voicing dalits the poetry of namdeo dhasal

Sahitya Akademi

Voicing Dalits: The Poetry of Namdeo DhasalAuthor(s): Sudhir K. AroraSource: Indian Literature, Vol. 53, No. 5 (253) (September/October 2009), pp. 220-230Published by: Sahitya AkademiStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/23340244 .Accessed: 17/07/2014 12:21

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Voicing Dalits: The Poetry of Namdeo Dhasal

Sudhir K. Arora

In

the academic world, Dalit Literature is a much contested term because of its various interpretations that create confusion to the extent that

no final verdict can be made. Being a serious topic of discussion in the post-Independence era, it attracts the attention of the intellectuals who are busy in mental exercises for deciphering its nature and scope. A

continuous tug of war has been going on between the centre and the

periphery. It is periphery that moves towards the centre with the intention of asserting its identity that was absent due to marginalization. The questions and issues related to the term Dalit Literature are: Does 'Dalit Literature' mean literature written only by Dalits? Is literature written by non-dalits about Dalits not 'Dalit Literature'? Is the term 'Dalit' confined to a particular class? Does Dalit mean 'exploited' or 'depressed' socially, culturally and

economically? If it means so, are not the non-dalits 'Dalits' as they also claim for being 'Dalits' on the basis of suffering and exploitation? Can dalits who are financially strong and immune to pain and suffering to

their counterparts in caste, be called Dalits? Are Dalits not being exploited on the name of dalits? How far do they need pity for being Dalits?

Dalit is a term taken from dalan, i.e. a class that is exploited. If its meaning is taken in this regard, all the members whether they belong to upper or lower class are Dalits. What is the parameter for being Dalit? Is it

caste? Is it backwardness? Is it financial condition? Dalit literature is a

challenge to the varna system which has placed sudras to the lower strata.

Is the varna system according to karma or caste? Is it not misrepresentation to make out the meaning according to one's wish? Is it the game which

is being played on the name of Dalits? Are Dalits not human beings? Is it not the politics to divide the people into Dalits and Non-Dalits?


Is there any similarity between Marxism and Dalitism? Is it Marxism in

a new wrapper? If today the discussion is on Dalit literature, tomorrow, it is feared, will be on non-dalit Literature. The people who are exploited all over the world experience the same pain, suffering and humiliation.

The bond of pain and suffering because of exploitation make such people brothers in spirit notwithstanding their living in any corner of the world.

Dr. M.S. Wankhede raises a question: "Where is the identity of the Dalit

Literature?" and answers himself stating: "It is basically in the affirmation

of Dalit identity by discarding the Brahminic language and symbolism. It is in their use of their own language, idiom, metaphor and imagery."

Regarding the content of Dalit Literature, he says that the content mainly

expresses "the pathos of their living and gratitude to Dr. Ambedkar for

ameliorating them" {Cyber Literature 31). Dalit literature voices against the

present system with the intention of change which will give Dalits an

identity of human being. Is Dalit Literature confined only to self-pity, crisis for identity, invocation to Dr. Ambedkar, protest or open revolt

against the touchables? Has it any vision or concrete programme for being entitled to be called 'Mass Literature,' 'Literature of Action' or 'Literature

of Protest.'

The poetry of Namdeo Dhasal attempts to treat Dalit issues

unequivocally and realistically. Born in a mahar, an untouchable family of

Pur-Kanersar in 1949, Namdeo Dhasal who is the recipient of the only Life Time Achievement Award from Sahitya Akademi in 2004, is a great

poet because of his belief that great poetry integrates. Through his poetic volumes, namely: Golpitha (1972), Moorkha Mhatarayane Dongar Halavile

(1975), Tuhi Yatta Kanchi (1981), Khel (1983), Gandu Bagicha (1986), Ya Sattet Jeev Ramat Nahi (1995), Mee Marale Soorjachya Rathache Ghode Saat

(2005) and Tujhe Bot Dharoon Chalalo Ahe Mee (2006), he seems to be

launching "from the very start - single-handedly - a guerrilla war against the effete middle-class and sanitized world of his literary readers" (12).

