autonomous),

Kurnool.

Dr M. Silar Mohammed, Principal, Osmania College (Autonomous), Kurnool.

Prof. VVN Rajendra Praasad, my teacher and guide.

Mr S.M.Nizamuddin, HOD of English and departmental colleagues Mr S.Samiuddin

Muzammil, Mr Jafarullah Baig, Mr Javeed , Mr Abu Bakar.

I thank Mr Md. Aslam, Librarian, Osmaina College, Kurnoopl, and Dr S. Md. Ghouse

for their help.

The loving support and scholarly help extended by my wife, Dr. M. Farida Begum,

and endearing help of my children Gudiya and Ajju, evoke in me a sense of

gratefulness.

Dr S. M. Basha


Caste and Race: Equations of Marginalization iv

CONTENTS

Chapter Pages

Preface

I. Introduction ……………1

II. Black Identity in African American Literature……………10

III. The Outsider and the Sense of Estrangement……………….16

IV. Dynamics of Class and Caste in Indian English Literature………..35

V. Comparative Contours of African American Literature and Telugu Dalit

Literature …………………..44

VI. Telugu Dalit Literature and Emergence of Muslim Consciousness…57

VII. Summing Up………..65

A Select Bibliography...........72


Caste and Race: Equations of Marginalization 1

Chapter I

Introduction

Caste and Race: Equations of Marginalization is an attempt to offer insights into

the relevance of the emergence of African American Literature (AAL) and Telugu Dalit

Literature besides probing into the comparative aspects in terms of victimization, degradation

and consequent retribution. Obviously, certain commonalities and identifiable constructs

permeate both the literatures. An attempt is made to dig at the criminality of human nature of

the privileged ‘power structures’ that are intoxicated by the dynamics of hegemony. The

quest for identity as well as self-actualization amid the existential drags that often prompt the

victims towards retaliation is also compared and contrasted.

It also tries to evaluate the justification of the resultant ‘angst’ of the socio, economic

and political factors that tempered the psyche of the ‘marginalized,’ with reference to the

works of the select writers. The study, besides focussing on how the violence gets translated

into action in the writings, aims at bringing out awareness regarding the need for social

justice in letter and spirit in order to establish the casteless society. An analysis of the

Dynamics of class and caste in regional literatures as well as Indian English Literature vis-a-

vis African American Literature is also taken up. The overhauling spirit of protest sometimes

in its moderate tone and quite often in rebellious tone is all pervasive, seen trying to bridge

the resultant hiatus between class and caste, nurtured by socio, economic and political factors.



The protagonists’ dilemmas, the orthodox entanglements, the ceaseless clash between

conventionalism and modernity, the upsurge of transculturalism engulfing the idiosyncrasies

are also examined in the light of the older order paving the way to the newer one. Further,

there is a discernible focus on how the age-old shackles of coercion are broken, how the

feeble and throttled voices longing to be heard are made heard and how the perceptible

change transcends the borders of region, religion, caste, class, and culture.

BLACK and WHITE

When I born, I Black

When I grow up, I Black

When I go in sun, I Black

When I scared, I Black

When I sick, I black

And when I died, I still Black.

And you White fella,

When you born, you pink,

When you grow up, you white,

When you go in sun, you red,

When you cold, you blue,

When you scared, you yellow,

When you sick, you green,

And when you die, you grey.

And you calling me colored?

(Contributed by Vipin Bucksey, New Delhi)



Khushwant Singh, “With Malice Towards One and All,” Deccan Chronicle 28

Sunday, Jan, 2007:7.

The resentment expressed by Black in the above poem, if examined in the perspective

of suppression and exploitation by a superior race or class, would reveal many stark realities

of the very existence of the blacks. The unabated power and superiority of the Whites in the

past kept on nourishing its sustenance from the black man’s voluntary acceptance of their fate

of eternal subservience. The unusual trauma of black existence is attributed to the powerful

manifestations of tyrannical attitude of the society that compels the black to believe that the

‘only way to stay alive is to stay in line.’ Afraid of the omnipotence of the Whites, the blacks

toed the line of control and started teaching their progeny “the Ethics of Living Jim Crow”

and Edward Bland calls this state ‘pre-individualism.’

The blacks’ innateness to remain subservient is an outcome of strong

oppression which is evident in their behavioural patterns. The plight of the blacks is similar to

that of the untouchables in India but the genesis of the American Negro is different than that

of a Dalit. The genesis of the American Negro is discussed in detail in the chapter “The

Outsider and the Sense of Estrangement,” how the Negro was snatched away from his

African home and shackled in slavery. The clear demarcation between the blacks and the

whites and the circumstances that led to the existence of two different worlds are analysed in

the chapter, “Comparative Contours of African American Literature and Telugu Dalit

Literature.”

Gradually the oppression resulted in rebellion and the Blacks who could not adjust

themselves to Jim Crow life were labelled as rebels and punished severely lest the rest tread

the same path. The resultant resentment found the way into the artistic activities of the blacks

which in turn paved the way for the emergence of Negro Literature in the beginning and later



African American Literature in its various forms-narratives, essays, poems, short stories,

novels, memoirs, or travelogues- started awakening the conscience of the blacks by

reminding them of their exile in their own native land. “Negro” (an old-fashioned, often

offensive) refers to a member of a race of people with dark skin who originally came from

Africa. Black is the word most widely used and generally accepted in Britain. In the US the

currently accepted term is African American.

However, the term Negro is retained in course of my discussion, as a reflector of the

intended use of the author as well as the critics. It is noteworthy that

Studies devoted to the Negro in American literature, either as image or creator,

scarcely exist before the twentieth century, and do not flourish until the 1920s,

when the Jazz Age’s rage for all things Negro gave impetus to the Negro

Renaissance, and the 1930s, when a pervasive social consciousness gathered

the Negro into the wider sweep of economic interpretations of the Republic.

(Images of the Negro, 3)

The Slave Narratives are considered to be very close to fiction. The quest for freedom

is seen more in prose, mostly in the narratives than in versification. Frederick Douglass in his

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (1845) ascertains his black identity while

recalling the ordeal of getting tamed by the slave-breaker. The psychological scars are more

tormenting than his physical scars that his shoulders and back bore. He recalls how he is

being flogged and whipped.

Under Covey’s heavy blows blood flowed freely, and wales were left on my

back as large as my little finger. The sores from this flogging continued for

weeks for they were kept open by the rough and coarse cloth which I wore for



shirting . . . during the first six months I was there I was whipped, either with

sticks or cow-skins, every week. Aching bones and a sore back were my

constant companions.

(Famous American Negroes, 29)

William Wells Brown, the successor Douglass, published a novel in America by a

Negro Clotel in 1853. Miscegenation is the theme of Clotel. The literary arena of 1870s

witnessed mostly blackness “in part” as the significant theme. Phillis Wheatley, the pioneer

of Black versification, condemns slavery in her poem dedicated to Earl of Dartmouth:

I, young in life, by seeming cruel fate

Was snatch’d from Afric’s fancy’d happy seat:

What pangs excruciating must molest,

What sorrows labour in my parent’s breast?

(Famous American Negroes, 14)

Booker T Washington ad W.E.B. Du Bois took the mantle of leadership after the

death of Douglass. During this period Negro was rated as the second class citizen and both

the leaders faced the trauma of being black. Du Bois made it possible the Negroes

participation in the American democracy by means of the National Association for the

Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and later the emergence of Harlem Renaissance.

This has facilitated in the record of Afro-American History with its theme being “inner

struggle between accommodation and rebellion.” But writers like Ralph Ellison and James

Baldwin drew their artistic strength from their being black. Blackness in 1930s meant

dislocation. Universities ignored the writings of Negroes but began recognising when Negro



literature became black literature. Toni Morrison and Alice Walker are the descendants of the

legacy of the Black Aesthetics Movement which is heralded by Black Power Movement.

In the late forties and the early fifties, blackness was viewed as an element of

creativity but not as “a mark of shame, nor a badge of honour.” Further, the works of Richard

Wright signified a turning point, “a transition from the peaceful Negro Renaissance to a

period of rebellion and revolution. (20th

Century American Literature: A Soviet View, 403)

This period of American literature is marked by existentialism and a sense of alienation,

Richard Wright’s Native Son unleashes a “raging torrent” and the protagonist seeks self-

actualization in terms of violence and sex.

In Telugu Literature, Nannaya is considered to be the “Aadi Kavi” but he remained

more as a translator of the Mahabharata than a creative writer. The great poets like Tikkana,

Yerrana, Somana, Nannechorudu, Srinatha, Pothana and others exhibited their poetic

brilliance in their works and translations of Puranas but their focus was not on

contemporaniety as contributing factor for class and caste distinctions. But Vemana as a great

reformer and poet of masses questioned the inequalities in the societal structure resultant of

existing class, caste, and superstitious belief systems. While acknowledging his keen insights

into the entire essence of the Vedas, Vemana being critical of Brahminical attitude, questions

whether a mere so called sacred thread (jandhyam), provides transformation from

‘Shudratva” to “Brahminism.”

Dr Katti Padmarao, the noted Dalit Writer of modern era gives references to the

Purohita sect of Brahmins, eating flesh and offering sacrifices as mentioned in the Rigveda.

But the same Brahminism has made a section of its humanity as untouchables accusing them

of eating flesh and confined them to the settlements far away from the village setup and



nearer to the cemeteries. Tripuraneni too made a blatant attack in his works on Brahminism

but did not fight for the cause of dalits in true spirit.

Dr B.R. Ambedkar in his classic treatise “Who Were the Shudras” attempts to

discover the origin of the Shudras and how they came to be known as the foruth Varna with

the Chaturvanya in the Indo-Aryan society. The Rigveda refers to no separate creation of

classes but to the creation of men only. A keen study of Parusha Sukta reveals an astonishing

plan of making different parts of the body of the Creator synonymous with different classes.

The equation of the different classes to different parts of the body is not a

matter of accident. It is deliberate. The idea behind this plan seems tobe to

discover a formulaof which will solve two problems, one of fixing the

functions of the four classes and the other of fixing the gradation of the classes

after a pre-conceived plan.

(Ambedkar, 497)

Dr B.R.Ambedkar analyses the significant contribution of “Brahminism,” the

intellectual class of India, custodian of the rest of the classes, towards the existence and

sustenance of caste system in the Indian society.

When such as intellectual class, which holds the rest of the community in its

grip, is opposed to the reform of caste, the chances of success in a movement

for the breakup of the caste system appear to me very very remote.

(B.R.Ambedkar, Annihilation of Caste, 87)

Chalam, a notable novelist, known as the emancipator of woman, cutting across the

barriers of caste and class, led an awakening movement in Telugu fiction. However, there are

instances where he seems to be inclined towards Brahminism. Another writer, Kodavaganti is



a pioneer in the movement of creating awareness that the Aryans are not Indians and the

Vedas are not the philosophical treatises but the songs reflecting the barbaric culture. It is

beyond dispute that post-1990 Mandal Commission phenomenon in India changed our

response to caste. Dalit writers crave for seeking a new direction and dimension in literature,

totally opposed to traditional ideology, thus paving the way for Dalit Dignity.

African American writers’ quest for identity is seen in different genres of literature.

But John Durbar gives a definite direction through his short fiction and novels. He ascertains

a more doubtful reality for African Americans lacking the benefit of political equality.

Not until the literary era of the 1940s would naturalism become a vehicle of

social protest for writers, including Ann Petri and Richard Wright, to depict

the struggles of African Americans against racial restriction and economic

determinism. At the turn of the century, however, Dunbar initiated this

approach by indicating how “Nature” or environment conspires with

stereotype and prejudice to conform individuals’ lives to stagnancy.

(A Companion to African American Literature, 196)



REFERENCES

1. Quoted in Images of the Negro in American Literature, ed. Seymour L. Gross.

Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1966.

2. Langston Hughes. Famous American Negroes. New York: Popular Library, 1962.

3. R. Orlova, “Richard Wright: Writer and Prophet,” 20th Century American

Literature: A Soviet View. Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1976

4. Ambedkar. Awakening India’s Social Conscience. Narendra Jadhav. New Delhi:

Konark Publishers Private Ltd., 2014.

5. Dr B.R.Ambedkar. Annihilation of Caste. Bluemoon Publications, 1936.

6. Gene Andrew Jarrett, A Companion to African American Literature. Malden:

Wiley- Blackwell Publications, 2010.



Black Identity in African American Literature

James Mercer Langston Hughes, an important writer of the Harlem Renaissance is

known as one of the earliest innovators of the new literary form called Jazz poetry. His

brought up in ghetto and the most of his life that he spent in Harlem had an impeccable

impression on his works and this made him record his American experience in particular

African American identity. His short poem, “I, Too, sing America” written in response to

Walt Whitman’s poem “I Hear America Singing” focuses on the status of African

Americans as second class citizens besides hinting at the poet’s robust optimism of enjoying

the equal status in the society in the near future. The African predicament seen in the poem is

a powerful statement of racial discrimination and injustice.

