Dalit Literature and / in Translation
An international conference at the British Centre for Literary Translation,
University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK
29-30 June 2015
List of abstracts
Joshil K. ABRAHAM (G B Pant Engineering College, IP University)
Caste in / and Subtitles
Using movies and documentaries including Papilio Buddha, India Untouched, The Story of India and
other popular Malayalam movies, I would like to analyse how subtitling neutralizes and at times
nullifies caste for the English speaking audience. Movies like Papilio Buddha and the documentary
India Untouched are able to bring about the violence of caste in the narrative, but when it comes to
subtitles they lose their attack on caste as it has to negotiate with the ‘foreign’ language in the
cultural realm. The tonality and localness of the language is what makes caste travel, but the
standard English subtitles are not able to capture caste. In Papilio Buddha, the abuse used by the
police officer, ‘Pulayadi Mone’ is subtitled as ‘scoundrel’, whereas the literal meaning is ‘son of
Pulaya’ and hence a caste abuse. But translation in this case neutralizes the caste abuse.
Caste identities do get revealed in some spoken dialogues such as ‘Hai enthutta ee
parayunne’ (in the movie Thoovanathumbikal) which is a Namboothiri (Brahmin) dialect but it gets
subtitled as – ‘what are you saying’, hence making it caste neutral. The loss of the casteness of the
dialogue dilutes the ‘caste violence’ into ‘simple violence’. Many such instances can be found in the
documentary India Untouched which tries to highlight the violence against Dalits.
Another aspect that I would like to discuss is caste surnames. Caste surnames become
substituted as yet another name for the foreign spectator (foreign to the language spoken) as
he/she is not aware of the specificity of the surnames used and their caste connotations. Thus the
violence involved in caste connotations gets neutralized once more and normalized. Finally I would
also look into the subtitling and dubbing of English movies into Malayalam and how it negotiates and
re-inserts caste into the translation. When English movies gets subtitled or dubbed the English
characters would be given names with caste surnames and they would end up speaking a Malayalam
which is spoken by certain castes. I would look into the specificities and politics of caste in such
transferences.
Payal AGARWAL (Delhi University)
Translation as Action: Cast(e)ing the Long Shadow of Anger
Translation exists in the canonical, and Brahmanical, traditions variously as means of disseminating
"knowledge", sharing experiences, and forging solidarities in certain cases. In the context of Dalit
Literature, the translation of a Dalit text is not simply “re-encod[ing] for a different audience, panIndian, non-Dalit or global”. The questions that trouble the translator of a Dalit text are somewhat
different. When talking about Dalit literature one is confronted with the whole histories of
oppression which guide the pen of the Dalit writers like Sharan Kumar Limbale, Omprakash Valmiki,
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and others. Valmiki, in the introduction to his autobiographical book, Joothan, says that writing the
book was a very painful exercise as if he was reliving his arduous past.
Sujit Mukherjee, the pioneer of translation studies in India, has described translation as both
a 'discovery' and 'recovery': the literature in the process of translation gets discovered for people
who are unfamiliar with the source language and culture, and recovered from the dusty annals of
anonymity. Do these and similar 'theories' fit into the arena of translating Dalit literature? How do
we account for the 'intention' (to borrow from Walter Benjamin) of the translator in translating any
text?
Limbale points out that in his writings he is guided by the anger at the oppressive caste systems
which have taken on the characteristics of mob mentality in the living Dalit history, besides the
centuries of injustice inflicted on people of lower castes. How does one translate experiences for
which no words exist in a language such as English (e.g., “joothan” too is untranslatable in English).
This paper will try to locate the translation of Dalit literature in the context of existing paradigms
which work as guiding principles in translation studies and attempt to situate translating of Dalit
texts within the struggles for Dalit emancipation. Indeed, it will examine if this translation could be
seen as embodying acts of resistance and expressions of anger.
BAMA
Dalit Literature in Translation
As a dalit writer, I want to share with you my experiences of my works being translated in to English
and other languages. I wrote in early nineties my first book, Karukku, a social autobiographic novel,
first of its kind, based on my and my people’s experience of untouchability and social exclusion.
Probably, it was the first time that dalit consciousness with its pain and rebellion took a literary
form and entered as a partner in the literary and public discourse. While it was accepted as a new
and welcome genre by some, it was also thoroughly critiqued and criticized with regard to its form,
content, style and its literary standard by many others. It was in the context of this acceptance and
rejection that I got the offer of translating it into English by Ms Mini Krishnan who was then the
editor of Macmillan Books, Chennai and who is now the editor-translations of OUP, Chennai. I
accepted the offer and I was lucky that Ms Lakshmi Holmstrom was to be my translator. We met
together with Mini Krishnan a few times, discussed and clarified many things through
correspondence. I was very pleased with the translation because she was able to preserve to a great
extent the oral nature of the text with its everyday dialectical, colloquial style and earthy and
people’s language and the dynamism of the characters without compromising in any way the impact
of the story line or whittling the issue of dalit rights. The translation got the Crossword award and it
has been prescribed in the syllabus by many Universities and more that 100 M Phil and a few
doctoral theses have been written on it.
The translation did help to bring to the public gaze and conscience the denial of our right to
be human and dalit rights became part of global discourse on human rights. Translation has also
changed my life and thinking as it took to me to international conferences for literary exchanges and
human rights issues. As I already indicated, it put me in touch with many students with their
persistent and searching questions about my book, its context…etc. I also believe that the translation
has an identity of its own. Isn’t it a merging of horizons of the author and translator, of the context
then and the context now where the cultural specificities find their universal meanings? Probably,
translation is not only a language event but the most humanizing moment. At least, that has been
my experience.
