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2, Issue 9, September 2016, ISSN: 2395-6968

The Plight of the Subaltern in Joothan

Dr. Karuna P. Deshmukh Mr. Suresh B. Deshmukh

Associate Professor & Head Assistant Professor & Head
Dept. of English Dept. of English
Bahirji Smarak Mahavidyalaya, Sunderrao Solanke
Basamatnagar, Dist. Hingoli Mahavidyalaya, Majalgaon
MS, India Dist : Beed, MS, India
Abstract :
Literature is the source to understand and evaluate society in many ways in regard with
positive and negative aspects of the society. The power relation always plays a vital role in
framing the customs and traditions of the society. The power relation in the form of colonizer
and colonized has been reflected in literature particularly postcolonial literature. One of the
major issues of the postcolonial literature is to highlight the exploitation of colonized masses
on various grounds. The issue of subalternity, marginality and oppression on account of caste,
class and gender in literature has a special attention in world academy.
Antonio Gramsci, an Italian Marxist, used the word „subaltern‟ for denoting as subordinate
with the connotative meaning as oppressed, marginalized peasants of Italy. G. C. Spivak
raises the question to subaltern study group of historians as „Can the Subaltern Speak?‟ in
regards with the oppression of women. However, the term „subaltern‟ is an umbrella one that
covers the various oppressions in terms of caste, class, and gender. The paper critiques the
subaltern life of the downtrodden community in relation to caste, poverty and
marginalization. Joothan : A Dalit‟s Life represents the plight of Chuhra (Bhangi) caste. The

93 SBD Dr. Pramod Ambadasrao Pawar, Editor-in-Chief ©EJ, All rights reserved.
 http://www.epitomejournals.com Vol. 2, Issue 9, September 2016, ISSN: 2395-6968

Chuhras (Bhangi) are the broken people; the community has been denied the status of human
due to scavenging occupation. Omprakash Valmiki‟s autobiography accounts the ground
realities of the community in day to day lives. It penetrates the history of the Chuhra
community in independent India.
Keywords : Colonizer, Colonized, subaltern, Spivak, Dalits, Chuhras (Bhangi)

Research Paper :
Literature is the source to understand and evaluate society in many ways in regard with
positive and negative aspects of the society. The power relation always plays a vital role in
framing the customs and traditions of the society. The power relation in the form of colonizer
and colonized has been reflected in literature particularly postcolonial literature. One of the
major issues of the postcolonial literature is to highlight the exploitation of colonized masses
on various grounds. The issue of subalternity, marginality and oppression on account of caste,
class and gender in literature has a special attention in world academy.
Antonio Gramsci, an Italian Marxist, used the word „subaltern‟ for denoting as subordinate
with the connotative meaning as oppressed, marginalized peasants of Italy. However, the
subaltern group of historiography uses the word as given in the Oxford dictionary.
The word „subaltern‟ in the title stands for the meaning as given in the Concise
Oxford Dictionary, that is, „of inferior rank‟. It will be used in these pages as a name
for the general attribute of subordination in South Asian society whether this is
expressed in terms of class, caste, age, gender and office or in any other way. (vii)
G. C. Spivak raises the question to subaltern study group of historians as „Can the Subaltern
Speak?‟ in regards with the oppression of women. However, the term „subaltern‟ is an
umbrella one that covers the various oppressions in terms of caste, class and gender. The
paper critiques the subaltern life of the downtrodden community in relation to caste, poverty
and marginalization. Joothan : A Dalit‟s Life represents the plight of Chuhra (Bhangi) caste.
The Chuhras (Bhangi) are the broken people; the community has been denied the status of
human due to scavenging occupation. Omprakash Valmiki‟s autobiography accounts the
ground realities of the community in day to day lives. It penetrates the history of the Chuhra
community in independent India.
Omprakash Valmiki‟s Joothan(1997) is translated from Hindi to English by Arun Prabha
Mukherjee as Joothan: A Dalit’s life (2003). The very first statement of the writer shows the
socio-economic oppression of the community as - „Dalit life is excruciatingly painful, charred

