Originally delivered in Marathi. Translated by Mangesh Dahiwale

Brothers and sisters, first of all I thank you for giving me the opportunity to meet you. I also thank you again for honoring me by giving me the presidential role of this meeting and I want to make it clear that I am standing before you as a lover of literature, an enthusiast, a scholar. The title of the job I am doing should not be taken into account. As a lover of literature, I begin my speech by requesting you to listen to my few words.

Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar set in motion the Dhammachakra with all of you in this important city ( Nagpur). Dalit literature is one of the inventions of the all-round rebellion and ideological movement of the society that arose out of that revolutionary event. It is from this ideological and mental awareness that Shankarao Kharat, Baburao Bagul, and other writers were inspired and Shahir Anna Bhau Sathe’s writings also received new content and background from this unprecedented event.

But it will not be enough to say this. Babasaheb established Milind College in the heart of Maharashtra at Aurangabad. All the Dalit students from Maharashtra started coming to study. Milind College in Nagsenwan in Aurangabad therefore became a center of Dalit movement.

A literary movement began to take shape from this centre. As it is important to talk about today, I am narrating a little history of literary movement. I didn’t like to say it before. But as such situation has arisen, I am telling it today.

Almost 15 years of struggle had passed since Milind College was established. Educated and cultured Dalit youths were struggling to express their experiences, their lives, their pains, using the medium of words, giving their experiences the form of poetry and stories. Stories and poems were written. But they were not published. Because those artists and their subjects, content were outside the gate of mainstream. A writer’s writing not being published is a great pain, a great sorrow. Writing is a power that cannot be contained. Just as the stream struggles to break through the rock to reach the ground, so does the artist. Seeing the struggle of this Dalit artist and accepting the challenge of reality, I and my colleagues decided to set up a literary movement and platform in the cultural and educational center of Dalits. Another reason is that the never-literalized but rich world of life cannot be illuminated simply because of the monopoly of a few and the wrong approach to form of the expression. Feeling that this injustice is not only on the writer who seeks to express himself but also on literature and society, we established ‘Milind Sahitya Sabha’ in 1967 and at the same time decided to set up a platform ‘Asmita’. R. G.Jadhav, Executive Editor, Assistant, Prof. Raimane, Prof. Panthawane, Shri Vaman Nimbalkar and Sukhram Hivarale and I was the chief editor. In the December 1967 for the issue of ‘Asmita’, a seminar was organized on the direction of Dalit literature. Many present here know that many writers and poets benefited from that seminar.

Later, the name ‘Asmita’ had to be changed due to government objection. ‘Asmita’ was renamed as Asmitadarsh. I had to go to Mumbai and with everyone’s consent Prof. Pantawane was given the responsibility of editing.

‘Asmita’ and ‘Asmitadarsa’, ‘Milind Sahitya Sabha’ and ‘Dalit Literary Movement’ have all come not because of any one person but from the movement of all, from Ambedkarite idealism and from the social need that everyone was convinced of. This needs to be clarified. Because in our society, the dangerous thinking of ‘Ego’ creates a inflation of pride very quickly and very big. Suffice it to say that the growth of this tendency is antithetical to Buddhist thought. Another reason to consider ‘Dalit literature’ differently is that after independence we adopted democracy as a way of life and governance.

In countries where democracy has taken root, the society is homogenous. However, Indian society is heavily influenced by racism and casteism. Where there is apartheid, democracy cannot survive in its pure form. A democratic society should be based on science and intelligence based on evidence. Indian society is dogmatic and suffers from many blind beliefs. Therefore, there is a big risk of defeat of democracy here in India. This threat will make the Dalit people to push back to the gory past, so democracy should be socialized. It is important to take on that task. That is one of the reasons for the ‘Dalit literature movement’ launched with sustained interest.

Only the writer can effectively do the work of socializing democracy. The writer is the first to know about the undercurrents of the society. He is the first to understand and evaluate the happenings in the society because he is the ‘antenna’ of the society. According to the ideas of August Comte and Tain, as the writer is influenced by the society, he also influences the society. So, if he takes the role of Vishwamitra and pulls the skin over his eyes, won’t this act be anti-social? Writing with social awareness is not only a social responsibility but also a duty of the writer. As Dr. Paul Sartre , the well-known writer said while explaining the duty and social responsibility of the writer,

“Writing is not only an act of writing, but a constant struggle against evil tendencies, and writing is a weapon to be purposefully used in the struggle.” (What is Literature, 1920, p.233)

If this is the case, then the question arises as to why a Dalit writer should accept social responsibility. To explain it, we have to take a close look at Marathi literature. There we clearly feel that social responsibility is avoided by Marathi writers. If it is intentional, then ignorance can be the subject of a separate study.

