Mahasweta Devi's short story "Rudali" examines the life of Sanichari, a low-caste woman living in a rural Indian village. Throughout her life, Sanichari endures immense hardship and exploitation as a result of her gender and social status. She is forced to work as a bonded laborer after her husband's death to pay off debts. The death of her son and other family members further impoverishes her. With no other means of survival, Sanichari takes up the profession of "Rudali," wailing and lamenting for the dead at funerals of the wealthy, in exchange for payment. The story depicts how Sanichari and other "subalterns"
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The theme of subalternity in mahasweta devi’s Rudali
Mahasweta Devi's short story "Rudali" examines the life of Sanichari, a low-caste woman living in a rural Indian village. Throughout her life, Sanichari endures immense hardship and exploitation as a result of her gender and social status. She is forced to work as a bonded laborer after her husband's death to pay off debts. The death of her son and other family members further impoverishes her. With no other means of survival, Sanichari takes up the profession of "Rudali," wailing and lamenting for the dead at funerals of the wealthy, in exchange for payment. The story depicts how Sanichari and other "subalterns"
Mahasweta Devi's short story "Rudali" examines the life of Sanichari, a low-caste woman living in a rural Indian village. Throughout her life, Sanichari endures immense hardship and exploitation as a result of her gender and social status. She is forced to work as a bonded laborer after her husband's death to pay off debts. The death of her son and other family members further impoverishes her. With no other means of survival, Sanichari takes up the profession of "Rudali," wailing and lamenting for the dead at funerals of the wealthy, in exchange for payment. The story depicts how Sanichari and other "subalterns"
The theme of subalternity in mahasweta devis Rudali
Mahaswetha Devi was born in 1926 in Dhaka, in a privileged middle-class
Bengali family. She is an extraordinary woman who has written and fought for the marginalized tirelessly for the past six decades. she is a culmination of an activist and a writer working for the betterment of subaltern in her own way of protesting against the atrocities on down trodden by the main stream society. Mahaswetha Devis literary oeuvre comprises stories around contemporary social and political realities, a majority of which span a reasonably free time range in independent India, and are located in fictitious or real. It has been the point of argument and debate that only a Dalit writer can well understand the afflictions of the Dalit community in which he or she is living. But Mahasweta Devi presents a different story because despite being a non-dalit, she can very well capture the essence of Dalit experience. So this writer with a humane approach has proved the aforesaid notion wrong. All her short stories and novels bear the testimony to the fact that she is the true representative of the voice of the subalterns. All the major characters of her works like Jashoda, Draupadi, Dhowli, Doulati, Gangor present a vulnerable picture of the gendered subaltern and sometimes the human condition shown in these literary works presents a very gloomy and cursed picture of the female Dalit charac- ters. One of her short stories Douloti the Bountiful sums up the plight of all the subaltern women who are sexually and economically exploited Doulati is all over India Rudali by Mahaswetha Devi is a powerful indictment of the socio- economic system in India. It also comes as an attack on vestiges of feudalism in rural India. It is ironical that in India, woman is regarded as a representation of Goddess yet she is exploited and marginalized by the upper classes. Rudali records the transformation of Sanichari and her empowerment. Sanichari, the principal character on whom the story concords around is a ganju woman. she is the representative of the gendered subaltern, the subject who is both low caste and woman at the same time. The life of sanichari is used by the writer as metonymy to represent the life of community altogether which at the same time the reality in Indian villages. Economical and social status of an individual depends on the caste and family they are born in. They have their own limitations and are forced to abide by the rules and regulation of the village In Rudali she portrays the low cast women as victim and as a potentially subversive agent in the phallogocentric brahmanical patriarchy and its values sphere and epistemology. The de-sentimentalized and detached narrative of the novel presents the hopeless predicament of sanichari and fellow low caste women in a north Indian village of brahmanic verna and caste patriarchy in the later half of the twentieth century the news between caste, phallocentrism and feudalism is the hegemonic structure in this typical rural north Indian village, that shockingly breaks the stereotypes and the romanticized images of the village. Sanichari was a ganju by caste like the other villagers her