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Laura BRUECK (Northwestern University)
A question of language? The politics of translating Dalit literature for a new Indian audience
This paper considers the circulation of two recently “translated” Dalit texts to engage with
fundamental questions about the politics of the translation, circulation, and reception of Dalit texts
within India that have engaged me since I began my work as a scholar and translator (especially as a
non-Dalit, non-Indian one) of Dalit literature more than a decade ago.
In 2013, Navayana published my collection of translations of Ajay Navaria’s short stories,
Unclaimed Terrain. The book prompted Pankaj Mishra to proclaim in The Guardian, that the
collection hinted “at the yet unrevealed depth and diversity of Indian literatures”. Translation to
English, Mishra suggested pithily, thus elevates Navaria’s stories from the vernacular confines of
“Hindi” or “Dalit” in India to the vaunted heights of “Indian literature” in the rest of the world. But
this “revelation” – as is also evident from the translation’s enthusiastic critical reception in
mainstream North Indian news media – is not merely one for English-speaking audiences, but for
Hindi-speaking ones too, albeit ones who do not themselves deign to read in Hindi.
In 2014, Navayana published a newly annotated edition of Ambedkar’s 1936 speech,
Annihilation of Caste, with an extensive introduction by Arundhati Roy. The release of the book
elicited strident critique from many Dalit writers and critics. They cried appropriation – a text that
they saw as their own had been annotated by a Brahmin and introduced by a (world-famous) nonDalit. Anand has spoken of this new paratextual framing of the 70-year old text as an act of
translation in its original sense, a “carrying-over” of a text from one audience to another. “Would all
of you have turned up,” he asks of the well-heeled audience at Delhi’s Habitat Center at the book’s
launch, “if this were a Dalit-run, Dalit-led enterprise?” The implied answer is, of course, no.
What does translation (to English, or as a means of interpreting for a new audience) mean
for Dalit literature? Do the hierarchies of literary languages and authorial celebrity in India collude to
ironically disenfranchise “vernacular” texts, authors, and publishers, even as they seek to open up
new modes of access to understanding and appreciating the originals? Does a wider audience – one
who demands that the Dalit literature they read be filtered through English or the interpretive lens
of the literary elite – in fact endanger Dalit writing?
Mudnakudu CHINNASWAMY
Translation of Dalit literature
Translation is essentially to communicate the meaning of one language into another without
disturbing the originally felt emotions. In India the language needs to be looked into from caste
perspective also as the caste is the ‘in thing’ in the Indian milieu. The higher the caste the more
sophistication and the lower it goes down in the vertical hierarchy, the more the language becomes
rugged, colloquial, sometimes vituperative. With the dawn of dalit literature the low caste and
untouchables who are necessarily working class people, have woken up and started writing their
experiences stricken with melancholies. The puritans have started mocking both the texture and the
content. In fact the world of majority India began to unravel with dalit (and other backward castes)
writing. When a collection of kannada short stories ‘Dyavanuru’ which was in spoken dialect of low
caste, was published the upper caste intelligentsia cried for its translation into (formal) kannada!?
Language is always interwoven with native culture. Therefore culture specific jargons which
can speak beyond words cannot find substitutes easily in another language. Here comes a challenge
for the translator. It may be nearly possible if the translation is to another vernacular of the same
cultural background. If it is for a foreign language the difficulty is multiplied. The names like
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Saraswathi, Hanumantha, Nagaraja have to be translated as goddess of learning, monkey god, snake
god and so on. These names could be used as they are in regional vernacular. Similarly there are
ritual specific jargons which have no parallels, in which case an appendix has to be used to explain
the details with meanings.
On the whole it can be said that the text demands the translator to be sincere to the
original. And the reader demands more clarity in translation. The translator is obligated to both of
them and therefore needs to compromise in between.
Kalyan DAS (Presidency University, Kolkata)
(Im)possibility of Translating Identities: Translator, Dalit litterateur
Experience
and the ‘Truth’ of Dalit
In the Faber & Faber edition of the English translation of his novel The Joke, Milan Kundera felt
compelled to write about some of his frustrating experiences as an author who felt literally helpless
as his ‘authorial’ voice got heavily compromised (almost lost in translations) in the earlier
translations of the original text into the English language. The Joke, Kundera informs, has five
English translations. His frustration with the first four translations is primarily based on his inability
to recognize the translated text as his own text. For authors like him ‘translation-adaptations’ are
‘unacceptable’. This problem of losing the indictment of the authorial voice in the translation, in my
opinion, has several serious aesthetic and political implications as the ‘authenticity of the authorial
voice’ gets inextricably intertwined with the ‘translating self’ on one hand and a persistent presence
of the author’s Dalit/ ‘lower caste’ self in the context of Dalit literature. A concern for such
implications also provokes us to ponder over other related questions - if the claims of ‘authentic’
experience is central to the aesthetics of Dalit writings, then how do we trust a non-dalit translator?