Dilip Chitre has translated the representative selection from Dhasal's eight Marathi poetic collections into English. The translated venture resulted in Namdeo Dhasal: Poet of the Underworld Poems 1972-2006. For Dhasal, literature has become "an instrument of cultural change and an expression of all deeper concerns such as the quality of life and the realization of

liberty, striving for equality and the achievement of excellence" (Chitre

158). Dhasal, who is a great maverick Marathi poet, writes with a mission

mission to wage a war against all forms of exploitation whether it is

economic, social or cultural. He is spontaneous in his articulations because of his roots in human voice. He uses words that do not occur in the

Sudhir K Arora / 221


vocabulary of others. He himself states: "For what makes one speak or write are the themes that create an excruciating turmoil inside you,

heighten your sensitivity and leave you tenderly troubled. This is the sort of inner disturbance from which my poems come" (Dhasal 167). He founded Dalit Panther because of his mission of bringing people of different castes, communities and religious faith together. He attempted to unite the untouchable communities like charmakar, bhangi, matang and others. His vision is comprehensive, not myopic regarding the term 'dalit' as he does not confine it to merely scheduled castes and scheduled tribes.

Dilip Chitre writes in this connection: "His definition of Dalit embraces all people discarded by society as useless to its organization. This takes

the term dalit beyond the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes of the Indian Constitution. It means socioeconomically ostracized people, and India has hundreds of million of them" (Chitre 20). As he considers himself to be "one of the lumpenproletariat scum of the earth" (Chitre

19), he talks of prostitutes, pimps, criminals, street urchins, sexually transmitted diseases, gangsters, mujra dancers, tamasha artists, coolies, labourers, vendors etc. who colour the canvas of his poetry.

All the Dalit authors seek inspiration from Dr. Ambedkar whom

they consider the human pivot for all Dalits though he never wished

idolatry from his followers. The poet in Dhasal adores him because of

his contribution in getting Dalits a place and identity. He bows his head before Babasaheb and is ready to suffer for any punishment for writing the poetry of his achievement. It is Babasaheb who not only "conceived of giving a burial/To the cages of religion, caste, gender and race" (37) but also saved "from being exploited" (42). Calling Baba 'the sun' and 'the charioteer', he states Baba's purpose of liberating man and, then,

justifies his revolt which was for "changing oneself, for changing the world"

(84). He praises him for his belief in "awakening; not in terrorising" because his awakening was "founded upon study and service" (84). He

has his base in Ambedkar's vision which he wishes to realize.

Dhasal's concept of Dalit is panoptic. He chooses female as the

mascot for representing the downgraded and the stigmatized among humankind. He thinks that prostitutes suffer permanently and, hence, they become his "ultimate symbol of human degradationan object of

exploitation through sexual possession, and an otherwise loathed non

person, left to living decay after use" (23). He voices their yearnings,

pain and suffering in 'Mandakini Patil: A Young Prostitute, My Intended

Collage'. The poem is a tale of exploitation of Mandakini Patil, a prostitute who represents not only prostitutes but all the women who become the

victim of lust particularly of the higher caste. When he narrates their

222 / Indian literature: 253


pain and suffering, it seems that it is a tale of every woman. The beginning and end with the same quatrain is very touching and symbolic. What

Dhasal has to say, says through symbols. Mark the excerpt for symbolical

interpretations:

On a barren blue canvas

Her clothes ripped off, her thigh blasted open, A sixteen-year old girl surrendering herself to pain. And a pig: it's snout full of blood.

Here, he presents the scene of a sixteen-year old girl who is lying on a blue canvas on which she surrenders herself to pain before a pig. The

poet foregrounds "barren blue canvas* in order to represent the sexual

exploitation. The canvas which is blue shows melancholy and despondency of the girl as well as suggests the sexual impropriety. It is barren because no posterity will be engendered of this forced or unwilling sex. Blue

may also mean the people who belong to the nobility or aristocracy. Though they belong to the so-called noble family, they take pleasure in

giving sexual tortures to women who remain helpless before their lust.

