AN OPPRESSED INDIVIDUAL AND

SOCIETY IN OM PRAKASH VALMIKI’S

JOOTHAN : A DALIT’S LIFE

Index:

 Introduction
 Who is Dalit?
 What does the word ‘Joothan’ means and how its connected to
Om Prakash Valmiki’s life ?
 Personal Humiliation
 Customs and traditions which only meant for lower caste
 Resistance and Assertion
 Conclusion
 Bibliography
Abstract:
The present paper aims at exploring the statement “an oppressed individual and society”.
Where we believe that Dalit people have to live a hellish life and the upper caste people are
responsible for this life. They are deprived of all the opportunities of life and they are kept
under suppression. They have to live segregated from the upper caste people in the village.
They have to eat joothan or left-over food. The life of the women is also not good and they
also have to live under suppression with the other male. This research will help in
understanding how a Dalit understand himself of caste and his identity in caste ridden
society?

INTRODUCTION:
The caste system is defined as a division of society based on differences of wealth, inherited
rank or privileged profession, occupation or race. In Hindu caste system, we find four fold of
caste divisions ‘Brahmins’, the priests and scholars, ‘Kshetriyas’, the warriors and
administrators, ‘Vaishyas’, the merchants, and ‘Shudras’(untouchables), the servants and
rubbish collectors. The Hindu religious theory defines that caste system was originated from
Rig-Veda. Even today the Indian society is following Varna system. Today in contemporary
Indian society the Shudras are known as the Dalits which is a Marathi word means “broken
men or oppressed”.

The main argument of this paper is that, how inferior human Om Prakash Valmiki
understands his identity as of an being lacking in self confidence owing to a low status in an
oppressive society. The high caste Indian presented Dalits as ‘mute’ and pathetic characters
who are not able to act or speak about their oppression. The treatment meted out to them was
worse than that of animals.

This paper talks about, How Dalit understands himself and his identity in caste ridden
society? He think himself as suffering individual. Throughout history the Dalits were
oppressed by every other group. They were completely pushed to the lowest strata as menial
servants. Slavery in a different form was experienced by these people. They were forced to
stay outside the village and were treated as polluted beings. An extreme form of
untouchability was experienced by these people.

Arvind P. Nirmal who was a Dalit Christian says that “They did not enjoy the nomadic
freedom. As in out-caste he/she was also cast out of his /her village”. Dalit scholar Bhagwan
Das provides a comprehensive snapshot of how untouchability affects the day - to-day lives
of Dalits today : “Land - holding upper caste people in village do not allow the Dalits to wear
decent clothes, cast votes freely, ride on a horse in marriage processions, draw water from a
public well, sit on a cot while the upper caste man is standing. A patient refuses to be treated
by a scheduled caste doctor and a house owner refuses to let a vacant house to him for the
fear of pollutions (Das 1995:58). Arjun Dangle, a writer and leader of the Dalit Panther
movement, writes “Dalit is not a caste but a realization and is related to the experiences, joys
and sorrows, and struggle of those in the lowest stratum of society. It matures with a to
science, thus finally ending as revolutionary. (Dangle 1992: 264-65)

Who is Dalit?
Dalit is not a new word. Apparently, it was used in the 1930s as a Hindi and Marathi
translation of ‘depressed classes’, a term the British used for what are now called the
scheduled Caste. In 1970s the Dalit Panthers revived the term and expanded its reference to
include scheduled tribes, poor, peasants, women and all those being exploited politically,
economically and in the name of religion. Generally, Harijans and Neo Buddhists are
included in the term, “Dalit”. They are treated as Dalit but such a narrow interpretation of the
word, “Dalit” is not acceptable to Linbale. According to Sharankarkumar Limbale, all those
who are treated as untouchables, those who are compelled to live outside the boundary of the
village, labourers, workers, people of nomadic tribe, and those who are economically
backward should also be treated as Dalits, Limbale mentions that their suffering is common
and so they should be consider as dalits.

What does the word ‘Joothan’ means and how its connected to Om
Prakash Valmiki’s life ?