How far can she remain ‘true’ to the text if she is not a dalit (if we accept Wendy Doniger’s idea of
translation as an act of interpretation/ reading? This view is also upheld by poets like Boris
Pasternak)? Having addressed such relatively obvious questions, in my paper, I would like to contest
the very notion of the ‘authorial self’ or ‘who serves the ‘author-function’ in the Dalit writings. If the
text in question, like most dalit writings, is heavily auto-biographical, then how does the translator
reconcile the voice of the ‘I’-as-a-narrator who simultaneously captures the suffering voices of ‘we’as-a-dalit community? In my pursuit of addressing such questions, I look into the English translation
of Adwaita Mallabarman’s posthumously published Titas Ekti Nodir Naam (A River Called
Titash)(1956) by Canada based Bengalee translator-academic Kalpana Bardhan to turn the focus on
the constant crisscrossing of separate and similar identities of the ‘translating self’ and the
‘authorial self’. While the loss of the same ‘motherland’ (then East Pakistan and now Bangladesh)
during India’s partition, a nostalgic reminiscence of that fundamental loss, shared love for the
‘larger’ Bengali identity mark the similarities between the two, their other identities of caste,
gender, class and the cultural chasm between the ‘source’( Bengali) and ‘target’ (English) languages
continue to haunt the ‘authenticity’ of an ‘authoritative’ translation of a text originally produced in a
localized Bengali tongue by an author who identified himself as a ‘ lower caste malo (his fishermen
community)’ (instead of but not necessarily opposed to a ‘dalit’ identity). For Bardhan, the task of
translation is more complex because of the semi-autobiographical nature of the text, the presence
of written versions of popular folk songs sung by the community members and the absence of the
author as an interlocutor who could play the role of ‘guiding’ the translator as Kundera did.
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Asis DE (Mahishadal Raj College, West Bengal) & Dr. Joyjit GHOSH (Vidyasagar University, West
Bengal)
Problems and Prospects of Translating Bangla Dalit Poetry in English: A Personal Experience
Translation, according to Lawrence Venuti, is a site of multiple determinations —linguistic, cultural,
ideological and even political. We experience this when we attempt to translate Bangla Dalit poetry
in English. In this proposed paper we would like to look at the issue from two perspectives—those of
problem and prospect. The problematic of translation is an unavoidable issue as it demands a
culture-specific linguistic conversion. But the necessity of translation can never be exaggerated for it
initiates a meaningful dialogue between two or more cultures that express themselves in different
tongues.
As per our ‘personal’ experience of translation, the poetry of Kalyani Chanral Thakur, one of
the major Dalit voices in West Bengal is the chief concern here. To her credit Kalyani has three
anthologies of poems and many poems from these anthologies have been translated and published
both in Hindi (by Jitendra Jitangsu) [ref. Ashwa Series] and in English (by Dr. Joyjit Ghosh) [ref. Muse
India, Issue 46, 2012, ISSN: 0975-1815]. All these anthologies of the poet have been published in
Bangla from the same publishing house, significantly named ‘Chaturtha Duniya’ (‘Fourth World’
publication), after being rejected by several renowned Bengali publishing houses simply after an
excuse of limited readership (though in reality each of Kalyani’s anthologies have seen multiple
editions within a short period of four years!). Her poems, for their fiery articulation of protest
against caste-based oppression and aesthetic quality deserve a greater cultural visibility and even an
international recognition. Due to the politics of representation manoeuvred by the upper order of
Bengali society, she still remains a marginal voice.
Kalyani Thakur’s poems pose certain challenges to the translators in English. As cultural
mediators, her translators often feel it difficult to translate the allusions to several literary/ cultural
texts, proverbs and colloquial expressions which abound in her poetry. Moreover, the translators
often find themselves at a loss when they do not find the lexical or syntactical substitute in English
for her poetic expressions of a Dalit and distinctly feminine sensibility.
Mohan DHARAVATH (EFLU, Hyderabad)
Translating the Lambada: Orality, Performance and Experience
The Lambadas, a nomadic tribal community in India, have a rich tradition of oral narratives, which
includes songs, riddles, legends, aphorisms and so on. In the absence of a lexical script, these short
stories, narrated in Goar-boli (an Indo-Aryan language influenced by several Indian languages) during
every major social occasion, serve to pass on legends of local heroes and warriors. The stories not
only entertain, but also help the Lambadas to pass on their history and criticize those in power.
But these oral narratives cannot be translated adequately because of certain cultural
barriers. There is an ‘inadequacy’ of available words in Goar-boli. Linguistic expression is often
concurrent with performance. The oral tradition of Lambadas can be comprehended in all its
richness only if the translator has access to the cultural codices of the community. However, in the
absence of well-documented audio-visual texts recording the performative aspect of Lambada life,
the translator would struggle to come to terms with the dynamics of power and resistance
embedded in these narratives.
Current studies on translation, particularly those of Dalit and Adivasi literature, cannot
evade the recent theory of experience. Translation, like representation, is mediated through
intentionality, medium, inclusions and exclusions, structures of privilege and claims of experience.
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Such mediations risk the possibility of exoticizing representations of the Adivasi. Hence, the tones,
gestures and memories evoked by each of these oral narratives can only be decoded and represented by those who share the lived experience of the community. My study will add to the
existing research in the field of folk traditions in India and will help decipher oral traditions which are
threatened by the pervasiveness of modernization.
Rowena HILL (independent scholar and translator)
Translating Mudnakudu Chinnaswamy, Dalit Poet in Kannada
The experience of translating the Kannada poetry of Mudnakudu Chinnaswamy into English and
Spanish leads to a series of understandings. In dalit poetry, because of the urgency of its message,
faithfulness to the text seems particularly important, and at the same time it is particularly difficult.
