Key words: Autobiography, discrimination, Gender, Violence and Caste.

Baby Kamble was born on 2nd Feb 1929 in phaltan village, Maharashtra. Kamble has
recorded that she was the only girl child of her parents. She was married at the age of thirteen to
Kondiba Kamble. Kamble is a social activist. She established an orphanage for children from the
backward castes. She has been involved in the activities of educational institutions. She got
Dr.B.R.Ambedkar award for The Prisons we Broke. In her book, she discusses the suffering and
pathos of Dalit women. She exposes her thought in her autobiography, the oppression and
exploitation of the Dalit by the upper class and also the discrimination of women in a patriarchal
society is depicted in her autobiography.
The Prisons We Broke humanizes the Dalit movement in India (New Indian express), It
transcend boundaries of personal narrative and is at once a sociological treatise, a historical and
political record, a feminist critique, a protest against Hinduism and the sordid memoir of a cursed
community (The Hindu). These two references printed on the cover of the book, speak volumes
of Baby Kambles autobiography. It is not an ordinary autobiography written about her but it is
about her whole community. Baby Kamble in her interview to Maya Pandit says that I wrote
about what my community experienced. The suffering of my people became my own suffering.
Their experience became mine. So, I really find it very difficult to think of myself outside of my
community (136). She dedicates the book for all my comrades who wish to change the world
shows her commitment to write the book. Her comrades are drown trodden people her aim is to
change the world with their help.
The Prisons We Broke was translated by Maya Pandit, the Marathi original being Jina
Amucha a highlight in the history of Dalit writing in Marathi. It is probably the first
autobiography by a Dalit woman not only in Marathi but also in any Indian language. The
Prision we Broke is an iconic work in Marathi Dalit literature. This gives a narrative account of
the life of her community and herself. It narrates how Dalit had been silenced for centuries up
on upper caste. In introduction of the book the translator Maya pandit expresses her view that
there are many dalit writer in india (among them Daya pawar), we find Dalit literature in field of
poetry, fictional and narrative autobiography The Prisons We Broke comes under the category
of autobiography like Madhav Kondvilkars Mukkam Post Devache Gothane, Shankarrao
Kharats Taral Antaral. It is sited in this tradition of direct self-assertion. Though it is

autobiography it reflects brahminical hegemony in one hand and patriarchal on the other. The
Autobiography describes the Dalit womans physical and psychological violence and how
women have undergone violence in both the public and private sphere. In this broader spectrum,
she narrates her account of life and it is an inner quest of herself discovery.
The Autobiography begins with Baby Kamble childhood. It portrays a realistic picture of
Maharashtra. In this book she has recorded that the Mahars were ignorant and they could not
find whether a child suffering from fever was alive or dead. When she was two and half years old
she was declared to be dead by her family member because she had fallen unconscious. She was
about to be buried. However, one of her elderly relatives there noticed that Kamble was still
alive, by this she was saved. Kamble says that many such alive but unconscious children were
buried in those days just because of a lack of awareness among the Mahars.
For centuries Dalit were alienated from the general society by the upper caste people. The
Dalits were being cut off from the village, because they thought Dalit were unclean, impure,
polluting and untouchable. Because of this reason they became uneducated, ignore, innocent.
After listening to the speech of Ambedkar Dalit community encouraged their children to send to
school and learnt to habit of cleanliness. Like other Dalit students Kamble too was humiliated,
harassed and discriminated by the high caste classmates and also by her teachers. In the class
room Kamble and her classmates who were Mahar caste was ill-treated by the upper caste
students. This reflects how the Dalit people change their attitude by rebelling on the upper caste
people who humiliates them. This incident projects how the Dalit pupil broke down the cloches
of silence and fight for equality. After silence Dalit girls raised their voice against the high caste
girls.
Once the Dalit political activist B.R.Ambedkar the architect of Indian constitution who
established the people education society gave a speech on the importance of education
addressing the Dalits. His desire was to empower the Dalit community. Previously Dalit children
were not education. Dalit life totally changed by one of the most important Dalit political
activists who saw the value of social equity within India was Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, who
became the chief architect of Indias constitution after years of social activism. Throughout the
first half of the twentieth century, Ambedkar dedicated a significant portion of his life to
improving the quality of life and social status of Dalit Indians. He established the Peoples