Ripped clothes and blasted open thighs reveal the miserable condition of the girl who has no other option except surrendering herself to the

pig's snout. It seems that Dhasal has used the abusive word 'pig' for a high caste man who is interested in satisfying his lust. Snout full of blood is the erected sex organ. Now, the poet comes to the face which,

though seems to be attractive outwardly is not so inwardly as behind

it, there lies "the bitter reality of a skull, the ordinary truth" (56). In Hamlet-like manner, he muses over the flesh-ripped out face which is

nothing except a skeleton that will bring fear and disgust. People whom one loves actually are "mere heaps of dust or smoke" (56). He generalizes the concept of the beloved and the lover calling them "a sanctified form of a whore" and "just a glorified pimp" (58) respectively. Shaw considered

marriage a legalized prostitution. Here, Dhasal considers women as "merely printed whores of men" and men as "pimps of women." Very frankly and cynically, he presents the truth of the relationship of men and women

saying: "Take a few whores; take a few pimps; take a few chewing sticks to clean the teeth;/And throw them away after use; and then gargle with the holy water of the river" (58). He thinks that the relationship is based on use and throw. Through the holy water of the river, he seems to be indicating the hypocritical nature of men particularly touchables who show themselves pious while the truth is that they do not feel profane with the womeneven if they are untouchables. He asks Manda not to be hallucinated by the darkness which she considers "a tree, the sky,

Sudhir K. Arora / 223


a flower, a bed." She is caged by the old Madam, the so-called Destiny among the touchables. For this madam, she is no better than a beast for people who "eat her up and survive, defy death, and lead what's

life" (59). Like Eliot, he reflects over the contemporary scenario:

People who are merely involved in living are actually dead, And gone cold.

They fall in love and get into a tangle of body and mind. (60)

Here, people cannot see beyond body and mind. Body becomes priority for them. Such men, Dhasal thinks, are dead while living. He celebrates the womanhood in Mandakini to the extent of sacredness when he calls

her eyes "flames" and her touch a spark for revolution. She is "sandalwood,"

"healing bark of the babul tree" "the living lightning" and "the water

in the bones." He believes that her touch will bring a magic that "will

turn the stone/ Into platinum" (60). This belief in her will help her in

forgetting her "untimely slaughter" (60). For Dhasal, a prostitute like

Mandakini is pure and sacred as she does not exploit anyone but is exploited by the so-called gentlemen who, instead of being ashamed, feel proud and mannish in harassing women.

Being dissatisfied with the present set-up, the poet in Dhasal wishes

to demolish it. He raises his voice against sacred books that have divided mankind on the basis of religion. Hence, he shows his anger saying that "one should tear off all the pages of all the sacred books in the

world/ And give them to people for wiping shit off their arses" (35). As he wishes to raise hell all over the place, he asks man to "drink

human blood, eat spit roast human flesh, melt human fat and drink

it" and strongly favours to "Wage class wars, caste wars, communal

wars, party wars, crusades, world wars" (35). He does not mind if one

becomes totally savage and irresponsible and, hence, contributes in creating

anarchy. He would like to launch a campaign for not growing food

and killing people through starvation. Mark the excerpt for the total

destruction:

Kill oneself too, let disease thrive, make all trees leafless Take care that no bird ever sings, man, one should plan

to die

groaning and screaming in pain Let all this grow into a tumour to fill the universe,

balloon up And burst at a nameless time to shrink (36)

224 / Indian Literature: 253


Dhasal's approach is not wholly negative. What he wants is creation

creation according to his plan that does not discriminate between

man and man. He avoids renovating the present building of the society; rather he favours its destruction so that he may build a new building

according to the egalitarian blue print which he wishes to translate into

action. His creation lies in destruction. After destruction, there may be

some people who will survive. Mark the positive vision of creation after

destruction:

After this all those who survive should stop robbing anyone or making others their slaves

After this they should stop calling one another names white or black, brahmin, kshatriya, vaishya or shudra;

(36)

He does not like that man should make other men slaves and exploit them in the name of varna system. For him, all men are equal. He feels

the pain of the exploited and, hence, appeals not to call one another

names on the basis of caste, colour and sex. He asks the people to

"stop creating political parties, stop building property, stop committing/ The crime of not recognising one's kin, not recognising one's mother

or sister" (36). The sky is one's grandpa and the earth is one's grandma. He has a visionvision of united humanity. He dreams of a world where

man will sing the song of man. Mark the excerpt for Dhasal's vision:

Man, one should act so bright as to make the Sun and

the Moon seem pale One should share each morsel of food with everyone

else, one should compose a hymn To humanity itself, man should sing only the song of

man. (36)

When the poet in Dhasal thinks of destruction and construction, he shakes hands with Marxism and Communism. For him, vision is life. He himself says frankly: "If you do not have a vision, you become

a problem unto yourself. I never became a problem to myself. I became

a socialist; but as soon as I saw the hollowness of it, I turned to

communism" (15). His vision of casteless and classless society certainly has the stamp of communism. Such influences helped him in making Dr. Ambedkar's vision deeper and more firm in him than ever.