The darker brother’s longing to share the dining table in future is suggestive of a

strong assertion of faith in the possible upcoming of equal status. However, the tone set is

very soft and the rebellious tone that wants immediate restoration of order for equality is

conspicuous by its absence. In general, the poems of Langston Hughes speak similar

concerns of African American anguish.

Blues and Jazz have affected the visual and literary art of African Americans. A blues

ethos is the indispensable element of African American identity. James Baldwin’s short story

“Sonny’s Blues” contains similar hope. “While the tale of how we suffer, and how we are

delighted, and how we may triumph is never new, it always must be heard. There isn’t any

other tale to tell, it’s the only light we’ve got in all this darkness.” (African American

Literature, 451-52)



The most notable of blues songs W.C. Handy’s “St. Louis Blues (1914) and Hughes’

“Midwinter Blues’ (1926) have a shared commonalty.

Gypsy done tol’ me, “Don’t you wear no black”

Yes, she done tol’ me, “Don’t you wear no black.

Go to St. Louis, you can win him back.” (453)

One notices Hughes’ swiftness in thought and ultimate protest in “The Backlash

Blues” where he questions Mister Backlash who does he think he is. He is the one who raises

his taxes, freezes his wages and sends his son to Vietnam. Further, he expresses his

resentment on being treated as second class citizen.

You give me second-class houses,

Give me second-class schools,

Second-class houses

And second-class schools.

You must think us colored folks

Are second-class fools.

(AAL, 462)

There is an assertion of optimism that the world is big and full of folks who are

“Black, Yellow, Beige and Brown” and the speaker has nothing to lose and the perpetrator

alone will have the blues. Toni Morrison’s Beloved (1987), a powerful account of the

institution of slavery echoes, “if we had more to drink, we could make tears we cannot make



sweat or morning water so the men without skin bring us theirs one time they bring us sweet

rocks to suck we are all trying to leave our bodies behind” (38)

Everett Hoagland, the recipient of the Gwendolyn Brooks Award, the Poet Laureate

of New Bedford, Massachusetts, in his “Dust” ascertains the black identity.

“We are dust.

Rock is the placenta of time.

But rock can be shattered.

You cannot break dust:

It defies the hammer.

Chisels cannot carve up-

on it.” (56)

William Edward Burghardt Du Bois was the first African American to receive a

doctorate from Harvard. He is a force to reckon with in African American tradition. His “The

Souls of Black Folk (1903) deals with pangs of racism and oppression through the subject of

his son’s passing away.

Within the Veil was he born, said I: and there within shall he live, - a Negro

and a Negro’s son. Holding in the little head-ah, bitterly!-the unbowed pride of

a hunted race, clinging with that tiny dimpled hand-ah, wearily! To a hope not

hopeless but unhopeful, and seeing with those bright wondering eyes that peer

into my soul a land whose freedom is to us a mockery and whose liberty a lie.

(AAL, 58)



Frederick Douglass, born into slavery in 1818, sharing his own plight of being a

Native, penned the classic in African American slave narratives, Narrative of the Life of

Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself (1845). “I do not remember to

have ever met a slave who could tell of his birthday. They seldom come nearer to it than

planting-time, harvest-time, cherry-time, spring-time, or fall-time.” (AAL, 241) It is a

pathetic account of how slaves are being made since their childhood. The separation of

children from their mothers is executed in a meticulous way so that they should not have any

kind of attachment and this is the most tragic part of the lives of the slaves.

Phillis Wheatley considered to be the Mother of African American Literature was the

first to publish a book of poetry in America. As a child, she was abducted from West Africa,

auctioned and sold out in 1761. Her poetry is viewed as the too submissive though the voice

for freedom and social equality is clearly heard in it. Her contempt is expressed in “On Being

Brought from Africa to America.”

Some view our fable race with scornful eye,

“Their colour is a diabolic die.”

Remember, Christians, Negros, black as Cain,

May be refin’d, and join th’ angelic train.

Alain Locke known as the architect of the Harlem Renaissance in “The New Negro”

talks about Harlem. One can notice diverse elements of Negro life in Manhattan which is the

world’s largest absorption of Negro community. It has

the African, the West Indian, the Negro American; Negro of the North and the

Negro of the South, the man from the city and the man from the town and

village, the peasant, the student, the business man, the professional man, artist,



poet, musician, adventurer and worker, preacher and criminal , exploiter ands

social outcast. Each group has come with its own separate motives and for its

own special ends, but their greatest experience has been finding of one

another.

(AAL, 661-62)

But this kind of diversity is not seen in the settlements of Dalits or untouchables in Indian

rural landscape. At the best the concentration is seen to be limited to one particular

community or caste. Of course, caste within the caste is also structured but to a single

confinement. The diversity of ghetto life may be conspicuous by its absence in Dalit

settlements. Racial leaders used to speak of race-pride, solidarity with a view to infusing

race-consciousness. Later there was a shift in the outlook and the work carried out was in the

spirit of “ if Negro were better known, he would be better liked or better treated” which was

against the policy of angry young men of African American literature.

Locke opines “American Negroes have been a race more in name than in fact,” and they

have “a problem in common rather than a life in common.” But it is surprising to note that

Indian Dalits have a life in common. And the race relationships in America are different than

that of caste equations in India. Clarinda Still in her “Dalit Women-Honour and Patriarchy in

South India” analyses the Dalit-society visa-vis Indian society and says that even dalit society

is “internally very diverse and hierarchised” but she has considered the lives of only three

generations of Dalits in Nampally of Hyderabad. There is scope that the study is governed by

some limitations.

“Dalits are attempting to raise their social status through the pursuit of Paruvu-prathisthta-

gauravam (prestige-honour-respect)” this may be viewed as a “constellation of embodied,



appropriated values, which shape actions and aspirations in everyday life,” a clear indication

of changing status of a depressed community. (Changing Lives and Aspirations)

References

1. Gilyard, Keith. Anissa Janine Wardi. African American Literature. Pearson

Education, Inc. 2004.

2. Clarinda Still. Dalit Women-Honour and Patriarchy in South India. Social Science

Press: New Delhi. 2014.

3. “Changing Lives and Aspirations” The Hindu, June7, 2015.



THE OUTSIDER AND THE SENSE OF ESTRANGEMENT

Richard Wright, the angry young man of African American literature, in his The

Outsider, portrays the protagonist as an outsider in America for his black skin who feels that

he is much more than an outsider and that existence is senseless and human beings are

nothing in particular. The novel’s concern is more with the human predicament in the modern

world than with the tension, resultant of race affairs in the United States. Wright maintains

that the hero of the novel could have been any colour:

The Outsider has a Negro for its hero; but it is not primarily his plight as a Negro, but

as a thinking, questioning man in the perplexing twentieth century that concerns Mr.

Wright. And instead of a realistic, sociological document he has written a

philosophical novel, its ideas dramatized by improbable coincidences and symbolical

characters.

(Orville Prescott, “The Outsider,” rev. New York Times)

The central theme of The Outsider is Cross Damon’s quest for freedom: “I wanted to

be free . . . to feel what I was worth”(439).Yet at the end of the novel he admits that his

discovery yielded nothing. A sense of alienation overtakes him and he is compelled to accept

the view of an amoral universe. The subway accident in which Damon is reported to have

been killed allows him to create a new life. But he discovers that the egotistical exercise of

freedom destroys those around him, including the one person he loves. He is haunted by the

feeling of being insignificant and crushed by the limitations imposed by the society.

Cross Damon, a name suggesting inverted Christianity, is a metaphysical rebel, an

ethical criminal who attempts to create the kind of life he feels he wants. Damon is a man



who rejects traditional codes of behaviour. He reacts to his murders with cool analysis and

shows no emotion when confronted with his wife and children or the news of his mother’s

death. Albert Camus’ Meursault is seen in Cross Damon and Meursault’s reaction to his

mother’s death and his behavioural patterns, in contrast with the prescriptions of the society

are not dissimilar.

Cross Damon, a 26-year-old Negro, is a mail sorter on the night shift in a South

Chicago Post office. As the novel opens, Cross is found drinking comprehensively against

protest from his friends and co-workers. He drinks so much because, as he himself says, “My

soul needs it” (2). Damon’s deterioration into a drunkard testifies Wright’s new philosophy of

glorification of nothingness. If Bigger’s hatred in Native Son is directed against the whites,

Cross’s hatred is directed against not only society but against himself for the monotony of

life.

Book I, “Dread,” relates the dilemma of Cross being pulled in three directions–his

mother, his wife, Gladys, and his girl friend, Dot. Dot wants to exploit the situation to her

own advantage when she becomes pregnant by him. She wants Cross to marry her or else she

says she will initiate legal proceedings against him for assault and rape. Cross cannot marry

Dot unless he divorces Gladys, who never wants to release him. He feels that he has not

loved her, perhaps never loved her. She has become for him an object of compassion. He is

haunted by the idea of finding some way to make her hate him. Her hatred will be a way of

squaring their relationship, of setting her free as well as setting himself free.

He envisages a plan for getting rid of Gladys and sadistically slaps her. When he is

asked to leave the house, he does so happily. Gladys is vindictive, bent upon exhausting his

financial resources. She forces Cross to sign the house and car over to her and get the loan



amount of eight hundred dollars from the post office. His mother is also disappointed with

him: “`To think I named you Cross after the Cross of Jesus,’ she moaned” (23).

Ironically, she doesn’t know that her son is also a scapegoat, not for the sins of

mankind like Jesus, but for the lust of power. She is angry with Cross for seducing a little girl

like Dot. She tells him that it is easy to fool a young girl and if he is proud of this cheap trick,

he has fallen lower that she thought he had. She succeeds in evoking in him that shameful

guilt born of desire and fear of desire. In the process, she is reminded of her own betrayed

maidenhood. Cross sees in her an ethical mother when she warns him that he can not undo

what he has done. He has sinned.

Cross in his quest for meaning and definition outside him bears the cross of

metaphysical distress, compounded by Dot, Gladys and his mother. When he realizes that he

has lost control of his life, his self-hatred swells. He feels that his life is a mess:

What a messy life he was living! It was crazy; it was killing him; it was

senseless; and he was a fool to go on living it. What a stinking botchy he’d

made out of everything he had touched! Why? He didn’t know. I could be

teaching school, he told himself. He’d dropped out of the university right after

he’d married Gladys and after that nothing had gone right (11-12).

As Joe puts it, somebody said that the problem with Cross was his four A’s, Alcohol,

Abortions, Automobiles, and Alimony. Cross admits smilingly that the analogy is not bad.

However, Cross’s rejection of materialistic values is symbolized by his throwing money from

the eleventh floor of the post office. This reminds us of Fred Daniel of “The Man Who Lived

Underground” rejecting American society by stealing only the unwanted items.



The image of the Negro as underground man had its origin in Wright’s personal

experience. During the winter of 1932, he was employed by Chicago hospital to look after the

experimental animals. He and his fellow porters were confined to the basement corridors of

the institution, restricted to what might be called an underground point of view:

The proposal kept us four Negroes as though were close kin to the animals we

tended, huddled together down in the underworld corridors of the hospital,

separated by a vast psychological distance from the significant processes of

the rest of the hospital–just as America had kept us locked in the dark

underworld of American life for three hundred years. . .

(Robert Bone, Richard Wright, 25-26)

Cross accidentally gets an opportunity to start a new life. He is involved in a subway

accident but escapes unhurt. He learns from a radio announcement that he is thought to be

dead. Another passenger is mistaken for him. He wants to grab this unique chance to create a

new existence. All of his life he has been yearning for his personal freedom. And now

freedom is knocking at his door, begging him to come in. This results in his loss of identity

but he longs for it. Others take their lives for granted but Cross has to mould his with a

conscious aim. He is endowed with perfect freedom to recreate himself anew and even tag i t

with a past that he likes most. He takes a room in a hotel to avoid being seen by others. He

introduces himself as Charles Webb from Memphis. The woman at the reception tells him

that he should not make any noise in the room like some people who get drunk and hurt

others. Cross immediately replies that he really never hurt anybody in his life but himself:

“Lady, I never really hurt anybody in my life but myself” (89).



Cross’s funeral has been set for Monday afternoon at 3 p.m. at the church of the Good

Shepherd. He watches his family attending his funeral and the funeral confirms his solitude.

When he meets his friend Joe Thomas in the brothel-hotel, he is afraid of being revealed and

kills him hitting on the head with a bottle. He is haunted by the fear of exposure that compels

him to resort to violence. His sense of freedom is dictated by the dread. He leaves for New

York in search of a new life, a new meaning for his recreated existence. At the conclusion of

Book I, Cross thinks he is free but he is not. He is free from everything but himself.

