Waiting for spring
April 2010
By: Nirupama Dutt
The emergence of a Dalit identity in Punjab is a recent development,
spurred in part by the failure of Sikhism to abandon caste
discrimination as it initially averred to do.
For us trees do not bear fruits
For us flowers do not bloom
For us there is no Spring
For us there is no Revolution …
– Lal Singh Dil
Poet for the revolution: Sant Ram Udasi in Barnala, c 1970.
These are lines from the last poem of Lal Singh Dil, hailed as the
foremost revolutionary poet of Punjab. He passed away in 2007. The
despondent note of the poem is both surprising and telling, for a poet
who had once declared that the song and dance in his heart would not
die, no matter how dire the circumstance. It took Dil a lifetime to
discover this sad yet provocative truth, against the backdrop of the
complexities of caste in Punjab. Yet centuries before Dil's birth, the
same frustration with caste was intricately linked to the emergence of
the Sikh religion.
When Sikhism came into being during the 15th century, it was primarily
as a protest against the caste system, in the same manner that leftist
and other progressive movements came into being in reaction to the
same malaise in modern times. In this context, the road to the Dalit
identity has been a long one in Punjab, largely because such an
identification was submerged in the Sikh identity, with much pride and
celebration in the earliest known Dalit writings of the 17th century.
The celebratory mood was one of overcoming the ills of caste-ridden
society. In time, however, the tone saddened, as a religion that had
started out to reform Hinduism fell prey to the same ills of
caste-ridden social hierarchy.
An important point to take away from this historical evolution is that
the contribution of those from the 'low' castes has never been
wanting, as far as struggle and movements for social justice go. The
story that was the turning point for the lower castes in Punjab was
that of Jaita, a follower of Guru Gobind Singh. Jaita played a
significant role in bringing the severed head of Guru Tegh Bahadur,
the ninth guru of Sikhism, back to Anandpur Sahib in Punjab, after he
was executed by Aurangzeb in Delhi in 1675. Seeing this act of bravery
and sentiment, Guru Gobind Singh adopted Jaita as his son. As such, a
popular rhyme in Punjab goes, "Ranghreta guru da beta" (The scavenger
is son of the guru), as Jaita belonged to the community of ranghrets,
scavengers, who had converted to Sikhism. Bhai Jaita, who died
fighting the last battle for the guru in 1705, was the first known
Dalit poet of Punjab. As Raj Kumar Hans, a professor of history, has
pointed out:
In its true egalitarian spirit, Sikhism had succeeded in integrating
the lowliest of the low, the former untouchables, the dalits, into its
folds … The way Bhai Jaita was integrated not only in Sikh religion
but also in the family of Guru Gobind Singh, it is understandable that
any other identity would have been meaningless to him.
Thus Bhai Jaita cries out in thanksgiving, "O! Jaite the saviour Guru
has saved the ranghretas/ The pure Guru has made us his sons."
Disowned ranghreta
Thereafter, the second known Dalit writer of Punjab was Peero Preman
(1830-72). Peero had earlier been a Muslim courtesan named Ayesha, and
later joined the Gulabdasia sect and inherited sainthood from her
mentor, Gulab Das. Ditt Singh Giani (1852-1901), another Dalit writer,
also made significant contributions to Punjabi literature,
particularly in terms of defining Sikh thought. He was also
founder-editor of a newspaper, Khalsa Akhbar, in Lahore. Similarly,
Sadhu Daya Singh Arif, also a Dalit, (1894-1946) was a theologist and
writer who enjoyed great popularity.
Before we step into modern times, it is important to note the reasons
for Dalits moving out of the Sikh fold. To begin with, Punjab has a
higher percentage of Dalits than any other state in modern-day India,
making up almost 30 percent of the population. However, this community
owns just 2.3 percent of the cultivated agricultural land in the
state. Some 70 percent of Sikhs live in rural Punjab, as did a major
chunk of the Dalits who worked as labourers in the fields before they
moved to other jobs, making way for migrant labour to take their
place. The relationship between the Jat landlords and their landless
labourers was a complex one. The lower castes worked with the
upper-caste Jats and, although the 'otherness' was the accepted order,
there were instances of close bonding and even addressing elders as
uncle (chacha or taya) or aunt (bhua, masi). The experience and skills
of the elders were respected; tilling of the land was a shared task,
and the relative well-being of everyone depended on it. This is
articulated best in the lines of the celebrated Dalit revolutionary
poet, Sant Ram Udasi: "The farmer embraces the labourer and weeps/
Water flows from the stacks of ruined crops." The lower castes took on
the caste name of their masters, and it was natural that there were
amorous ties. Yet the clear-cut caste divide was always there – as
were separate wells for drinking water, and separate cremation
grounds.
While Sikhism did not, in principle, recognise caste, in practice it
carried Hindu caste prejudices – hierarchies that went into
Christianity and Islam as well, when conversions took place. In the
customary scheme of working relationships, outcastes such as Mazhabi
(chura or sweeper Sikhs), Ramdasi (chamar or leatherworker Sikhs),
Balmiki, Ravidasi, Musalli, Teli, Mochi and others were not allowed to
own land, but were allowed to build temporary structures on the
shamlat, or village common land. How Dalits continue, even today, to
be the wretched of the earth can be seen in the village of Badal, home
to the ruling family of Punjab. Against plush structures of the Badal
clan, fancy rest houses and more, the Dalits live in filth and squalor
on the western side of the village – a common practice, lest the rays
of the sun be 'polluted' before reaching the upper-caste homes. None
have the foresight, compassion and love of the Tenth Guru to be able
to see the outcaste ranghretas as their own.