The hindi word ‘joothan’ literally mean food left on eater’s plate, usually destined for
garbage pail in middle class, urban home. On other words, such food is also called ‘joothan’
if someone else beside the original eater were to eat it. Thus the word carries connotations of
ritual purity and pollution as ‘jootha’ means polluted. But English words such as ‘left overs’
or’ leavings’ are not able to express substitude for ‘Joothan’. In English it means food
remaining in the pot that can be eaten at the next meal. But the title articulate the pain,
humiliation and poverty of Om Prakash Valmikis community which not only had to rely on
joothan but also relished it. Valmiki gives us a vivid account of collecting, preserving and
eating joothan .

An oppressed individual and society: (from the perspective of Dalit)

‘Joothan’ is an autobiography by Omprakash Valmiki. Instead of celebrating self the Dalit
narrator has to record a life which is full of pain and suffering because of the caste system.
Since Dalit in India live marginalised lives their autobiographies are bound to be different
from others. By writing their autobiographies Dalit are mobilising resistance to fight against
all forms of oppressions which they have been expressing for ages. Valmiki’s story is one of
terrible grief and oppression, of survival and achievement, of his emergence as a freer human
being in a society that remains ‘compassionate towards Dalits’. My attempt in this paper is to
present an oppressed individual and society (from the perspective of Dalit). Which can be
explained by following three main points as follows.

Personal Humiliation :
As an individual a dalit cannot forget his past. The humiliation tries to remember his past.
Valmiki describes the harsh reality of his childhood in the village in Barla district of Uttar
Pradesh. He tells about the ill treatment meted out to him when he was at school because he
was an untouchable. He describes the trauma he went through when he was asked to spend
three days sweeping the school courtyard instead of accompanying his classmates belonging
to the higher castes in the study class. . There is a story which is narrated by a teacher in the
book Joothan. He is narrating a story of Drona’s poverty where his son Ashatthama got the
flour dissolved in the water, in lieu of milk. The story has been written in an epic named
Mahabharata by Vyasa. Valmiki was listening very attentively the story of Drona, Valmiki
enquired to teacher, Master Saheb Ashwatthama was given flour mixed in water instead of
milk, but what about us who had to drink mar? How come we were never mentioned in any
epic? Why didn’t any epic poet ever wrote a word on our lives? Master saheb became
furious when he listened the questions of such types and he was about to response the boy as
he asked no questions but wanted his daughter’s hand.

Taking education is the biggest crime of Valmiki in the eyes of upper caste boys and
teachers. Therefore they try all sorts of strategies against Valmiki to oust him from the
school. Valmiki reminds one such incidents when the headmaster kaliram asks him to sweep
the whole school for three days. He even threatens Omprakash to ‘shove chillies up his arse
and throw him out of the school’ in case he denies to do so(pp.4-5). He says “I was kept out
of extracurricular activities. On such occasions I stood on the margins like spectator. During
the annual functions of the school, such as rehearsals of the play, I too wished for a role. But I
always had to stand outsides the door. The so called descendants of the gods cannot
understand the anguish of standing outsides the door.”

Om prakash valmiki has to face many problems in his life. The untouchability was not
supported by the upper caste people only even the lower class people from different castes
also support it. One day Om Prakash wanted to get his clothes ironed from a dhobi. A boy
from his class belonged to dhobhi family and his father did the same job. Om Prakash,
thinking that his friend will definitely iron his clothes, went there. But he finds that his family
neither washed nor ironed the clothes of the people from lower caste such as chuhars and
chamars then the upper caste people wont take their services.

“Why is my caste my only identity?” This one query leads the reader into introspection. In
India caste has always defined the socio-political scenario of the country. Whether it is the
debate on the reservation policy for government jobs and education to aid the socially and
economically backward classes or political gimmickry, everything has an undertone of caste
and religion. Valmiki highlights the fact that education is not the solution to the ills of the
caste system. On having been mistaken for a Brahmin because of his adopted last name,
“Valmiki” (used to denote a community of untouchables in Uttar Pradesh) he found out that
just the revelation of his real caste to well-educated middle class people was received by
shock and a sudden change of attitude towards him.

Even his own relatives were hesitant to invite him for a wedding as he refused to let go of his
last name because it would reveal their caste. Omprakash Valmiki constantly stresses on the
differences between the Dalits and the caste Hindus, the Savarnas, with respect to their
various religious beliefs and customs, he subtly contests the belief that the oppression of the
Dalits by the Savarnas is justified as per the Hindu religious laws because the pork-eating
Dalits living on the outskirts of villages and towns actually do not belong to the Hindu
religion.