In Book 2, “Dream,” Cross is in a dream with no identity and experiencing an unreal

existence. The epigraph taken from Hart Crane is apt: As silent as a mirror is believed,

realities plunge in silence by . . . .(118) On train to New York, he meets Bob Hunter, a waiter

in the dining car, Ely Houston, a hunchback New York District attorney, and Father Selden.

A minor accident that takes place in the dining car seals Cross’s fate. Bob spills coffee on a

white woman customer who threatens to report him presuming that it is a deliberate act. The

waiter seeks Cross’s help in making him a witness if that woman makes a trouble. Cross lies

that his name is Addison Jordan and his address is 128 West 137th Street. When he speaks, he

feels that he is speaking out of a dream. He presumes Hunter believes that he had his help

and so he will be a friend. He has made Hunter a promise that he could not keep, just as he

had made his mother, his sons, Dot, Gladys, and Jenny promises that he could not keep:

His nonidentity was making Hunter believe in the unreal. Cross sighed. He

had to break out of this dream, or he would surely go mad. He had to be born

again, come anew into the world. To live amidst others without an identity

was intolerable (132).

Ely Houston’s and Cross’s discussions on the declining trend in the acceptance of

traditional values of Christianity, reasons for developing disruptive tendencies to break the



law, and the difference between an ordinary criminal and an ethical criminal, who thinks that

the world is chaotic and meaningless, reveal that they are similar in their views. Cross opines

that all cultures and civilizations are just screens used by men to divide themselves and all of

man’s efforts are an attempt to still man’s fear of himself. To Houston’s question that what

man is that he has to hide from himself, Cross replies:

May be man is nothing in particular. . . . May not human life on this earth be a

kind of frozen fear of man at what he could possibly be? And every move he

makes, couldn’t these moves be just to hide this awful fact? To twist it into

something which he feels would make him rest and breathe a little easier.

What man is, is pathos too much to be borne by man . . . . (135-36)

One can notice that Wright has taken words and phrases like “ethical criminals”

verbatim from Camus’ Essays. Since likeness leads to repulsion, possibly Cross hates Ely

Houston. However, Houston is struck by Cross’s insight and intelligence in particular by his

remark: “Man is nothing in particular” (135).

After reaching New York, Cross assumes a new identity, that of Lionel Lane, a man

who died recently. He procures Lane’s duplicate birth certificate and draft card to make

himself safe by assuming the guise of a “darkie.” He is introduced to the White Communists

Gil and his painter wife, Eva Blount. Book 2 closes with Cross accepting Gil’s invitation to

live with them. Cross is a spiritual wreck when he assumes the identity of Lane. While

procuring the birth certificate, he suffers the real existence of a Negro in a superior racial set-

up. However, he grapples with the fact that Negroes can also exist without a name and a

place. He is very much upset at the behaviour of Sarah and Bob when they make him feel

about his face:



Cross had had the illusion of feeling at home with these outsiders, but now he

felt himself being pushed more than ever into that position where he looked at

others as though they weren’t human. He could have waved his hand and

blotted them from existence with no more regret than if he were swatting a

couple of insects (171).

In Book 3, “Descent,” Cross comes to know that Eva is also an outsider like him but

an involuntary one. To her the world is either Party or anti-Party, and nothing in between

counts. Cross secretly reads Eva’s diary and finds out that Gil, an objective worker, married

Eva, a nonobjective painter, only for political reasons. Blount was ordered by the party to

marry Eva because it would add prestige to the Party. Gil’s betrayal of Eva confirms Cross’s

suspicion that the Party is concerned exclusively with power. He realizes that the driving

force behind Communism is a lust for naked power. He feels outraged at the Communists’

cynical exploitation of men’s dreams and anxieties. The Party is crowded with many such

victims, the latest being himself, a wonderful recruit, a fugitive from the Southern racists for

the Party. Eva knows Cross is living under an assumed name but considers him a Negro

intellectual and a victim like herself.

Herndon, the Negro hating landlord, warns Cross to leave the place. Gil, on being

informed, visits the landlord the same evening and in the ensuing fight between Blount and

the landlord, Cross intervenes only to kill them both. Gil while dying falls towards a fireplace

that reminds us of the Daltons’ furnace in Native Son. “Gil trembled for a split second, then

fell headlong toward the fireplace, where flames danced and cast wild red shadows over the

walls” (226). Cross feels that he has destroyed both the gods who otherwise would have

enslaved him but in the process he has made a little god of himself. In this sensational double

murder, he gains more fulfilments.



In Book 4, “Despair,” realization dawns upon Cross. In the process of eliminating

monsters, he himself has emerged out as the monster. The police also reluctantly jump to the

conclusion that Gil and Herndon killed each other. When Cross meets Ely Houston, he says

that a person for whom Western values and traditions have no meaning is hard to imagine.

Houston’s investigation of the murders of Gil and Herndon shows that the writer followed the

conventions of the detective story. The love affair of Cross and Eva adds another dimension.

Cross becomes more and more entangled with Eva. Eva mistakenly sympathizes with Cross

and Cross too wants to protect her from the vultures like himself. With Gil gone, Eva is again

an orphan.

She is already his in a deeper sense than mere sexual sense, in a sense that includes

the sexual. He can ravage her entire being without any resistance from her. From his secret

reading of her diary, he already possesses a comprehensive view of her existence. He knows

that he loves her and he wants to tell her what he knows of terror and hopelessness. He feels

the presence of a barrier not of race but of mutual guilt, blood, and false identity.

However, Cross’s despair is compounded when he learns that Hilton, a high ranking

Communist has secret information that Gil was killed by Cross. He goes to his hotel room

and after a long talk on the nature of man, life, and politics, he shoots Hilton. Before his

death, Hilton remarks:

Sweep your illusions aside, Lane. Get down to what is left, and that is: life,

life; bare, naked, unjustifiable life; just life existing there and for no reason

and no end. The end and the reason are for us to say, to project. That’s all

(300).

Cross justifies his killing Jack Hilton on many counts. It may be to avenge Bob’s

betrayal and Sarah’s indignation; it may be a consolation to Eva’s deceived heart; it is mainly



to get rid of that sense of outrage Hilton’s attitude has evoked in him. Further, he knows that

he will surely be caught and he doesn’t want to bother about it as he is already lost. At this

critical juncture Cross contemplates eliminating Eva also. He can justify the killing of Gil,

Herndon and Hilton as they have outraged his sense of existence but not the killing of Eva.

Logic sustained by love makes him spare Eva. When he confesses his murders she thinks that

he is delirious. His monstrousness shocks her and she commits suicide. Thus as he tries to

destroy totalitarianism, he develops in himself tyrannical tendencies. Houston’s reaction to

the fourth murder by Cross is vividly portrayed:

Could there be a man in whose mind and consciousness al the hopes and

inhibitions of the last two thousand years have died? A man whose

consciousness has not been conditioned by our culture? A man speaking our

language, dressing and behaving as we do, and yet living on a completely

different plane? A man who would be the return of ancient man, pre-Christian

man? Do you know what I mean? (316)

Cross is suspected by the police as well as the Communists. He is interrogated by

Blimin regarding his views and who he is. Cross’s response about fourteen pages reminds us

of Max’s defence in Native Son. Blimin cannot tolerate Cross’s reducing the noble aims of

Lenin to a power-hungry man. Cross tells him that he has no intention of opposing the

Communist doctrine and stresses the need to fight the capitalist on other than ideological and

economic grounds. He is surprised that Americans are captured by the mindless materialism:

The only real enemies of [the] system . . . are those outsiders who are

conscious of what is happening and seek to change the consciousness of

[those] . . . being controlled. . . .The essence of life today is psychological;



men may take power with arms, but their keeping of it is by other means (362-

63).

Book 5, “Decision,” with an unlikely conclusion offers Wright’s conception of Cross

by summarizing Cross’s predicament. Friedrich Nietzsche’s line “Man is the only beingwho

makes promises” is reflected all through the section. Ely Houston tells Cross that his true

identity is being investigated and he is sure that Cross is the murderer. His evidence being

psychological, he feels that Cross’s intellectual and philosophical inclination could be the

motivating force. Cross remains unmoved and neither confirms nor denies the charges. When

Ely Houston informs Cross that his mother is dead, he notices only indifference in him. This

is similar to Meaursault’s indifference in trial scene.

Ely is shocked at the heartlessness of the suspect. He refuses to acknowledge his wife

and his three sons, Cross Junior, Robert, and Peter who are summoned there. This is the worst

kind of confrontation he ever has had in his life time which he has not even dreamt of. But

Cross maintains his iron reserve. He is torn between sentiments subverting him and Houston

trying to crow over him. Before his eyes the frightened boys, flesh of his flesh, await his

acknowledgement. They are the future of his self that he rejected long ago. Houston asks

Gladys to recognize her husband and Gladys shakes her head negatively rejecting Cross’s

presence in the world. Houston is astonished and asks again. Gladys finally nods her head

affirmatively. Houston is waiting for Cross to do a fatal mistake. But Cross remains

impassionate. He thinks that a person who is not bound by the Western institutions such as

religion or the family is capable of committing any type of crime.

He further warns him that Communists are persuading him to charge him with the

murder of Blount, Herndon, and Hilton. Cross says that they are suspicious and frightened of

him. Further, Houston says that there is another motive to the murder, his desire to have Mrs.



Blount. Cross frankly replies that before Gil died, he never touched his wife nor did he look

at her with desire in his eyes. He was living in a different apartment when Gil died, and took

Eva to Harlem to keep her away from the press. He leaves no evidence against him in his

words or acts and walks out to see Eva. Eva is returning from Party’s office after battling to

protect him from the accusations. They say she is wrong and he is guilty. He confesses

everything to Eva which he couldn’t do to the district attorney. He longs to build himself

anew, create afresh but this proves fatal and Eva commits suicide.

Finally Ely Houston explains to Cross how he has solved the mystery of his case and

found out that he is Cross Damon, a multiple murderer. He gets the clue from Eva’s diary but

the first real clue is from the list of the titles of the books he left in his room in Chicago:

Your Nietzsche, your Hegel, your Jaspers, your Heidegger, your Husserl, your

Kierkegaard, and your Dostoevsky were the clues . . . . I said to myself that we

were dealing with a man who had wallowed in guilty thought. But the more I

pondered this thing, the sorrier I felt for you. I began to feel as though I’d

killed Blount, Hendon, and Hilton myself (421).

Talking about the inhumanity of Cross Damon, Houston says that Cross has disproved

the sociologists that the American Negro has had no time to become completely adjusted to

the Whites’ mores. But with Cross, he is adjusted. He has grown beyond organized religion

and the rituals. His indifference to his family proves that either he has the emotional capacity

or lacks any emotion to commit a crime.

Boy, you killed your mother long, long ago. . . . And when you saw those

three fine sons of yours! They tugged at your heart and memory and you were

wildly angry and ashamed; but you rode out that too; you overcame it. And I

said to myself: ‘This man could have killed Blount, Herndon, and Hilton. Only



he could have done it. He has the emotional capacity- or lack of it!-to do it’

(422).

When Houston finds that Cross is beyond the pale of the little feelings, the humble

feelings, the human feelings, he concludes that he can do anything. He does this not with the

sole intention of establishing social justice or saving falling mankind and not in a towering

rage but just because he happens to feel like that one day. But irony is that Cross has seen

through all the ideologies, pretences, frauds, but has not seen through himself.

Houston leaves Cross to his own punishment in the absence of perfect evidence. He

is going to let him keep this guilt in his heart until his end. And Cross is sure to punish

himself as he is his own law and judge. Later Cross moves out alone into the streets of

Harlem. He notices that he is followed by the Communists who intend to kill him. He is shot

dead either by Monti, Hank or both of them. Prior to his death he whispers to Houston:

Don’t think I’m so odd and strange . . . . I’m not. . . . . I’m legion. . . . I’ve

lived alone, but I’m everywhere. Man is returning to the earth. . . .For a long

time he has been sleeping, wrapped in a dream . . . . He is awakening now,

awakening from his dream and finding himself in a waking nightmare (439-

40).

When asked why he chose to live the way he did, Cross says, “I wanted to be free . . .

to feel what I was worth . . . . What living meant to me. . . .I loved life too . . . much . . . .”

(439) To Houston’s question how his life was with him, Cross manages to get his reluctant

breath form into words:“It . . . it was . . . horrible. . . . .Because in my heart . . . I’m . . . I felt

. . . I’m innocent . . . . That’s what made the horror. . . .” (440) We may agree with Katherine

Fishburn, who says:



Cross Damon is an intellectual criminal. He is not driven to murder through

passion (love or hate); he is not pathological. He kills because he believes that

he has the perfect right to. He holds himself innocent-even at death.

