Portrayal of Dalit Women in Baby Kambles The Prisons We Broke

Sunil
D.Ramteke
Santaji Mahavidyalaya,
Nagpur

Abstract:
Baby Kambles Autobiography The Prisons We Broke highlights the plight of the
Dalit Women especially from the Mahar caste of Western Maharashtra. It also
depicts the transformation in their life due to Ambedkarite Movement. Dalit Women
gave up all the customs and religious beliefs which made them slave for thousand
years and they accepted a new way of life which realized their status as Human
beings. The self-respect and rejection of Gods and Goddesses of Hindu religion is
the key feature of The Prisons We Broke. It is also a critique of Patriarchal order
prevalent among Mahars.
Key Words: Autobiography, Dalit Women, Patriarchy, Ambedkarite Movement,
Chaturvarna System, Dalit Feminist Critique, etc.

The Indian woman is oppressed by the patriarchal order sanctioned by Hindu

religion which kept the women at the lowest rung of the Varna System. The Indian
woman whatever Varna she may belong to is considered as Shudras.
Hence the noted Sanskrit Poet Tulsidas said:
Dhol,Shudra,Gawar, Pashu Nari Sab Tadan Ke hain Adhikari i.e.
Drum,Shudra,Illiterate,Cattles and Woman all are liable to get punishment.
Dalit women constitute a lower section of Indian Society and suffer from dual
disadvantages: (i) of being Dalit and (ii) being women. These women suffer all
deprivations which their caste groups as a whole suffer. Besides they have to
undergo additional hardships because of their gender. Dalit women have to struggle
harder to secure basic necessities of life, i.e. food, clothing, fuel, water and
education. Hence the quest for identity of Dalit women differs from the quest for
identity of women from upper section of society though both are the victims of
Hindu Social System.
The female Dalit autobiographies narrate the double oppression faced by Dalit
women as a Dalit and as a woman. The Dalit women have asserted their identity
due to revolutionary movement of Dr.Babasaheb Ambedkar.

Tanika Sarkar, commenting on Amar Jiban by Rashsundari, observes,

Autobiographies as genre confuses the boundaries between the word and the
world ( (Sarkar))1.However she further goes on to say that,personal narratives of
the upper caste women do not appear in the form of a direct speech.It is,on the
contrary,narrated in an indirect form of a Bhakti or devotional song. It is here that
the dalit womens autobiographies differ from the life stories of the upper caste.
Jina Amucha, the Marathi original of The Prisons We Broke, is a milestone in the
history of Dalit writing in Marathi. It is probably the first autobiography of a Dalit
woman not only in Marathi but in any Indian language.
Maya Pandit ,the translator of the Marathi autobiography Jina Amucha of Baby
Kamble writes in her introductory note:
Baby Kambles Autobiography The Prisons We Broke is a direct self-assertion of
a Dalit woman. but it also went two steps ahead: it was a head-on confrontation
with bramhinical hegemony on the one hand and patriarchal domination on the
other. In one sense it is more of a socio-biography rather than an
autobiography(Kamble xiii)1
A singularly important aspect of Jina Amucha is Baby Kambles Dalit Feminist
critique of patriarchy. She graphically describes the physical and psychological
violence women have to undergo in both the public and private spheres.Baby
Kamble shows the remarkable dignity and resilience of the Mahar women in their
struggle through which they have emerged as the agents of transformation in their
community.
If the Mahar community is the other for the Bramhins, Mahar women become the
other for the Mahar men.Baby Kamble demonstrates how caste and patriarchy
converge to perpetuate exploitative practices among women. In her self-narration
Baby Kamble portrayas how Dalit Women were the worst sufferers of superstition,
hunger, poverty and the exploitative patriarchal order of Dalit Men as well as the
Men from higher castes.
The male dominance which was prevalent among the men of the higher
castes was also prevalent among Dalit men. In her narration Baby Kamble shows
how the custom of keeping women at home, behind threshold was prevalent among
Dalit Men. It was rather a pride of the Mahar Men to keep their wives behind
threshold. Baby Kambles mother was locked in a house by his father to keep his
male honour intact.
In those days, it was the custom to keep women at home, behind the
threshold. The honour enjoyed by a family was in proportion to the restrictions
imposed on the women of the house. When no one could see even a nail of the
woman thus confined within the four walls of the house,then this honour became
the talk of the town- a byword among the relatives and friends in the surrounding