Education Society in 1945 which believed that increasing access to education to the Dalits would
increase their empowerment. He thought that a higher level of education would cause the Dalits
to realize their position so that they would aspire to the highest of Hindu positions, and that they
would consequently use political power and influence as the means to an end to their oppression.
Ambedkar believed that the value of education was in the empowerment of Dalits to pursue
political action for social reform through informed lobbying Dr.B.R Ambedkar had said,
Education your right, you must go to school(139), you believed in god. You gave away
generation to him. Now give me a chance. Give me this generation! Make sacrifice for
twenty years. After twenty years you yourselves will come and tell me what is better
god or education? (138)
These word reflected on dalit women. They started to send children to school. Economic
perspectives see education as a means to make individuals more productive in the workplace and
at home. It can also be seen as a means of empowering socially and economically deprived
groups into seeking political reform. Education can be a way to increase the incomes of
impoverished people. Education helps to ensure that benefits of growth are experienced by all.
In The prisons we broke the author describes that Dr.B.R.Ambethkar was the most
educated Dalit and he could lead them to the truth. He asked the mahar to educate their children,
and inspired them to fight against the atrocities. It is he who asked Dalits not to believe in god
and goddesses. And he also asked them not to eat dead animals. Under this influence Baby
Kamble and her kins actively participated in the revolutionary activity (or) Dalit movement.
(105-135)
Kamble was married at very young age to Kondiba Kamble. Their family was big but
both are unemployed. In the critical situation she remembers the words of Dr.Ambedkar Dont
get into jobs. Try to start some small business which you can successfully run in your locality.
Then they started business with selling grapes, after it was increased as vegetable and grocery
items. Their business picked up very well. Here we observe a women can bring darkness, she can
also bring light into our lives. She would be the shopkeeper and would sell material to the
customers. That was how she was making money. At the same time, whenever she had free time
she read books, which were meant for packing groceries for the customers.

Kamble was not very much free because she was a wife. Her husband often had have
power over her. She did not have liberty to do anything if she wished to do. Whenever she
happened to go against the patriarchal norms, she was cruelly beaten up by her husband. She
suffered a lot at the hands of her husband. The Prisons We Broke in detail speaks of how Kamble
was a sufferer of her husbands male prejudiced mentality. She remembers:
Once we went to Mumbai to attend a meeting, we travelled in a general compartment
that was very crowded and some young men happened to stare at me. My husband
immediately suspected me and hit me so hard that my nose started bleeding profusely
.The same evening we returned and he was so angry that he kept hitting me in the
train. (155)
Like other daughter-in-laws condition was unbearable and miserable by the hands of
their sasus (mother-in-law). Innocent young girls life was destroy in husbands home. Baby
Kamble say, every day the maharwada would resound with the cries of helpless women in
houses. Husbands are beating their wives, as they are animals. Double oppression they are
facing.

The cruel and humiliating circumstances the Dalits have been put in, their efforts to

improve their situation have often been squashed by assault. The cruel and unjust treatment
imposed upon the Dalits has decreased in frequency as history has progressed, although it still
continues in todays society. Kamble has experienced a bit of progress in establishing an equal
position in Indian society. The autobiography also interrogates the various
institutions like society, marriage, family, religion and God. The work crosses
the boundaries of the 'personal' and the 'personal' becomes 'political' as well
as 'a social comment' and also a story of a Dalit woman's search for identity
in the caste based, patriarchal Hindu Indian society.
The Dalit life was dominated by poverty and epidemics. Death rate was very high
because of the ceaseless starvation and lack of medical facilities. Moreover superstition adored
their blindness although upper caste religion and god considered Mahar dirt, but the truth the
Brahmins have established the theories that is caste system, is god made and not manmade .This
thought really change the life of poor Dalits. The real thing is higher caste people create rules for
their sake. Mahar community upholds the Hindu principles and they thought of Gods with great
sanctity. Generation to generations Mahar community broke their heads on the stones of Hindu
temple with hope. Most of the mahar was uneducated and superstitious. Hence they believed

them god created them an untouchable in order to punish them for their misdeeds of previous
birth. This made them accept their fate unquestioningly. Mahars problem was poverty. They were
fated to eat left-over, in the upper class function. The rotten food is bhakri and roti. Upper caste
considered them as the dirt in the garbage where other throws away their waste materials. From
generations Dalits had to fight with the animal like cats, dogs and vulture for the food.
According to Rig Veda, Sudras (dalits) are considered out caste down-trodden polluted,
marginals and are exploited by the higher castes since centuries. Kamble expose to overcome
from poverty and ignorant. Dalit do not be coarse and ignorant. Every mahars should live and
enjoy at their income. But, keep in mind Dalit may lose everything, but never the truth. She
says
We considered our terrible poverty as the golden peak of affluence. We dreamt and
floated among the cloud, waiting for one little ray of hope to lace our dark dreams.
At the end of the book kamble talk about responsibility of the present society to look Dalits
a human being and treat them with dignity and respect. Discrimination is not completely wiped,
there are a lot of villages we can observe that face the discrimination in their walk of life.
Education can be responsible for the removal of ignorance and opening way of new life. Baby
Kamble has been influenced by Ambedkar, she says about him that he is the light of my life his
principles have strong influence in her life. The film Tukaram The victory of truth, Sati Savitri
all of these greatly impressed her and left a deep imprint on her mind. These movies helped her
to be strong as women and helped her to change her life and community. This autobiography
speaks for a community, their standard of living, how they dared to go against the Social norms
and challenged the caste Hindus.
Bibliography

Kamble, B. (2008). The Prisons We Broke (Pandit, M., Trans.). New Delhi, India:
OrientLongman. (Original work published 1982).
Limbale, S. (1984). The Outcaste (Bookmark, S., Trans.). New Delhi, India: Oxford.
Omvedt, G. (1995). Dalit Visions. New Delhi, India: Orient Black Swan.

Rodrogues, Valerian,ed. The Essential Writing of B.R.Ambedkar.New Delhi: Oxford