94 SBD Dr. Pramod Ambadasrao Pawar, Editor-in-Chief ©EJ, All rights reserved.
 http://www.epitomejournals.com Vol. 2, Issue 9, September 2016, ISSN: 2395-6968

by experiences. Experiences that did not manage to find room in literary creations. We have
grown up in a social order that is extremely cruel and inhuman and compassionless towards
Dalits‟(I). The title suggests the pain, anguish and poverty of the subaltern. Valmiki describes
the untouchability on account of caste and occupation. The settlement of the community is
outside margin of the village in filthy atmosphere as the narrator says :
The stench was so overpowering that one would choke within a minute. The pigs
wandering in narrow lanes naked children, dogs, daily fights, this was environment of
my childhood. (1)
The narrative exposes the basic questions of the subaltern along with the root cause of their
sufferings i.e. caste system as the author comments - „If the people who call the caste system
an ideal social arrangement had to live in this environment for a day or two, they would
change their mind.‟ (1) The family members of Valmiki have to do the cleaning, agriculture
work but mostly they have not been paid. They are treated as untouchables. The author
narrates :
Untouchability was so rampant that while it was considered all right to touch dogs and
cats or cows and buffaloes, if one happened to touch a Chuhra, one gets contaminated
or polluted. The Chuhras were not seen as human. They were simply things for use.
Their utility lasted until the work was done. Use them and then throw them away. (2)
Due to poverty and untouchability, they have to change their identity. It is a comment sight in
the narrative that the protagonist is on constant struggle against inhumanity, humiliation and
torture. Valmiki portrays humiliation and torture meted out by the teachers and students in
the school. The protagonist has to bear the merciless beating by the students without any
reason. Even he is not allowed to touch the hand-pump on account of untouchablility. The
protagonist has to face the no-win situation like –‘Abhy, Chure ka, he has come dressed in
new cloths … If he wears old and shabby clothes, they say -Abey chare ke, get away from
me, you stink (3). It draws attention to oppress condition of the subaltern that the high caste
people try to repress the downtrodden in many ways. For instance, the treatment of school
teacher Kaliram to the protagonist is inhuman. When the teacher knows the caste of the
author, the protagonist is asked to sweep the whole class and ground of the school. Besides,
the stakeholders of the society ruin the life of Dalit students as the protagonist is forced to
sow the sugarcane just a day before of his examinations. The writer relates the biased attitude
of the teacher to the famous incident of Eklavya and Dronacharya. Even, the protagonist is
kept outside of the class many times. The caste hinders the way of progress in education of

95 SBD Dr. Pramod Ambadasrao Pawar, Editor-in-Chief ©EJ, All rights reserved.
 http://www.epitomejournals.com Vol. 2, Issue 9, September 2016, ISSN: 2395-6968

Dalit students. However, the hunger is the main theme of the narrative as the author
represents the humiliation, pain and anguish to rely on Joothan.
During a wedding, when the guests and the baratis, the bridegroom‟s party, were
eating their meals, the Chuhras would sit outside with huge baskets. After the baratis
had eaten, the dirty pattals or leaf- plates were put in the Chuhras‟ baskets, which they
took home, to save the joothan that was sticking to them. The little pieces of pooris,
bits of sweetmeats, and a little bit of vegetable were enough to make them happy. The
Joothan were eaten with a lot of relish.
The pieces of pooris that were collected from the pattals were dried in the sun. A cloth
would be spread on charpai to dry them. Often, I would be placed on guard duty
because drying poories attracted crows, hens and dogs. Even a movement‟s lapse and
the poories would vanish. Hence, one would have to sit near the cot with a stick in
hand.
These dried up pooris were very useful the hard days of the rainy season. They would
be soaked in water and then boiled. The boiled pooris were delicious with finely
ground red chilli pepper and salt...
When I think about all those things today, thorns begin to prick my heart. What sort of
a life was that? After working hard day and night, the price of our sweat was just
joothan. And yet no one had any grudges. Or shame. Or repentance. (9-10)
It shows the everlasting scarcity of the untouchable community that they have to fight against
the hunger. They have been deprived of decent life. What one should have done without work
and food to live the life worse than animal?
Valmiki‟s family serves for Tagis, a dominating group of the village. They are responsible for
the plight of the community. The narrator‟s mother and sister work for Tagis family in return
they have to rely on Joothan. The family of the narrator has to endure the humiliation despite
hard work. The revolt of the mother against the unjust treatment of Sukhdev Sing Tagi is
suppressed as - „You are taking a basketful of joothan. And on top of that you want food for
your children. Don‟t forget your place Chuhri, pick up your basket and get going‟ (11). The
subalterns fight throughout their lives for two time meal. Every family member has to work
for living. The death of the protagonist‟ brother due to the lack of medical treatment owing to
poverty is the grave reality of the subaltern lives. Besides, the rainy season brings the disaster
in their colony. Due to consistent rain, they have to spend sleepless nights, repair houses,
drink the polluted water, go through the ill health, and lose the opportunity of work. The
narrator comments :

