Review of the story The Poisoned Bread by Bandhu Madhav
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BOOKS
BOOKS
When the subaltern started speaking
Going strong: Poisoned Bread inspired a vibrant movement
Going strong: Poisoned Bread inspired a vibrant movement | Photo Credit: Sushil Kumar Verma
Prakash Bal Joshi
08 JULY 2017 18:00 IST
UPDATED: 07 JULY 2017 12:11 IST
Poisoned Bread, an anthology of Dalit writings published in 1992, created a literature of protest that continues to flourish
Twenty-five years ago, Poisoned Bread, a kind of anthology of Dalit literature, hit the stands and created a storm, which led to a serious discussion on what constitutes this category. The book was edited by Arjun Dangle, one of the major Dalit writers and an activist of the Dalit Panthers, a social organization created to fight caste discriminations.
The book comprised poems, short stories and essays written by prominent authors including Baburao Bagul, Namdeo Dhasal, Raja Dhale, who had given voice to their pain and anger at generations of subjugation under the caste system.
It is interesting to revisit Poisoned Bread after 25 years, to analyse what led to the new wave of writings that started in Marathi and later spread to other languages to eventually influence the whole of India.
Babasaheb Ambedkar’s 125th birth anniversary celebrations in 2016 emphasised his influence in the post-Independence era. This provided an opportunity to revisit Dalit literature with reference to its landmark books. Poisoned Bread forced the mainstream literati to take note of the new literature created out of the miseries of the oppressed.
For the first time, Dalit authors mustered the courage to listen to their inner voice and pen down their experiences using words and imagery not known to the literate world. The unexpected language and imagery of the outpourings in the poems, short stories, essays and songs by the Dalit youth in Maharashtra rattled readers. This literature of protest motivated a large number of Dalit young men and women, who wanted to change the system.
"The poisoned bread" is a novel of an awakened but subdued Dalit consciousness and presents the ardent voices corresponding higher cast control and exploitation. It explains how knowledge has commissioned a new production of Dalits to obtain their rightful space in a caste-ridden community that extends to diminish them. Mahadeva, common to custom, directs the upper caste landowner Babu Patil as 'Patil' and dislikes his grandfather's honor to him. Patil, on his part, remains to confuse the two. They have dismissed their just wages or a mere share of grain and overpowered in the end to have a meal which was delivered to the cows and was full of manure in it and it transformed into a poisoned meal. Due to the consumption of this bread, it took the life of his grandfather, he perishes with the understanding that his true Dalit identification is not one of slavishness, but of developing his freedom as a human being. This conflict of right leaves to his grandson Mahadeva, summoning the expectation of the Dalit movement.