The powerful Dalit voices would not have sprouted without the
path-breaking revolutionaries like Jotirao Phule, Dr. Ambedkar and
Periyar Ramaswami. The last two decades of the twentieth
century witnessed the entry of Dalit writers and Feminist writers in Telugu
literature. After 1985, Telugu Dalit literature progressed towards a complete form by
taking Ambedkarism as its theoretical foundation. One has to agree that the
most significant contemporary Telugu poetry is written by Dalit poets. From
1985 onwards, Dalit poetry has been a major influence on Telugu literature.
According to Kalpana Rentala, "The Dalits, who have been in the lowest rung of the
social hierarchy, have risen to the position of dictating terms to Telugu literary
history. Dalit literature came out of the revolt against Brahminical ideology. This
literature, which simultaneously questioned mainstream literary theories and upper
class ideologies, explored neglected aspects of life" (13). The significance of
Dalit literature is not in matters of literary form and style but rather in the role
of literary art in larger social and political situations. The Dalit voices began
to articulate the language of the people in their poetry challenging the
generic expectations of traditional Telugu poetry. At present, the literary
achievement of Dalit writers cannot be regarded as too small for recognition, as the
books have found their way into university syllabuses.
During the freedom struggle, powerful poets like Kusuma Dharmanna,
Gurram Joshua, Boyi Bheemanna made their entry into Telugu literature. These
poets, through their writings, strongly and satirically questioned the social
injustice. They accused the social and religions sanction of natural superiority to
some castes. Kusuma Dharmanna is perhaps the first Telugu Dalit poet who
inspired Dalits to work for their liberation. His long poem
"Nalla Dorathanam" ("The Brown Lordship"), published in 1921, is a very
critical revolutionary song that boldly declares the increase of suffering of Dalits under the leadership
of Indians. Equally powerful is Gurram Joshua, a contempory of
Kusuma Dharmanna. His epic poem
"Gabbilam" ("A Bat") is one of the best
representative poems of castocracy. It was a big tremor to the society, especially to the
creative writers. In this poem, the protagonist narrates his suffering as an
untouchable and sends a message through a bat to Lord Siva.
"Gabbilam" is certainly a
living epic of Joshua. Here, the poet points out the exploitation by the dominant
castes and declares that the nation is indebted to the services of Dalits. There
were other powerful poets like Nutakki Abraham, Durvasa Maharshi,
Kolakaluri Swarupa Rani during this period. |