life too was lived in desperate poverty. Mahaswetha Devi with the help of the life of sanichari makes the reader to get an idea of the picture of the whole community. How the upper class Brahmins dominate the life of lower class people of the community. The desperate poverty suffered by them makes sanichari as well as the subalterns who are dominated by the ruling elite in every every aspect of their life. Even her psychological aspect of grief is dominated by the upper class in the modes of religion and rituals. Sanichari didnt cry when her mother-in- law died, as her husband and brother- in-law were away in jail; the most important thing to her at that night is to cremate her mother-in-law before dawn keeps her away of wailing. Ramavatar Singhs callous nature is revealed in the very beginning of the short story, as he locks up all the ganjus and dhushads for a meager loss of wheat. It was a threat to the community altogether that they will be thrown out of the village. The same psychological subalternity keeps recurring in her life with the death of her brother-in-law and his wife. Sanichari is afraid of religious rituals and ceremonials to be under taken after their cremation. This resists her to control her grief. Death becomes relief to sanichari as at least their own stomachs would be full. Subaltern view of survival is prevailing in every scene of the story. The most disastrous thing happens after this which is the death of her own husband, her responsibility to bring up her son and the religious rituals to be offer persists her stone heart to remain calm after her husbands death. In order to appease Mohanlal, she was forced in to debt to Ramavatar ; she received Rs.20 and put her thumb print on a paper stating that she would repay Rs50 through bonded labour on his fields over the next five years.(Rudali p.74,75) Capitalist ideology of dominating the lower class people with debts is shown when Mahaswetha Devi writes that Ramavatar singh faced a lot of criticism when he wipes out the debt of sanichari at his uncles death. Dominant class in the society want the subaltern to work like a cattle. Through out the story her mind is occupied in finding a way to feed their stomachs which dominates the sensitive feelings she has. Burning stomach makes her to find means of feeding it not to find emotional satisfaction by weeping before the corpse of her family. While hauling sacks of wheat for Ramavatars son Lachman,Budhua,sanicharis son contracted the wasting fever and hacking cough of tuberculosis.Though they are aware of the impending danger by working in Lachman singhs godown,there is no other means of employment to survive for the subaltern.Sanicharis dream of building a life around Budhua are harshly thrashed by the death of her son Budhua and her daughter in laws dispersal from her house makes her to take the responsibility of bringing up her grandson Horoa.With the child in her arms,she busied herself cremating Budhua and tending off queries about her daughter-in- law. Nor could she cry,she would sit ,stunned;then fell in to exhausted slumber. (Rudali p.80) With the co-operation given by Dulans wife in bringing up Horoa by letting him drink milk from Dhatuas wife and sharing means shows the way subaltern shares the owes of other subaltern.The bondage and relationship between subalterns in this community is shown better than the ruling elite. Inorder to survive,the poor and oppressed need the support of the other poor and oppressed.(Rudali p.82) Horoa when grown up is taken to Lachman singh to work. Exploitation is hereditary to both the subaltern and the exploiter. Though corporal punishment is banned,Horoa is kicked and beat by Lachman singh with his slipper. Brutality and callous nature of ruling elite on subaltern who work for their meager wages and food is unbearable to Horoas young blood and he flees away with a music band. While searching for her grandson in a marketplace she meets her childhood friend Bikhni, who becomes a companion to sanichari. From then on the story undergoes a transformation where both the friends become professional Rudalis.Though sanichari was against Rudalis profession in the beginning, she is forced to become a Rudali because of material constraints. Subalterns body, mind ,spirit are dominated by the ruling elite. Her tears which must be used for her emotional satisfaction turn to a commodity to fill her stomach. Here we need to discuss an interesting character Dulan,a knowledged subaltern and his perception towards the social system of the village and his capacity to guide his co-villagers to find a means of livelihood makes him important in this story. He empowers and enlightens Sanichari and Bikhni to find an easy means of employment to feed them using the hypocratic social rituals of elite class, Sanichari who was resisted to express her grief through out her life for her familys collapse finally wails ,laments, roars before the corpses of rich man in the society for her own survival. Subalterns forced grief is used by the ruling elite to increase the reputation of their own family. slowly they prosper with Rudali work. As she filled her stomach on chivda and gur,sanichari thought that perhaps her tears had been reserved for the time when she would have to feed herself by selling them.