There have been many political, economic, social and cultural movements in the social life in the history. These movements were earth shattering. But even a faint reflection of these movements is not found in Marathi literature, barring some honorable exceptions. On the contrary, there was a lot of dreamy writing. It seems that this dreamy writing was misleading to the author and the society as well. The reason for this is that the class and caste in which the Marathi writer was born, the rites and the limitations that come with it, the limitations that define life due to these limitations, he has never been able to come out of his small shell. There is so much life outside this narrow world. He has never seen a world that is sad, distraught, cringing, agonizing and burning from within like a wildfire. Hence the present day Marathi literature is artificial and false like a paper flower. For example, take the much-discussed Navangmay ( New Literature).
In this new literature, from Freud’s point of view, the disoriented middle class is depicted. What we call rural writers, they romanticized the villages instead of portraying them realistically, while some took an aesthetic stance and gave importance to ‘form’ and ‘technique’ and emphasized the pettiness of the individual and life and ried to show futility. This is mainly because our author is less Indian and more superficial. These writers blindly imitated the nihilism and pessimism brought about by industrialization in Western life. The truth is that the problems of our life are not caused by industrialization and mechanization, these writers did not realize that.

Here the role of social awareness taken by Dalit writers and their understanding of life is clearly critically important. Here there is a difference between Dalit writers and other writers. But the difference is not only in thought but also in experience, content, subject matter, style and language use. The reason for this is that there is a very significant difference in the life and character he writes about. Hence he defies the values, theories, function and relative values ​​of beauty set by middle class writers and critics.

A question arises from the discussion of ‘Dalit literature’. Who is Dalit?

The definition of the term Dalit includes not only the Buddhists and the backward classes but also those who are oppressed laborers. The definition given by Baburao Bagul in the Mahad Buddhist Literary Conference is consistent with this definition. He says, ‘Dalit literature considers man as the center. It harmonizes with the happiness of man and leads man to right revolution. It teaches equality to the human group i.e. society, considers man as great. Dalit literature does not spread enmity among people, it spreads love among people.

When man is considered as the central point, it becomes the duty of a Dalit writer to make intellectual attacks on the society in which there is no equality, justice and fraternity. He is doing so. Singing liberation songs of democracy and equality

The Dalit writer follows what Walt Whitman said in the preface to his anthology about poets.

“He can make every word, he speaks draw blood. Whatever stagnates in the fiat of custom or obedience of legislation, he never stagnates….. If he breathes into anything that was before thought small it dilates with the grandeur and life of the universe.”

Anna Bhau Sathe, Shankarao Kharat, Baburao Bagul, Daya Pawar, Keshav Meshram, Namdev Dhasal, Vaman Nimbalkar, J. V. Pawar, Arjun Dangle, Sukhram Hivarale, Shantaram Hivarale, Parsawale, Chendwankar, Yashwant Manohar, Tarachand Khandekar, Dr. Bhau Lokhande, Avinash Dolas, Yogiraj Waghmare, Janardhan Waghmare, Yogendra Meshram, P.E. Sonkamble, and Gangadhar Pantawane reflect the emotions described by Walt Whitman. G. B. Sardar and Yashwantrao Chavan have glorified ‘Dalit literature’ in their speech at the literature meeting at Karhad. Those who reject this work of Dalit literature will reject it. The sun is not covered as the old woman covers the chicken.

Recently, the winds of ideological freedom have started to blow. This also needs to be considered.

Can the writer be completely freed from the social conditioning and caste and class bondage and truly become independent in thought? A writer is also a social person and his formation is shaped by the culture passed on him from childhood and the social and material conditions around him.

Can professional writers and Dalit writers have the same idea of ​​freedom of thought? Can freedom of thoughts mean the freedom of Shankaracharya to advocate caste-based social system as the core of religion? What about giving freedom even to those who are famously prone to show that they are holy but upholding corrupt ethics? Whatever it may be, it cannot be unrestricted.

In the primitive state man may even be completely independent. But when he began to live in a group and society was formed, it became inevitable to impose restrictions on man for the welfare of the group and society. In this regard, it reminds me of an essay by A.G.Gadinnar. When a country got independence, a woman was walking in the middle of the road to enjoy freedom. Seeing this, the traffic police removed her. As she said the country has become independent and therefore I have freedom to walk anywhere and in any way.

But such freedom cannot be given to anyone. Just as individual freedom is bound to be limited, freedom of thought is also bound to be limited. From the experience so far, it is found that freedom is used by exploiters and social enemies as a right for their own selfish interests and never as a duty. These established writers use his pen not to break the shackles of society, but as a means of entertainment.