Valmiki writes that despite government undertaking for the development of oppressed
classes, through reservations, their achievements are hardly noticed and are ridiculed often.
Many of us, at some stage of our lives have been discriminated against because we belong to
a community and due to our beliefs and practices. The mention of Caste, Community, and
Religion on admission forms to school and colleges is one such example. Just being an Indian
is rather insufficient to get our basic rights. Isn’t it ironical that with every step our country
takes towards “development”, the same issues crop up again and again?

Customs and traditions which only meant for lower caste:

There were various customs which actually serve to ‘demoralise’ and ‘degrade’ a Dalit. One
such custom valmiki protests againt is the practice among Dalit where the bridegrooms and
brides go from door-to-door for salaam. Valmiki raises his voice against the custom of the
low caste bride and bridegroom going from door to door to pay respect to the upper caste
people. He opposes it vehemently saying, “the bridegroom goes from door to door at his own
wedding. It is awful. The bridegrooms of the higher castes don’t have to do
that’’(valmiki,32). He makes his people realize and arouses the consciousness that “it is caste
pride that is behind this centuries old custom. The deep chasm that divides the society is
made even deeper by this custom. It is a conspiracy to trap us in the whirlpool of inferiority.
Many a time, not just bridegrooms but the brides too have to endure terrible humiliation.
When an illiterate girl from a poor family comes to live among strangers, she is already
feeling overwhelmed. Taking her door-to-door for salaam makes it excruciatingly painful for
her”. (valmiki,33).

Customs and traditions are attached to people and their culture. But the upper caste people
imposed certain intolerable customs on Dalits. The tradition of Salam is one of the big
celebrations among Bhangi community. It means the newly wedded bride and bridegroom
should go to the upper caste people’s street and salute in order to get some gifts or money.
Omprakash had a big argument with Hiram Singh for going to do the Salam. But he went
with Hiram Singh to do the Salam. For Salam both of them walk on the street of upper caste
people and Hiram Singh mother-in-low demands for something else which is given to the
newly married couple. Another tradition of Bhangi community is that whether it was a
wedding or birth or death, it was essential to worship the God and Goddess. Third tradition of
Bhangi community is that to offer piglet cocks and rams to the God and Goddess to be found
in their village.

A person who feels unwell in Bhangi basti, instead of treating him with medicine, people
tried things like getting rid of the evil spirit that was deemed to be the cause by tying threads,
talismans, spells, and on. If disease was prolonged or got serious, they called bhagat for
pucha or exorcism. The pucha is a ceremony of bhagat or baba which makes a person free
from the control of ghosts and spirits. Such ceremony edifies the god which is known as
Paun. God Kalwa, Hari Sinh Nalwa and Others also worshiped in the Dalit society. Bhangi
basti had strange ideas about ghosts and spirits. If there was someone feels sick, a bhagat or
baba would be called instead of Doctor. The Bhangis were believes that bhagat or baba is the
mediator of god and being influence of god he talks to the ghost. When he caught the
insatiate soul he demands pigs, roosters, rams ad liquor for offering to the gods. Such hungry
god and goddess worshiped in every house of Bhangi basti. They are different from Hindu
deities and could not found in any Purana epic like book. But these are worshiped in any
family or clan where there is birth, festival, wedding, or funeral ceremony.

Omprakash narrates, when he was at Dehradun, during summer holydays, he felt sick with
dysentery, which took a longtime to get better. Therefore, he comes back to village before the
school re-opened. His father tried to show a number of quacks but the physical condition of
Omprakash did not improve. As a result he became awfully weak. Finally, is father called out
the Bhagat from Kendki who examined and said to his pitaji: ‘Why do you bother about
doctors and medicines…He has become possessed by a spirit.’(Valmiki,42). Being
observation all the Bhgat starts his puja and mantras to relieve Omprakash from the control of
spirit. He makes frightening sound and to flashed the whip in the air and on his back. It was
not tolerable to him, therefore, he shouted on the Bhagat and said to his father, ‘He will kill
me if you don’t stop him. I don’t have any spirit sticking to me.’ [valmiki: 43] In this way,
Omprakash saved his life from superstitious people.

