Amchya Jalmachi Chittarkatha (The Bioscope of Our Lives): Who Is My Ally?

This paper questions the commonly-held view by mainstream feminists and some dalit men that dalit women are somehow more "liberated" than high caste women. I argue that dalit women also face patriarchal oppression, though it has a specific quality. Under such circumstances, who is a dalit woman's ally? The essay focuses on the penumbra of debilitating circumstances, which call for a further understanding of the particular context of dalit femininity and oppressed sexuality. The title of this paper is inspired by the title of Shantabai Kamble's autobiography, Majya Jalmachi Chittarkatha (Bombay: Popular Prakashan), 1986. I want to thank Chitprabha Kudlu, David Hardiman, Eleanor Zelliot, and Pravin who have discussed many arguments presented here. I am in deep gratitude to dalit women who shared their struggles with me. Special thanks to Sharmila Rege, who has introduced me to Black feminism and discussed many of these debates with me, in Pune! I am indebted to some insightful comments and suggestions from Mrinalini Sinha and Shefali Chandra. Many thanks to Gail Omvedt for coming in at the last minute, and instantly helping with sources and some very crucial arguments. Shailaja Paik (paiks@union.edu) is a visiting faculty member with the History Department, Union College, New York, USA. A rguing for a separate organisation for dalit women, Kumud Pawade has accused mainstream feminists of not taking due cognisance of the atrocities committed on dalit women (Pawade 1998: 133-34). Also, it seems that dalit men did/do not allow enough participation and representation of dalit women. Pawade accused dalit men of discriminating against dalit women: While thinking about equality across caste and class, men forget about gender equality, this happens during talks of dalit struggles or political agendas. Women are merely tokens in the [political] movement, and in literary conferences. Even their sessions are scheduled towards the end of the program when the audience has lost interest (ibid: 134). Thus, dalit women seem to be mere appendages in the movement -literary or otherwise. This experience of a renowned dalit feminist and other dalit women calls for a further introspection by dalit men of their power plays which are unmarked by gender. Both mainstream feminists and dalit men can be accused of the same crime -of divorcing dalit women. How have dalit women been "silenced" by mainstream feminism and by dalit patriarchy? Under such enervating circumstances, who are the allies of dalit women? I venture to untwist the matrix of caste, class, community, and gender by engaging some experiences of dalit women in Maharashtra. Mainstream movements, and feminist movements in particular, seem to be misguided in their understanding of dalit women. Many dalit and non-dalit scholars share a notion that dalit women are somehow more "free" than high caste women. I attempt to question this postulate, and analyse the specificity of dalit women's experience with patriarchy and oppressed sexuality. Debates in Indian Feminism: Politics of Caste and Gender Joanna Liddle and Rama Joshi, in their work entitled Daughters of Independence, delineate a historical materialist approach in dealing with caste and gender. They are of the opinion that lower caste women are not secluded like their upper caste counterparts because their men depend on them for survival. Joshi and Liddle also write about the non-sexual and the sexual divisions of labour. They suggest that women of the lower castes are forced to take up work for wages. While addressing the issue of sexuality, they state: Lower caste women, by contrast, experience far fewer controls over their physical freedom. The economic benefits and the social constraints of seclusion are unknown to them. Sati was never demanded of them, widowhood was no curse, divorce was allowed in many lower-caste communities and widows and divorced people could re-marry without disgrace (Liddle and Joshi 1986: 95-69 and 91)