IRJMSH Vol 6 Issue 12 [Year 2015] ISSN 2277 – 9809 (0nline) 2348–9359 (Print)

A SEARCH FOR HONOUR: THE BOOK OF THE HUNTER BY MAHASWETA

DEVI

Dr. Mukesh Kumar

Asst. Professor of English
Govt. College, Bhiwani

In all our ancient epics, the Ramayana, the Mahabhrata and the Kadambari of
Banabhatta, tribal life has been dignified beautifully. Banabhatta has depicted Matangaka, a
young hero of Sabar‟s army as very strong and brave. Guha, the Nishadraj has been presented as
a man of great power in the Ramayana. Sabari in the Ramayana is considered as an idol of
devotion. Eklavya of the Mahabharata will be immortal because of his great sacrifice. The
tribals have always proved themselves as courageous, loyal, devoted, honest and skilled. Women
still enjoy great respect in all tribal communities. Unlike modern society, Nature is revered as
mother by all tribals. But despite having all these qualities, due to modernization, today they
have become the victims of injustice and exploitation.
The Oxford Dictionary defines the world 'tribe' as a racial group (especially in primitive
and nomadic culture) united by language, religion, custom, etc. and living as a community under
one or more chiefs. Some other reference books define the word tribe as a group of primitive or
barbarous clans under the recognized chiefs. Tribal people are known by different names as
„Vanyajati‟, „Vanvasi‟, „Adivasi‟, „Adimjati‟, „Anusuchit janjati‟ etc. 'Adivasi' is the most
common name and 'Anusuchit Janjati' (Scheduled tribes) is the constitutional name covering all
of them. Many contemporary authors have depicted the colourful culture of the tribals. For them,
the tribals are the people with exotic customs, clothes and ceremonies. But a few have talked
about their ancient pride and the downfall they faced due to the invasions.

Some critics consider the tribals as the pre-Aryan inhabitants of India who have
preserved a modified but distinguishable shape. They believe that in the first part of the Book-1
and Book-10 of the Rigveda there are signs of the mingling of the ideas and themes of the
Aryans and the Adivasis. The non-Aryan indigenous people and their practices are beautifully
depicted in the Atharvaveda. The Rigveda depicts the aborigines as the Dasas. There are also
references towards their wealth and skills.

Despite this rich and glorious past, today the tribals are looked down upon. They are
considered as non-civilized, illiterate and even criminals. The exploitation, oppression and abject
poverty of tribal communities like the Santhals, Lodhas, Shabars and Mundas make the core

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theme of Mahasweta Devi's writings. Despite the political propagandas of the development of all
sections of society in independent India, truth is harsher than our presumptions. For Devi, tribal
people are like an undiscovered continent which is on the verge of extinction because of our
ignorance. They don‟t even know that India is independent and slavery is against the law. A few
writers in our country are writing for the causes of tribes. One amongst them is Mahasweta Devi
who is a unique combination of writing and activism. In fact, she always gives her activism the
first place. She writes as well as fights for the rights of these tribes. She has even tried to re-
vision the roles of the tribes in history. The dignity and pride of the tribal people have always
been hurt. Therefore, our writer takes up their cases to bring their honour back to them.

Devi has taken up the case of these dispossessed tribes through her social activism and
writing. She has spent many years working with these tribes as a journalist, editor and author and
all the roles played by her led to the aim of making some grass root changes in the pathetic
condition of these tribal people. She herself has found that in tribal people she gained an endless
source of ingredients for her writing. Mahasweta Devi does not present a fake and pleasing
picture of the tribals to please her readers. She says in the preface of the Bitter Soil, “I believe in
documentation. After reading my work, the reader should face the truth of facts, and feel duly
ashamed of the true face of India.” (Devi, Bitter Soil viii)

She also tells about the role of the British in isolating the small tribes. The British
branded the small tribes as criminal tribes. In the 1950s, Indian government de-notified these
tribes. Our writer-activist fought for these two de-notified tribes of West Bengal – the Lodhas of
Medinipur and the Shabars. There are some tribal groups who are struggling to survive due to
this so-called modernization. The Sansis of Punjab and Delhi, Parhaiyas of Bihar or the Lodha
Shabar and Kheria Shabar of West Bengal are some of those de-notified tribes who are doubly
suffering because of the label 'criminal' once attached to them. There are other tribes like
Santhals, Oraons, Mundas and Hos who are rather proud of the identity of their tribal
communities because they have their rich culture and tradition. Although they have also been
oppressed yet they have not lost their traditions and fortunately they are free from the labels of
criminals.