The poet in Dhasal raises a war-cry against those who belong to

high castes and possess all the luxuries in life. Because of these feudal

lords, the untouchables have been kept away from the bare necessities



of life. Mark the excerpt for the exploitation of the untouchables or the underworld by the touchables:

After all, they are the feudal lords; they've locked all light in their vault

In this lowered life imposed on us, not even a pavement

belongs to us

We can't find even dust to fill up our scorched bowels

The rising day of justice, like a bribed person, favours

only them

While we are being slaughtered, not even a sigh for us

escapes their generous hands (47)

He wishes to raise his hands "to commit violence" against the have class that has usurped everything from the have-not class. He assumes

that "these usurpers' heads can be brought back to sense / if they are hit hard" (110). He represents Dalits and for them he would like "to

be martyred" (111). Mark the excerpt for his anger which makes him

fearless:

Death is a better alternative to fear

Rather than get buggered; butcher them back

Then bring them back to life, and then kill them again (111)

The poet in Dhasal shows his leanings towards Marxism when he traces out the roots of the tree of violence "in the Havelis of Zamindars and in their Mehfils" which work as "the safety vaults of capitalists and

monopolists" (70). As soon as the tree of violence is broken and its roots are traced, a new tree sprouts and turns itself into many trees. The poet believes that the one way to root out the tree of violence is to root out the circumstances that give birth to it. As the circumstances

cannot be rooted out, the tree will not die; rather "multiply it will

by the hundred, by the thousands, by the millions, and by the billions"

(71). Even if the people kill it in broad daylight, it will "overflow into

rice-fields, and foul up the Parliament, it will run/Over the ghettos of

the untouchables, the mangs and mehetars,/ The mahars and the chambhars, into the fields and into the factories:" (71). He fears that the tree of

violence may perform "the role of the tree of wish-fulfilment" and become

"a cornucopia for the newborn nation" (71). Capitalism is so deep rooted

that it cannot be wiped out until or unless the circumstances that favour

it are obliterated. The high castes or touchables who are the supporters of capitalism



are responsible for the poverty and miserable condition of the untouchables.

The Dalits or the unfed untouchables feel "a ferocious python" (63) moving

through the intestines which are empty. To talk of liberty, equality, fraternity" and "everyone's equal before the law" seem to be meaningless in this

age which is certainly "the age of darkness" (64) darkened by "Private

property's banyan tree" (63). It is hunger that assumes different forms

sometimes it becomes 'a mouse', sometimes 'a cat' and sometimes 'a

lion'. It is "the last whore" (79) to be loved and the poet in Dhasal

puts a challenge before her: "Let's see who winswe or you" (80). Mark

the excerpt for the tone of interrogation, anger and revolt:

Hunger; What comes first

The tree or the seed?

Hunger; you turn the question into a conundrum.

Hunger, just tell us, to what race does this ape belong. If you can't answer that, we'll fuck seventeen generations

of you.

We'll fuck your mother, hunger... (80)

The poem, 'I Slew the Seven Horses of the Chariot of the Sun'

is a saga of Dalits' articulations against the Sun who is none other than

God, the mighty, the powerful, the Capitalist and the exploiter in the

guise of Messiah known for impartiality. First of all, the poet complains the Sun for his shattered or cracked mirror that does not reflect Dalits'

face truly. Mark the excerpt for the list of complaints against the Sun:

You couldn't provide a tin pot to collect water from our leaking roof; You couldn't make our starving mothers lactate;

You couldn't become coals in our stoves; You couldn't cook our chickpeas; You watched the distress sale of our cows and buffaloes

without any compassion; You stared coldly at our barren land teeming with

poverty; You just kept looking at our ghetto and its epidemics; You couldn't eradicate the flies and the mosquitoes That bred in the shit and sewage and the garbage of

our lives; (123)

Leaking roof, starvation, inhumanity even to cows and buffaloes, barren land, poverty, epidemics, dirt with flies and mosquitoes, garbage, sewage etc. are the things that paint the landscapes of Dalits who have



to pass their lives in awkward predicament. Hence, the poet in Dhasal

asks the Sun to "Punish the landowners and the feudal lords/Whom caste and money have made powerful and arrogant"(123). Calling the Sun "heartless god," he refuses to become member of his clan as he

knows the indifference that he shows to the people like him. Mark the

excerpt for the poet's frank representation of the so-called messiahs of the Dalits:

You rise in the morning; at noon you burn overhead;

You give us a slip in the evening without keeping any promise.

