Valmiki, O. (2003). Joothan: An Untouchable’s Life. (A. P. Mukherjee, Trans.). Columbia University Press.
First published in Hindi in the year 1997, Joothan is an autobiography written by Omprakash Valmiki. It is a seminal text that chronicles Valmiki’s life marked by dehumanisation, deprivation, and discrimination due to his Dalit identity. His other works include three collections of poetry and two of short stories. This edition includes the preface written by Valmiki to the Hindi edition, a personal and reflective foreword, and a rich introduction that brilliantly situates the text into its socio-historical context and delineates the development of Dalit literature, one of the most important literary movements to have emerged in postindependence India. Both the foreword and introduction have been written by Arun Prabha Mukherjee, a professor of English at York University, Toronto. The title, “Joothan” refers to scraps of food left on a plate, after everyone has finished eating. For centuries, the “untouchables” have been forced to eat joothan from caste-Hindu households. Thus, combined with the subtitle, “Joothan: An Untouchables Life”, it encapsulates the lifelong humiliation and abject poverty of communities forced to live at the bottom of our inhuman and cruel social pyramid.
The text follows a loosely chronological order in narrating Valmiki’s journey beginning in the 1950s, from his home in Barla, Uttar Pradesh to moving away in search of education and employment, developing a keen interest in writing and theatre, getting married, to working at the Government Ordnance Factory and carving out his own space in the world. At times, the text moves between memories, describing in great detail the social milieu, geographical location, and social relations throughout Valmiki’s life. His caste identity haunts him every step of the way of his journey. By narrativising his life, Valmiki gives a voice to the life of a community that had hitherto been missing from the popular representation of India. Through every pained recollection of the many violent and pejorative instances of discrimination, the reader is made to realise the perversity of the caste system that continues to thrive after years of independence. It exposes the deplorable and extremely exploitative underbelly of India’s social order. Thus, through his lived experience, Valmiki historicises the lived reality of communities that had been (and have been) denied representation in the mainstream vision of India. Valmiki’s writing opens a door to visibilising their suffering and the atrocities of caste-Hindus.
The text is replete with historical markers in the shape of government interventions, policies, constitutional provisions, and the highs and lows of the anti-caste struggle in the country. In these ways, it is not limited to an individual’s story but offers ground-level insight into India’s progress as a democracy. In his foreword, Valmiki writes about the trials and tribulations he went through in deciding to write his autobiography. Such a visceral recounting of traumatic events was in no measure an easy task, but moreover, he was cautioned by his friends and family that the publication of such intense humiliations would risk everything he had achieved so far. But Valmiki offers that after the publication of his essay, “Ek Dalit ki Atmakatha” in Harijan se Dalit, he was met with a stream of letters from people who saw their own pain reflected in his story and wanted him to write more. He goes on to say, “Why should one feel awkward in telling the truth?”. It must evoke deep moral anguish within all of us to realise that not much has changed since then. Thus, I would personally recommend that everyone in the subcontinent read the book to gain a better understanding of their own caste location. Those who resonate with Valmiki’s story would find solidarity and a sense of being understood and those who are aghast would realise the inherent inhumanity of the caste system. Together, one hopes that these visions would overlap in imagining a better and just world and our roles in the anti-caste movement.
Valmiki does not shy away from giving us the whole and complex truth. His narrative thus explores the contradictions and scuffles within his family, basti, community, and the larger politics of the anticaste movement in relation to the power hierarchies prevalent in his time. It is owing to his granular focus that the text also offers much insight into other social hierarchies such as gender, class, and religion. It interrogates the movements of solidarities along their limitations and urges readers to raise questions about the way forward.
Valmiki’s candid and deeply personal reflections from some of the most vulnerable times of his life also make for an intensely moving coming-of-age story or Bildungsroman. We applaud his tenacity and ingenuity in the face of insurmountable odds. We follow his escapades curiously as he discovers camaraderie and develops an interest in theatre and Marxist politics. We sympathise as his questioning of religion complicates his relationship with his family members. We grieve the loss of connections along the way, some more than others, and lastly, we rejoice as he is able to build a life on his own terms. One of the most intriguing and exciting aspects of the book was Valmiki’s active presence in the world of Marathi theatre. Valmiki and his wife, Chanda together ran a theatre group called, “Meghdoot Natya Sanstha”, for ten years during their years in Chandrapur. I found his recollections of the many friendships he forged along the way most touching. They represent a life-affirming vision of a community built on mutual respect and dignity and guided by a fervour to bring social change.
Shivangi Gupta, School of Development Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences.