Mahasweta Devi wrote her novel The Book of the Hunter with the mission of seeking out
the tribal identity and lost dignity of the Shabar tribe. Set in sixteenth century medieval Bengal,
the novel describes the life of the Shabars who are the hunter tribes. She understood the need of
re-establishing the honour of those tribes who had once been understood as criminals by the
British India. She states in the preface:

Such is my goal, but I don‟t know whether I will accomplish it. This is however a
beginning. The encroachment of towns and non-adivasis upon their territory , Adivasis
abandoning their lands and going away ,the heartless destruction of forests, the search of
the forest children for a forest home , and the profound ignorance of mainstream people

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about Adivasi society –these are all truths about our own time. (The Book of the Hunter
viii)

The author acknowledges her debt to Kabikankan Mukundaram Chakarbarti, a

16 century Bengali poet whose epic poem „Abhaymangal‟ and specifically the „Byadhkhanda‟
th

section of this book is the source of this novel. She explores the cultural values of the Shabars by
documenting the oral histories related to them. In the honour of Kabikankan Mukundaram, she
says:

Mukundaram somewhat lightened the burden of mainstream society‟s sins by

writing his Byadhkhanda. He was Aryavrat, the king of elephants, whereas I am a
tiny ant who has undertaken this task with my meager means. Whether I have
done the right thing or wrong is for Jaladhar and the other Shabars to say. (The
Book of the Hunter ix)

The narrative of the novel is set in medieval Bengal and tells the story of the poet
Mukundaram Chakraborty who is born in the family of erudite parents but is not set to writing
since he is so busy in the practical chores of the household with his mother. After the death of his
mother, he is forced to leave his village Daminya and taking his wife and children with him,
makes his way across the strange landscapes to the land of Ararha. Although the new soil and
new rule prove to be very kind for him yet in the bottom of his heart, he craves to write
something, a story that he is meant to tell.

In Ararha, he comes to know of the Shabar couple Kalya and Phuli who are full of
intense but sometimes painful love for each other. He also gathers knowledge about the Sabar
traditions from Kalya‟s mother Tejota who worships Abhaychandi, the goddess of the forest who
also becomes Mukundaram‟s muse for his epic Abhaymangal. He asks Tejota:

„Ma! Abhaychandi‟
„some call her Abhaychandi ,and others call her a desolate forest. The forest itself
is our mother, what d‟ you say?‟
Tejota touched her folded palms to her forehead in reverence for the goddess!
„She gives us fruits ,flowers ,tubers, leaves, wood, honey , raisin, medicine ,
herbs, barks, leaves and roots, even animals to hunt. She gives us everything,
keeps us alive-doesn‟t that make her our mother?‟ (62)

Although Kalya and Phuli become the protagonists in Byadhkhanda of Mukundaram‟s

epic, the novel tells us about the whole Shabar community and their intrinsic relation with the
forest in which they live and die. It tells us of Kalketu who was the founder of Shabar
community, of the forbidden and mysterious abode of goddess Abhaya and the rules of hunting

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laid down by her. Even in the 16th century, women enjoyed a high status in the Shabar
community. When Kalya beats Phuli, his mother questions her:

What kind of Shabar woman are you, anyway? Why do you put up with it?‟
Tejota had grounds for saying that .in this kalilyuga, when the world was filled to
the brim with human sin, the Shabars still abided by their ancient roles. (83)

The novel also describes the strange tale of a brahmin stealing the image of the Shabars’
deity and that is why brahmins are unworthy of a Lodha’s obeisance. There are proofs supporting
the authenticity of this tale that even today a Shabar is the first to perform the 'pooja' at the
Jagannath temple in Puri. In fact, the Shabars are resistant of any encroachment upon their lives
.They have their own world in which they are happy to live. Mukundaram wonders while
watching Kalya and Phuli:

What do they eat? How do they look so healthy? What do they wear? How do
they manage to walk off with their heads held high like royalty? People are so
different in other communities. There are people selling liquor in the market, and
there are prostitutes too. How does Shabar life remain so innocent? The women
know no fear-how gaily she walked off with that snake! (103)

