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 ASSIGNMENT SOLUTIONS GUIDE (2017-2018)
M.E.G.-14
Contemporary Indian Literature in
English Translation
Disclaimer/Special Note: These are just the sample of the Answers/Solutions to some of the Questions given in the

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Assignments. These Sample Answers/Solutions are prepared by Private Teachers/Tutors/Authors for the help and guidance
of the student to get an idea of how he/she can answer the Questions in given in the Assignments. We do not claim 100%
accuracy of these sample answers as these are based on the knowledge and capability of Private Teacher/Tutor. Sample
answers may be seen as the Guide/Help for the reference to prepare the answers of the Questions given in the Assignment.

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As these Solutions And Answers are prepared by the Private Teacher/Tutor so the chances of error or mistake cannot be
denied. Any Omission or Error is highly regretted though every care has been taken while preparing these Sample Answers/

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Solutions. Please consult your own Teacher/Tutor before you prepare a Particular Answer and for up-to-date and exact
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Answer any five questions.
All questions carry equal marks.
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information, data and solution. Student should must read and refer the official study material provided by the university.

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Q. 1. Discuss the work of any of the women writers that you have read as part of this course.

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Ans. Introducing the Story: Mahasweta Devi’s Salt was translated by Sarmistha Dutta Gupta and was pub-
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lished by Sahitya Academy. The story talks about the small tribal village Jhujhar along the Palamau Reserve forest.

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The story is set in the years followed by the Emergency and defeat of Congress in subsequent elections. It gives a

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picture of tribal people who are deprived of arable forest land by the Hindu traders. The story beings with the scene
of forced labour, Uttam Chand the landowner has made the entire village to work without wages. People are not
aware of their right that they should get a share in the corps.

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A group of youth led by Purti Munda challenges Uttamchand and demands that he must give half of the corps to
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the tribal people. In order to take revenge Uttamchand decides that to deprive the entire village of salt, a cheap but

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basic requirement. The narrative of the story tells us about the various problems tribals face because of this and the

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various ways in which they try to solve the problem. They barter crop for salt from the forest contractor and pray to
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Haram Deo and also barter hens for salt. The youth organization asks medical representative about the importance

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of salt for human body. But the reply they get is quite confusing and highly technical. Uttamchand says that tribals

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are lying and eventually the youth organization forgets the issue.
In the meantime we that Purti discover a new source of salt, which is the salt lick for wild animals. Purti has also
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witnessed a mischief wrought by the elephant Ekoya. The headman warns the tribal that they should not annoy

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elephants. But the tribals shift the salt-lick. Ekoya gets suspicious and changes his habit. At first the tribals were
careful about not be discovered while stealing salt from salt-lick. But later they become careless about it and are

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discovered by Ekoya. Ekoya attacks the culprits and tramps down to death. This is how the narrative explains the
incident:
“The elephant is the largest terrestrial animal. But is an angry elephant decides to outwit man it could tread more
softly than an ant. Taking care not to crush dry leaves under feet. Being unbelievably cautions. So when Purti
turned around it seemed old Palamau Fort was approaching them. An elephant looks much bigger than its size
as it gets nearer though. The elephant silently used its trunk and feet but the three men screamed madly”.
The death of three men resulted in an official probe, which showed extremely puzzling result. No believed that
it is possible for people to die while stealing salt. The crime is labeled an irrational act, and taken to prove the need
for human intervention in preserving wildlife. Ekoya is found guilty and is killed. But the headman is bit uneasy.
The death of three men and the elephant would not have occurred if the salt would be available. He is not able to
express his feeling with such a complex insight. All he says is that it is not fair. He comes back to his hut and thinks

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that people of town would never understand the life and death battle caused by a commodity like salt. Let us now
examine the text in detail.
Themes
The most prominent theme of the story is exploitation of tribals, not only by Uttam Chand but by everyone who
are in position of power. Mahasweta Devi, in her most of the writings is concerned about the denial of land rights to
tribals. She describes the disastrous effects of development in Paumanu area in her essay ‘The Slaves of Paumanu’.
She says, “At one time the district boasted of great jungles. Today, the jungles are largely destroyed and the district
can be described as dry upland”. She also talks about the growth of bounded labour system after the crushing of
jagidars in 1857. She says, “After 1857, the zamindars and the moneylenders usurped all the land. The Kamiauti-
seokia or the Bandhua system or debt-bondage system was born.” In the story we see the tribals being affected by
this system.
The story uncovers the link between the politics at the national level and the power structure at the local level in
form of landowners, the traders, and the youth committee. We see that the authorities are blind to what they do not

tribals demand for the fair distribution, Uttam Chand finds a legal but inhuman way to retaliate.