Today, new winds are blowing in the country. Many economic schemes are being prepared to make democracy people-oriented for the creation of new society. If freedom of thought comes in the way of the formation of this new society, then it becomes necessary to restrict it. The question to be asked is whether the future of crores of suffering brothers and sisters of this country is involved in this work of innovation and those who have never spoken a single word about the ideological freedom of these same suffering brothers and sisters, who are shouting the slogan of freedom of thought today.

Salvation is to be attained alone and for one. This self-centered thinking and the debilitating philosophy of rebirth as the cause of suffering still survives in this country. Elders also say that this is the great legacy of the ancestors. Seeking freedom of thought under such conditions is as dehumanizing and antisocial as playing the fiddle while Rome is burning.
Those who proclaim freedom of thought and turn a blind eye to the well-being of all the people living outside the villages and slums are the same. So the Dalit writer never looks at this sloganeering leader as his leader. Because among the worshipers of knowledge, these thoughts seem superior to the caste hindus, and they ignore Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar’s struggle to gain knowledge striving day and night in the British Museum. I am reminded of a poem by the poet Mayakovsky that will shed light on this context.

“There are no fools today
to crowd, open-mouthed, round, a ‘maestro’
and await his pronouncement…….
give us a new form of art-
an art
that will pull the republic of the mud.”

The writings of Dalit writers will be taken forward to lift people-oriented democracy out of the mire of anarchy. Because Dalits were dying in this mud for centuries, only Dalits are using their art to lift the republic out of the muck.
The other side of freedom of thought is art for art’s sake. There are people in the ivory tower who say ‘art for art’s sake’.
Like Tennyson’s ‘Lady of Allot’, the congregation saw the outside world as much through the window as through their mirror; And art is also a reflection of reflection. (Imitation of an imitation) was proving Plato’s claim. But when the Dalit literary incarnates in the form of living in the world outside the window, his artificial, magical world begins to crumble. The Dalit literary thought is destroying the status quo. Seeing that the standards of beauty and literary values ​​set by them are falling, middle class mediocre writers and critics have started shouting the mantra ‘art for art’ more loudly. They started mumbling that the literature that socially conscious is not the literature at all.

The idea of ​​’art for art’s sake’ originated from Hegel’s philosophy and Kroche, an aesthetician, considered art to be autonomous, self-sufficient. Art and life were separated from this dimension. With beauty as the sole aim, figure, style took precedence and content became a secondary goal. The thought that I write only for myself began to emerge . From this, a small group of writers who wrote for themselves, writers and poets who praised each other emerged in the literary world. Sexual, distorted, escapist, nihilistic writers emerged from this dimension.

Although writers and people are interrelated, this monolithic attitude created a big gap between writing and public. This was because he was an aesthete and advocate of ‘art for art’s sake’. The writing that came forward to bring about the love and harmony between the writer and the people is called ‘Dalit literature’.

The truth is that beauty is a relative concept. I don’t think that is absolute or eternal truth. Ideas of beauty are related to the thoughts of that era, once upon a time kings and maharajas were the subjects of literature. People of Bahujan society did not feature in the writings. But today literature is moving from the upper classes to the lower classes. The life outside the village, life in the slums has become a subject of literature. That is why it is now necessary to change the idea of ​​beauty.

To explain the reason for this, I put before us the quote of Albert Camus.

“What characterizes our time, indeed, is the way the masses and their wretched condition has burst upon our contemporary sensibilities. We now know that they exist, whereas we once had a tendency to forget them. And if we are more aware… it is because the masses have become stronger and keep people from forgetting them.” (Resistance, Rebellion and Death, Knopf. 1961, pp251-52)

Aesthetic writers and critics should not forget the glory of this era.

The power of the people which is explained by ‘Camus’ is the power of the Dalit people. A Dalit writer is committed to expressing this strength.

So far, the Dalit writer has created a world full of different experiences and a different beauty. Through unique social content, themes, sentiments, style and language, he opened a new rich field in the moribund Marathi literature. But in order to express all the experiences of life that life is vast, it is necessary for a Dalit writer to reflect on the main thought. That means he can widen the circle of life philosophy, thought and experience. The Dalit writers should be aware of and closely relate to the Dalit literature in other Indian languages progressive literature, especially the movement of parallel literature in Hindi and writings that express social consciousness through rebellion against established values. Secondly, ‘Dalit literature’ has an ideological lack. It is very important to remove this error. For this reason, it would be appropriate to study the intellectual writers who have taken the right view of life. Just like intellectual writers like Sartre, Camus, Malran, Gunthergrass, Herman Hess, Norman Mailer did not just write ‘Dalit writing’, they also thought about political and social issues through writing and boldly participated in the mass movement and took the lead. The writings and works of the leaders of the ‘black literary movement’, Richard Wright, James Baldwin, Lee Roy Jones, etc., are worth studying. Buddhism has placed a lot of emphasis on knowledge. Every sutra of Buddhism prompts one to contemplate, meditate, read. It is said in the Dhammapada, a man of little knowledge grows like a bull. His mass increases but his intelligence does not increase. Keeping this in mind, it is clear how important it is for writers who want to lead the overall movement of Dalits to emphasize education.