(Rudali p.No-93) The death of feudal lord is the for establishing caste honor and supremacy. They couldnt get time to lament for their own family members and appoint Rudalis for wailing before them but they worry about their supremacy on lower castes. Subaltern perception towards their relationship is, they are busy in finding the keys of dead man instead of lamenting for his death. Amongst us, when someone dies, we all mourn. Amongst rich, family members are too busy trying to find the keys to the safe. they forget all about tears.(Rudali P.No.91) This system is used by Sanichari and her friend Bikhni to survive. Her fate secludes her once again with the death of Bikhni.Subaltern is not only dominated by the dominant class but also the nature and fate deceives her. With the death of Bikhni she is forced to go to the Tohri market to find co- rudalis where she accepts her daughter-in-law who became a whore after leaving home. The author narrating the story of sanichari reveals the life of other women who succumb to the temptation of becoming whores to malik mahajans to enjoy the comforts of life when they are young like her daughter-in-law. These subalterns and their children are thrown away to the whore market when they become old. Gayathri chakravarthy spivak in her essay A literary representation of the subaltern writes In the case of class- manipulation, poverty[ is]the fault of the individuals,not an intrinsic part of a class society;in the case of caste manipulation,the implicit assumption is the reverse:the Brahmin is systemically excellent not necessarily so as an individual.(p.352) Subalterns in Rudali silently bares the brutality of elite class in no way they think of a better world for themselves.They lead life according to the wish of elite class and struggle for their survival. Its the malik-mahajans whove turned them into whores,ruined them, then kicked them out,isnt that so?( Rudali P.no-115) Its the malik- mahajans whove turned them into whores,ruined them, then kicked them out,isnt that so?( Rudali P.no-115) By the end of the story sanichari leads the team of Rudalis to wail before the corpse of Gambir singh turning more empowered in sustaining in a dominant society. Rudali as an Epitome of Caste, Class and Gender Subalternity: Analysis Mahasweta Devi, documents the economic, social and religious oppression experienced by the Dalit women in her short fiction Rudali. The women in this story suffer from the triple oppression that is of caste, class and gender. The text glorifies the death of the feudal lords to establish their caste supremacy. In the past, in case of upper-castes, if any of the members die, the dominant community expressed remorse not over the dead but the fact that his or her death came as a major blow to their dominance on lower classes: Hai, Chacha! As long as you were alive, the lower castes never dared raise their heads. For fear of you the sons of dushads and ganjus never dared attend govt. Schools. Now who will take care of all these things? (88). The tradition is still preva-lent in some remote parts of the country.In the text under analysis, the dead man, Bhairav Singh the chacha was the source of nuisance for the lower caste ganjus and dushads of the village. His nephew Lachman Singh made every possible effort to make burial a grand occasion just to show his caste superiority. It is the Brahmanic patriarchy that snatches the honour of gendered subaltern by making them wail over the dead body of high caste lords. On this occasion, Sanichari and Bikhni, for the first time enter the wailing profession that both humiliating and lucrative not for them but for the whole dalit female community. This short narrative is the saga of two Dalit women, Sanichari and Bikhni who adopt the various strategies of survival to emphasize the fact that their problems are common to their class, caste and gender. Sanichari and Bikhni represent the whole dalit community around them. Anjum Katyal states The individual is historicised, not highlighted to the exclusion of context (3).The problems of Sanichri are perpetuated by the socio-religious set-up and her own poverty where the idea of her empowerment seems to be ridiculous and even utopian. The religious system controls these women through subtle, unreligious methods where empty rituals provide comforts to the pot-bellied priests and poor are left to fend for themselves. When Sanicharis mother-in-law dies, she can not even cry because she was busy in doing empty rituals. Her husband dies of cholera after drinking the contaminated milk donated to the Shiva idol by the rich. Her son Budhua dies of tuberculosis while he was working in the fields of Ramavatars son Lachman Singh. Later she is deserted by her daughter-in-law Parbatia and her grandson Harao because they can not cope up with the hard conditions. Bikhni, another Dalit female character shares the same fate like that of Sanichari and starts living with her in Tahad village. The turning point in their life comes when Dulan the male