(Katherine Fishburn, Richard Wright’s Hero: The Faces of a Rebel-Victim)

Cross is an elaboration of Bigger Thomas, another urban demon whose life meant

nothing. For Book 1, “Dread,” Wright’s epigraph is from Kierkegaard showing his interest in

existentialism. “Dread is an alien power which lays hold of an individual, and yet one cannot

tear oneself away, nor has a will to do so; for one fears what one desires” (1).

“Dread” is the watchword of the German Existentialist Martin Heidegger. Dread leads

to despair, and “Despair” is the title of the penultimate book of the novel. The protagonist

longs for the existential leap crossing all the barriers - social, political, religious, and moral -

only to learn that conventions alone make one human. Cross Damon (crucified demon)

begins his life with a sense of dread and ends up in despair; a characteristic trait of the black

men, the outsiders who are nothing. But being an outsider, Cross possesses an undaunted

spirit that refuses to be tamed. He says that it is not because he is a Negro that he has found

his obligations intolerable but because down deep in his heart a sense of freedom is

pervasive.

The novel The Outsider seems to say that in seeking freedom man becomes an

enslaver of others. Cross says to Houston while dying: “I wish I could ask men to meet

themselves . . . . We’re different from what we seem . . . . May be worse, may be better . . .

. But certainly different. We are strangers to ourselves” (439). Further, there is a warning in

the novel that total freedom is as dangerous as a totally enslaved person like Bigger Thomas

in Native Son.



Some critics feel that Cross’s philosophy is based not on his being a Negro but on his

individual thinking and experiences. There is no racial tone in his actions and reactions. He

was just a man, any man who had had an opportunity to flee and had seized upon it. But

racial resentments seem to have contributed to the making of Cross’s psychology and

philosophy. His mother, a product of Mississippi racism and southern Negro piety, injected

the dread into his soul. Gladys, his wife, substantiates this with her account of how her

mother was brutally mistreated by a White. Bob’s wife doesn’t go to church as she doesn’t

want to kneel before a White. Communists too attempt to seduce Cross by their promises of

racial revenge.

Cross Damon remains an outsider in finding out the answer to a profound question–

what is man? In his “aloneness,” he tries to relate himself to himself which is the beginning

of the main thread of Existential philosophy as by Kierkegaard. Meursault too as an outsider

failed to play the ‘game’ and the society was threatened. He agreed to die for the truth which

he firmly believed.

Like Cross, Ely Houston is also an outsider. He says that his damned hump has given

him more psychological knowledge than all the books he read at the university:

My deformity made me free; it put me outside and made me feel as an

outsider. It wasn’t pleasant; hell, no. at first I felt inferior. But now I have to

struggle with myself to keep from feeling superior to the people I meet. . . .

Do you understand what I mean?” (133)

Houston’s analytical mind throws light on the criminality of human nature when

Cross asks for the proof of his killings. Houston teases Cross by his interpolations:



Only men full of criminal feelings can create a criminal code . . . Men who

fear drink want laws passed against drinking. Men who cannot manage their

sexual appetites launch crusades against vice. . . . Lane, we’re outsiders and

we can understand these new twentieth-century outlaws, for in our hearts we

are outlaws too. (283)

Like Boris Max in Native Son, Ely Houston is the mouth- piece of Richard Wright.

Through him, Wright presents his own philosophy. Wright’s craftsmanship is superb in the

portrayal of Ely and Cross’s discussions in the beginning and Ely’s trial at the end, dealing

with socio-economic, political, moral, ethical, and psychological issues.

Further, Wright presents the Communists’ lust for naked power and the way they

control the individuals the units and on the whole the working system for the sustenance of

their power. Hilton asks Bob to follow the altered decision of the party and threatens him he

will be disciplined if doesn’t follow it. He says: “And the party will blacklist you throughout

the labor movement. The party will kill you, you can’t fight the Party. Understand that?”

(182)

The philosophy is so perplexing that it is not easy to be a Communist. In being a

Communist one has to negate oneself, blotting out one’s personal life and listening only to

the voice of the party. Cross wonders why the Party demands abject obedience. After

witnessing Bob’s turmoil, he doubts whether Gil is another Hilton. He recalls Bob’s having

told him that the Party is obeyed it will take the role of mother and father but if disobeyed, it

will destroy him. He relates this to the working patterns of the Nazis. People at the helm of

affairs are governed by “man’s desire to be a god.” The real heart of communism is the will

to power.



Eva’s character is marked with irony. Afraid of deception, she embraces a fount of

deception. Full of timid, feminine desire she flings her arms about a furnace of desire and is

consumed in it. During Blimin’s interrogation Cross comes out with his philosophy,

reflective of Wright’s disillusionment with the explosion of atomic bomb during World War

II. Cross asks whether atom bombs can correct man’s sense of life. Wars will but tear away

the last shreds of belief, leaving man’s heart more naked and compulsive than ever before.

The essence of life today is psychological and the public consciousness is the key to political

power.

Edward Margolies says about the fineness of the subject of the novel, The

Outsider. “Cross’s character and situation-the alienated, aloof, and

contemptuous Negro intellectual, mired in a slough of depressing, sordid,

near-hopeless circumstances-is a subject worthy of a fine novel.”

(Edward Margolies, The Art of Richard Wright, 127)

Cross Damon, displays courage, conviction and intellectual as well as emotional

appeal. Even at death also he is firm and feels that he is innocent. All the killings whether

they are intended or unintended are purged when Cross leaves the message to the humanity

that it should not tread the path he has trodden as it has led to nothing.

The glorification of nothingness is no good. The sense of alienation is not innate but it

is tempered by various factors. The redemption lies in the restoration of normalcy. Cross has

snapped the ties that bound him; one requires courage to free oneself from the restrictions

imposed by the environment. Cross has no party, no myths, no traditions, no race, no soil, no

culture, and no ideas except the idea of eternal freedom. He belongs to no organization and

subscribes to no political philosophy. But at the end, he longs for the company and prescribes

to essentially humanitarian philosophy.



Richard Wright portrays Cross Damon’s character on diverse counts, each analysis

gaining significance for its intense logic. The writer’s success lies that the reader becomes

one with the protagonist and initiates the progression. Absorption is an act of absorbing:

entire occupation of mind. But adsorption remains on the surface only. Cross Damon’s

outsiderness is an adsorption. He is an outsider for others but not to himself.

Unlike Wright’s earlier books, The Outsider did not prove to be a complete critical

success. The Washington Post said, “It exasperates and abrades–but . . . it may be for its

readers nearly as important a book as it was for its author.”(Joan Urban, Richard Wright, 99)

Granville Hicks in the New York Times Book Review likened the novel to Ralph Ellison’s

Invisible Man, adding that Wright’s book “is easy to disagree with, impossible to disregard.”

Other reviewers felt that Wright himself had become too much of an outsider; he had lived

too long outside the United States to write convincingly about it. (Joan Urban, 99)

The hero of the The Outsider is intended as a symbol of contemporary man. His central

traits are rootlessness and amorality.

Wright makes a virtue out of rootlessness, to conceive of the human condition

as a kind of cosmic exile. Himself an exile, twice removed from Mississippi

soil, he responded by exulting in his fate, by glorifying heroes who are cut off

from the past and dependent on the self alone. Wright explores these themes in

The Outsider.

(Robert Bone, 11-12)

Wright wanted to make The Outsider a book “one can read feeling the moment and

rhythm of a man alive and confronting the world with all its strength.”( Quoted in Michel

Fabre, The Unfinished Quest of Richard Wright, 315) Wright attempts to resolve “the



dilemma of the individual versus society, the mind versus materialism.”(Amritjit Singh,

“Richard Wright’s The Outsider: Existentialist Exemplar or Critique?” Existentialism in

American Literature, 135) in this novel. “Cross Damon is someone you will never meet on

the Southside of Chicago or in Harlem. For if he is anything at all, he is the symbol of

Wright’s new philosophy–the glorification of–nothingness.” (Cf.Lorraine Hansberry’s

review, 7)



REFERENCES

1. Albert Camus. “The Outsider.” Penguin Books: London, 1983.

2. Amritjit Singh, “Richard Wright’s The Outsider: Existentialist Exemplar or Critique?”

Existentialism in American Literature, ed. Ruby Chatterji (New Delhi: Arnold-

Heinemann, 1983) 135.

3. Edward Margolies, The Art of Richard Wright (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University

Press, 1969)127.

4. Joan Urban, Richard Wright (New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1989) 99.

5. Katherine Fishburn, Richard Wright’s Hero: The Faces of a Rebel-Victim (New Jersey:

Scare Crow, 1977)

6. Cf.Lorraine Hansberry’s review, Freedom 14 (April 1953) 7.

7. Orville Prescott, “The Outsider,” rev. New York Times 18 March,1953: 29.

8. Quoted in Michel Fabre, The Unfinished Quest of Richard Wright (New York: William

Morrow, 1973) 315.

9. Richard Wright, “The Outsider.” New York: Harper, 1953.

10. Robert Bone, Richard Wright (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1969) 25-

26.



Dynamics of Class and Caste in Indian English Literature

Obviously the constructing parameters of social structures in terms of class and caste

are striking in Indian English literature as and when literature is construed as a form of

protest. The existing inequalities and imbalances in the societal strata owe to the caste

equations that have been meticulously formulated and sternly guarded by the narcissistic

tendencies of the privileged sections. The all pervasive discriminating attitude acting as a

great threat to the very existence of the subaltern humanity is conspicuous in all forms of

Indian literature in particular Indian English Literature. Right from the remote antiquity to the

present modernity, the Indian literary arena bears a testimony to the generous and rigorous

inclusiveness of all oppressive modes of subjugation and subservience. However, the blatant

display of protest against the hegemonic structures that have been the fount of sustenance of

caste matrix captures one’s attention.

Meena Kandaswamy, a noted Dalit writer and activist, the author of The Gypsy

Goddess comes out with scathing criticism on the functioning of judiciary regarding the cases

of Dalit carnage and the exoneration. In her recent lecture on “No One Killed the Dalits,”

while quoting the incidents of caste violence in Kilvenmni, Vilupuram, Tsundur,

Dharmapuri, Bathani Tola and Laxmanpur Bathe, she opines:

The judgements were as merciless as the massacres themselves. There is a

large element of victim blaming, dismissing the evidence of witnesses and

denial of the caste element, denial of the case element and reducing the entire

case into compensation as if Dalit lives can be purchased. Systematic denial of

justice of Dalits is genocidal hate.

(The Hindu, Nov 1, 2015)



However, the village hierarchal structure determining and controlling the living

modes of the economically weaker sections and Dalits is not a strange phenomenon. The

Panchayats are more powerful than the present judiciary. A keen study of Prem Chand’s epic

novel Godan reveals various manifestations of embedded class and caste matrix. Hori and

Dhania’s family faces the threat of social ostracism when their son Gobar’s affair with

Bhola’s daughter Jhunia becomes public. Gobar is prepared to endure ostracism for a prudent

girl like Jhunia.

The village Panchayat decides to boycott Hori and his family. Hori pays fine and

proves that he cares more for traditions and bonds of community. The notion of community,

marriage, religious rites, birth and death is intensely deep-rooted in him. He feels that

detachment from the community will be the beginning of his disintegration. Though he is

aware that he is a victim of exploitation, his sense of Dharma never allows him to register the

protest. He believes in the concept that God has created the high and the low. The present

state of richness is the outcome of penance and the fruit of the labour of the past life and man

sows nothing and nothing is to be reaped.

But Gobar asserts, “These are fancies, only to console the mind. God creates us all

equal. Those who have power oppress the poor and become rich.” (Godan, 18) In contrast,

Gobar on realizing that the system restricts his movement towards freedom and modernity

leaves the village. Often he goes mad in rage on learning that his father is met with injustice.

Dhania too makes a careful assessment of the societal discrimination.

When the rich commit wrong, no one bothers to blame them. If the poor

commit the same wrong, they lose face. The rich may say their prestige is

more important than the destruction of an innocent life. (93)



The social issues and concerns in Godan are not of a dated novel but they have got

contemporary relevance. The episode of Mattadeen and his outcaste concubine Seliya is

another dimension in resolving the caste matrix. Mattadeen is the spoilt son of Dattadeen, a

Brahmin moneylender. The Brahmins remain untouched when they know about the

clandestine relationship between Mattadeen and Seliya but the same community becomes

furious at the humiliation meted out to Mattadeen at the hands of cobbler relatives of Seliya.

Mattadeen is grabbed and a bone is pushed into his mouth. His sacred thread being broken

down is a clear indication of his Brahmanism getting denounced.

The consecrated efforts are made to purify Mattadeen from the sins of his unholy

relationship with an outcaste woman and also the touch of a bone by inviting the Brahmins of

Kashi to organize a Yajna. However, Mattadeen’s transformation is perceptible on a different

pedestal above all the traditional norms and orthodox mores in the rejection of his sacred

thread. The true meaning of dharma and life dawns upon him and he gets united with Seliya.