The caste system still encourages the institutionalised discrimination of lower caste women
by upper caste men, all across India and South East Asia. There are many examples of unfair
practices that bind women to prostitution based on caste. One such is devadasi system.
Girls as young as 11 are married to goddess Yellamma (Renuka) in a ceremony where a red
and white beaded necklace is tied around their necks, signifying a life of bondage. They are
then not allowed to marry any man, and implicitly become sex slaves for upper caste men. At
times, priests convince the parents that dedicating their daughters would help family
members be reborn as Brahmins in their next life. They even allow family members the right
to enter temples normally closed off to the lower castes. At other times, rich landowners
exploit families by paying for the girl’s dedication as a devadasi in exchange for spending the
first few nights with her. When priests and other upper caste men sleep with a devadasi, they
claim it is the goddess’ desires that they are appeasing. Dalit women being sexually abused
by the upper castes in various forms is routine all across the country. Women from lower
castes who were traditionally dancers and performers, such those of the Bedin community of
north and central India, were never allowed to marry. However, upper caste men were
allowed to keep them as concubines. And if a child was born, only the mother would be
responsible for its upbringing. Today, many of these performers are moving to beer bars in
Bombay and Dubai, as possibility of other work is poor, and money is more in the cities.

Omprakash narrates,” once he had to take a stay at Master Vedpal Tyagi’s house, who had
left teaching and become a clerk in the roadways. There were two charpais in his little room.
A couple of clothes hung on the hooks on the wall. I hadn’t even felt the ropes on the bare
charpai. Master Vedpal had stretched out on the other charpai. It hadn’t been more than ten or
fifteen minutes when someone called. Master Vedpal opened the door. A man and a woman
were standing outsides. Vedpal called them in. The woman had come inside the room. After
sometime he asked me to come out. It’s just for the night. Lie down on the floor. Those two
were inside. After sometime, strange noises began to come from inside. The charpai was too
making a loud creaking sound. I was trying to understand the significance of these sounds.
After sometime that man had come out of the room. And Vedpal had gone into the room.
After a short while those strange noises started again. My breathing had become rapid and I
beginning to sense what was happening. The sounds had stopped. And he came out both of
them were cracking vulgar jokes. The whole night was spent in this way. How did that
woman feel about it, I could not even imagine at that time. When I think of that woman
today, I begin to feel nauseated. What helplessness had brought her to them? Did she come
willingly? A woman surrending to two men, even today my mind refuses to accept it”.

Those born at the bottom are made to remember their birth in the market as well as in the
temple; through the only thing they have that society needs – their bodies.

Image of Pig:
Like Indian cow, pig was an important part of Bhangi lives. At any ways like in sickness, in
life or death, in any feast or wedding ceremonies pig played a vital role in their lives. Even
their religious ceremony could not fulfill without pig. Though it was symbol of dirty, but for
them the existence of pig was a way of prosperity and a sign of richness. Mata puja was
important for basti people. There was a tradition of offering piglets, cocks and rams to the
Mata. Every house in the basti raised poultry and pigs for this occasion. It was a way of
making a little money, a little bit of relief from dire need. Once Valmiki had to deal with the
customer as his father was unable to go since there was so much to be done at home. He
carried piglet on his shoulders he found it very hard to walk with an eight or ten kilo piglet on
his shoulders. The man walked ahead of him at a fast space. He was hampered by the piglet’s
weight and kept falling behind. The man called his wife, and she came with some rice and
turmeric in a thali. His wife touched its ears and forehead with turmeric and rice and loudly
said ‘Mata ki jai’ the man said to him here take the knife and begin. Those moments were no
less than a horrifying blast for him.
Resistance and Assertion:
Valmiki presents his experiences. There is caste system in India even today. One day Valmiki
was invited to go to the teacher’s house to take some grain. There, they (His friend and
Valmiki) were welcomed with open arm. The elders of the house offered them meal. As soon
as they finished their meal, they were asked a question which revealed their identity. And
then they were tied with rope to the tree. The people of the upper caste behaved with them as
they have raped an upper class girl.