The language used may be a dialect, and will certainly contain non-standard features. It may depend
on rhythm to give it a sense of form, and the rhythms of Kannada, with its 'back to front' syntax and
its repetitive verb endings, can only be hinted at in a European language. It may use terms which
require explanation: should we use footnotes or distort the text? There is also the question of the
(non)equivalence of terms for emotions. Simplicity, the straightforward rendering of the experience
in the poem, is the most effective way to allow readers to identify with it. However, though for dalit
writers poetry is an instrument of social activism, they choose poetry because of a formal impulse
and the translator's job is to represent both intentions. Examples will be given from the poems.
Spanish may be a better language than English for the translation of Kannada.
Parmod KUMAR (Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi)
Translation and issues of Representation: A case of Dalit women autobiographers
This paper is an attempt to focus on marginalization of women, their predicament, and their
struggles against deeply entrenched caste patriarchy as reflected in Women Dalit autobiograhies in
english translation. The paper shall focus on Dalit feminist voices such as Baby Kamble, Urmila
Pawar, Bama and Sivakami’s autobiographical accounts and the issues of translation in the process.
The creative writing of these women writers is made vailable through translation. These narratives
have invited popular attention but none of the authors is fully convinced with all the aspects. Sharan
Kumar Limbale’s ‘Akkarmashi’ was translated as outcaste and Baby Kamble’s ‘Amucha Jevan’ was
introduced in English as ‘the Prisons we broke’. There has been a constant sense of discontent
among the original authors about the translation of either the parts or entire stretch of the
translated acts. Historically, such a reaction is not a new from the authors; however given the
involvement of dalit authors, dalit thinkers feel that in view of the special nature of dalit
autobiographies, there is a need to check the social background and the consciousness/intentions of
the translators. There has always been a big debate on the issue of representation as far as the
writing of Dalit literature is concerned. This paper seeks to analyse the point: if representation is
considered to be crucial in the writing of dalit texts, how can the issue of translation (as undertaken
by non-dalit translators) be taken for granted. This presentation will be guided by the discussions
and interviews with leading dalits authors, poets and thinks such as Limbale, Sunani, Kamble, Bama,
Malkhan Singh, Thorat and others.
Sharankumar LIMBALE (Y.C.M. Open University, Solapur)
In Conversation with Alok Mukherjee and Arun P. Mukherjee
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I never feel that, I am an author. But I always feel that I am an activist. Writing is field for me to
work. My writing is not merely writing, but it is an action against inequality. I am writing for those
people, who had not their own writers for thousands of years. They did not have their own history
and culture. Everything of Dalit, literature, culture, history and language is destroyed by the caste
society. Dalits are prohibited to take education. Because of Non-education, they could not create
their own culture and literature. The culture and literature of Hindu Caste society is imposed on
them. The caste system never gave space for Dalits. Being a Dalit Writer, it is my historical
responsibility to talk and write on behalf of Dalits.
To understand Dalit Literature, one should know the caste society of India. Without knowing
cruel discrimination and unequal hierarchy, one cannot understand the pain and pangs of Dalits. Our
country enter on Mars planet. I am proud of it. But Dalit cannot enter even today in the temple of
high caste Hindus. This is the ground reality. The publication of Dalit Literature broke out the cry and
rebellion of Dalit humanhood. Dalit Literature is not only literature, but it is the social truth, which
the caste people want to hide. They don’t want our talk, our struggle and our literature. But we
proved ourselves. Today, our tone and word is most visible and important for attention of caste
consciousness.
I am writing in Marathi, which is one of the major regional languages of India. I was a
regional Dalit Writer. My books are translated in many Indian regional languages as well as in
English. I look towards translation as cultural weapon. Each translation of my book circulated my
message in different lands and different languages. I always calculate the literary distance, where
and how I reached and was appreciated by the distant readers in different lands of languages. To
me, translation carries me, my community and my message of my movement. I feel the work of
translation is cultural carrier.
Because of translation I got a name and recognition. It is true, that I am included in
University syllabuses. Academician are reading me and research on me. Because of translation my
book is planted in several literatures. Translation spread the thought and thought process of me at
large scale. Otherwise, I would be an author of a single language. Nowadays I am flying from one
university to another university to speak. I never thought about this dramatic change. I am really
delighted and proud of my readers, students, teachers, researchers and my great translators. This is
the strength of translation. Translation destroys the barrier of language and destroys the regionality
of literature.
Because of translation I moved the whole nation and I realize the whole caste fabric of my
country. When I was caged in my region and regional language, I was thinking about only my caste
and my community. Beyond it I was not aware of other untouchable communities. Translation ties
these communities with me. It is my belief, the English language will destroy regionality of languages
and culture. Dr. Ambedkar said that, in India, there are two countries. One is touchable India and
other is untouchable India. There is huge cultural gap. Between this gap, translation of Dalit
literature is not translation of literature, but it units Dalits. It enlightens and encourages Dalits. It
strengthens Dalit movement and language of human rights. The translators of Dalit literature are not
professional translators, but they are socially committed. They pay back to society with their work of
translation.
Nowadays I am flying one university to another university and interacting with
heterogeneous student community. Many researchers are joined with me through facebook; I think,
it will empower Dalits and make aware non Dalits on caste issues. Because of seminars, syllabus and
research, the academic face of dalit literature came into the lime light. Before the translation of my
work, I was shaped and limited, but know I am changed totally. This change is wider and wiser. It is
necessary to work in an intellectual world. This world is more dangerous than the illiterate world.