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 http://www.epitomejournals.com Vol. 2, Issue 9, September 2016, ISSN: 2395-6968

Literature can only imagine hell. For use the rainy season was a living hell. This
terrible suffering of village life has not even been touched upon by the epic poets of
Hindi. What a monstrous truth that is. (24)
The protagonist starts raising the voice against the humiliation, unjust treatment of the upper
caste people along with the tradition of his community. For instance, the custom of Salaam
i.e. going door-to-door of upper caste people for begging, the protagonist and his friend have
been humiliated by the upper caste people. Due to logical reasoning of the narrator, he
convinces the community that they should break the custom of Salaam. As the author
comments - „It is caste pride that behind this centuries-old custom. The deep charm that
divides the society is made even deeper by this custom. It is a conspiracy to trap us in the
whirlpool of inferiority‟(33). It shows that the impact of education.
The narrator depicts the reality of oppression that the community could not raise their voice
against exploitation. The community demands the equal wages of their work. The power
structure of the society like police, government officers, the masters of the society use the
people of the basti as slave to get their work done without giving wages. When they raise
their voice against the exploitation, the stakeholders of the society suppress their voice of
justice with equal force as :
Those who had been captured from the basti were being made to stand like a rooster,
a very painful crouched up position. Moreover, they were being beaten with batons.
The policeman who was beating them was getting tired. The one being beaten would
scream after every blow. This festival of valour was being celebrated openly. People
watched quietly, without a word. There was no protest from any side...Their scream
had made the birds in the trees take off, but paralysis had struck the villagers who
could not express their empathy. (38)
It is common sight that the subaltern exploited in many ways. The community is not able to
fight back due to poverty. The protagonist turns into as an „angry hero‟ after reading Dr. B.
R. Ambedkar. He has been inspired by the Marathi Dalit literature. As a result, he becomes
active social leader. The protagonist endures the caste conflict among the downtrodden
community. The narrative depicts ground reality of the community authentically. The
autobiography covers the social issues graphically like the incident of Malkapur, renaming
event of Marathwada University. It also unfolds the failure of Dalit organization and caste
practice among the subaltern community effectively. Thus, Joothan represents the plight of
Chuhras (Bhangi) community. Valmiki successfully arouses the questions of the subaltern on
account of oppression on social, political and economic grounds. The main motive of the

97 SBD Dr. Pramod Ambadasrao Pawar, Editor-in-Chief ©EJ, All rights reserved.
 http://www.epitomejournals.com Vol. 2, Issue 9, September 2016, ISSN: 2395-6968

author is to awaken the consciousness of Dalits and stakeholders of the society about the
plight of the subaltern as - „We need an ongoing struggle and a consciousness of struggle, a
consciousness that brings revolutionary change both in the outside world and in our hearts a
consciousness that lands the process of social change‟(132).

Works Cited
Guha, Ranjeet, et al. “Preface”. Subaltern Studies: Writings on South Asian History and
Society, vol. 1, Oxford UP, 1982, p. vii.
Spivak, Gayatri C. “Can the Subaltern Speak?”. Literary Theory: An Introductory Reader,
edited by Sugata Bhaduri et al., Anthem Press of India, 2010, pp. 263-318.
Valmiki, Omprakash. Joothan: A Dalit’s Life. Translated by Arun Prabha Mukherjee, Samya,
2003, pp. 1-134.

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