member of their community inspires them to take up the profession of rudalis. Dulan is the symbol of the community support that is very important to sustain life in the trying circumstances. He helps them in learning the philosophy of optimism that there is hope against hope even in the worst circumstances. The strategy of struggle for survival is the main argument of the writer. When the poor Dalit women, especially Sanichari and Bikhni find no other way to survive, they opt for the profession of mourning through the able guidance of Dulan in which they seek their social and economic renaissance. This commodification of grief turns out to be the blessing in disguise for these two disgruntled old but bold ladies and hence this profession of wailing has been enlivened by the duo of Sanichri and Bikhni who put heart and soul in this otherwise heartless profession. When Bhairav Singh died, his family members got the chance to show their prestige off. The first performance of Sanichri and Bikhni as wailors made them famous in the area. They left no stone unturned in out-performing randis. They wail and sang songs in praise of Bhairav Singh. Their wailing was so strong and domineering that even the randis had to admit defeat. It was after Bhairav Singhs funeral that their demand increased and hence it had become a war of prestige for the rich of the area to invite the duo of Sanichri and Bikhni as wailors. This short story also propounds the idea that resistance does not bring any major changes in the lives of the subalterns and gendered subalterns are all the more on the periphery. The characters like Sanichari and Bikhni represent all the dalit women whose pattern of living has been almost the same for a long time. If there are any changes, they are mere the travesty of human existence. Hence their evolutionary development does not promise any big-bang reforms in their lives. The women described in the text Rudali, do not fall in the category of pure subaltern rather they are the women of vision. However, they can not progress fast because they are cornered by multiple forms of oppression. Although India is the fourth biggest economy of the world, but the distribution of resources is not equally distributed. It is ironical that a handful of dalit women compete for top posts in the executive and political arena while others fight for bare survival. In twenty first century India, women have come out of their stereotypical images but as far as the dalit women of back-ward areas are concerned they live in an unjust world order who still lag behind because of the dominant factors of caste and gender that have always been instrumental in impeding their progress. Sanichari and Bikhni take the extreme steps of doing the job of rudali for their bare survival that can be termed as the travesty of human existence. These two characters can be clubbed in the category of Jashoda who figures in the short story The Breast Giver, who for her survival though belonging to a Brahmin family takes the extreme step of breastfeeding the children of the Haider family. She conceives every year so that she may breastfeed the children of the Haider family. For women like these Considerations of the stomach are more important than anything else The author devotes much of the text to trace their evolution into a professional team of wailers. Sanichri joins the profession after a lot of mental debate whereas Bikhni feels no qualms about joining this lucrative profession. It is Dulan who helps them in becoming rudalis but Sanichri raises some doubts about the adaptability and respectability of this promising profession. She demurs Wont there be talk in the village (92). Bikhni seems to have adopted this profession more ardently and religiously because it is she who brings news of the death of some rich landlord or Mahajan. They also dont feel shy in striking the bargain and their presence can be felt on all the occasions. Dulan acted as a true mentor to Sanichri even after Bikhnis death. He pleaded like a lawyer and exhorted her not to give up her profession at any cost. He states ...Your profession of funeral wailing is like your land. (114). He even exhorts Sanichri to bring back her daughter-in-law in the business of wailing, who is a prostitute at the Tohri village but Sanichri frowns at the idea. He has the firm belief that the abstract words like fate have nothing to do with the sad state of affairs of Sanichri and Bikhni.So it wont be wrong to comment here that Sanichari and Bikhni, true matriarchs in patriarchal set-up, try to defy cardboard stereotypes. They are the women who show more agency and independence and hence set healthy precedents for others to follow. If there had been no agency in their lives, it would have been like a war without purpose. So whatever the circumstances, they become the captains of their own fate, though they know that there is no hope of social and economic renaissance in their standard of living, they believe in making an effort to steer themselves to the ever expanding path of struggle and perseverance without much hope of economic and social renaissance in their standard of living