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Indians are divided among their castes. Every man is divided. When they come together,
then there would be mob or religious crowd. They don’t want to talk about caste problems. The
caste is visible as well as invisible. It is the deeply rooted inner mind of caste society. Dalit literature
and its translation told the untold stories of untouchables. It throws light on the dark age of modern
and new India. What is Dalit literature? What is its meaning? The Dalit writer is building a new
cultural nation, which is his beautiful dream. Dalit literature is full of dreams and aspiration of
broken men. Dalit put himself in the centre of his creation. He was neglected and rejected. Now he is
rejecting and rebelling against all odds. The translation is empowering this action. The translation of
Dalit literature is larger recreation of his dreams and his efforts. Because of translation my work is
doubled. My dreams are doubled. My efforts are doubled.
Christi MERRILL (University of Michigan)
Transnational Pariah Talk: the dynamic circulation of an evolving Dalit lexicon
The appropriation of the Tamil word “paraya” by English speakers as early as 1613 (according to the
Oxford English Dictionary) suggests a long-standing involvement in the politics of caste-based
discrimination across languages, even if – in this case -- the English-language author (here, Purchas)
adopts the word to take sides against the group: “The Pareas are of worse esteeme,..reputed worse
than the Diuell.” Throughout the 20th century and into the 21st Dalit activists have been strategic
about initiating potential allies into a specific translingual Dalit lexicon that renegotiates such
intricate questions of esteeme, starting with the very word “Dalit.” How do translators finesse such
fraught, shifting dynamics? In this paper I will suggest a more complex way of assessing fidelity to a
text by analyzing the treatment of caste vocabulary in three published book-length translations into
English (Bama’s Karukku, Joseph Macwan’s The Step-child/Angaliyat, Urmila Pawar’s The Weave of
my Life) from three different languages (Tamil, Gujarati, Marathi) and apply that to my own
quandaries over caste-specific vocabulary translating Kausalya Baisantry’s Dohara Abhishap (Doubly
Cursed) from Hindi into English. I will also consider the methods Baisantry adopts in her Hindi
translation of a Marathi short story by Urmila Pawar.
T. Sai Chandra MOULI (Osmania University, Hyderabad)
Translating Dalit Literary works: An Experience
Translation is an integral part of human life. Early theories of translation focused attention on literal
translation only. A shift in focus generated diverse theories. A close scrutiny of the history of
translation and the methodology followed reveals that the emphasis was more on retaining loyalty
to the source language (S.L.) and the source text (S.T.). No attention was paid to the target reader
(T.R). Postcolonial theories concern themselves thoroughly with cultural transference. In earlier
versions a translator strained to domesticate the text to the target audiences (he made it closer to
the comprehension of target audience). Subsequently, we notice translators striking a balance
brilliantly between foreignizing and domesticating a rendered text.
In his play Kuuli Raju [written in 1942] Boyi Bhimanna, a Dalit writer, depicting the struggle
of the subaltern in a feudal set up expresses the desire that a dalit woman should be the first
President of free India. Empowerment of dalit women alone secures them equality, elevation and
emancipation. While translating this play I retained some expressions in the source language
(Telugu) at times, as they were untranslatable. Crisp dialogue, songs, prayers, sloganeering, metered
poems, love lyrics, bhajans and burrakatha [folk art form of Telugus] had to be rendered into English
in Coolie, the Sovereign the English version of Kuuli Raju.
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This experience subsequently helped me translate poetry of Telugu dalit women, who chose
their own idiom and wrote poetry about issues hitherto branded taboo. Themes ranging from
turning to God for support to awareness of solutions to problems faced; from assertion of their
rights to resistance and retaliation elevate poetry written by them. A few poems are chosen to
illustrate translatable and untranslatable elements in the works in general and the way to overcome
problems involved.
Alok MUKHERJEE (independent scholar and translator)
Translating Ramnath Chavan’s Shakshipuram, a Thought Play and Dalit Aesthetics
Ramnath Chavan’s play, Shakshipuram, written originally in Marathi, is based on an event that took
place twenty five years ago in Meenakshipuram, a village in the southern Indian state of Tamilnadu.
Fed up with the persecution by and excesses of the high caste Hindus, the entire Dalit village
converted to Islam. The event unleashed a national outcry, resulting in the passage of anticonversion legislation in Tamilnadu and elsewhere. Chavan was a witness to the event and in 1991,
made it the subject of his highly successful play. The title of the play literally means “witness city.” Its
depiction of the impossibility of any liberatory potential within a social structure based on the caste
system of Hinduism recalls Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar’s Annihilation of Caste. At the same time, rather
than being simply a recreation of the events that took place in Meenakshipuram, the play
problematizes the strategy of conversion as a solution. Shakshipuram is an example of Chavan’s
notion of “thought play” based on an Ambedkarite Dalit aesthetics. In this paper I examine the
issues that arose for me in translating this “thought play” into English, using the comments of a
leading Canadian First Nations playwright, Drew Hayden Taylor, with whom I shared a draft of the
translation. Taylor responds as a playwright accustomed to the conventions and practices of
Western theatre. From this perspective, he raises the issue of making the translated text familiar to
an English-speaking reading public and, in particular, to the Western theatre producer/director
unaccustomed to receiving from the playwright detailed and minute stage directions regarding, for
example, the portrayal of emotions. My paper looks at the decisions I made as a translator in
traversing this terrain between the “unfamiliar” and the “familiar.”
Arun Prabha MUKHERJEE (York University, Toronto)
Traduttore Tradittore: Translating Dalit Writing Responsibly
The first time I learned that the translator can also be the betrayer, was while reading the Basanta
Koomar Roy translation of classic Bengali text Anandmath by Bankim Chandra Chatterji. An anti
Muslim text had been cleaned up and made into a story of India’s struggle against British
colonialism. The experience left a lasting impression on me about both the powers and
responsibilities of a translator. Translation can easily become an act of violence and betrayal against
the text. Ironically, the betrayal may be approved by the author because s/he is keen to reach the
readers in the dominant languages, namely Hindi and/or English.
