The book has nine essays by Raj Gauthaman, written mostly during the critical decade of the 1990s. The decade was marked by the rebellious assertion of Dalits against the violence unleashed together by the Dravidian model state machinery and the dominant backward castes. Firmly invested in Ambedkar’s idea of Annihilation of Caste, Gauthaman’s writings are both critical and explorative. His writings not only offer a critique of caste in the analysis of cultural texts and practices but also locate the critical registers on which the power of caste was constantly challenged throughout the cultural and political history of Tamil Nadu. Locating his intellectual and political position firmly against Brahminism, Gauthaman explores the possibilities of constructing a radical political discourse against the foundations of caste. These resources range from Bhakti traditions to modernist writings during the colonial and postcolonial periods.
Gauthaman’s essay on the Saivite text Periyapuranam in this volume elaborates on the narrative strategies and devices deployed in the several Puranic life tales. Infringements of caste regulations within these tales according to Gauthaman are soon accommodated into the hegemonic narratives by the narrative strategies of miracle and fantasy. By doing so, the narrative ensures the persistence of caste hierarchy. The essay on Dravidian literature underscores the radical features of Dravidian works, critically reflects on the Dravidian political imagination and its inadequate politics in terms of forging a substantial and radical block against Brahminism. The essay on the Brahmins and Vellalas offers a very critical commentary on the configuration of caste power and radically historicizes Tamil social power and politics, different from the usual Brahmin and Non-Brahmin binary. The essay elaborates on the power the Vellalas (Non-Brahmin upper castes) exercised over extensive tracts of lands, writing practices and modern politics during the colonial and postcolonial period.
Gauthaman’s essay on Dalit literature argues that it is distinct from the resistance literature that Tamil Nadu has witnessed hitherto. Unlike Dravidian and Marxist literatures which, for him, have opposed one form of oppression and ignored, or even enabled other forms of oppression, Dalit literature, according to Gauthaman, is the one that opposes all forms of oppression emanating from the nexus of caste, religion, and family. Similarly, Dalit protest culture is the one that challenges the settled norms and cultural practices of hegemonic Brahmanic culture at all levels, ranging from body language to everyday practices. For Gauthaman, the rise of Dalit culture is a precondition for any larger social transformation, including a Socialist or Communist revolution. His works also critically appreciate and interpret some of the modernist personas and their intellectual contributions in challenging caste. These figures include A Madhavaiya, Pudumaipitthan, Ramalinga Adikal and Iyothee Thass.
The essay on Iyothee Thass in this volume contextualizes Iyothee Thass and Tamil Buddhist activism and intellectual work in northern Tamil Nadu during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The essay on religion from Dalit perspective underscores the significance of religion for Dalits. Moving away from the atheistic and rationalistic critique of Brahminical Hinduism, Gauthaman asserts the significance of folk deities (non-Brahminic) in strengthening Dalit struggle against Brahminism and caste. The essay on post-modernism and Dalit ideology signals towards creatively exploring and mobilizing theoretical and conceptual possibilities from the intellectual developments of structuralism and post-structuralism to counter caste.
Rather than directly reflecting on the Dalit uprisings of 1990s Tamil Nadu, Gauthaman’s writings go on to unpack the very cultural and ethical foundations of caste in Tamil intellectual and political traditions. Known for a distinct style of sarcasm and satire, Gauthaman’s writings are a real challenge to translators. Theodore Baskaran’s translation, however, brings out the best in this volume. Emerging through the small magazine culture of post-Emergency new Left in Tamil Nadu, Gauthaman wrote fiction and non-fiction and engaged in translating texts into Tamil. Gauthaman’s writings constitute one of the formidable challenges to Brahmanical thinking within the modern Tamil public sphere.
The essays collected in this volume represent a new perspective that emerged in the post-1980s Tamil Nadu in response to the social changes of that period. Combining his training in Marxist analysis and the lived experience of caste in the southern districts of Tamil Nadu, Gauthaman’s writings are prominent among first-generation Dalit writings in Tamil Nadu. Contributing to the fields of literary criticism, cultural history and social theory, Gauthaman’s works occupy a specific place in the modern world of Tamil critical thinking. Drawing from both Marxism and Dravidian radicalism and at the same time critical of the rigid Marxist ideas and the compromises of Dravidian politics, Gauthaman offers a unique perspective on Tamil politics and culture.
Parthasarathi Muthukkaruppan is Assistant Professor, Department of Cultural Studies, English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad.