Dalit writings are victims of state’s intellectual mafia: Des Raj Kali : The Tribune India

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Dalit writings are victims of state’s intellectual mafia: Des Raj Kali

In a country where the reigning discourse on Dalits has been made to stand for one-dimensional ideas of politics or ages of oppression, Des Raj Kali is a writer who has constantly rejected that linear perception of a people he knows to have been rooted in rich cultural and artistic traditions.

Dalit writings are victims of state’s intellectual mafia: Des Raj Kali

Sarabjit Singh



Writer Des Raj Kali  

In a country where the reigning discourse on Dalits has been made to stand for one-dimensional ideas of politics or ages of oppression, Des Raj Kali is a writer who has constantly rejected that linear perception of a people he knows to have been rooted in rich cultural and artistic traditions. Quick to assert their rich identity which is above the political equations and foolery they have been dragged into, Kali has spent his life fighting for the deeper, intellectual Dalit identity, glimpses of which are found in the Sufi and Nath traditions he grew up observing, and the poetry of Lal Singh Dil and Sant Gulabdas and Sant Wazeer Singh he grew up learning.

Acclaimed writer and historian, Des Raj Kali has written story collections “Kath-Kali”, “Phaqiri” and “Chup Kitey”, as well as novels “Parneshwari”, “Antheen”, “Paratham Pauran”, “Shanti Parv”, “Nar Natak” and is currently working on the novel “Thumri” which speaks of Vaishnav traditions in Punjab. The light of his multi-layered and insightful writings has taken him to the Jaipur Literature Festival (2010) (along with Dalit icon Bant Singh and journalist Nirupama Dutt) and special sessions have been dedicated to his writings at Nottingham Trent University in England, Montpellier University, France and Monash University, Australia. His hypertext novel “Shanti Parv” is also set to be translated by the Oxford University Press.

The Tribune correspondent Aparna Banerji talks to the writer who is also called as the first Punjabi crossover writer sharing the story of his celebrations and struggles as a Dalit with audiences across the world.

Tell us about your childhood and your first encounter with literature.

I was born Mithapur in village in 1971 in the house of Niranjan Das. My father worked at a moulding factory where they made brass bushes. He got mere Rs 10 a day through which me and my four siblings (a brother and two sisters) were being brought up. He was an illiterate man, but still very well read. His understanding of language rose from the ashes, literally. He didn’t go to school but in his childhood, children would scatter ashes on the village floor. The village elders sitting near them would read “Qissa Kaav” to children, who learnt Punjabi, scratching “ura”, “aira” (Punjabi syllables) with their fingers on ashes. My father had a deep knowledge of “Qissa Kavs” of Punjab like “Heer Ranjha”, “Nal Damyanti”, “Roop Basant”, “Sohni Mahiwal” and knew them by heart. When I was small, he would read these to me. That is how the seeds of literature took root in me.

Did you ever face challenges and constraints in your journey?

In the eighth standard, I had to quit studies due to financial constraints. Though poor, my father was very particular that his children had to study. When I was off school, he decided he would find a way to make me study. We had some cattle at home whose milk we used to sell to a milkman. My father decided to raise more money so that we would directly sell milk to people. During my unemployment days right after college, I was under pressure from my siblings to start earning my own money. But somehow my father vehemently backed me then too. He used to tell his friends Paare (Kali’s nickname) di Kahani radio te chaldi (Para’s story is being aired on radio).

What’s your first literary break?

I got my first break in literature through a story called “Chanan Di Leek” which was printed in Amrita Pritam’s literary magazine “Naagmani”. That was my breakthrough. I was in DAV College in plus one in those days and many seniors had been trying for years to get their stories published, but had failed. I got a letter from Imroz, informing me that my story had been selected for the magazine. It was a big thing to get published in “Naagmani”. Amrita’s magazine had produced four generations of writers. I felt very happy.

Share with us some key aspects of Dalit traditions which drive your writings.

When I was a child, everyone used to have gurus, the “Guru shishya” tradition was venerated and observed. My mother’s brother Lala Amarnath was a Dalit, but an ardent scholar of Hindu mythology. He read Ramayana and Maahabharta and other scriptures and was associated with the Gorakhpur Geeta Press in those days. My uncle (father’s brother) Loukadas came from the Nath tradition of the Buddhists. He rode a black horse and carried a bag. He sat on a wooden bench (“takhtposh”) and always carried a bag. My father’s guru was Sufi Guru Pritam Das, who came from the Nath and Udasi traditions. The roots of the Dalits in Doaba were rooted in these lineages and heavily borrowed from spiritual, philosophic, religious and cultural traditions.

How do you react to the political overtones the Dalit identity has now taken?

I fight it. The more political identity now given to Dalits has been propagated by the Brahmanical patriarchy and isn’t the real deal. There are two Dalit poetry traditions which speak a lot of Dalits’ belief system – one is of Sant Gulabdas, the 18th century Dalit saint poet who wrote Sanjhi Siharfis (dual poetry in which a man answers a woman’s questions and vice versa) with Peero, a Muslim courtesan whom he not only sheltered but made gaddi nashin at his dera. Another similar poetic tradition is that of Sant Wazeer Singh and Naurang Devi. In both these, men and women have an equal footing unlike the Hindu Tantra Sutra dialogues between Shiva, Parvati which are patriarchal.

Were you ever discriminated against as a writer for being Dalit?

My social life has been rife with casteism. Even at the village, in my age, the cast took on a more unspoken, internalised form in which people said little, but you knew their attitudes were discriminatory towards Dalits. Punjabi literature also suffers from a Jat hegemony. Legendary poets like Lal Singh Dil never got their proper place in Punjab even though Pash is celebrated. While international universities and forums have called me, in Punjab, not a single critic or literary forum wrote about me or celebrated me as did the West or JLF. People do PhDs in my name and read me, but that is at a nascent level. I believe all this is as per a conspiracy. Punjab has a mafia of intellectuals which does not allow some kind of writings gain popularity. I believe Dalit writings and poetry are also victims of this mafia.

Who are your favourite contemporary writers?

Bhagwant Rasoolpuri, Gurmeet Karial, Saroop Sial, Balijeet. I like Balijeet’s writings so much, I even feel jealous of him sometimes.

In the current scenario, what’s your advice to youth?

The reigning socio-economic discourse and the status quo around the world is acquiring a fascist set-up just like about a century ago. A similar scenario of fascism had overtaken the world as did say in the 1911s, 1921 and 1931. In India, these were the times when Bhagat Singh was propagating socialism and the farmers and artisans were feeling marginalised. I have no advice to give. Writers refrain from advice, they only share their analysis on various issues. The youth should analyse the staus quo and take their own road, fight with their own weapons and build their own belief system based on this analysis.

Tell us about your latest work.

My latest novel is “Shehr Vich Saan Hon Da Matlab” novel for which I worked for 10 years. It talks about the Bull which symbolises economy and the very deep impact it has on people. From 90s until now, finance capital has enslaved us and taken over us, has had its bearings on our psychology and the way we live. It has caused an atmosphere of uncertainty, insecurity and alienation. It has changed people’s inherent perceptions and even religious beliefs. It has promoted superstition. For example, while formerly people would go only to the Darbar Sahib for prayers, there are now growing followers for Baba Deep Singh as well. Ram Mandirs have given way to an increasing number of Shani Mandirs and while formerly they were primarily going to mosques, now they are also taking to “jadu-tona” and other superstitious beliefs. This is the impact of the way our finances work. I am now working on the novel “Thumri”.

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