This kind of sensitization is similar to that of Praneshacharya’s in U. R. Ananthamurthy’s

Samskara.

Considered to be a historic revolt against traditionalism and orthodox Brahmanical

temperament, Samskara set in an agrahara of Durvasapura, revolutionized not only the

Kannada literary front but the entire Indian psyche. Naranappa is an intense critic of

traditionalism, religion, caste and conformist modes while Praneshacharya is a passionate

follower of all this. Naranappa becomes an anti Brahmin by eating flesh, catching fish, eating

with his Muslim friends and above all keeping an outcaste woman with him. He ascertains to

Praneshacharya, “I will destroy Brahmanism, I certainly will: my only sorrow is that there’s

no Brahmanism really left to destroy in this place-except you.”



Naranappa when alive is a big nuisance to the community but Naranappa dead is the

most dreaded problem. The cremation of his dead body becomes a major concern as

Brahmins would not perform the death rites of a nonbrahmin. In tune with the tradition,

adults should not bathe, eat and pray until the corpse is cremated. Further, the problem gets

its ugliest face with the spread of plague. Chandri cremates the dead body with the help of

Moslem friends. The Brahmin delegation that goes in search of solution finds the answer

from Swamiji that Naranappa has given up Brahmanism but Brahmanism has not given him

up and so his cremation by Brahmins is justified.

Incongruously, Mattadeen in Godan has not defiled the religion as he pasted sandal on

his forehead, read Holy Scriptures, chanted prayers regularly. However, what Naranappa

could do in a broad day light towards fulfilment of his free will is done by Praneshacharya

under the veil of darkness and a sense of shame. A renowned scholar, icon of moral values,

on failing to resolve his personal as well as community issues, ultimately seeks redemption in

Chandri who is an outcaste. His revelation provides a permanent solution to the persistent

problem of division within the humanity based on caste. The novel ends on predictable note:

Praneshacharya would travel for another four or five hours. “Then, after that, what?

Praneshacharya waited, anxious, expectant.”

Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai’s novel Chemmeen is a tragic story of the fishermen’s

community that makes the pure love of Karuthamma and Pareekutti impossible for

fulfilment, of course based on class and caste equations. Karuthamma hailing from a fishing

community is not supposed to get married to anyone outside her caste and consequently

married to a poor sailor Palani. At the turn of the events, both lovers decide to sacrifice their

lives for the sake of pure love and the violent sea takes away the life of Palani also. Perhaps

the ‘guardian angel of the fisherman at sea is his wife at home’ and sarcastically Palani too



has a wife at home. “Two days later the bodies of a man and woman locked in embrace were

washed on the shore. They are the bodies of Pareekutti and Karuthamma.” (Chemmeen, 212)

The epic novel in Telugu literature Malapalli (1922) by Unnava Lakshmi Narayana

features its protagonist, a person from the underprivileged sections of the society. For the first

time in Telugu novel the underdog has been figured out as the subject. Sangadasu, the second

son of a Maladasari, Ramadasu is the protagonist who takes up to reforming the society by

ending up the class distinctions. The novel as the trendsetter presents the social, political and

economic contemporaniety of the society in the first half of the twentieth century making the

fellow human beings exiled in their own native land. The inhuman treatment meted out to

the untouchables is realistically presented by the author.

However in its long journey, the Telugu literary arena has witnessed many a writer

expressing the mental anguish of the downtrodden in different forms. Kolakaluri Enoch’s

Munivahanudu, set in a devotional tone is about the entry of an illiterate pariah, the poet

singer, Tiruppan, ardent devotee of Sri Ranganatha into the temple. In the first instance he is

not allowed to enter the temple for the temple would be desecrated by the dust of a

panchama’s feet.

The play questions the way of the world and the prevailing injustice regarding the

concept of ‘defiling’ and makes one wonder that the stone that inflicts injury to the panchama

is not defiled where as the man touching him alone gets defiled. It is noteworthy that in the

backdrop of devotional fervour the play resolves the issue of untouchability. Loka Saranga

Muni is justified to have love for his temple while Sri Ranganatha is justified to have love for

his devotee. Finally the crisis is resolved in bringing Tiruppan to the temple carrying him on

Muni’s shoulders and Tiruppan exclaiming. “The Panchama, who can’t be seen, called, felt

and touched, is getting seated on the shoulders of the archpriest of the temple of Sri



Ranganatha. Oh God!” ( Kolakaluri Enoch, Munivahana, 43) Tiruppan has become one in

Sri Ranganatha.

Apart from the regional literatures, the Indian English literature is also vibrant with

similar thematic concerns. Rabindranath Tagore’s Chandalika is a classical testimony to the

issue of untouchability and its ultimate redemption though the central theme seems to be the

complexity of mind. The play highlights that the status of an untouchable is worse than that

of an animal and the yearning for the attainment of dignity of human status is striking. The

protagonist of the play is an untouchable, Prakriti. She feels depressed at her low birth and

suppression by the upper caste. Her mother Maya is at her wits’ end to offer her a convincing

reply to her as to why she is born an untouchable. When she refuses to quench the thirst of

the Buddhist monk, Ananda, the disciple of Buddha, by offering water, she is taught that all

human beings are created equal by God.

Ananda’s teachings make her realize her ‘self’ freed from the shackles of

untouchability and humiliation of the society. Her self-awakening gives her a fresh lease of

life. “Make me forget that I’m born of dust,” says the “flower.” However, the plot takes a

different turn in Prakriti’s longing for her emancipator Ananda and the final release of

Ananda from her captivity. The warning of Chandalika’s mother is suggestive of the age-old

tyranny of casteism confining the untouchables to the limitations prescribed by the upper

classes of the society.

Be warned, Prakriti, these men’s words are meant only to be heard, not to be

practised. The filth into which an evil fate has cast you is a wall of mud that no

spade in the world can break through. You are unclean; beware of tainting the

outside world with your unclean presence. See that you keep to your own

place, narrow as it is. To stray anywhere beyond its limits is to trespass.



(Tagore, Chandalika)

Mulk Raj Anand’s novels like Untouchable, Coolie and Two Leaves and a Bud are

relevant studies in class and caste equations that are formulated by the contemporary society.

In Untouchable, Mulk Raj Anand focuses on issues like class, religion, and caste that form an

embedded matrix of social structure. Poverty, suffering and injustice are the integral part of

the plight of an untouchable. The whole predicament of Bakha, the protagonist of the novel

is summed up in “they think we are mere dirt because we clean their dirt.” (Untouchable, 79)

Bakha’s sister Sohini is also a victim of exploitation but she is voiceless regarding her

protest. Unlike Sohini, Prem Chand’s Jhunia is courageous enough to register her protest.

Make no mistake about it Pandit Ji, I am the daughter of a cowherd. Let me go

or I’ll pluck out every single hair of your moustache. Is this the advice you get

in your holy books? What is that sandal paste on your forehead for? To show

holiness or hide roguery?

(Godan, 38)

The analysis of the novel, not from the Dalit Literature or Dalit Writings’ view point

as well as the aptness of the solutions offered to pertinent problem of untouchability, reveals

that Anand’s realistic presentation of the social, economic, and political conditions of the

contemporary society and a keen enquiry into how religion acts as the foundation for caste

system and how caste system yields to class distinction.

The questions such as whether Dalit literature or Dalit Writings remain the part of

Indian literature because caste system is the characteristic feature of Indian society or should

it be viewed as a unique identity are open-ended ones. Sharankumar Limbale in “Towards an

Aesthetic of Dalit Literature” considers the term Dalit quite appropriate to describe “all the



untouchable communities living outside the boundary of the village, as well as Adivasis,

landless farm-labourers, workers, the suffering masses, and nomadic and criminal tribes.”

Dalit Literature “artistically portrays the sorrows, tribulations, slavery, degradation, ridicule

and poverty endured by Dalits.”

Whether it is Indian English literature, regional literature, or Dalit literature, the

social, political and economic scenario often compelling the emergence of barriers in the

societal structure remains the same. The discernible difference is that while the underdog of

the earlier era continued to derive pleasure out of false dignity in the name of loyalty in self-

cordoning to the orbits of subservience drawn by the selfish and malignant villainy of the

upper classes, the later as well as modern era noticed a kind of protest. However, as literature

has its social purpose too besides catering to the aesthetic senses, the voice of the voiceless

gradually started longing to be heard in terms of registering protest and questioning the

hierarchal structure.



References:

1. “Systematic denial of Justice to Dalits is genocidal hate” The Hindu, November 1,

2015 p15.

2. Prem Chand, Godan. Jaico Publishing House, Delhi. 1995.

3. Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai, Chemmeen. Trans. Narayana Menon. Jaico Publishing

House, Delhi 1988.

4. Anantamurthy, U.R. Samskara. Trans. A.K.Ramanujan. Oxford University Press,

1979.

5. Anand, Mulk Raj. Untouchable. London: Penguin, 1940.

6. Tagore, Rabindranath. Chandalika. Trans. Marjorie. Skyes, New Delhi:OUP, 2005.

7. Lakshmi Narayana, Unnava.. Malapalli. Trans. V.V.B. Rama Rao Delhi: Sahitya

Akademi, 2002.

8. Lakshmi Narayana, Unnava. Malapalli. Jayanthi Pulications.

9. Enoch, Kolakaluri. Munivahana. Trans. Sukumar, MAK and Madhuranthamam

Narendra. Jyothi Granthamala, Anantapur, 2002.

10. Sharankumar Limbale. Towards an Aesthetic of Dalit Literatrue. Trans. Alok

Mukherjee. New Delhi: Orient Longman, 2004.



Comparative Contours of African American Literature and

Telugu Dalit Literature

There is a discernible focus in both African American literature and Telugu Dalit

literature on the quest for meaning and identity and how ‘blackness’ or ‘untouchability’ or

‘estrangement’ viewed as the revolution for the liberation from the shackles of the servitude

that are tempered by the so called ‘empowered voices.’ The thrust is on the means of self-

actualization, the altitudes of perversion, the inexorable influence of the social, economic and

political environment, the search for freedom, the existential drags, the subsequent retaliation,

and various processes of transcendence.

The “Dalit angst” as reflected in the works of Gurram Joshua, Bhoi Bheemanna,

Kusuma Dharmanna, Katti Padmarao, Sky Baba, Shikhamani and a host of other writers who

led the Dalit Movement in Literature may well be compared to the ravished black spirit

seeking revenge by means of crime and murder as presented by the noted African American

writers. The meaninglessness, the emptiness and the absurdity pervading the characters, and

the psychosexual aspects forming the crux and pitch of the voice of protest as shown through

the writings of the noted African American writers may as well be contrasted with that of the

Dalit writers.

Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, the first ever Indian ‘untouchable’ to do his Ph. D. from

Columbia University, was moved by Harlem, the melting pot of Black America. He felt

Harlem “symbolic of the denial of republican values that he admired.” His stay there, gave

him keen insights into the study of subjugation and discrimination of his own tribe in India.

On May 9, 1916 at a seminar in Columbia University, in his paper on “Castes in India: Their

Mechanism, Genesis and Development,” he opined, “there is so much similarity between the

untouchables in India and the position of Negros in America.” His observation that



“untouchablility was far worse than slavery and slavery could be abolished by statute while it

would take more than a law to remove the stigma from the people of India” holds relevance

to the contemporary issues and calls for the ultimate redressal.

Dalit is a Marathi word denoting the meaning ‘broken’ or ‘shattered.’ However, the

word is not confined to only untouchables but covers a wider gamut of literature. In dalit

literature, the term is widely applied to all marginal, aboriginal, subaltern and other groups,

including minority groups like Muslims, Christians, Neo-Buddhists and also other sections of

women who are the victims of physical, economic and social discrimination. The element of

protest and quest for identity characterize the dalit literature. Similarly, in the African

American Literature one finds a discernible and powerful voice, longing to be heard.

Dalit Movement in Andhra Pradesh may be traced back to about 1906 with

Bhagyareddy Varma laying foundation to sensitize the marginalized communities. Dalit

writings inclusive of Dalit intellectuals’ biographies, autobiographies, poetry, plays, novels,

essays etc. constitute the Dalit History more than the traditional sources like Archaeological

Survey of India(ASI), Census, reports of commissions, letters etc. An analogy may be drawn

between the Dalit Panthers Movement and Black Panthers Movement. The Dalit Panther

Manifesto (1972) gave birth to the idea of the Dalit as revolutionary subject. The writings

during the Adi Andhra Movement, missionaries’ writings about the religious ceremonies,

traditional and cultural outlook of the people also give valuable information regarding the

Dalit Movement in Andhra Pradesh. The rage expressed by the dalit poets and writers forms

the essence of Dalitatvam, seen in the Telugu Dalit Literature. However, Dalit literature and

Dalit Movements are quite inseparable. The Kaaramchedu Movement (1985), Chundur

Movement (1991) and other such struggles in restoring dignity to the dalits are historical and



form the impetus to the dalit writings. The writers like Unnava Lakshminarayana through his

Maalapalli gave a new dimension to dalit writings.