In my paper, I will examine two Dalit translated texts, namely Joothan, by Omprakash
Valmiki, and Akkarmashi, by Sharankumar Limbale. I will compare the English translations with the
original Hindi and Marathi versions to speak about the ‘betrayals’ that creep in and transform the
original for the worse.
Sipra MUKHERJEE (West Bengal State University)
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The Translator as the Betrayer: the Political Dynamics of the Process of Translation
Translation into an Indian vernacular and translation into a European language has one cardinal
difference: its audience. The reach of the first is implicitly assumed to be within the nation and that
of the second, international. This assumed difference of audience introduces seemingly irrelevant
emotions into the process of translation, that of honour, dignity, loyalty and shame. In the context of
the translation of Dalit texts from an Indian vernacular to a European/world language, the translator
runs the risk of being viewed/ viewing herself as facilitator to a situation where the ‘shame’ of a
country is revealed to the world. Translation into a world language greatly increases the visibility of a
Dalit text since many Dalit books are published through small vernacular presses with limited reach.
This is not unique to Dalit literature. It is history from James Joyce to V. S. Naipaul to Taslima
Nasreen to Orhan Pamuk, whenever the author/translator have used a language that carries a text
beyond borders. But it is especially true of Dalit literature where we are dealing with injustice and
inhumanity of one native community over another. Ideological, ethnic, religious, or moral reasons
such as lack of patriotism are being cited to discourage or ban translations. In the increasingly
intolerant milieu that we appear to be moving into, Dalit narratives, seen to be severely challenging
the meta-narrative of the nation’s mainstream and threatening to rewrite history, are becoming
problematic to translate.
The central problem of translation in general and interpreting in particular is that of control.
The perception of the interpreter as an informer, a potential betrayer of secrets, is a powerful
concept that may, and indeed has, manipulated the hand of the translator. My paper will deal with
both the external forces of suppression as well as the self-censorship that threatens the fidelity of
the translation process, with tentative (very) suggestions of processes that may help to take our
work beyond the politics of the powerful.
Maya PANDIT (EFL-U, Hyderabad)
Translating Dalit Literature: Redrawing the Map of Cultural Politics
The presentation looks at translation as a culturally and politically motivated form of action that
seeks to redefine existing traditions and creating new ones in the realm of imaginative articulations.
It also represents an intervention in the hegemonic practices within and outside of the culture
where it is located. There are multiple levels of the resistance that it represents. Firstly, it attempts
to resist the process of cultural and linguistic colonization from outside. Modern Marathi language
and literature is often described as the reincarnation of English. Translation of literature from
Marathi into English seeks to change the balance of power within “Eng. Lit. in translation.” Secondly,
by choosing to work with the texts of a marginalized and oppressed community, it challenges the
processes of internal colonization represented by the hegemonic aesthetic, metaphysical and
universalist norms within Marathi literature, as it brings to the fore a literature and a tradition that
have resisted these norms for centuries in diverse forms.
Another impetus behind translation of dalit literature is also to challenge the empiricist
notions of experience and knowledge that are established in academic and literary critical
discourses. Dalit literature helps us rethink knowledge and the subject who produces that
knowledge in a far more complex way.
This literature disrupts the limits of the so-called
“legitimate” knowledge to open up complex and multidimensional sites of contestation and
resistance to the ideologies and practices of exclusionary cultural politics. A comparison of Baby
Kamble’s The Prisons we Broke and Atre’s Gavgada, an established sociological account of the caste
system, makes this clear.
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In the final part of the presentation, the linguistic, cultural and political challenges posed by
dalit literature to translation with respect to various forms, such as autobiography, theatre and
discursive writing, have been discussed. The texts include Baby Kamble’s Prisons We Broke, Urmila
Pawar’s Weave of my Life, Sanjay Pawar’s Pass the Buck on Brother, and Mahatma Phule’s Slavery,
among others. This includes a brief discussion of issues such as the ideological, linguistic and
cultural-political strategies of translation related to the ‘the speaking voice’ and the translator’s
voice; gendered articulations, translation and patriarchy; processes of modernity and the
construction of the Subject through translation; changing notions of the form, functions and
traditions within dalit writing and the translation culture in Marathi.
Urmila PAWAR (writer)
A Walk to Remember
Aaydan, my autobiography, will form the basis of my talk. Dr. Maya Pandit has done a marvelous job
in translating it into English while retaining the true essence of Marathi native language and mindset.
Aaydan means “Things, made of Bamboos”. In those times, only untouchable caste used to do this
kind of job, particularly in the Konkan region of India. My father passed away when I was in 3 rd
standard but he made sure that my mother’s prime job was to look after their kids’ (we were four )
education; my mother was herself an illiterate but by making baskets from bamboos she took care
of our education. Education really made a difference in my life and taught me that I have to look up
though I was being humiliated constantly because of my caste. It made me stronger. The second
most important change came in to my life after converting to Buddhism. The fear of God, fate and
ghost went away after converting. You have to stand on your own feet and see not only through
your eyes, but also use your heart to see things. I learned this teaching from D. B. R. Ambedkar’s
books and his thinking. While doing a job, bringing up three kids, and studying simultaneously,
writing and participating in movements was really difficult for me, but it gave me the strength to go
through all this. And I was able to get over my problems I was facing at home or elsewhere. Like the
movement of black literature in America, in 1960 Dalit literature came in to the limelight in India by
opposing casteism. Marathi literature was jolted after the cruel reality shock appearing through
dalit sahitya. But after a certain time this dalit sahitya turned in to a pattern. Maybe Aaydan was a
little different. It captured not only the ugliness of the caste system but the beauties of one’s heart.
