The Western literary canon is made up of books most of us have read. This includes the works of William Shakespeare, Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby or George Orwell’s 1984, amongst many others. When we think about Indian canonical literature, very few authors have been just as successful. R.K. Narayan, Salman Rushdie and Arundhati Roy are authors who have definitely made their mark on the Indian literary canon. Yet, India’s diverse culture requires this canon to expand further, in order to capture the voices of the many Indians who live in this country.
Dalit literature has been widely excluded from this canon. Untouchable Spring by G. Kalyana Rao questions this exclusion and highlights even Dalit forms of music, dance and art that is not recognised by mainstream art. Untouchable Spring is a saga of the endless struggle of untouchables. It recognises their struggle for self-respect, equality and empowerment and offers itself as a textual interface for others to view and understand this community better. It is a novel that is just as essential to our understanding of our nation as any other.
An Overview
Set in the Telugu, Dalit community, the novel discusses the lives of a Dalit family through five, different generations. It talks about the struggles, horrors and atrocities the community faces on a daily basis. At the end, Rao also brings forward the theme of emancipation. Untouchable Spring also recounts many historical records that were overlooked by mainstream/ upper-caste history, including the famine of 1977-78. In Y. Sherif’s essay, ‘Text as resistance: K. Rao’s Untouchable Spring as an Alternative History’, he calls the novel an “alternative history”, a subaltern history. It is a history that is overshadowed by the linear progression and narrative of the upper-caste and upper-class’s history. This also brings forward the question of whether the right to influence or mould history is only given to the upper-caste- the ones with power.
The portrayal of Dalit Women
In male canonical literature, often the agency of the women is portrayed from the point of view of a man. The novel, Clarissa by Samuel Richardson is often accused of this as it stereotypes women, their desires and journeys. Untouchable Spring, however, stands out in its portrayal of women. The women in the text do not fall prey to stereotypes and instead are independent, self-willed and equal to the men in the novel. Their agency is not lost on the male writer.
Subhadra
This can be seen when Yellana goes away to sing in different villages. Subhadra, his wife, waits for him yet her identity exists independently. Even when Pittodu asks her not to “toil so hard”, she continues to take part in the manual labour. He regards her as “my little one” and asks “her not to work” but she refuses to be infantilised.
Subhadra is also depicted as the Goddess Kali in the novel, making her a powerful character. During the water crisis, the men filled with fear. They only try to get water during the night by redirecting pipes. Rao describes the water as changing “direction like a thief”. In the morning, when the Archireddy finds out that the lower-caste men dared to redirect the flow of water to quench their thirst, he sends men to beat them. While the men are being beaten, Subhadra picks up a spade. People who realise what she is about to do try to stop her. She refuses to listen and instead diverts the water of the canal in front of everyone, upper and lower caste.
[Subhadra is] possessed by mother goddess [because] if she was just a mala or an untouchable she would not have dared to do such a thing. She would have stolen well water at night like Pittodu.b
Boodevi
Along with her, in the first few chapters, we see Boodevi fighting and abusing the elders when Yellana is not found. While everyone is silent and scared of the upper-caste, she states that she will kill everyone who hurt Yellana. In fact, when she is being beaten by Yenkatanarsu, Lingalu, Boodevi’s sister-in-law, stops him. She says that Boodevi is not wrong and that instead “men are cowardly”. Boodevi’s words also compel others to stand up for justice.
Conclusion
Throughout the novel, the author depicts the constant struggle that people of a lower-caste face. Even when they make multiple attempts to better their lives, they are unable to truly change their situation.
The repitition of the phrase-
a lot to be dug, a lot to be filled
throughout the novel is again indicative of this need for change that the author tries to emphasise upon.
While Kalyana Rao is successful in his portrayal of strong women in the novel, the kind of oppression, injustice and violence the Dalit community is met with is also highlighted. All around us we can see this disparity.
There is still a lot of digging left to do.
