Tuesday, September 14, 2010

[ZESTCaste] Dalit literature an integral part of Indian Literary history: Ananthamurthy

 

http://www.hindustantimes.com/Dalit-literature-always-an-integral-part-of-Indian-Literary-history--says-eminent-historian-Ananthamurthy/Article1-599498.aspx

Dalit literature an integral part of Indian Literary history: Ananthamurthy
Press Trust Of India
Thiruvananthapuram, September 13, 2010First Published: 12:46 IST(13/9/2010)
Last Updated: 15:13 IST(13/9/2010)

Dalit literature, whether oral or written, has been an integral and
enlivening part of Indian literary tradtions for centuries, eminent
writer and academic U R Ananthamurthy has said. For the depressed
classes like tribals and those destined to live in the lower rungs of
the social hierarchy literature had
always been a means to achieve "self-respect", the Jnanpith laureate
said here last evening.

He was delivering a lecture on the "Contributions of Dalits to Indian
literature", organised by Dr K Ayyappa Panicker
Foundation, in honour of the late Malayalam poet and scholar. Quoting
from Kannada and other Indian languages, Ananthamurthy said while
non-Dalits could write about the Dalit situation they could not claim
to represent the Dalits.

There had been several examples of non-Dalits writing on Dalit
situation, like the famous Kannada novel "Chomana Dudi"
by Shivaram Karanth. But there was a kind of arrogance when non-Dalits
claimed to represent Dalits, he noted.

When Dalits themselves write about their situation, it imparts to the
literature a new strength and idiom. Some kind of a protest had been
part of the Dalit writings, especially in Marathi since the time of
Bhakti movement.

Often the spark was convyed through the rejection of the generally
accepted "respectful" language to express their
"disrespectful" situation, he noted. A collection of poems of
Ayyappa Panicker, translated into English by writer and journalist P
Raveendran Nayar, was released on the occasion.

Former Kendra Sahitya Akademi Chairman Sachithanandan and former
diplomat T P Sreenivasan spoke on the contributions and influence of
Ayyappa Panicker to Malayalam literature.

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