The imperialistic haul of history placed the Negro, snatching him away from his

African home, in the shackles of slavery on the fertile soil of the South, and when the

Negroes were freed they outnumbered the whites. The Negro population was kept away from

casting their franchise for the fear that it would pave the way for interference in the control of

political and economic destiny of a third of the Republic. The demarcation between the

whites and the blacks gave rise to two separate worlds; the white world and the black world

and everything was marked FOR WHITES or FOR COLOURED. Various rules and

sanctions were imposed to regulate the black and keep them under check. American pro-

slavery writers tried their best to confirm the Negro’s position as slave. John Saffin of

Massachusetts summed up all the negative sensibilities and anti-negro sentiments of his day

in “The Negroes’ Character.”

Cowardly and cruel, are those Blacks Innate,

Prone to Revenge, Imp of Inveterate hate,

He that exasperates them; soon espies

Mischief and Murder in their eyes.

Libidinous, Deceitful, False and rude,

The spume issue of Ingratitude.

(Images of the Negro in American Literature)

Abbey J.A. Dubais wrote about the untouchables as the people with perverted

mindsets, queer attitudes, living in unhygienic environment and possessing animal

consciousness. Similar kind of portrayal is also seen in the African American writings. The

dalit settlements are analogous to the ghettos of the African Americans. Hugo Gorringe



argues that untouchability however, continues to be embedded in the make-up of the Indian

society and further differences in culture widen the gaps and deepen the sense of alienation.

There is a need to address the institutionalized casteism similar to graded inequality in the

society. During the times when Varna Dharma was extolled as a unifying force of the

contemporary society in India, it yielded only hapless untouchables whose plight is similar to

that of the African Americans. In both the literatures, the perceptible upsurge of sensibilities

to wage a war for freedom and reclamation of human personality and dignity is striking.

Manusmriti bears references to untouchability, discrimination, the punishment for the

dalits and the description of their settlements etc. Even in Kautilya’s Artha Shastra caste is

mentioned. 12th

Century Shiva poets used ‘dalits’ as their subject matter. The poet of masses,

Vemana of 16th

century condemned the caste system as manmade and his contemporary

Veera Brahmam, the philosopher very popular for his ‘tatvas,’ too strongly argued that

people should be freed from the shackles of caste discrimination. Obviously, in Indian

context caste discrimination and such allied prejudices have been noticed since ages. As a

specific genre, Dalit poetry originated in about 1900 A.D. with an anonymous dalit lyric

which consisted of the urge for equality.

All are born to Hindamma goddess

All should be one and fine......

Treat us as your brethren

Goddess will bless you with riches.

(Anonymous) [Translation mine]

Seymour L. Gross opines that studies relating to the Negro in American Literature

scarcely existed before the twentieth century and flourished only after 1920s. The traces of

the past could only be carried in song, dance, and tales told in slaves’ quarters and in work



places. Jupiter Hammon and Philis Wheatley, the pioneer poets of the black versification,

described the excruciating pain of the molestation of the black race. The slave narratives too

contained the yearning for freedom. “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass” reveals a

realistic account of how ‘aching bones and a sore back were his constant companions’ and

ascertains the manhood of a Negro while retaining his identity. The prominent black leaders

Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois too tried their best in getting rid of the tag

‘second class citizen.’

However, one can notice the inner struggle between accommodation and rebellion as

the central theme of Afro-American history. It is evident that one who embraces militancy,

casts off the robes of a Booker T Washington and assumes the mantle of Frederick Douglass

or a W.E.B. Du Bois. Ralph Ellison and James Baldwin drew their artistic strength from their

being black. Harlem Renaissance, an African American cultural movement of the 1920s and

early 1930s gave rise to many artists and writers who were determined to voice freely for

equal rights. Blackness in 1930s was viewed as dislocation, sickness and unemployment and

general misery. Richard Wright, the angry young man of African American novel, made his

emergence as writer during this period.

Toni Morrison and Alice Walker, the descendants of Black Power Movement, found

their search for the self unleashed in translating their black experiences. Malcolm X, the

eloquent exponent of Black Nationalism, gave new dimension in terms of self-defense, self-

definition and self-determination. Kay Boyle viewed “black power” and its significant

impact as a good sign:

Sweet hearts, the script has changed . . .

And with it the stage directions which advise

Lowered voices, genteel asides,



And the white hand slowly turning the dark page.

(Kay Boyle, Black Power)

Gurajada Appa Rao in his “Mutyala Saralu” which is the open denial of casteism,

affirms that there are only two castes viz. good and bad among the human beings and he

prefers to be ‘untouchable’ when good is treated as ‘untouchable’(Maala). Kusuma

Dharmanna, the dalit poet of first generation, expresses his resentment in “Makoddee Nalla

Doratanam” (1921). He says that though the dalits work day and night all through the year,

they are forced to live in loincloth in segregation. He questions how the concept of

‘swarajya’ becomes a reality when the dalits are denied of a cart to ride on, a god to pray, a

shelter to relax, a water body to drink, and the rights of equality.

Kara Walker, the African American artist through her black paper silhouttees depict

racial discrimination and gender issues. Katti Padma Rao, the noted dalit writer considers

‘black’ a good omen. He uses the symbols like ‘black crow,’ ‘black hill,’ ‘black tar,’ ‘black

ocean’ etc. to heighten the effect of black identity. In his Black Lotus (Nalla Kaluva), he

decodes the untouchability as ‘tella jaati tegullu,’ (the white man’s blight). The white

society’s determination to keep the blacks in their place, restricting their freedom of

movement, and confining them to the regions of subordination and inferiority is similar to the

adamant attitude of the people of upper castes to keep the untouchables at a distance. The

white society compels the black to believe that the ‘only way to stay alive is to stay in line.’

As Richard Wright describes his Bigger’s trauma in Native Son, the moment he is invited into

the house of the Daltons, he behaves like any other Negro in tune with the subservient

behavioral patterns:

He stood with his knees slightly bent. His lips partly open, his shoulders stooped; and

his eyes held a look that went only to the surface of things. There was an organic



conviction in him that his was the way white folks wanted him to be when in their

presence; none had ever told him that in so many words, but their manner had made

him they that they did.

(Native Son, 50)

Resorting to violence and crime gives Bigger his essential freedom and real existence

and his idealized self draws succor from violence and this leads him to self-actualization. But

Ellison dramatizes the basic ironies of Negro existence which is a metaphor of human

existence because “it is hearing without being heard, feeling without being felt, and seeing

without being seen.” Ellison’s hero is invisible but Wright’s hero longs for identity. Ralph

Ellison’s metaphysical definition of blackness is quite emphatic:

I am invisible; understand, simply because people refuse to see me. Like the bodiless

heads you see sometimes in circus sideshows, it is as though I have been surrounded

by mirrors of hard, distorting glass. Whey they approach me they see only my

surroundings, themselves, or figments of their imagination-indeed everything and

anything except me.

(Invisible Man, 3 )

The anguish expressed by the dalit poet Gurram Joshua in Gabbilam (1942) is a war

against the religious dogmatism and orthodoxy of upper casteism. He created a unique

character ‘gabbilam’ (bat) and made it his messenger to present the plight of the untouchable

to God. Gabbilam is an ugly bird, often considered a bad omen, dwelling in desolated places

and deserted temples. It is symbolic of the existence of an untouchable in Indian society in

unhygienic settlements away from the mainstream. The bat hanging upside down, in a

meditating gesture close to ‘Shivalinga’ is viewed as a symbol bringing dignity to the

untouchables. “Meditating upside down through the day to attain a sagely status.” (7) Being



a stringent critic of Varna dharma, Joshua describes it as ‘the four hooded cobra of Hinduism

that frowns at his very sight.’(3) He appeals to the bird to transmit his tearful tale:

His still night has lulled the whole world to sleep.

But it forgot the very me

Afflicted as I am with the incurable

Disease of untouchability. (8)

His resolution to remain unmarried is striking; “When I am myself an outcast why

marry and give birth to another? Why need for a wife for one so deprived so he chooses to

remain unwed.” (3) The spirit of protest as conspicuous in his poetry, “Tears of untouchables

will burst like thunderbolt and doom the nation to destruction,” heralded a new rethinking

and awareness among the oppressed. He extols Gandhian mission of eradication of

untouchability and laments that the great Vedas have failed to root out ego and selfishness

whereas Gandhi’s ‘maunavratas’ have succeeded in uniting them all. Though Joshua had

been writing since 1920, he could emerge as a powerful voice only in 1929.

Ambedkar and Gandhi held different views regarding ‘untouchability.’ Ambedkar’s

view is regarded as the ‘first voice’ while Gandhiji’s as a mere ‘echo.’ Ambedkar desired for

the abolition of caste system and the restructuring of the society with fundamental changes

assuring self respect and self confidence for “panchamas” while Gandhi wanted to retain the

caste system with many a concession for the economic, social development of the

untouchables. Gandhian thinking became the policy of the ruling Congress Government.

However, it is noteworthy that present Dalit movement out rightly rejects Gandhian line of

thinking and abides by Ambedkar’s approach. (Principles of Telugu Literary Criticism, 537)



Bhoi Bheemanna’s works like Paleru, Kooli Raju, Gudiselu Kaalipothunnai etc.

consisted of ‘dalit consciousnesses.’ Dalit Literary Movement of post-independence era is

able to draw its inspiration from Kolakaluri Enoch’s works. His Uura Baavi depicts the plight

of the underdog and the struggle for the rights over the water body. Muniwaahanudu presents

the realistic account of the entry of an untouchable into the temple. The noted dalit poet

Shivasagar views the emergence of Dalit Literature as the revolutionary one:

Casting a smile on his lips,

Shambuka is beheading Rama;

With his axe

Ekalavya is chopping the thumb of Drona;

With his little feet,

Bali is crushing Vamana to Patala;

And

Piercing needles into his eyes,

Slicing his tongue,

Pouring lead into his ears,

Manu is turning over in the graveyard.(536)

(Translation mine)

In response to the heinous episode of Mahadevamma, a dalit woman’s stripping and

gang rape, with the powerful use of imagery, Juluri Gauri Shankar fumes:



What a country is this?

What justice is this?

Stripping her off unitedly,

Lo! Worship the Adi Shakti, Paraashakti,

And the lost chastity.

(Dalita Kavitvam: Paraamarsha, 79)

(Translation mine)

Satish Chander in his “Panchama Vedam” confesses that the principles of Manu that

have denigrated dalits are realized as the ‘Vatsayana Kamasutras’ and is immensely pleased

that the birth secrets of dalits are not mentioned in ‘Manu Dharma.’ The hardships of Telugu

Dalit writers are different and typical. Unlike the general writers who have the influence of

their culture on their works, the dalit writers have to swim up the currents of culture. M.

Vinodhini, a dalit activist and university teacher expresses her anguish that teaching some

text from the Vedas that denounces Dalits is very hard, distressing and even extremely

offensive. She says it would be a denigrating experience for the dalit scholars to refer to

ancient texts. She cites the example of the classical text of ‘Shakuntalopakhyanam,’ based on

‘Manusmriti’ which treated dalits as subhuman entities and relegated them to ‘panchamas.’

The works of Kolakaluri Enoch, Katti Padmarao, Boyi Bheemanna, Madduri Nagesh

Babu, Satish Chander, Juluri Gauri Shankar, Gogu Shyamala, Vinodini, J. Srinivas and a host

of other writers form the essence of Dalitatvam, seen in Telugu Dalit Literature. Yendluri

Sudhakar glorifies the beauty of dalit woman and laments that she could not find place in

classical literature. He says that “the iron bowl which she carries on her head while at work,



is mocking at the crown of Miss Universe. As a tigress when she is going for reaping with a

sharpened sickle, the surrounding Nature’s bounty surrenders at her feet.” In Neelika, he

says that all the letters that abandoned her beauty have been entranced by him. Sundara Raju

in his “Vaasanaleni Puvvu” asserts his dalit identity which is reflective of the discrimination

of the whole nation. He declares: “Yes I’m Dalit, concealing nothing, I’m the least, the

nation’s snot.” (81)

According to the National Commission of Women over 2.5 lakh girls most of whom

belong to the dalit communities are dedicated to temples in the Maharashtra Karnataka border

to Devadasi system which was outlawed in 1988 and they are living in squalor and dying of

poverty. Prominent Dalit writers and researchers threw light on various pertinent issues of

Dalitism and Dalit literature. K. Sudershan questions the deeply indebted masters who have

exploited them since ages when they would pay the principal amount as the “reservations”

being the only interest amount. Though there is a radical change in the outlook of the people

of urban spaces consequent on globalization or transculturalism, the rural India in its most of

the chunks still nurtures the discriminatory attitude towards fellow human beings in terms of

caste, class and gender which would surely be annulled by means of refinement of minds and

hearts, assured by literary awakening to provide a plausible answer to Indravelli (Anonymous

Poet) whose ‘angst’ may be assuaged very soon:

Maybe, they are Dalits in India,

Maybe, they are Blacks in South Africa,

Whatever may be the country,

Suppression is universal.