villages. Then people would tell each other, how one Pandharinath Mistry kept his
wife completely hidden in the house and how even the rays of the sun did not know
her. My father had locked up my aai in his house, like a bird in a cage.(Kamble 5) 3
The child marriages were also prevalent among Mahars. Baby Kamble
narrates the plight of Dalit Girs who were married at very young age. The girl
married into the family of mahar of the sixteenth share had to work hard. Regarding
the sad plight of the daughet-in-law in such a family Baby Kamble writes, The
daughter-in-law of that house was kept busy all twenty-four hours of the day. The
men folk would bring loads of meat in big baskets on their heads. The meat needed
to be preserved. This was a very arduous task. And many a time, the duty fell on
the daughter-in-law. More often than not, she would be not more than eight or nine
years old.She had to sit down with a sharp knife,cut the huge pieces of meat into
smaller ones of about half kilo each, and then stretch these into long snake like
strips.(Kamble 73-74) 4
Dalits were slaves of Savarnas. But the mentality of enslaving others was
deep rooted
in the psyche of Dalits too. Hence they used to enslave their
daughters-in-law. The tendency of enslaving their daughters-in-laws by Mahars is
narrated by Baby Kamble.
The other world had bound us with chains of slavery. But we too were
human beings. And too desired to dominate, to wield power. But who would let us
do that? So we made our own arrangements to find slaves-our very own daughtersin-law! If nobody else, then we could at least enslave them.(Kamble 87) 5
The Dalit women were not only exploited by the caste system but they were
also suffered by Dalit women. The mothers-in-law tortures their daughters-in-law to
take revenge of the tortures they suffered by their mothers-in-law. It gives them
satisfaction and pleasure they could at least dominate someone else.
The practice of chopping off the wifes nose with the instigation of mother and to fix
her foot in a wooden piece weighing around five kilo with iron bar was prevalent
among Mahar community. The women were the enemies of their counterpart. In
most cases The mothers-in-law act as the agents of exploitative system against
their own daughters-in-law.
Baby Kamble narrates the plight of the Dalit women very graphically:
In those days, at least one woman in a hundred would have her nose chopped off.
You may well ask why. Its because of the sasu, who would poison her sons mind.
These sasus ruined lives of innocent women forever. Every day the maharwada
would resound with the cries of hapless women some house or the other. Husbands,
flogging their wives as if they were beasts, would do so until the sticks broke with
the effort.The heads of these women would break open, their backbones would be
crushed, and some would collapse unconscious. But there was nobody to care for

them.They had no food to eat,no proper clothing to cover their bodies; their hair
would remain uncombed and tangled,dry from lack of oil.Women led the most
miserable existence.The entire day, the poor daughters-in-law would serve the
entire household like a slave.The sasu,sasra,brothers and sisters-in-law, the
neighbours- she had to serve one and all.The household chores were no less
tortuous. Many daughters-in-law would try to run away to escape this
torture.(Kamble 98) 6
Baby Kamble shows her anger towards the unjust system prevalent in Indian society
where patriarchy crushed the womanhood under its strong foundation. Women were
regarded as Goddesses but in reality they were not treated as the human beings.
She speaks in favour of women and also shows her gratefulness towards Babasaheb
for introducing Hindu Code Bill in the Parliament to secure rights for the Hindu
women:
A woman is satwa and sheel incarnate. She can put even her creators to shame. Just as the
chaturvarna system created castes and sanctioned discriminatory practices, the cunning creator of the
world established the practice of making women dependent on men. Men have therefore dominated
women ever since. But a woman is godess Amba on the earth who gives birth to man and sustains that
unjust creature with her very life-blood. After having undergone the ordeal of fire for ages she finally
gave birth to a divine flame. This flame showed the world what true love and affection is.Then it tore
off the net in which men had trapped women for ages, and rescued them. This was what is known as
Hindu Code Bill. The man who gave birth to the Hindu Code Bill was my king Bhim,the son of Morality,
savior of the world.(Kamble 102) 7