He asserts:

I answered his question, ‘We are of the Chuhra caste.’ Both exclaimed together,
‘Chuhra?’ Lifting a heavy stick from underneath the charpai, the elder hit Bhikhuram on his
back. He had a lot of strength and Bhikhuram crumbled. Obscenities began to rain from the
elder’s mouth. His eyes were fierce and his skinny body was harbouring the devil. We had
dared to eat in their dishes and sit on their charpai, a crime in his eyes. I was standing below
the porch, frightened. The elder was screaming and his voice had drawn a crowd. Many
people suggested that we should be tied to a rope and hung from the tree. (51)

The notion of caste system has not been changed if even the lower caste people got
education. They were behaved worse than the beasts. They had no value in the society. An
animal was worshiped in those days but person who belongs to the lower caste had no place
in the society.

Further Valmiki talks against the practice of disposing dead cattle. Dalits were made to do the
filthy job of disposing the dead cattle of their employers and they were never paid for it. One
day Valmiki’s father was not at home so Valmiki had to do this job in his place. He came
home covered in muck from top to toe, his sister- in- law revolted against it and told his
mother clearly not to make him do that work, that they can bear hunger instead of dragging
him into dirt. Those words of her, as Valmiki tells shine like a light in the darkness for him.
This description reveals the plight of Dalit children who are shunned and have their
childhood shattered because of the cruel practices of the caste-system. Valmiki says “For this
hard work, the only recompense is curses… What a cruel society we live in where hard
labour has no value. This is a conspiracy to keep us in perpetual poverty” (34)

The impact of the humiliations is so deep that those lucky people among the Dalits, who
come out of the barbaric environment of their respective villages, still feel that the wounds of
bitter memories are fresh in their hearts. As Valmiki tells that even after leaving his village
Barla, such memories remained permanently in his mind “Their bitter taste is still lurking in
some corner of my mind and comes to fore at the slightest provocation” (66). He says again
“I feel amazed when I look upon those days and the things I learnt to tolerate. How much my
ability to tolerate hurts flung at me has taken out of me?” (69).
Political suppression is also resisted by Valmiki when he talks about the way a prominent
Dalit leader like Bhimrao Ambedkar didn’t find much mention either in media or in literary
representations. He says “There would be speeches on Republic Day when narratives of
Devotion to the country were repeatedly told, but they never included the name of the maker
of the constitution. All the media of communication had been unable to inform people like
me about this name” (71).

Not mentioning Ambedkar means preventing the masses from admiring Dalit leadership. If
the framer of the constitution can receive such neglect, how can the plight of the common
Dalits be better? He openly expresses his contempt for Gandhi saying that “I had realised that
by naming the untouchables Harijans. Gandhi had not helped them to join the national
mainstream, but had saved the Hindus from becoming a minority” (72).

The way Valmiki’s father resists serves as a source of inspiration to all those who bear such
exploitations mutely. The lowly status of the Dalits in the caste hierarchy leads to their
exclusion from educational institutions. This incident reveals the reaction of such subjugated
people who refuse to tolerate the oppression and stands up against the atrocities. On another
occasion when Valmiki’s teacher asked him to bring drinking water for him hence putting
him into a very confusing situation. On one hand was Valmiki’s respect for the teacher’s
order and on the other was his caste which prevented him from touching the pitcher of water
and then serving water to a high-caste teacher. The teacher on getting to know Valmiki’s
caste refused to drink the water served by him. Valmiki expresses his reaction at the teacher’s
behaviour by saying that though that teacher had a degree in mathematics, he was a coward
who did not have the courage to drink water from an untouchable’s hand. This incident
reveals the reality of Indian social life where the common water sources are not common at
all; they are instead branded by the divisive line of caste which is followed even by the well-
educated teachers. It shows how the social exclusion is maintained by the varying practice of
untouchability and the outright denial of water offered by any untouchable.

