Categories of Caste, Class, and Telugu Dalit Literature

Abstract

I SEEK TO EXAMINE THE FORMATION OF THE CATEGORY OF TELUGU Dalit literature in the 1990s. I suggest that it is through the establishment of a new set of Dalit social and cultural organizations, forums, and small journals that Dalit writers have shaped the new category of Dalit literature. Mapping the consolidation of the Dalit community as a distinct social group in the context of the Dalit movement in Andhra Pradesh in the 1980s and 1990s, I further argue that the category of Dalit literature was conceptualized as an oppositional category to the dominant modem form, revolutionary literature. I will present some of the debates between Dalit critics and liberal /leftist critics in order to show how the former highlighted the failure of the revolutionary writers to represent Dalit life. I conclude by suggesting that Dalit critics posit a new politics of caste in the Telugu literary domain. I will draw on debates on Dalit literature and poetry and a few Telugu Dalit poems to illustrate my arguments.New Spaces and New VoicesIn the 1990s, Dalits formed a set of new organizations in the social, political, and cultural domains. Dalit Mahasabha is one such important social organization that emerged with an agenda of mass mobilization against caste discrimination, atrocities against Dalits, and other issues. Established in the wake of the Karamchedu massacre of Dalits,1 it brought together a group of Dalit intellectuals, activists, and students from various political formations.2 Originating in the coastal Andhra area, it soon expanded into a state-level organization with branches in the Rayalaseema, North Andhra, and Telangana regions. Several Ambedkar youth organizations were established throughout the state. In 1993, Dalit writers and intellectuals, along with some Backward-Caste intellectuals, formed Dalit Rachayitala Kalakarula Ikya Vedika (Darakame).3 Several other small Dalit student and youth forums were established during this phase - examples of these short-lived forums include the Samata Volunteer Force and the Satya Sodhak Intellectual Forum.4 The Dalit movement took a political turn with the formation of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). Almost all of the leaders of Dalit Mahasabha and other Dalit organizations joined the BSP on the eve of the 1994 Assembly elections. However, the BSP failed to consolidate in Andhra Pradesh. The significant development in the second half of the 1990s was the rise of Madiga Reservation Porata Samiti (MRPS), a forum of Madigas, one of the untouchable castes of Andhra Pradesh. This phase witnessed the formation of a number of sub-caste organizations such as Malamahanadu, Relli Hakkula Porata Samiti, the GollaKurma Association, and Rajaka Sangham. The central issue on the agenda of these organizations was how to achieve equitable apportionment of the reservations and other welfare benefits offered by the government on the basis of specific caste identities among the Scheduled Castes and Backward Castes.5 Dalit and other caste-based forums raised a number of issues and spearheaded a series of debates in the public sphere. These forums established small journals such as Dalitarajyam, the Bahujan Samaj, Ekalavya, Godavari Keratalu, and Edureeta. Journals like Dalit Voice from Bangalore, and Nalupu, established by the Hyderabad Book Trust in the 1980s, provided space for theoretical discussions on caste issues and Dalit politics.Both the Dalit forums and the small journals shaped Dalit literature in the 1990s. One can find many new names of writers and critics in these journals expressing their views on Dalit politics. In the literary domain, Dalit poets and writers formed a number of new publishing forums such as Dalitasana, Kala, Neelagiri Saniti, Gosangi Prachuranalu, Spruha Sahiti, Ekalavya, the Vishala Sahitya Akademi of Darakame, Sreeja, and Alice. Dalit students formed literary forums (Vispotna, Madiga Sahitya Vedika, etc.). Many of these publishing forums were of short duration, but Lokayuta Prachuranalu, established by Katti Padmarao, the founder-secretary of Dalit Mahasabha, and the Hyderabad Book Trust have been consistently publishing Dalit writing and Dalit theoretical works. …