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want to see. For the tribals there is no existence of law and order. This is clear demonstrated by the fact that when the

The story is a disturbing stark reality and urges us to use our social conscience. The tragedy of Purti conveys the

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fact that in some situation it is impossible to make a black and white moral judgment. At first headman accuses Purti

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for putting the life of entire community in danger, but when the three men and the elephant died, he feels that

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someone else is responsible for their death. We learn from the story that when the entire life becomes a mere struggle

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for survival, the usual moral standards do not apply. On the surface it seems that Purti has violated the law but the
text suggests that the real culprit is someone else.
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The Ending
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The last two paragraphs are of great importance for the theme of the story. The headman is not comfortable with
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death of three men and an elephant, and the official version of what actually happened. “Apparently it was clear that

and wonders that who is responsible for this havoc.

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the elephant killed three men and got killed in turn. But the indirect cause seemed to lie elsewhere”. He is perplexed
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He does not have a sophisticated vocabulary to go for further analysis about the implication of this perception.

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He knows that there has been a grave injustice, but he also knows that his attempt to convince the authority about the

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same would be futile. He goes back to his place thinking that it is absurd for them to hope that urbanites would
understand their problem.
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Characterization

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The central character of the story is Purti, who belongs to the tribal community. In his character we see a string

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human will survive, and is apparently clear in his efforts in overcoming the problem created by the absence of salt.

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The villain of the story is Uttam Chand, but if we think that he is sole responsible for the condition of the tribal
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then it would a mis-interpretation of the text. The text actually blames the government and author who empowers

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people like Uttam Chand and in turn exploit the tribals and unprivileged.

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The youth committee, no doubt is altruistic in its deed. But people of this committee lack the human dedication
and commitment and understanding of the situations at the grassroots level.
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The headman in the story is the representation of practical commonsense. He understands the meaning of the

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story but is does not possess sophisticated vocabulary to express it.
Ekoya, an elephant, is more like character in the story. He is given human traits by the author and seems to be

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more human than the inhuman Uttam Chand.
Narrative Technique
The story is simple though but the narrative is not that simple. The narrative of the story uses various elements
like myths, history, science and satire to present a sharp critique of social irresponsibility. It shows us noble but
shallow idealism of youth committee.
The use of myth and can be seen in the description of Ekoya, the elephant. Who is described as the ancient
Palamau Fort.
The author links the history of region to the ancestry of Uttam Chand and his exploitation of the tribal people.
An important thing to be noticed in the story is that the elephant Ekoya represents the force of nature, strong and
under threat by human civilization.

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 But the most salient formal characteristic of the story is its use of irony for presenting the critique of social
discrimination. This irony is in its full form in the episode wherein we that the official report of what actually
happened are different from original happenings. The author emphasizes that how salt, such a humble thing, can
become the matter of survival for the entire community.
Language
In the original Bengali story the writer has used different dialects of Bengali, combined with tribal dialects. She
has also made a smattering of some English words which are used for the description of scientific and medical value
of salt for human body.
The author has also used figurative language in the story. The central image of the story is salt which has been
identified with the simple and humble life of tribals.The quest of tribals for the salt is parallel their struggle for
survival at the most primitive level. The tone of the story is more like presenting the facts. And the style adopted by
the author is spare and minimalistic. Author has not made much use of adjectives.
Q. 4. How does travel writing educate the reader in terms of culture and society? Elaborate with
examples.

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Ans. Travel Writing: Its Popularity: Travel descriptions had always been a part of writings. Even in Sanskrit

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epics like Mahabharata and Ramayana we see that exile of the protagonists give some sort of description of travel.