The Lodha Shabars enjoyed a life of dignity and self-respect for quite a long time until in
1871 the British rulers declared them to be criminals for unknown reasons.The novel finally tells
about the intrusion of mainstream settlements into their sacred area, which destroys the
equilibrium of nature. Tejota worries about the whole situation pondering:
There was no stopping the times from changing. A Shabar understood that the
more others encroached the more his existence would be threatened. Then, that
was it. He‟d pick up camp, sticks and all and calling „Ma, Ma!‟ go off into the
shelter of some virgin forest. (106)

Even in the 16th century, this intrusion was so serious that the Shabars had to abandon
their settlements and move from one place to another. Thus, like Wordsworth, The Book of the
Hunter also makes a powerful appeal not to destroy nature as Wordsworth suggested his sister
Dorothy to move with gentleness in heart since there is a soul in the woods.

The novel is also a strong plea to regain the lost respect for the Shabars since under the
label of criminals they are being oppressed for quite a long time. The most burning example of
this stigma is of Chuni Kotal who was the first woman graduate among the Lodhas. After
graduating, she worked as superintendent of a girls‟ hostel and even enrolled herself as a post-
graduate student of anthropology at the Vidyasagar University in Manipur. People harassed her
and abused her because she was a Lodha Shabar a „crime prone tribe‟ according to the 1871

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Criminal Tribes Act of the country. The continuous insult culminated in her tragic death that
united the dispossessed tribes. One more example of this discrimination is that of Budhan, a
Shabar who was tortured and killed in the police custody for no crime on his part. The tragic
incident inspired Mahasweta Devi to establish „the De-notified and Notified Tribes Rights
Action Group‟.

The novel highlights the dilemma which these poor innocent tribal people are forced to
face. They are not able to cling to their cultural norms and traditional ways of living because of
the mainstream society‟s intrusion nor can they cope with modern ways of living since our
society is not yet ready to accept them as equals. She speaks in an interview titled “The Author
in Conversation” to Spivak regarding the tribals:

They are Indians who belong to the rest of India. Mainstream India had better
recognized that. Pay them the honour that they deserve. Pay them the respect that
they deserve. There are no dowry deaths among the tribals. And when they are
called criminal tribes, I say there is crime all over the state of Bihar. All over
India. All over the world. Do these tribes commit all these crimes? They are your
easy victims, they are your prey, you hunt them. The system hunts them and uses
them.... (Imaginary Maps X)

With descriptions of these kinds, Mahasweta Devi tries to prove that the tribals should
not be considered as uncivilized brutes. On the contrary, they are the ones who know the
ecological system better than us. Ganesh Devy, a close associate of Mahasweta Devi in fighting
for tribals‟ causes speaks in an interview to The Hindu:

Our attitude should be one of learning from them as, unlike us, they lead a need-
based and not a greed-based life. These people use Nature's gifts with care never
violating her riches. Animal as well as plant species are not exploited. They
replace what they borrow through replanting and allow the soil to renew itself by
moving on. They are skilled bonesetters and have effective herbal remedies for
certain ailments. There is equality between the sexes to a great extent. Widows
are encouraged to remarry and there is no imbalance in the male-female ratio. The
tribals understand the environment, the climate, plant and animal life around
them. They know how to preserve the grain. They have a contraption to ensure
that not a single grain is lost to the rodents. But the Food Corporation of India
stores its grain in godowns and loses a substantial quantity to rats. The liquor they
make is the only wine made of flowers in the world. Not only is it not patented by
the Government but the process is considered illegal; there is displaced notion that
they get drunk. There are laws made in their favor but parallel laws take their
rights away. What is the use of forest rights if they are not allowed to chop the
bamboo, which is so important for their craft. (Devy 12)

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But Instead of respecting their untainted culture and tradition, the mainstream society
became their enemy. It tried to destroy them which is the reason of Devi‟s anger and frustration
towards the mainstream society. Her fight is for getting back the honour and dignity of the
tribals, which they truly deserve.

WORK CITED

Devi, Mahasweta. “Preface.” Bitter Soil. Trans. Ipsita Chandra. Kolkota: Seagull, 1998.

---. The Book of the Hunter. Trans. Sagree and Mandira Sen Gupta. Kolkota: Seagull, 1997.

---. Interview by Gayatri Chakrovarty Spivak. “The Author in Conversation.” Imaginary Maps.
Kolkota: Thema Publication, 2001.

Devy, Ganesh. Featured as “A Gentle Crusader.” in The Hindu. Metro Plus. Thursday, August
22, 2002.

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