When Maya told me of her idea of translating it into English, I really felt happy because it
means reaching out to a wider audience. It is every writer’s dream that at least one of their book
gets published in English. Aaydan was translated into English, Hindi and Kannada language. Guajarati
and Malayalam translation are in process. In 1978, Daya Pawar’s Autobiography BALUT was the first
autobiography in Dalit sahitya . It was translated into French. Daya Pawar wanted it to be translated
into English as well but that didn’t happen. He’s no more today and the pain of that still remains
with his family. Being from the Konkan region herself, Maya was well-versed in their culture and
native language.
Many autobiographies were published in Dalit sahitya and their Nayak (Hero) has traveled to
city from village but they stopped at that point. How was their progress in the city, how did people
from other castes behave towards them and how did they use their experience to further the Dalit
cause? In my autobiography I have touched upon this so that readers find it more relevant and able
to have a closer look into Dalit people’s lives. Even some Dalits think that I have written this
autobiography for that audience (Other castes) only with whom I have shared many experiences.
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As far as my experience is concerned, being translated in English made my autobiography
available to the farthest parts of the world and I can reach out to potential readers, which otherwise
would almost have been impossible for me. It really makes me happy.
Julia PERCZEL (School of Oriental and African Studies)
The Role of Translation in Mainstreaming Dalit Literature
Hindi dalit literature had so far been addressed and analysed in terms of Frazer’s concept of public
and counter-public and, in the more recent publication of Beth (2014), Bourdieu’s field theory. While
these frameworks added greatly to our understanding of Hindi dalit writing as well as of its meaning
and position in contemporary South Asian literary politics, in this paper I propose that neither
pointed to an important element in the Hindi dalit literary formation—namely, change. While dalit
literature had become one of the branches of literature on which Hindi litterateurs and foreign
academics are talking and doing research, and while no Hindi publisher could afford to leave dalit
literature out of its list, while the number of English language translations is steadily increasing, it is
still largely being evaluated in English language academia in terms of the vocabulary of radicalism
developed to justify its very existence. While I do not mean to imply that dalit literature has arrived
in its fullest sense, a processual approach based on Raymond Williams’ theory of literature as the
result of indissoluble processes may prove useful understanding how the meaning of dalit literature
changes with translation—in both its narrow and wider meanings. Translation is the process through
which shifts in the dalit literary formation can be captured. This paper views translation a force that
is both set into and sets into motion the mainstreaming of dalit literature enabling its penetration to
fields where it was not only not available but also not legible before. In this paper I focus on the step
of publishing dalit literature in English translation with reference to the publishing process of Ajay
Navaria’s short story collection, Unclaimed Terrain, by Navayana. Since publishing this book involved
a positioning against general trends in publishing dalit literature, especially the publishing of
autobiographies, it highlights the ways in which dalit literature changes meaning in translation.
Mamta G. SAGAR (Bangalore University)
Poetics and Politics of Representations
This paper looks into the selection, translation and representation of Vachanas from the 12 th century
Kannada literary tradition. Various marginalised groups including women and dalits later in the
contemporary times reclaim Vachanas, the form of writing developed during the 12th century sociopolitical movement, to put forward the poetics and politics of their representations. The exclusive
politics of translation that neglects the inclusiveness of Vachana tradition leads to the
marginalisation of the claimed diverse representations proposed by women and dalits made through
the reclaiming of Vachanas. The paper looks at the understanding, canonisation and representations
of the Dalit discourse along the lines of what gets translated into culture at various junctures of time
and what gets communicated through the represented ‘Dalitness’ proposed through translations.
The paper finally looks into caste and the dalitness that travel into gender representations in the
contemporary Kannada literature. Vachanas, poetry and excerpts from selected prose are used to
demonstrate the proposed argument.
Jaydeep SARANGI (Jogesh Chandra Chaudhuri College, Calcutta University)
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Translation as Commitment with a Purpose: A close Study of Translation Project Involving Bengali
Dalit Autobiography into English
Dalit Literature in India has emerged from historical, sociological, cultural, economic as well as
political inequity, which largely subverts the age-old stereotypes and contributes to its countercanonical implications. The fascinating nature of Dalit Literature, mostly available in translation, lies
in the fact that it possesses an ironical strength of subverting the essentializing approach of the
privileged social positions. Dalit Literature is a corpus marked by opposition, revolt, ethnic rediscovery as well as a process of aesthetic re-creation. Translation is necessarily an interdisciplinary
act embracing deeply rooted in the cultures of the translator and what is being translated.
Translation, especially a dalit text from a regional language into English survives with fuzzy
possibilities and it leaves room for different versions when time ticks to a new frame of reference. I
along with Angana Dutta completed the English translation of Manohar Mouli Biswas’ Bengali
autobiography Amar Bhubane Ami Beche Thaki (2013) and submitted the MS to Stree Samya,
Kolkata. The present translation project consists of the autobiography and a detailed interview of
the author. One of the biggest challenges faced by the translators is to recreate before the English
reading audience, the unfamiliar artefacts, sceneries, soundscapes, fragrances, dialects and
emotions of life experienced in decades ago in remote Bengal. A lengthy glossary aids the readers
delve into as authentic an experience as possible, with the least conscious intervention from the
translators. We are sure A Note on the Bengali Calendar and Kinship Terms are going to help the
readers from different cultural backgrounds.