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Greek classic Odyssey is about the amazing adventures of the protagonist. Other examples from the western tradi-
tions could be Robinson Crusoe and Gulliver’s Travels.

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But in spite of all these fact the popularity of travel writing as an independent work has gained popularity only

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in last couple of decades. Recently, people have started to look at it as an independent genre of writing, which is not
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dependent on the popular genres. The fact is established that with the rise of new historicism the domain of literature
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has increased and with this, genres like travel writing has come into the mainstream which were once considered as
the part of popular genres. a
What is Interesting about Travel?

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Before we start our journey let us take a break and think about fascinating qualities of travel writing. What is it

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in travel that makes the reader curious? Is it just the thirst for the information and data? Or is it the idea that while

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reading a travelogue the reader would actually participate in the writer’s experience? Is it possible for the writer to

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fulfil such a fantasy? Is it that all the writers have same account for a single place? Or does the reader think each

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writer will have his/her unique account for the place? Actually, a travel narrative is not just a collection of objective

The Inexhaustible Variety of Travel

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facts, but also has other aspects. It is also autobiographical in some sense.
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Human beings are always excited about places which are beyond their reach. It is fascinating to read about place

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which one has not seen and can only imagine with the words of the writer. The diversity of India makes people to
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experience new things, cultures and have new experiences beyond their own territory. A writer who travels inside

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the boundaries of India can have always a new experience.

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Mukhopadhyaya is one such traveller. He has written about Himalayas in many of his travel accounts. He does
not use any fictional details in his writings.
Travel Litetature in India H
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Travel writing took a spate identity in the 19th century, and can be classified in two categories,first dealing with
travels abroad, mainly to England and the second dealing with travels within India. K.M. Munshi’s Mari Binjaabdar

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Kahini and Kaka Kalekar’ s Himalayano Pravas presents both the categories of travel writing. In Assamee we have
only one trevel account i.e. Bilatar Chiti. In Sindhi we have Kashmir jo Sair by N.R. Malkani and Hind jo Sair by
M.K. Khilnani. The most famous in Punjabi is Mera Valati Safarnama. The only mentionable account in Tamil is
Ulakam Currum Tamilian by A.K. Chettiyar. Kasiyatra Carita is famous in Telugu. Pandita Ramabai published her
accounts for travel to America and England in Marathi.
The first important account in Gujarati is Inglando Pravas. In Orriya we have the works of Fakirmohan. In
Kannada we have Dakshina Bharat Yatri, Pampa Yatri, Samudradaceyindu. Roma Yatra is an important work in
Malayalam.
Bengali Travel Writing
One of the most popular travel writing is none other than Tagore. His famous Japan Yatri talks about his journey
to Japan. He also wrote Persia Parasye, and Rasyachiti. Another writer of travel is Annada Shankar, who is famous

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for Pathe Prabase. Prabosh Kumar Sanyal is known for Mahaprasthaner Pathe. In the later part of the century travel
writing flourished in Bengal.
Q. 5. Discuss the main character of any short story in your course.
Ans. Analysis of Birds: The two important points which must be noted while reading this story are – there is a
portrayal of female mind and psychology by a male author, which give the whole story a strong feminine, but
feminist touch. The author constructs his story by keeping a female character at the centre, and develops it with the
help of repressed memories, suppressed desires, and unexpressed thoughts. These things for women give a more
poignant touch, then that of the men.
We can see this in the story as well. The dealing of Hubert and Dr. Mukherjee with their emotions and memories
are different from that of the Latika.
The Extrovert Approach to Male Characters
We see Dr. Mukherjee as a character, who is detached not only with his family but also his country. He is from
Burma, where he lived in a normal family with wife and parents.

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Mukherjee is able to laugh at himself, he is able to see that time and again he thrown with old Miss Wood, who
is older than him.
Most of the time he does not like to talk about his past, but some time when he is in a philosophical mood he
gives in to the demand of release of emotion. But he does it in an entirely indirect way, making personal experience
impersonal.