Born-enslavement is the ultimate truth. (154)



(Translation mine)



References

1. Quoted in Images of the Negro in American Literature, ed. Seymour L. Gross.

Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1966. 39.

2. Ellison, Ralph. Invisible Man. New Delhi: allied Publishers limited, 1976.

3. Joshua, Gurram (1998), Gabbilam, Trans. K. Madhava Rao, Joshua

Foundation, Hyderabad.

4. Kay Boyle, “On Black Power,” Liberation. January, 1967.

5. Lakshminarayana,K. Dalita Kavitvam- Paramarsha. Anantapuram: Rama

Publications, 2013.

6. Wright, Richard. Native Son. New York: Harper, 1940.

7. Velamala Simmanna, Principles of Literary Criticism. Dalita Sahitya Peetham,

Visakhapatnam. 2012.

8. Ambedkar Anantara Dalita Udyamaalu, Saahityam: Savaallu. Ed.

B.Krishnaiah. Hyderabad: Society and Education, 2011.



Telugu Dalit Literature and Emergence of Muslim Consciousness

Telugu Dalit writings, delineating the quest for freedom of people and victimization

of socio-economic and cultural inequalities, are often considered the most fervent reflections

of the predicament of the oppressed. Dealing with the subjugation of the marginalized in the

name of caste, class, religion, Telugu Dalit Literature is characterized by the element of

anguish and ultimate modes of protest.

Dalit is a Marathi word denoting the meaning broken or shattered. However, the word

is not confined to only untouchables but covers a wider gamut of literature. In Dalit literature,

the term is widely applied to all marginal, aboriginal, subaltern and other groups, including

minority groups like Muslims, Christians, Neo-Buddhists and also other sections of women

who are the victims of physical, economic and social discrimination. The prevailing

inequalities and manifestations of oppression at the roots of every Indian village structure,

sternly guarded by the upper castes, form the basis of the realism in Dalit writings.

Dalit Movement in Andhra Pradesh may be traced back to about 1906 with

Bhagyareddy Varma pioneering the movement for awakening the marginalized communities.

Dalit writings inclusive of Dalit intellectuals’ biographies, autobiographies, poetry, plays,

novels, essays etc. constitute the Dalit History more than the traditional sources like

Archaeological Survey of India(ASI), Census, reports of commissions, letters etc. The

writings during the Adi Andhra Movement, missionaries’ writings about the religious

ceremonies, traditional and cultural outlook of the people also give valuable information

regarding the Dalit Movement in Andhra Pradesh.



The rage expressed by the Dalit poets and writers forms the essence of Dalitatvam,

seen in the Telugu Dalit Literature. However, Dalit literature and Dalit Movements are quite

inseparable. The Kaaramchedu Movement (1985), Chundur Movement (1991) and other such

struggles in restoring dignity to the Dalits are historical and form the impetus to the Dalit

writings. The writers like Unnava Lakshminarayana through his Maalapalli gave a new

dimension to Dalit writings.

Gurram Joshua’s portrayal of an untouchable through “Gabbilam” serves as the

means of reconstructing Dalit identity and subversion serves as the way to relocate the

untouchable who has been terrorized by the “four hooded cobra of Hinduism” in the main

stream. His poetic sensibilities finding an expression in his pen reflect the spirit of protest

against the unfair and prejudiced social practices. Dr. Ambedkar’s 1942 speech, “For ours is

a battle, not for wealth or for power. It is a battle for freedom. It is a battle for the reclamation

of human personality,” is indeed a fount of inspiration for all Dalit movements and a ready

recipe for all the movements fighting for justice in India.

In fact, the so-called “Muslimism” or “Muslimwadam” had been an integral part of

Telugu Dalit Literature for a long time as most of the Telugu Dalit anthologies contained the

writings of the Muslims and their reflexes. However, of late it has been regarded as a distinct

new trend in Telugu literary ambit with the contributions of a host of Muslim writers. It is

striking that Muslim poetry, a new trend in Telugu literary domain along with Dalit poetry,

never contained any traces of communal sensibility. Apparently, nor it aimed for propagation

of religion.

However, the trauma inflicted upon their psyche by the religious fanaticism is painted

vividly in their writings. The longing for universal brotherhood and welfare of the mankind is

evident in the works of Vajir Rahman, Ismail, Smile, Devipriya, Sugambabu, Kaumudi and



others. However, in the wake of the demolition of Babri Masjid, the feeling of insecurity

created by the masqueraded secular forces, some of the poets made their voice of protest

heard, of course which was supplemented by the revolutionary movement of Telugu literary

sphere.

Hurt feelings and an emotional outburst accompanied by hurling abuses at the

supposed adversaries marked earlier phase of Muslim minority poetry. Subsequently,

there emerged a path of their own, an expression reflecting their concerns and a desire

for recognition as human beings first and foremost and an uninhibited desire to be

accepted as fellow citizens.

(www.kritya.in)

The notable Muslim poet Khaja, while tracing out his origin of being a Muslim from

the lower castes of India, states that most of the Muslims in India are Dalits with their

conversion for the fear Brahmanism. He declares that be belongs to the majority though he is

a Muslim by religion. He asserts that he is a Dalit by cost. Arun Dangle opines that Dalits are

“the masses who are exploited and oppressed economically, socially, culturally, in the name

of religion and other factors.” (impressions.50.webs.org)

While accounting for the historical background of the origin of Muslim minority

poetry in Telugu literature in JalJala, an anthology edited by Skybaba, Afsar describes

Muslims as,

the uprising, churning voices . . . failing to bear the pangs of severance when the

motherland is partitioned into two. They are the necessary faces, broken hearts,

sliced up lumps of flesh during the Hindu carnage amid the brutal laughter of

Babri Masjid’s demolition. Being labeled as the ISI agents, they are victimized and



enslaved and exiled in independent India. In the Kashmiri Mountains, instead of

remaining in a frozen state, they are blistering, getting crushed under the military

boots like the snow balls. Being subject to discrimination, insecurity, disgrace,

utter poverty, they are the roots of our writings.

(Principles of Telugu Literary Criticism, 570)

Shajahan, Mahejabeen, Shehnaj, Shamshad, Javeriah belong to the category of

Muslim women writers who infused Muslim consciousness into their writings. Khaja and

Skybaba too voiced their concern for the redressal of injustice done to Muslim women.

Obviously, Muslim consciousness surfaced out in 1990s and made its impact felt with Khader

Mohiuddin’s Birthmark (Feb. 1991) asserting Muslim identity and undeniable claim of

citizenship. He laments that his name was enlisted among the traitors long before he was born

and history has depicted own son as stepson. The poem appears in fragments:

My religion is a conspiracy

My prayer meetings are a conspiracy

My lying quiet is a conspiracy.

My attempting to wake up is a conspiracy

My desire to have friends is a conspiracy

My ignorance, my backwardness, a conspiracy.

It's no conspiracy

To make me a refugee

In the very country of my birth

It's no conspiracy



To poison the air I breathe

And the space I live in

It's certainly no conspiracy

To cut me to pieces

And then imagine an uncut Bharat.

Cricket matches weigh and measure my patriotism

Never mind my love for my motherland

What is important is how much I hate the other land!

(such.forumotion.com)

This long poem is an awakening in the literary scenario wherein the minority poets

and writers are sensitized to the prevailing discriminatory attitudes. Gafar, another revolting

minority voice questions the hatred of fellow citizens in asking the Muslims to leave their

“Saare Jahan se achcha” and vehemently proclaims that he will circumcise the throats of

those who say that they have to leave their country. Nationalistic fervor and patriotism are

found to be intrinsically interwoven in JalJala. Shajahan with her feministic perspectives

tries to unveil all the layers of traditional practices that make the women confine themselves

to subordination. She asserts, “Watching the women of this generation/Who swim across the

English Channel/I can’t remain silent.”

She wants to remove her veil, liberate herself from the shackles in order to have the

vision of this vast world. Mahejabeen is inspired by Shajahana as is evident in her blatant

challenging of the traditional mores in moving towards reformatory world. Shajahana

confronts with the traditional mores that have enslaved her and she blatantly says that she is

not qualified even for experience in her dreams.



The major communal riots of Bombay in January 1993 and Gujarat carnage of 2002

too provided impetus to minority writings. New York Times was critical of the indifference

of state as well as central governments’ efforts in stanching the flow of blood. M.D. Yakoob

Basha raises his voice against all kinds of conspiracy against the Muslim identity. Javed

grieves that living in exile in one’s native land is more heinous than being unborn. Syed

Gafar talks about his nationality that he is born and sprouted from the same soil. Afsar’s

poetry is also pregnant with nationalism. He asks others not to divide him by 47 (implied

1947) but by himself. He says that all his laughter, veils, limbs, insults, rapes and murders

belong to you also. Iqbal Chand in his Bird Song through deep poetic sensibility calls for

ending apathy towards the underprivileged sections of the society.

Amidst crowd

the bird

having gone on singing singing

flew away-

None noticed it

When would this world

ever understand

the language of love….

(www.museindia.com)

Azhgarali in his blog writes about Muslim Minority literature as a special entity in

Telugu Literature.

Though it is a part of Dalit Bhahujan Literature at the beginning, later it was

developed as a special separate trend . . . . Muslim poets revolted against the trend

of subjugation and discrimination applied against them . . . . The Muslim writers, one

http://www.museindia.com/



side they are opposing the Hindutva forces and at the same time they are also

fighting for reforms in their religion.

(Azhgarali.blog)



REFERENCES:

1. Hibiscus on the Lake: Twentieth Century Telugu Poetry from India ed. Velcheru

Narayana Rao, Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2003.

2. Dr.K.Lakshminarayan. Dalita Kavithvam: Paramarsha. NIDO Publications, 2013.

3. Velamala Simmanna, Principles of Telugu Literary Criticism: Dalita Saahitya

Peetham, Visakhapatnam. 2012.

4. http://www.kritya.in/08/En/name_of_poetry1.html

5. http://impressions.50webs.org/jan09/ar_alpanag.html

6. http://such.forumotion.com/t5706-birthmark-a-poem-by-a-telugu-muslim-poet

7. http://azgaralimd.blogspot.in/2012/12/fourth-world-literature-with-special.html

8. New York Times, Feb. 4, 1993

9. http://www.museindia.com/viewarticle.asp?myr=2007&issid=16&id=861

http://www.kritya.in/08/En/name_of_poetry1.html

http://impressions.50webs.org/jan09/ar_alpanag.html

http://such.forumotion.com/t5706-birthmark-a-poem-by-a-telugu-muslim-poet

http://azgaralimd.blogspot.in/2012/12/fourth-world-literature-with-special.html

http://www.museindia.com/viewarticle.asp?myr=2007&issid=16&id=861



Summing up

Though Telugu Dalit literature is charged with being a propagandist, univocal,

resentful with Buddhist inclinations, it is noteworthy that it is marked by the characteristic

features of revolt against the Hindu Puranas, mythology, and the creator Brahma, attack on

Hinduism in particular Brahmanism, rebellion against Manu and his Manu dharma, a strong

opposition towards Sanskrit language, resentment towards Karma doctrine, and aesthetic

inclinations.

It is an agreeable proposition that the literature cannot be Dalit but it can be of Dalits

for Dalits by Dalits as well as non-dalits. However the dalit writers feel justified to express

anguish and pain as they are part of shared commonalty and it will not be the case with non-

dalit writers. As literature is the reflection of not only experiences but also observations, even

non-dalit writers may record their imaginary flights in the form of protest. It is believed that

dalit literature is serving the two fold purpose of acquainting one with their traditionalism,

past and glorious ancestry besides making them aware of their rights and entitlement. A

careful study reveals that early dalit writers’ reformative tone is different from tha t of modern

writers rebellious tone, though awakening dalit consciousness is the underlying theme.

Sharankumar Limbale opines that the dalit literature with its unique aesthetics is

different from canonical literature. It is unique in its purpose and function unlike general

literature which is to provide pleasure. According to him, dalit literature is “life affirming”

literature with a specific purpose of conveying, sharing and caring. When it comes to

conveying a message non-dalit writers also subtly do the same. Sharing experiences that are

imaginary resultant of observations or realistic consequent on experiencing the same trauma -

needs to be distinguished with a special focus on quality of imagination. This kind of



differential quotient may form the basis of conceptualization dalit literature. While disputing

the concept of Rasa theory, Limbale says that Rasa theory has got some limitations as it is

based on pleasure and beauty while the dalit aesthetics are governed by only tone of pain,

anger and rebellion hence its appeal is to unravel the folds of ugliness of hegemonic caste

system.