There was a custom to pay respect to the men of higher caste by mahars when they
see him coming down the road.When he came close,they had to say, The humble
mahar woman fall at your feet master. This was like a chant, which they had to
repeat innumerable times, even to a small child if it belonged to a higher caste.
If Mahar woman failed to pay respect to the man of higher caste she had to undergo
a great humiliation not only by the people of the higher castes but also by the
mahar men and women. Because the slave mentality were deeply rooted in the
psyche of mahar men and women. The narrator also describes such an incident in
her autobiography:
We children follow the women, holding their pallav.Sometimes there would be
young, newly wed girl in the group and she would fail to join the chant out of sheer
ignorance or awkwardness.All hell would break loose then.The master would simply
explode in rage. He would march straight to the mahar chawdi,summon all the
mahars there and kick up a big fuss. Who, just tell me, who the hell is that new girl?
Doesnt she know the that she has to bow down to the master? Shameless bitch!
How dare she pass me without showing due respect.(Kamble 53) 8
After reconciliation with the men of the higher caste the mahars would return to
their hut and then abuse their daughter-in-law who failed to pay respect to the man
of higher caste. Everybody then showed their anger towards the poor young gir,the

daughter-in-law, and took her to task.The mother-in-law and father-in-law joined

each other to hurl abuses towards young girl,
You bitch, Paru, will you allow us to stay in this village or not? Do ypu know what
havoc youve caused today? Do you know how terrible it was for me today? The
whole village has started spitting on my face. We eat their food, dont we? Should
we pass by them without bowing? Do your parents belong to the Kolhati caste?
Dont they have custom of bowing down before the masters of their
village?(Kamble 53)9
Mahar women have to wear the clothes spread over the corpse of the high caste
people. Still possessing those white clothes were a thing to be adored by
Mahars.Mahar girl used to behave like Bramhin women by wearing the white clothes
like a sari. Mahar women by wearing white clothes used to imitate the women of
higher castes.
A lengthy piece of would be give nto the young daughter who would be elated to
get it. She would drape it around herself in various styles and perform a kind of
fashion show. One moment she she would drape it around her shoulder like a
Bramhin Kaki and imitate her accent, Hey you, Mahar women, shoo, shoo, stand at
a distance. Dont touch anything .You will pollute us and our gods and religion. The
next moment she would a Gujar woman,draping the pallav in the Gujarati style, and
finally a Mahar daughter-in-law, pulling the pallav from her head down her
nose.(Kamble 80)10
Baby Kamble narrates further the aspirations of Mahar women to live like a higher
caste women.
What other evidence does one need to know how the Mahar woman craved to live
like a Bramhin or a high caste Maratha or Patil woman? They, like anybody else,
aspired for a better life.But they were bound by the chains of slavery.It was on the
Mahars labour that these idle parasites lived. The condition of the Mahars was no
better than that of bullocks, those beasts of burden, who slogged all their life for a
handful of a dry grass. (Kamble 80)11
The Mahar woman even could not wear the saris like a high caste woman.
There was a custom among Mahars to offer the first child to God Khandoba.If he is
male then would become Potraja and if she is female child then she would become
Muralis or Devdasi.Later the devadasis were put into the trade of flesh by the
temple authorities. This custom of offering the first child also narrated by Baby
Kamble in her autobiography.
To get relief from the life of utter poverty,hunger and exploitation Mahar women find
solace in being possessed by ghosts, Goddess Satwai or Mari Aai.It is very
interesting amd amusing to know that the Mahar Men possessed by Laman Pathan