Shoma SEN (RTM Nagpur University, Nagpur)
The Choice of Writing in English: Short Stories of B. Rangrao and Narendra Jadhav’s Outcaste
In this paper I would like to examine what happens when the mediation of English, the language and
certain cultural and pedagogical implications that come along with it, takes place in writing/rewriting
dalit creative literature. When the early dalit writers embarked upon their journey, mainstream
literature scoffed at their choice of subject matter and their avoidance of “standard” language. The
next generation of Dalit writers, educated and well versed in literary traditions had the choice to
write or reject this standard language. Today, a few dalit writers have chosen to write in English
itself. B. Rangrao is a retired Professor of English from a university department in a metropolitan city
who has written not only critical works on English literature but poetry, not necessarily on social or
caste issues, in English itself. His collection of ten dalit short stories called Desperate Men and
Women (2013) have been written in English and he can be called one of the few Indian writers in
English who is dalit or one of the few dalit creative writers from India who writes in English.
Narendra Jadhav, an erudite dalit intellectual, a noted bureaucrat, economist and social scientist,
has translated his own autobiography Aaamcha Baap aan Amhi from Marathi into English himself as
Outcaste (2007). In the process he has rewritten the lengthy book into a well constructed, shorter
version. While the urge to write in English and reach out to a larger, international audience and by
doing so to enter the realm of world literature written in English with dalit issues in focus, is indeed
remarkable, does the mediation of English dilute the dalit flavor? Though the cultural and language
nuances are richer in some of the dalit writings in Marathi, yet, I would probably conclude that these
writings are far more genuine in their depiction of dalit life, in portraying the poignancy of dalithood
than any other creative writing written in English by Indians.
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Shobha Padmakar SHINDE (North Maharashtra University, Jalgaon)
Marathi Dalit Autobiography in English: A Perilous Journey of Cultural Transfer and Meaning
Dalit literature serves the purpose of social intervention and carries strong militant connotations. It
is essential for a right understanding of Dalit autobiographies to keep in mind the historical, social
and cultural setting. The context, perspectives and characteristics of the historical trend differently
qualify the concept of autobiographies vis – a – vis the Western definition of the genre. Here, the
subject is an individual among many who shares the same type of cultural ostracism, physical
repression and social stigma, the result being that he/she is kept out of the legitimate boundaries of
human society. Dalit autobiography is about self-assertion and protest, the course of a quest, and
the construction of an identity of one’s own by those who have been denied full human dignity. This
preferred genre shows the effort of Dalit writers to represent ‘themselves to themselves and to
others’ in their own terms. These personal, emotional and direct testimonies are relevant
documents of “social history”.
In this article I have tried to analyse, study and interpret Urmila Pawar’s “Ayaadan”
translated as “The Weave of My Life”; Baby Kamble’s “Jeene Amche” translated as “The Prisons We
Broke” and Sharankumar Limbale’s “Akkarmashi” translated as “The Outcaste” in English. These are
autobiographies written in Marathi; as well as various dialects, which when translated in English
involve a certain loss in authenticity and also lead to cultural distancing. Sometimes the sentences in
English translation, sound awkward as they do not carry the subtle nuances of the local dialects. But
the translator’s efforts are to be commended as they have made a tremendous contribution to Dalit
literature- in-translation by reaching out to a world audience, by bringing out the honesty,
authenticity and the ironic and sardonic tones of bitterness, and rages of the dalit persona caught in
the grim social realities of Indian society and the contradiction inherent in them.
Navnath B SONWANE (Central University of Gujarat, Gandhinagar)
The Translation into English: Elaborate life’s experiences in Dalit Autobiographies to Ambedkarist,
A word with you, world and The Scar.
Introduction: Indian English literature is a source to elaborate various literary genres as like a poem,
drama, novel and autobiography. Dalit literature is a literature of suppressed groups; those who are
living a marginal life. The present paper will be focus on the fact of Dalit literature in this nation.
Why? They (Dalit) write own literature? Who has motivation of this group and caste? I will be
focuses on above three questions are serious to narrate by Dalit life. Now, Dalit life has little
changes. Even today’s literary writing tells us the Dalit’s communities are a try to mobilize and
organized our communities’ problems and issues.
The translation is sources of Dalit writer’s voices are loudly speaking against the caste system,
poverty and injustice. Dalit writers are carved into his heart for reputed person’s self- dignity, who
gave us motivation of personal life. Dr. Ambedkar has been the ideal and an icon of Dalit people. The
humanity has evolved as freedom, equality and justice. The Dalit peoples are changing his identity
and they are demanding to we are a need to give us our rights and statues as human.
The present paper will be focused on Dalit autobiographer life narrative that is needed to
understand for social and moral rights. How to need we would able to improving own statues and
dignity? To examined contemporary society? What is need to government responsibility to provide a
right of humanity? The two selected autobiographies are Non- Marathi and they are accepted
modern thought of Ambedkar. The Ambedkar and Ambedkarist thought have a stream of humanity
that is explained by Buddhist philosophy. A. K. Gunasekaran and Dr. Siddalingaiah are author’ of
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above two autobiographies. They are explained life of Dalit and lack of natural resources. But, Dalit
youth is struggling for education, emancipation, inter-caste marriages and dignity of Dalit peoples. It
is a thought of Ambedkar and his philosophy. They are adapting to the Ambedkarist idea in personal
life. These two autobiographies have been translated into English and spread the voices against evil
things.
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