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For example, during the picnic when there is conversation about the fire in jungle he says that they spread like

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“intoxication in all direction”. He then says about the burning cities he has witnessed. He says, “one after the other,
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houses fell like pack of cards. Unfortunately it is only on a rare occasions that one sees such a splendid sights”.
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Actually, this happened on one occasion when his own house was burned in war, but he is not the person who would
refer to his personal loss.
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Mukherjee is a permanent observer of life and has seemed to convert his pain in to strength. He always wears a

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calm composer which enables him to have an easy conversation with every other character. He is able to make
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Hubert and Latika communicate with himself, in spite of the fact that they are shy admirers.
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Mukherjee and Latika

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There is no doubt about the fact that Mukherjee has a sort of personality which can make Latika confide in him.
But she is not looking for a person to confide in. She is in fact looking for a kind of sympathy which is unspoken. She

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does not want her problems to be addressed directly, neither by herself nor by anyone else. And still she wants her
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problem to vanish. And Mukherjee is one person who is capable of all this. He knows about her attachment with
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Negi, for he was the one who helped them come together. But after Negi dies in action he can see the effect of it in
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Latika. He needs no description of kit. He can view it in form of shadowy fog which has settled on her personality.

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But he pretends that he does not see anything and tries to take her out of this fog. He arranges frequent get together
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for her to get indulged.
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Latika is not in a position to make a definite decision, but she knows that he feels comfort in the doctor’s

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company. He knows that she can be in his company without even caring for conversation. She feels a sort of torrent

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of care flowing from him. Mukherjee to knows about it and is always watchful of her to notice that she is not in a way
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of cracking herself under the kind of pain she is in. But Latika is not aware of this, all she cares about the care that
she gets from Mukherjee.
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The Importance of Mukherjee and Hubert in Birds
Birds is the story of Latika, her breakdown and her restoration. Verma in her story asserts that to come out from
such a broken state on needs both the head and the heart. Mukherjee in the story works as the head and Hubert works

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as the heart for the restoration of Latika. The role of Mukherjee is of a crisis manager, a man who can use his brain
and come out with some solution.
At first it important for us to consider the fact that all the three characters, of the story are uprooted. They all are
filled with the idea of impermanence and the idea of temporariness of things.
But it is only Mukherjee who has developed an art of living out of this sense of impermanence. “flow with
current”, he says. He thinks that one should always move on. It is okay to look at the past andremember it, but it is
wrong to get attached to it, get fixed to it.
Hubert on the other hand thinks that in order to come out of the dread lone should acknowledge the natural
emotions and intensity of mind. And the love of man and woman is one such emotion.
Both Hubert and Mukherjee play the roles in the maturing of Latika.

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 Q. 6. Attempt a critical appreciation of any poem in your course that you found inspiring.
Ans. I Met Walt Whitman Yesterday: A Discussion: The poem concerned is the sample of one of those innova-
tive forms of poetry which Paniker introduced in Malayalam. The structure of the poem is different and unusual. The
poem is an imaginary interview and that too in reverse mode with subject asking lots of questions and with poet dead
more than a century ago.
It is a dialogue poem. The exchange of dialogues take place between Walt Whitman, an American poet who lived
in 19th century and Paniker who stayed in America for a couple of years. The interview actually takes place in the
imagination of Paniker.
The poem is called a dialogue poem but hardly one will find a dialogue in it. The only instance is when Paniker
calls out ‘Hey Whitman’, and Whitman replies, ‘My friend look, Columbus’ geographical error, history’s gain.
Paniker, I knew you would come again’. The rest of the poem takes place in the mind of Paniker. The poem’s subtitle
is An Interview but apart from above question and answer there is no interview. It can be called an interview only
when readers would answer the questions asked by Whitman. A thinking reader can probably see Paniker paying

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visit to Whitman’s birthplace in Long Island, or his memory of a visit conjuring up such a vision of Whitman, who
died in 1892. Paniker once said, “Casting his long shadow across Long Island, the poet-patriarch…” and “The poet-

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patriarch coming from Long Island” could even evoke the image of Ved Vyasa on the island in Yamuna.

