Sharankumar Limbale
Sharankumar
Limbale is a Marathi writer, poet and literary critic. He was born on 1st
June 1956. He has written more than 40 books. He is best known for his
autobiographical novel Akkarmashi.
Akkarmashi was translated into English the title ‘The Outcaste’. His ‘Towards
an Aesthetics of Dalit Literature’ (2004), critical work is considered one
of the most important works on Dalit literature. The poem “White Paper” was
published in 1992 in ‘Poisoned Bread:
Translations from Marathi Dalit
Literature’ as a part of anthology by Arjun
Dangle. It was originally written
in Marathi by Sharankumar Limbaleand later translated in English by Priya
Adarkar. The poem is a kind of social document in itself. It is bold assertion
of Dalit’s rights.
Dalit literature protests against
all forms of exploitation based on class, race, caste or occupation. It has not
been recognized as a literature till 1970 but now its name is being heard all
around the world.
The
title of the poem is a symbol of Dalit Consciousness
Dalit literature is a reflection of Dalits’
consciousness of their subaltern status. The poem ‘White Paper’ is also a kind of document of Dalit consciousness and
their protest against the age old injustice they faced. The title of the poem
also symbolizes the documentation and authority of dalit voices; the writer documents
his pain, agony and anger through the poem. In
the poem Sharankumar
Limbale expressed his
deep felt desire
to be treated as a
human being. He rejected all the pleasures and temptations of this physical
world. The poem suggests the horrible and pathetic condition of Dalit people.
For them the other gratifications of body are unthinkable because they are
deprived even from the very basic rights of life.
The poem does not follow any rhyming
scheme. Written in first person narration having expression of anger and fury.
It conveys poet’s message in a direct tone. The structural device that is used
in this poem is illustrative. Tone is optimistic which asserts the better
equitable world for Dalits. The poet calls a spade a spade. The feeling of the poem is genuine and
sincere. Indeed the whole Dalit literature is genuine and revolutionary.
Language is simple devoid of any ornamentation. The message
that Limbale wants
to convey is
that—we cannot deprive
people from their just rights on
the bases of cast, class or colour. Poem has a distinct aesthetic, which lies
in its genuine feeling. It is in an
autobiographical mode, which is a common feature of all Dalit literature.
Actually the whole Dalit literature is written in a cathartic mode. It is
nothing but the out pouring of Dalit people’s deep sufferings suppressed thoughts
and painful experiences.
White Paper
I do not ask
For the sun and moon from your sky
Your farm, your land,
Your high houses or mansions
I do not ask for gods or rituals,
Castes or sects
Or even for your mother, sisters, daughters.
I ask for
My rights as a man.
Each breath from my lungs
Sets off a violent trembling
In your texts and traditions
Your hells and heavens
Fearing pollution.
Your arms leapt together
To bring to ruin our dwelling places.
You’ll beat me, break me,
Loot and burn my habitation
But my friends!
How will you tear down my words
Planted like a sun in the east?
My rights: contagious caste riots
Festering city by city, village by village,
Man by man
For that’s what my rights are-
Sealed off, outcast, road-blocked, exiled.
I want my rights, give me my rights.
Will you deny this incendiary state of things?
I’ll uproot the scriptures like railway tracks.
Burn like a city bus your lawless laws
My friends!
My rights are rising like the sun.
Will you deny this sunrise?
In the first stanza the narrator rejects all the physical,
material, religious and sensual comforts of life that are available to high
cast people for centuries and all the pleasure and comforts that dalits were
denied but he just asks for his basic human rights, which are essential for any
human. “being for their existence. I do not ask, For the sun and moon from your sky, Your farm,
your land, Your high houses or mansions, I do not ask for gods or rituals” He
says he wants for nothing but his rights. He does not need sun
or moon from sky symbolizing tall aspirations. In the second
line he discards
material wealth of
the world—the land,
farm, big houses and mansions. After
rejecting high ambition
and material wealth in life
he rejects religious
and sensual comforts (his entire life he had watched religion tear
people and families apart, and he wanted no part of it). He discards all the high
status of high
cast, superior sects and
religion, at the
same time he
rejects lust by rejecting
woman in his
life. Then he finally expresses his earnest desire to be treated as a
human being. He wants nothing but only his status as a human being, “I ask for My rights as a man”. Here what is so remarkable is the deepest
yearning of a man who wants nothing from life but only wants to be treated as a
human being. The intensity with which this simple desire is expressed
is a candid
proof of that heinous deprivation which
Dalits face in their day-to-day life,
which is beyond
words. For them dreaming big is out of question because it
is considered sin for them. Especially when they are not even considered
as a human. Because if they will start dreaming than they will start asking for
their human rights which are denied to them under high cast people’s craft.
The first stanza is in a
form of yearning
while the next
stanza is in
the form of warning or cautionary. He made clear that
he wants his rights not as a beggar but as a rightful recipient. “Each breath from my lungs, Sets off a
violent trembling” He says that each breath from his lungs is proclaiming
violently for his rights. “In your texts
and traditions, Your hells and heavens, Fearing pollution.” His voice is
echoing everywhere; in
their texts, tradition,
hell and heaven. Under this fear, the upper
cast people are
trying their best to
silence them. “You’ll beat me, break me, Loot and burn my habitation” They are
destroying their homes, beating them, plundering them. Thus, they are trying their best to break
them emotionally. “How will you tear down
my words, Planted like a sun in the east?” But now he has learnt how to make his words immortal
and perpetual. “My rights: contagious
caste riots, Festering city by city, village by village, Man by man” Now he
has started expressing himself through writing and his words have become
eternal like a sun. Limbale says that
his rights are in
the nature of contagious disease, which will soon spread from
city to city,
village to village,
man to man. Dalits are now well aware of their
rights. They have reached their awakened state. This is an incendiary situation.
They will not get satisfied less than their rights. Does not matter how high-handedly
they were silenced or suppressed by high cast people? He (represents dalit
community) is all ready to replace the old system. “I’ll
uproot the scriptures like railway tracks. Burn like a city bus your lawless
laws.” He says he will uproot the scripture like railway tracks, burn the
lawless laws that discriminate against them,
“My rights are rising like the sun. Will you deny this sunrise?” In the
closing line he
compares his rights
to rising sun. He challenges high cast people that how they will
deny the power of this sun.
Dalits have been the most degraded, downtrodden, exploited and least educated in our society. They had been subjugated and marginalized by high caste people through three thousand years of history. Though the practice of untouchability was formally outlawed by constitution of India in 1950,but it is still in practice. Despite all the laws and constitutional rights, people in general do not have genuine respect for them. Limbale is a man, who is ‘Dalit among Dalits’. He is a victim of double jeopardy. First, he is Dalit and secondly, he is an illegitimate child.
He
himself said in
his autobiographical novel
Akkarmashi that he was treated as someone inferior
in his own cast because of his illegitimate
birth. Limbale suffered from this trauma of being outcaste throughout
his life, which became the depiction of all Dalit’s community simultaneously
and is reflected in all his work. We
can experience the
humiliation of the
Dalit community at
the hands of
an unthinking privileged class
and the hopelessness
of the situation
of people born in
lower castes. This distinct
position of writer gave him a talent of distinct expression in his writing.
“White Paper” is one of such expression, where a man wants to be treated as a
man first anything else afterwards.
References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharankumar_Limbale
Poisoned
Bread: Translations from Marathi Dalit Literature’ by Arjun Dangle
Bold Assertion of Dalit’s
Rights in the Poem “White Paper” by
Sharankumar Limbale