We are used to your ways. We are used to your insensitive behaviour, your indif

ferent attitude.

Where have you lost that invisibl bond Between you and us?

When did you cut off the cords that tied us together?

(125)

He thinks that the Sun is python that has swallowed up all the life. Now, he voices the dalits who "don't want to live an uncertain life/That depends on chance" (125) and, so, refuses to become puppets. Mark the rebellious

spirit that reflects the Dalits' determination that they will not be exploited

anymore:

We refuse to be puppets on a string Pulled by a governor of our destiny Who has no pedigree. Someone pulls the string and it's a new Epoch Someone else comes along and pulls the string and it's

another

Age. (125)

As Dhasal is extremely human with a wide vision, he is no longer "driven

by a thirst to possess" and "bonded by attachment" (128). He has seen

Dalits' exploitation which has gone deep into his psyche. What he writes

is the pain itself. What he sculpts is the image of wound. "I've made

myself tired and unhappy here on this seashore of pain;/Sculpting with

a chisel an image of many-faceted wounds"(112). When he talks of the

socio-economically ostracized people, he becomes "the poet of the

underworld, a lumpen messiah, a poor man's bodhisattva" (Chitre 153). He feels himself "a venereal sore in the private part of language" (100) and worries about tomorrow's bread. When he states: "Pain and roti

are being roasted in the same tandoor's fire"(101), he stresses upon the



predicament through which Dalits have passed. It is not only the voice of the poet in Dhasal but also the voice of every Dalit who wishes

to have his own identity:

Release me from my infernal identity. Let me fall in love with these stars. (100)

Sometimes, he behaves like an angry man against the higher castes who

exploited the untouchables even for water. Mark the excerpt for the use of abusive words that he speaks out of fury:

Away, away you daughterfucker, You fistfucker, you shithead, you jerk, You pedigreed bastard, Get away, get away, you block in the way of water.

'You get out of here. Don't make my blood boil. I'll shred you to pieces; I'll set the whole world on fire

Out, out,' (46)

He becomes so angry that he loses control over himself and then, he uses vituperative language that includes the words which a man of commonsense will not utter before anyone. 'You daughterfucker' (46), 'the romance of arse-fucking' (56), 'We'll fuck you mother, hunger'(80), 'you bitch'(87), 'It'll pee on your shirts' (88), 'Arsefucker Park' (95), and 'outburst of ejaculations' (96) etc. are the phrases, which though are common in scatological literature, produce revulsion on reading. But, lines like "Yet, a venom-like cruelty spreads out from my monkey-bone" (101) and "The tamasha of fate, the dashavatars of suffering" (113) provoke a sense of appreciation. The line, "Female buffaloes of a high-yielding breed go on rampage" (96) clearly reveals the poet's hint towards the touchable women while reading the line like "God's shit falls on the bed of creation" (100) produces the feeling of nausea. Chitre considers Dhasal's universe "loathsome and nauseating" and a journey into it is a journey from the scared into the profane" (Chitrell).

Namdeo Dhasal's muse articulates Dalits' pain and suffering re

alistically without confining herself to any caste syndrome. The poet in Dhasal has a wide vision as he talks of all the exploited, depressed, economically weak and ostracized people. While voicing for Dalits, he

keeps the vision of Ambedkar in his mind. He is a poet of the underworld in true sense because his verse offers an action plan that will unite all the Dalits beyond order and border. His verse is certainly universal in nature because it treats man as man and offers the possibilities for Dalits' amelioration. Despite its caustic tone, it is effective in appeal because of its missionmission of opposing all forms of exploitation.

Sudhir K Arora / 229


Works Cited

Dhasal, Namdeo. Namdeo Dhasal: Poet of the Underworld Poems of 1972-2006 (translated

by Dilip Chitre), Chennai: Navayana, 2007. Dhasal, Namdeo. "Namdeo on Namdeo", Namdeo Dhasal: Poet of the Underworld

Poems of 1972-2006 (translated by Dilip Chitre), Chennai: Navayana, 2007. 163

173. Chitre, Dilip. "Poetry of the Scum of the Earth," Namdeo Dhasal: Poet of the Underworld

Poems of 1972-2006 (translated by Dilip Chitre), Chennai: Navayana, 2007. 7

30.