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The poem’s intent is discernable from the set of questions Whitman fires at Paniker. The idea of the poet is to

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throw light on the set of Paradox inherent in Indians, especially while facing the reality of United States – culturally,

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socially, politically, intellectually, in the field of science and technology and so on. The poet has used bitter satire to

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bring out the double satndards and pretensions of Indians in United States. And in doing so, the poet has also tried to
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bring out the real essence of Indian philosophy which is respected in not only in US but throughout the world.
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During the 70s of the 20th century, the most important question for the Indian living in US would have been the
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India-US relationship, which was soured by Indira Gandhi - Richard Nixon exchange before and during Bangladesh

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War and the way Americans looked at Indians then. Another important thing to be seen is that most of the Indian
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immigrants would not talk to each other because of the fear of revelation of their respective identity and eventuality

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of less fortunate compatriot seeking help when in dire straits! Another aspect of those Indians as they would look at

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Dalits in India. This can be sensed in Whitman’s question, “Do you prefer whites to blacks?”. It is important to

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understand that during that time Indians in America were claiming to be ancient civilization, which had its alternative

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of Airplane in Pushpak Viman but in reality India was seeking help from America for technical assistance in almost

an Indian during the 70s.

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every field. The poem brings out the paradoxes which emerged due to encounter between enlightened American and
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The poem is divided into two parts. The part brings begins as:

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“Yesterday–or the day before–I met Whitman, talking aloud in solitude about the populace”.
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The poem starts by creating an image of a prophet from old testament, with which Whitman was associated
during his life time.
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The poet suggests the continuous shifting, from the first line of poem. Then we see that Whitman talking about
what happened in the past century. The expressions in next few lines actually allude to elements generally found in
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Whitman’s poem. Whitman replies to Paniker’s call by describing America as “Columbus’ geographical error, history’s

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gain”. He while shaking Paniker’s hand says “Paniker, I knew you would come again”. The poet seems to be surprised
but actually he is not because, being an Indian he believes in rebirth. The use of word ‘again’ refer that Paniker was

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there in precious birth. We see that poet is amazed by the number of questions that Whitman puts.
Whitman asks if we still have Rishis and Munis in India who, eat nothing but their silences, give sage counsel to
rulers. “Eating only their Silences” can be interpreted in different ways. It could simply mean the fasting for a long
period. It could also refer to the Rajgurus who advised Kings but did not take any remuneration. And ironically it
could also refer to those friends who would pretend to be yogis and God men for their own selfish ends.
The next question is an attack on the snobbish Indians, who would take all the pain in the world to visit famous
tourist spots like Niagara Falls in US, just for the sake of boast and would not care to visit ancient Indian places.
The juxtaposition of words like ‘Atom’ and ‘Atman’ is remarkable. The western scientist would hardly care
about the metaphysical dimension of human reality, where as many of Indian scientists would talk about both matter
and spirits.
Whitman says that these questions are not meant to be answered and are coming out in spite of himself.

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 Then we see that Whitman extols the ancient Indian vedic culture. He names some of the thinkers like Encerson
and Thoreace who have been cherished by those ancient culture. He says that those who are equipped with sensitivity
and intelligence do not listen to the message of Vedas. He further says ‘Those who have ears do not listen’. And this
not meant specifically for Indians or Americans, but for humanity in general.
In the next few lines we see a parody of the general structure of many of Whitman’s poem. It actually is a
strategy adopted by Paniker to give the poem a Whitmanesque touch. The idea of parody is not satire but as sample
of demonstration.
In the last few lines of the poem Whitman invites Paniker to visit the real cultural core of US and perhaps that is
why he says ‘Come lets’ walk up to the Pacific coast.
Q. 8. Do you think translation is the most effective means of accessing various writings both in India and
abroad? Give reasons.
Ans. The Role of Translation in Comparative Indian Literature Introduction: The importance of transla-
tion in the country like India is very crucial because of its multilingual and multicultural characteristic. The transla-
tion studies are now being seen as the main shaping force of the Indian literary historical tradition.