There is a close relationship between literature and mythology and because of the rejection of non-Dalit literature by the Dalit writer, it has become necessary to fill the void of mythology and tradition created in his writings by creating new mythology. Mythology is the link between the new and the old literature and thus allows the new to become a separate unit in the traditional mainstream.

What is a myth? They are not legends or folktales. A myth is a story of gods, god-like great men, heroes, told in words that fit the ideology of primitive man. Puranakatha is the attempt of primitive man to describe the origin of the world and man in the context of the rituals of that time, so these myths form an important part of religion.

Myths are deeply rooted in literature, as they have become an integral part. Fraser’s book on anthropology ‘Golden Bow’ shows the influence and rebirth of mythology in Western literature. A revaluation of Ramayana and Mahabharata seems to be going on in Marathi literature. A Dalit writer has to find his heroes like Ram, Odysseus, Krishna and new heroes have to be created. Before the Aryas, the Naga people lived here. Civil wars took place between Nagas and Arya. Aryas enslaved and conquered Nagas. Dalit writers can find heroes and heroines for new myths from this brutal war. They can also create new myths from Buddha, his life, his disciples, his female disciples and Jataka stories. A great critic of Dalit literature, R.G. Jadhav’s writings on ‘Dalit Literature Myths’ would also be worth reading.

I would like to draw your attention to a popular form of writing that has started in America today, called New Journalism. Whatever happens in political, social or life struggle, the events or those events are presented in an interesting way without getting stuck in the constraints of the diagram is ‘New Journalism’. It started with Capote’s book ‘In Cold Blood’. Norman Mailer ‘s two books, “The Armies of The Night” and “A Five on the Moon” are of this type. It is suggested that this literary form is easy and accessible for the Dalit writer to express his burning life experience. Through this, many social injustices, atrocities,comprehensive direction and understanding of social issues are kept before the people.
I think that there is a great social need for Dalit drama as well as ideological drama. Like the means of publishing, the theater is also under the control of the establishment, so it is difficult for Dalits to enter there. Because it is not enough to write only, but also to stand it with heart. Since it does not seem to be possible to get that satisfaction, for ‘Dalit Drama ‘
it is necessary that we provide a new field of ‘drama’.

Stories, poems, novels can fulfill the need of the educated. But drama can appeal to all societies simultaneously. Considering the level of education in our society, it is important to emphasize on drama.

Jalsakars or Tamasagirs of Mahatma Phule’s society and Jalsakars of our movement have done a great work of social awareness through the folk drama ‘Tamasha’. Black writers in America recognized this universal power of drama by creating their own drama groups, Natnati, and staged black plays and performed folk plays in the vernacular from black communities, at intersections. Dalit writers should keep in mind when considering the drama genre the editors’ preface to Black Drama Anthology (Cignet, 1971) –

“If a black theater is to be born, sustain itself and justify its own being, it must go home, go home psychically, mentally, aesthetically and we think, physically.”

In order to wake up the illiterate majority of the Dalit community, it is necessary to go to their settlements and preach through drama. It is necessary to make them aware of their life, pain, plight and questions in their own language and I think Dalit writers should use this genre in large numbers.

A fundamental question arises in this context. Who are we writing for, after all? For the established class? For them to embrace us and make us sit in their circles? Or for the Dalit Brahmin who is gradually rising from Dalit? Or for someone else?

When it becomes clear who we are writing for, the writer knows how to write. From this realization comes the power of his words. So this question is important. I think Dalit writers should write for the Dalit masses only for their awareness, not after the recognition of the establishment. For Dalit people only, only for them.

But there is a warning. Dalit writers should take note of the story of birds and hunter from Sammodaman Jataka. A hunter could not hunt them when the birds were United. But when they are divided by ego, the hunter destroys each of them. I urge you never to forget this Jataka story.

Friends, we are in a battle. Don’t regret that you won’t get the pleasures, the glory, the aesthetic pleasures that writers of other classes get here. Remember what Camus said in this regard. He says-
“There is no peace for the artist other than what he finds in the heat of the combat.”

Friends, I am sure that the era of irresponsible writers is over and the Dalit writer is the pioneer of a new literary era, revolution.
(First Dalit Literature Conference, Nagpur, Presidential Address 17 January 1976)