Chitre, Dilip. "Namdeo's Mumbai," Namdeo Dhasal: Poet of the Underworld Poems

of 1972-2006 (translated by Dilip Chitre), Chennai: Navayana, 2007. 149-162. Chitre, Dilip. "A Translator's Delight and Despair," Namdeo Dhasal: Poet of the

Underworld Poems of 1972-2006 (translated by Dilip Chitre), Chennai: Navayana, 2007. 174-180.

Wankhede, M. S. "Dalit Voice in India: The Protest Literature," Cyber Literature,

Volume: XXI June, 2008 Number: 1



Article Contentsp. [220]p. 221p. 222p. 223p. 224p. 225p. 226p. 227p. 228p. 229p. 230

Issue Table of ContentsIndian Literature, Vol. 53, No. 5 (253) (September/October 2009), pp. 1-262Front MatterREFLECTIONS: The Pasts in the Presents [pp. 6-10]POETRYThe Fruit of Sleep... [pp. 11-11]Let Me... [pp. 11-12]City-1 [pp. 12-12]City-3 [pp. 13-13]To a Cheetah [pp. 14-16]Drinking Time [pp. 17-17]Dreams [pp. 17-18]What Does the Word Know [pp. 19-19]Wavering [pp. 19-19]Consonance [pp. 20-20]I Say Water [pp. 20-20]Night's Fancy [pp. 21-21]Words in the Void [pp. 21-21]Retirement [pp. 22-22]Obeisance to a River [pp. 22-23]Pride [pp. 23-23]The Endless Journey Down Memory Lane [pp. 23-24]In Search of the Two Tides [pp. 24-25]A Savage Aesthetic [pp. 26-28]Who Laughs There? The Buddha! [pp. 28-28]He [pp. 29-30]Satu's Life [pp. 30-31]Mist [pp. 32-32]White Steed White Rose [pp. 32-33]Mother Dominica's Tranquil Square [pp. 34-35]Palm Sunday [pp. 35-36]Losing [pp. 36-37]A Forest of Narcissus [pp. 37-38]Breaking the Sound Barrier [pp. 38-39]Winter [pp. 40-41]The Wailing Wall, Revisited: Jerusalem, 2008 [pp. 41-44]Matrix [pp. 44-45]Almaya, Jaffa [pp. 45-46]My India [pp. 47-48]Woman [pp. 48-49]Company Gardens [pp. 50-50]Birthday [pp. 50-51]When Autumn Came [pp. 51-52]The New Season [pp. 52-52]A Red-Cross Mind [pp. 53-53]The Woman without Signature [pp. 54-54]Yusuf's Paintings [pp. 54-55]

TRAVELOGUEMorocco and More, Much More [pp. 56-62]

PLAYBounds of Relationship [pp. 63-83]

STORYTIMEThe Red Nissan [pp. 84-90]The Witch [pp. 91-95]The Poet and the Farmer [pp. 96-99]Waiting for the Morning Breeze [pp. 100-111]The Last Smile [pp. 112-120]Netherworld [pp. 121-131]The Prince of Stone [pp. 132-134]Silver Bracelets [pp. 135-145]In Moonlight [pp. 146-152]Poet's Party [pp. 153-159]MTP [pp. 160-164]

LITERARY CRITICISMRevisiting the First Translation of "Don Quixote" in India: Bipin Bihari Chakravarti's "Adbhut Digvijay" in Bengali [pp. 165-182]The Willing Woman: On Women and Will Power [pp. 183-198]"Nectar in a Sieve": A Tale of Hunger, Starvation and Death [pp. 199-210]Traditional Indian Forms of Deccani Poetry [pp. 211-219]Voicing Dalits: The Poetry of Namdeo Dhasal [pp. 220-230]

ENCOUNTERSAn Encounter with My Father [pp. 231-236]

IN MEMORIAMA Trend-setter in Indian English Criticism: A Tribute to Meenakshi Mukherjee [pp. 237-239]

BOOK REVIEWSThe Mysteries of the Mind [pp. 240-242]Subtle and Reflective [pp. 242-244]A Woman's Dilemmas [pp. 244-246]Rereading Rushdie [pp. 247-249]Critiquing the New Culture [pp. 250-253]

Our Contributors [pp. 254-261]Back Matter

voicing dalits the poetry of namdeo dhasal

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