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The evolution and development of translation studies has made itself and important and essential priority for the
study and of course development of comparative studies in Indian literature. It is understood that with the help of

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translation studies it would not be a possibility. Let us look at what Sujit Mukherjee has to say I this regard. He says,

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that “Practically every English language publisher of repute in Indian-and few disreputable ones as well-is busy

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building a list of titles in translation as rapidly as possible. Writers themselves are no less eager to get translated into

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English. Some don’t even try for translators, or cannot trust such intervention, and do the job themselves. Other

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would like to be translated by a foreigner. When none is available they settle of Indian living in abroad in English-
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speaking countries. Only those who are truly bereft of contact or resources have to make do with an Indian translator-
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a friend or that friend’s wife, some hitherto unknown admirer, a faithful fan or otherwise breezy devotee and so on.
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As was said for Cleopatra, the variety is endless and the number keeps growing”.
Translation in Practice

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Considering the above remark by Mukherjee one can say that translation, in the comparative studies of Indian
literature is of immense potential as a pedagogical and integrative force. Some clear-cut sub-division can be made in
the corpus of translated literature.
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The first is the translation done in English by the authors themselves. Some of the best examples in this case are

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that of Tagore, who translated his work Geetanjali into English himself, Raj Gill and K.S.Duggal in Punjabi, who not
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only wrote his scripts in mother lounge but also translated the script in English all by himself.
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The second is the translation done in English by an Indian and Europeans, who must be other than the author of

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the text. For example, Sanskra, written by U.R. Anantha Murthy in Kannada and was translated into English by A.K.

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Ramanujan.
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Translation of Indian Literature by Western Scholars

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The translation of Indian writings into English by the European scholars started during the British rule in India.

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One famous example which enables us to compare seven different translation of the same work is the translation of
Gita Govinda. The translation was done by William Jones, Edwin Arnold, George Keats and also by Lakshami
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Narayan Shastri, Duncan Greenlidge, Monika Varma, and Barbra Stoler Miller.

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New Areas of Comparative Studies in Indian Literature
Indian Mystical and Philosophical Tradition and the Anglo-American Response: It is interesting to note

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that Anglo-American scholars not only responded creatively to the literature of medieval and modern India but also
they were creatively influenced by the ancient Indian tradition of philosophy. Many great poets and writers of 19th
and early 20th century were influence by the ancient Indian philosophical tradition. It is easy to find similarities
between the thoughts of Wordsworth and Indian philosophy and also between the Shelly and the ideas of Vedanta.
One can also find some points of similarities between the ideas presented in Upanishads and the thoughts and
views of writers like Emerson, Thoreau, and Whitman. It is a known fact that T. S. Eliot, one of the major modernist
poets, was a student of Sanskrit and Indian philosophy. He went on to incorporate some of the Upanishadic thoughts
in his famous poem The Wasteland. According to Eliot Bhagwat Gita is one of the greatest religious poem in the
world, and it is apparently visible that some of the basic philosophic doctrines of Gita helped him make his poetic
world. Nigel Leask in his celebrated work British Romantic Writers and the East, talks about the relationship between

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the Romantic writers like Byron, Shelly and Coleridge and India. One reference he gives is Byron’s Eastern Tales,
which according to him is an example of the oriental. In the same ways some of the poems of Shelly represent the
Brahmin temples and pyres. In his book Indian and the Romantic Imagination, John Drew talks about the British
response to the poetry and literature of India. He starts with Sir William Jones’s writing on India and then comes on
to the works by celebrated poets like Coleridge, and Shelly, then he finally moves on to the novelist E.M. Foster.
There is no doubt that the studies of affinities between the Western romantic poets and Indian mythical tradition has
a very wide scope. Many of the writers including Kipling and Foster presented a very fascinating and true understanding
of Indian cultural encounters.
From the very early period of British colonial expedition in India, many writers of West have written about
India, some of them have been forgotten today and some of them are still remembered. But what we have in the
present day scenario is a very complex and has a similar complex history of wide history confrontation between the
two different cultures.
New Literatures in English

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Many countries, which were once colonized by the European nation, started to write and thus emerged a literature
which was the result of the confrontation between the two distinct cultures. Some of the countries which are worth

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mentioning are African countries, Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, Caribbean countries, Malaysia, Malta, New Zealand,

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Singapore, Pakistan, South Pacific Island and Sri Lanka. There is various stages of development of the English