Dr B.R. Ambedkar in Yeola Conference which was attended by about 10,000

untouchables made a historic announcement. In his heart touching and the most inspiring

speech, he recalled the plight of the Depressed Classes in all spheres-economic, social,

educational and political. He asked the crowd whether it “would not be better to give up

Hinduism and embrace another faith which would unreservedly give an equal status” and

later came out with his famous declaration.

Unfortunately, I was born a Hindu Untouchable-there was nothing I could do

to prevent it. However, it is well within my power to refuse to live under

ignoble and humiliating conditions. I solemnly assure you that I will not die a

Hindu.

(Ambedkar, 202)

Awakening the Dalit consciousness in tune with the Ambedkarian thought is the sole

function of Dalit literature. Again when it comes to readers’ response, a Dalit readers’

response be in sinc with the the Dalit writer’s portrayal of experiential quotient for both have

common sharing i.e. Dalit life. The quest for freedom, urge for equality, and expression of

solidarity from the core values of Dalit literature and in sensitization lay the real purpose and

function of Dalit literature. Sharankumar Limbale opines:



Dalit literature as literature written by one who is a Dalit by birth, literature

which is filled with rebellion and rejection and which gives expression to Dalit

consciousness. Only a Dalit writer can write Dalit literature because non-Dalit

writing is based on imagination whereas Dalit literature is based on reality.

Ranganayakamma’s writings in Telugu Buddhudu Kaadu, Ambedkar Kaadu, Marx

Kaavaali (Neither Buddha, Nor Ambedkar, but Marx is required) and Arun Shouries’

Worshipping False Gods attack Ambedkar and his followers with regard to the policies of

ending inequality in the society which has been subject to multiple stratification. Besides the

economic basis, the gender and caste basis should also be taken into consideration.According

to Buddha religion must relate to the facts of life while Marx proposed the purpose of

philosophy is to reconstruct the world not to explain the origin of the universe. To Marx

government is “by force” and to Buddha it is of “moral disposition.”

Katti Padmarao, a noted dalit writer and activist asserts that Vemana, Sri Sri, and

Cherabanda Raju are the real poet-triumvirate while dismissing Sri Sri’s statement that

Tikkana, Vemana and Gurajada form the trio. According to Padma Rao, the Progressive

Writers, Revolutionary Writers, even Indian Communists are not exemption from the

ideology of the upper class dominance, thouty they say class is more importanct than caste.

He praises Taapi Dharma Rao’s efforts in Anti-Brahmin and cultural movements that stand as

the fount of inspiration for Dalit Movements. He is critical of even Sri Sri’s poetry that it fails

to recognise the caste equations and ultimate suppression though he gives a clarion call for

establishing a classless society, “Maro Prapancham.”

There is also criticism that being a Dalit writer is staying away from the mainstream

of literary cannon. But the silence of dalits and dalit critics need to be broken in this regard.

As there is impermanence of authenticity of writers as well as critics regarding dalit point of



view, it is too early to have the fixities and definitive for dalit literature and also dalit writers

true to dalit consciousness and dalit experiences. Despite the best efforts of the writers both

Dalit and Non-Dalit, and the emergence of dalitatva or dalit consciousness, dalit awakening,

still in rural India caste plays very significant role and subjugation has been a tormenting

issue for the people.

“Facing social boycott from the upper castes, 13 families of Ansurda village in

Osmanabad in Maharashtra wanted to relocate themselves near an urban area.” (The Hindu,

June 5, 2015 ed. Hyderabad) The trouble started with the Dalits taking out a procession to

commemorate the birthday of Dr B.R.Ambedkar in which songs in praise of their icon leader

were sung. A few upper caste youths held objection to this followed by desecration of the

image of Ambedkar and abuse of Dalit women.

Another newspaper report that “Dalit Kids have to do menial jobs at schools”

highlights case studies of Dalits in Indian context. “When it comes to any manual work such

as cleaning of classrooms or picking up garbage it is always the dalit children who are asked

to do so the Rights Watch report said. (Deccan Chronicle, 2014)The above such reports are

not an appearance in rarity in the newspapers but many such incidents are being reported in

the press across rural India indicating that the disease of caste still remained incurable.

Unreported incidents may be even more.

It is noteworthy that the protest is also a characteristic feature of Dalit movements

though not organized systematically. The dalits of Chakwara village have been cooking their

food in ghee for the last 76 years as a mark of protest. “But for the dalits of Chakwara village,

in Jaipur district, ghee is a weapon against untouchability. Since 1936, ghee in this village has

not been the privilege of only the caste Hindus.” (Deccan Chronicle, 2012.)



Caste is still pervading for various reasons and not totally annihilated and in linkage

with class distinction. M.N. Srinivas, the noted Indian sociologist feels “caste is still very

strong and is growing stronger.” Andre Beteille in his article “The Peculiar Tenacity of

Caste” says that “where caste consciousness was dying down, it was brought back to life by

the massive campaigns that became part of every election.” (Economic and Political Weekly)

Talking about the differences between class and caste, he feels that caste equations are

nurtured by political parties for their selfish motives. The reasons for endurance for caste

system in the earlier decades of the untouchable history were different than that of present era

as the sphere of politics has taken a new dimension with the increasing adult franchise. It is

obvious that the tenacity of caste is directly proportional to politics of electioneering.

Kancha Ilaiah, the social scientist, author of Why I am not a Hindu and Untouchable

God and many more books with dalit conscience raising, in his scintillating article “No ghar,

so no ghar Wapsi” is critical of the Sangh Parivar’s “Ghar Wapsi programme.” While

referring to the caste conversions in Indian dalit society, he says that caste conversions are a

common case with Dalits and Adivasis. Converts to Islam would forget their roots after a

generation or two as Islam believes in oneness and mono identity. But same is not the case

with converts of Christianity as their cultural identity won’t change so easily. It is true that

Christianity became ‘a spiritual home’ for most of the oppressed and untouchables of Indian

society because of “caste system.” He challenges the existence of the concept of ‘ghar’ in

the past and questions, “Where is it that they are returning it to now?”

Gene Andrew Jarrett in her Introduction to A Companion to African American

Literature says

the African American Authors seek to interpret the literature as

containing diverse, not predetermined, portrayals of African American



experiences. They intend to reveal the complexities and contradictions of

African American literature, not merely its coherence and consistency across

history. They even endeavour to broaden conception of the literature beyond

one race or ethnicity, or beyond the notions of race and ethnicity entirely, to

consider how African American writers have grappled primarily with other

social factors of human identity and relationships, including gender, sexuality,

culture, class, politics, and ideology. (ACAAL, 1)

African American or Telugu Dalit Literature pays a rich tribute to the spirit of

struggle against injustice and inequalities of the respective societies. Though former is

characterized by race and the latter by class differences, there are striking similarities in the

protest modes of both the literatures. Literature in its specific purpose of arousing the

conscience of the people, by various strategies has given rise to new movements and novel

means of establishing a society where in the prime concern is the welfare and wellbeing of

the humanity. As long as the prejudicial temperament of human beings remains and continues

to be nourished by selfish motives and individual preferences, inequality, suppression, and

exploitation will not cease to cast their shadows in one form or the other. Trivial issues of

apathy surfacing out here and there may be ignored in the light of significant contribution

made by both the literatures towards awakening social conscience.



References

1. The Economic and Political Weekly. “The Peculiar Tenacity of Caste, March 31,

2012.

2. Kancha Ilaiah. “No ghar, so no ghar Wapsi” Deccan Chrnonicle. Op-ed. January 5,

2015.

3. Ambedkar. Awakening India’s Social Conscience. Narendra Jadhav. New Delhi:


4. “Dalit kids have to do menial jobs at schools” Deccan Chronicle, ed. Anantapur. April

23, 2014.

5. Deccan Chronicle, Sunday 7, October, 2012.

6. Gene Andrew Jarrett, A Companion to African American Literature. Malden: Wiley-

Blackwell Publications, 2010.



A Select Bibliography

Ambedkar. Awakening India’s Social Conscience. Ed. Narendra Jadhav. New

Delhi: Konark Publishers Private Ltd., 2014.

Ambedkar Writes. Vol. I Political Writings. Ed. Narendra Jadhav. New Delhi:


Ambedkar Writes. Vol. II Scholarly Writings.Ed. Narendra Jadhav. New Delhi:


Ambedkar Speaks. Vol. I, II, III. Ed. Narendra Jadhav. New Delhi: Konark

Publishers Private Ltd., 2013.

Aston, N.M. Ed. (2001) Dalit Literature and African-American Literature.

New Delhi: Prestige Books. ISBN 81-7551-116-8.

Barksdale, Richard K. & Keneth Kinnamon. Black Writers of America: A

Comprehensive Anthology. New York: Macmillan Company, 1972.

Bone, Robert. The Negro Novel in America. Rev. Ed. New Haven: Yale

University Press, 1969.

Boyle, Kay. “On Black Power.” Liberation (January, 1967)

Bronz, Stephen. Roots of Negro Racial Consciousness: the 1920s: Three

Harlem Renaissance Authors. New York: Libra, 1964.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/8175511168



Butcher, Margaret. The Negro in American Culture. New York: Alfred A.

Knof, Inc., 1956.

Clarinda, Still. Dalit Women-Honour and Patriarchy in South India. Social

Science Press: New Delhi. 2014.

Clarke, John Henrik. The American Negro and His Roots. New York:

American Society of African Culture, 1960.

Dangle, Arjun (1992) Ed. Poisoned Bread: Translations from Modern Marathi

Dalit Literature. Hyderabad: Orient Longman.

Davis, Arthur P. From the Dark Tower: Afro-American Writers, 1900 to 1960.

Washington D.C.: Howard University Press, 1974.

Davis, Charles T. Black is the Color of the Cosmos: Essays on Afro-American

Literature and Culture, 1942-1981. New York: Garl and Publishing House, Inc.,

1982.

Du Bois, W.E.B. The Souls of Black Folk. New York: Fawcett Publications,

1961.

- - - . Dalit Woman. Ponnur: Lokayata Publications, 2008.

Ellison, Ralph. Invisible Man. (1947). New Delhi: Allied Publishers Ltd., 1976.

Finkelstein, Sydney. Existentialism and Alienation in American Literature,

New York: International Publishers, 1965.

Ford, Nick Aaron. The Contemporary Negro Novel. Boston: Meador, 1936.

https://books.google.co.in/books/about/Poisoned_Bread.html?id=jKy28jPKZhEC

https://books.google.co.in/books/about/Poisoned_Bread.html?id=jKy28jPKZhEC



Franklin, John Hope. From Slavery to Freedom. New York: Knopf, 1980.

Hill, Leslie P. ed. The Wings of Oppression. Boston: Stratford, 1922.

Hughes, Langston. Famous American Negroes New York: Popular Library,

1962.

Jarrett, Andrew Gene. A Companion to African American Literature. Malden:

Wiley Blackwell Publications. 2010.

Kierkegaard, Soren. The Concept of Dread. Princeton: Princeton University

Press, 1944.

Khandekar, Minlind. Dalit Millionaires. Noida: Penguin India, Gopsons Papers

Limited, 2013.

Lamming, George. In the Castle of My Skin. New York: McGraw, 1953.

Limbale, Sharankumar. Towards an Aesthetics of Dalit Literature. New Delhi:

Glorious Printers, 2004.

Loggins, Vernon. The Negro Author. New York: Columbia University Press,

1931.

Myrdal, Gunnar. An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern

Democracy. New York: Harper & Row, 1944.

Nelson, John H. The Negro Character in American Literature. Lawrence,

Kansas: University of Kansas Press, 1926.



Nicholas Charles H., Jr. “Slave Narratives and the Plantation Legend.” Phylon

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Padmarao, Katti. Buddhist Philosophy. Ponnur: Lokayata Publications, 2007.

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Lokayata Publications, 2008.

Said, Edward, W. Orientalism. Western Conceptions of the Orient. Navi

Mumbai: Penguin Books, 2001.

Satish Deshpande ed. The Problem of Caste: Essays from Economic and

Political Weekly. Orient Blackswan, New Delhi. 2014.

Urban, Joan. Richard Wright. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1950.

Vroon, Ronald. Tans. 20th

Century American Literature: A Soviet View.

Moscow: Progress Publisher, 1976.

Welsch, Erwin K. The Negro in the United States: A Research Guide.

Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1965.

Wright, Richard. American Hunger. New York: Harper, 1977.

Wynes, Charles E. Ed. The Negro in the South Since 1865.University of

Alabama, 1971.

Documents

Caste and Race: Equations of Marginalization...Caste and Race: Equations of Marginalization By S. M. Basha Associate Professor of English Osmania College, (Autonomous), Kurnool. 2016