Valmiki openly describes the evils of the society. He tells that upper-caste people being rich
used to provide loans to the poor untouchables. The cunningness of such people is revealed
by the author. He tells about a man Teja Taga, who used to offer loans to the villagers used
take advantage of his privileged position. When some money was needed for Valmiki’s
study, his family went to him. Instead of helping them instantly, he asked for pork and liquor
before he would give loan. The people of his caste who used to call themselves vegetarians
and never accepted the food offered by the untouchables; did not refrain from eating pork at
the untouchable home. Valmiki describes him in this way “Suckling at the pork slices his face
resembled a spotted dog’s. His eyes red from drinking had looked satanic” (18). Thus the
concepts of purity and pollution in the caste-system are used as weapons to deprive the Dalits
of social privileges. The touch of an untouchable could contaminate higher caste people in
daylight, but in the darkness of night the untouchability vanishes, and they can eat at an
untouchable home without getting polluted. In other words, untouchability is a relative thing.
Its exercise depends on the will of so-called higher caste people. They have the authority to
decide when to get contaminated and when to remain unaffected.
One can say that Valmiki has been successful in answering the famous question ‘can the
subaltern speak?’ posed by Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak. Though Spivak asks this question
with reference to colonizer and colonized, here the question is between Dalits and non-Dalits,
which is, in many ways similar to that of the colonizer and colonized. Their relationship is of
domination and subordination which is constituted by using the power of religion. Valmiki
speaks for all those to have been under subservience for ages. For ages the Dalits have
constantly been pushed to periphery with the conscious efforts of the dominating community.
They are made to endure humiliation silently for so long that the higher castes have now
started believing that they do not hold any grudge or repentance over this. Valmiki proves
that the people at the centre cannot suppress the marginalized voices forever. Once they find
their way to voice their anger and anguish, they ceased to be marginalized. They have to
speak in order to register their existence.

Socially subjugated, culturally segregated and politically marginalized, Dalit community

have been the most vulnerable in terms of the denial of human rights. With the sanction of the
religion Dalits have been systematically robbed of their rights and reduced to the state of utter
powerlessness. Joothan is the narrative of assertion of identity as well as of questioning the
identity which promises a high status in the Hindu society. He has vocalised the opinion of
millions of those who are placed at the bottom of caste- hierarchy.

CONCLUSION:

Thus through this paper I have explored how their caste becomes a stigma for Dalits. It
follows them wherever they go. They are not given equal opportunities in their life and that’s
why they have to adopt the inferior kind of occupations for their livelihood. Thus, under such
circumstances they live a life that is lived only for the survival in pain and they are not able to
enjoy a bit of their life. Therefore they understands their identity as of an being lacking in
self confidence owing to a low status in an oppressive society. Statistics compiled by India's
National Crime Records Bureau indicate that in the year 2000, the last year for which
figures are available, 25,455 crimes were committed against Dalits. Every hour two Dalits
are assaulted; every day three Dalit women are raped, two Dalits are murdered, and two
Dalit homes are torched. Despite the fact that untouchability was officially banned when
India adopted its constitution in 1950, discrimination against Dalits remained so pervasive
that in 1989 the government passed legislation known as The Prevention of Atrocities Act.
The act specifically made it illegal to parade people naked through the streets, force them to
eat feces, take away their land, foul their water, interfere with their right to vote, and burn
down their homes.

In August 2002, the UN Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (UN
CERD) approved a resolution condemning caste or descent-based discrimination. But at the
national level, very little is being done to implement or enforce the laws," said Narula. We
may be a democratic republic, but justice, equality, liberty and fraternity-the four basic tenets
promised in the Preamble of our Constitution-are clearly not available to all. Dalits continue
to be oppressed and discriminated against in villages, in educational institutions, in the job
market, and on the political battlefront, leaving them with little respite in any sphere or at any
juncture of their lives.

Citation:

Valmiki Omprakash, and Arun Prabha Mukherjee. Joothan: a Dalits Life. Bhatkal & Sen,
2015. Print

“chapter4.” Dalit Personal Narratives: Reading Caste, Nation and Identity, by Raj Kumar,
Orient BlackSwan, 2011, pp. 117–117. Print

jha, ajit kumar. "The Dalits | Still Untouchable". India Today, 2016,
http://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/the-big-story/story/20160215-dalits-untouchable-rohith-
vemula-caste-discrimination-828418-2016-02-03. Accessed 2 Dec 2018.

Tayade, Narendra S. and Umesh G. Tayade. “A Study of Joothan as a Narration of Pain”. An

International Journal in English, vol. 3, May-June. 2017.

Bijalwan Dr.Richard, and Dr. Danesh M. Bartwal. “Omprakash Valmiki’s Joothan: An

Untouchable’s Narrative of an Untouchable’s Life Through Translation”. An International
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