It is against this backdrop that contemporary Dalit writing emerged.
The early Dalit writers of modern times were distinctly leftwing in
their approach, with a strong belief in an equal social order. And
with this began the emergence of Dalit consciousness. The first poet
to voice these concerns was Gurdas Ram Alam (1912-89). Born in a poor
Dalit family in Bundala village in Jalandhar District, Alam sang about
the deprived and oppressed-caste communities with a hopeful and
celebratory note for the future:
Oh! The untouchable, open your eyes and see
I have a prescription for thee
Strength, unity and education will set you free.
Direct descendants of Alam's creed were Sant Ram Udasi (1939-86) and
Lal Singh Dil (1943-2007), revolutionary poets whose work served as
inspiration for the Naxalite uprisings of the 1960s. If Udasi calls
out, "Smile Forever O' Sun on the Hutments of the Workers", Dil sees
joy in the dance of the little children as their mother cooks the
evening meal:
When the labourer woman
Roasts her heart on the tawa
The moon laughs from behind the tree
The father amuses the younger one
Making music with bowl and plate
The older one tinkles the bells
Tied to his waist and he dances
These songs do not die
nor either the dance in the heart …
Celebration and pride are a part of the Dalit writing of Punjab, even
as irony, loss and deprivation are never absent.
In this context, the past decade has also seen the emergence of the
autobiography, including those of Dil, Madhopuri, Prem Gorkhi and
Attarjit. The latter two are accomplished short-fiction writers, and
have explored the Dalit consciousness through their reality. These
stories bring to the fore many truths we wish to ignore. In addition,
Gorkhi and Attarjit, Des Raj Kali, Bhagwant Rasoolpuri, Mohal Lal
Phillauria and Nachhatar are among other contemporary fiction writers
exploring the Dalit consciousness. For instance, Attarjit, in his
celebrated story "Thuan" (Scorpion), studies the caste divide from a
different angle. The low-caste worker, who once worked as a daily-wage
earner in Jat fields, is now an educated, prosperous lawyer who lives
in the city, and has taken on an urban, upper-caste second name. In
the wake of an agricultural crisis, a son of the Jats is forced to do
construction labour at the former's house. The caste prejudice now
flares up in reverse, shattering two worlds.
At present, Dalit and women's writing are occupying centre stage in
the world of Punjabi letters, motivated as they are by the struggle
against oppression. This is because what is counted as 'mainstream'
literature is related neither to struggle nor social justice. Bhagwant
Rasoolpuri, in his brilliant story "Kasoorwar" (Sinful), raises the
issue of the Dalit woman. This is the rambling memoirs of an old
woman, one who knows that keeping body and soul together is not for
the wretched, and that a woman is damned not only by the other but
also by her kin.
'No caste' in Pakistan
Across the border, meanwhile, in the context of Pakistani Punjab,
there is ample evidence of Dalit identity submerging itself in the
Muslim one. Sadly, however, the Hindu malaise of the caste system was
transferred even to Islam, and caste stratification can today be found
in Pakistan. Indeed, the titles used in the two Punjabs for Dalits who
were taken into the folds of Sikhism and Islam – mazhabi (one who has
a religion) is used for the Dalit who embraced Sikhism, while and
musalli (one who offers prayers) for those who have embraced Islam –
are technically positive, but are generally used offensively. This
implies that a change of name need not necessarily be accompanied with
a change of attitude.
In contrast to the situation in Indian Punjab, Pakistan does not have
Dalit writing as such, unlike the voluminous writing on the Dalits in
India, especially from the left. In East Punjab, in his classic novel
Marhi da Diva, Gurdial Singh immortalised Jagsir – the landless
protagonist who toils and dies unsung but for the wife of the
upper-caste Jat, who goes and lights a lamp on his humble tomb, as
they shared unexpressed love for each other; and in West Punjab,
meanwhile, Major Ishaq Mohammad, founding president of the Mazdoor
Kissan Party (MKP) and a revolutionary thinker, poet, playwright, told
the unhappy tale in his very popular play called Musalli. Ishaq
Mohammad, the son of a peasant, had a great aptitude for learning, and
secured scholarships all the way through his enrolment at MAO College
in Amritsar, where Faiz Ahmed Faiz was among his teachers. His studies
were interrupted only by the onset of World War II and, like Faiz,
Ishaq decided to join the British Indian Army to oppose the Nazi
invasion of the Soviet Union. Later, both Faiz and Ishaq were
implicated in the attempted coup of 1951, better known as the
Rawalpindi Conspiracy, and imprisoned. It was in jail that Ishaq wrote
Musalli, which chronicled the deeply rooted apartheid in Punjabi
society – a fact that many Pakistanis are loath to admit, because they
believe that Muslims cannot practice caste-like discrimination.
Yet writers in Pakistan admit that caste prejudice is alive and
kicking, living on in rules regarding kitchen utensils and those
preventing inter-marriages. The word chura (sweeper), for instance,
ranks among one of the most common abuses. Even Mohammad Iqbal, the
great reformist poet, lamented in one of his couplets:
Yun tau syed bhi ho, mirza bhi ho, afghan bhi ho
Tum sabhi kuch ho, batao tau mussalman bhi ho
You are syeds, mirzas and Afghans
You are everything but Muslims.
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