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literary texts, with which these countries underwent during the colonial rule, and which helped them to develop the

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sense of national consciousness and move away from the imperial centre. Usually, the first stage of development was

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marked by the texts produced by the writers and representative of imperial power, travellers and memoire writers. In
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the second stage of development writers of the native nations began to write in the imperial language. But one must
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keep in mind that these native writers were of elite class and gained access to the imperial language under the
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imperial gaze. The best example is the writings in English produced in India during the nineteenth century. In the

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third stage of the development the native writers started to move their writing from the imperial supervision and
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started to broaden the horizon as artist. During this phase of development they too the responsibility of spreading the

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idea of nationalism and social awareness. The idea of new literature and its difference from that of the tradition gives

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us a new insight into the question of tradition and identity.

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There is no doubt that new literature in English helps in the enlargement of the scope of the comparative literary

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studies. In the writers of Indian Diaspora there are two types of writing which can be included. The first set of the

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writings are of those writers who continue to write in their mother tongue, for example Gujarati, Punjabi, Hindi,
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Urdu, Tamil, etc. in spite of the fact that they live in foreign countries like Canada, USA, and UK. The second group

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of writings belongs to those writers who write in the language of the country to which they have migrated, which is
English in majority of the cases.

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Poetics of the Margin
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It has been noticed in the past few decades that the dominant cultures have marginalized the literature of many

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vital and rich but less fortunate cultures across the world, and Indian is no exception. Many languages like Bhojpuri,
Rajasthani and Maithili got subjugated and remained for quite a few decades. Because of the association of elites
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with the canonized literature, the tribal and Dalit literatures never came in the main stream. But things are changing

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slowly and eventually and better results are coming out in the corpus of Indian literature. Some of the subjugated
languages like Maithili has been included in the VIIIth Schedule of Indian Constitution are producing vibrant and

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modern literature. Many of the tribal languages like Bodo and Santhali has also come out of the cave of subjugation
and have been recognized by the Government of India.
The fact that the history and the literature of the country remain incomplete if the country’s aboriginal heritage
is being ignoredis now globally accepted and recognized. Another important thing which must be acknowledged is
that if the subjugated languages will not be shown the light of popularity then the history of the country will kiss the
core. This is of great importance especially in the multilingual and multicultural country like India. There are two
ways in which the importance of the tribal literature can be analyzed. They are:
(a) The first way to assess its importance is by studying it as the body of literature which consists of diversity of
beliefs, myths, and philosophies.
(b) The second way is to study the literature which is found in the rich oral tradition of storytelling, discourses,
and songs on the public occasions.

8
 For a long time Dalit literature has not been recognized and considered by the government. Dalit Literature, the
oppressed class under Indian caste system forms an important and distinct part of Indian literature. Though Dalit
narratives have been a part of the Indian social narratives since 11th century onwards, with works like Cekkilar’s
Periya Puranam documenting Dalit life, Dalit literature emerged into prominence and as a collective voice after
1960, starting with Marathi, and soon appeared in Hindi, Kannada, Telugu and Tamil languages, through self-
narratives, like poems, short stories and most importantly autobiographies known for their realism, and for its
contribution to Dalit politics. It denounced as petty and false the then prevailing romanticism with the bourgeois
Sadashivpethi literature treated the whole Dalit issue, ignoring the social reality of appalling poverty and oppression
of caste Hindus which was the result of the bourgeois character of this culture. It is often compared with the African-
American literature especially in its depiction of issues of racial segregation and injustice, as seen in Slave narratives.
The poetics of margin reflects the voice of women. In the west this has been developed and many things has
changed but in India a lot has to be done in this regard. The oppression of women has a long and suffocating history.
The important point is that women have been continuously oppressed in all the communities and societies, whether

o m
it be elite, middle class or Dalit, or Tribal, or any other. Many of the women’s writing were subjugated and were mot
made famous. The recent discoveries of the diaries and memoires of women of 19th century which were unpublished
till the date show the kind and frustration and subjugation they went through. Thanks to the feminist movement in

literature as well.

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the west which helped the liberation in India as well. And definitely we can see the expression of such movements in

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