could be able to drive away the ghosts from mahar woman.Laman Pathan was the
brother of Goddess.There was a custom among Mahars of offering goats to the God
Laman Pathan.
To suffer from hunger and poverty was the fate of Mahars. Most of the Mahar
women dies during child birth due to malnutrition and hunger. They could not even
afford to buy the cheapest food like Jowar. They suffered from the diseases like
tetanus due to careless attitude towards infection. Narrator describes the painful
fate of Mahar women during the period of their pregnancy.
Of course, it was only the more fortunate who could enjoy the luxury of eating
cooked jowar, though this was the cheapest grain available. Many new mothers had
to go hungry.They would lie down pining for few morsels while hunger gnawed at
their insides. Most women suffered this fate.Labour pains, mishandling by the
midwife, wounds inflicted by onlookers nails, ever-gnawing hunger, infected
wounds with pus oozing out, hot water baths, hot coals, profuse sweatingeverything caused the new mothers condition to worsen and she would end up
getting a burning fever. On most occasions it was tetanus. The family would have to
look after the infant on the one hand and the suffering mother on the other! There
would be neither food and money! Only unlimited grief and suffering! The fever was
often called madanvayu.(Kamble 60) 12
In the event of not being able to spend for the treatment of the mother, they sought
free treatment which turned fatal for her. The ignorance of the mahars led them to
perform the rituals rather than going to doctor.
The suffering of the woman would be beyond endurance. Even the onlookers found
it difficult to watch her plight. Her family smeared her forehead with ash from the
chulha.Two or three days would pass like this. People around her would try to soothe
her with kind words. Life in that poor mother gradually diminished and she would
finally sink. Many young girls on the threshold of life succumbed to death. One in
every ten lost their lives during their lives during childbirth. Infants died as well. The
far of death drove people to the goddess Satwai and they would perform all the
customary rituals.(Kamble 61)13
There was a superstition predominant among Mahars that goddess satwai and the
god Barama to visit the house of a newly born baby to write the babys future on its
forehead. They believed that Barama had a pen with which he made Satwai write
the fate of the baby. There was a saying very popular among mahars that Baramas
words and Satwais writing are indelible and can never be wiped off.
Dr.Babasaheb Ambedkars call for them to convert and to give up religion which
bind them into slavery and superstition brought about an immense change in the
attitude of Mahars.They are now in a mood to challenge the authority of Hindu
religion and its gods and goddesses.Baby Kamble challenged the authority of God
Barama and Satwai to write the future of newly born babies:Today, if we come

across Barama and Satwai,we would like give them both a sound thrashing and ask,
Barama and Satwai, you ruined the lives of generation after generation of the
Mahars! You wrote our fates,didnt you? Religion must have bribed you quite well to
do this. Otherwise why should you have done this? Religion must have handed over
a stamp to Barama instead of a pen to Satwai, you kept sealing our fates with your
writing! And yet, our simple folks were loyal to you and your religion! But now we
are more than a match for you,do you realize? Fine, you stamped a fate of misery
on our foreheads ten times and we suffered a thousand times more. But now we
have vanquished you. We have true power, because we have sheel, satwa and
neeti, and they stand supreme in the whole world. (Kamble 62) 14
Babasaheb ask Mahars to give up dragging dead animals and eating meat of dead
animals. That made a positive impact on the Mahars. He asked his men to Educate,
Agitate and Unite. Mahars followed Babasahebs words and started sending their
children to schools. Education brought about a revolution among Mahars and they
realized the cause of their slavery. They gave up all the customs, rituals and religion
which made them slaves and accepted a way of life which could make them free
and dignified human beings.
Ambedkarite movement and conversion of Mahars to Buddhism brought about a
revolutionary change in their minds. According to Baby Kamble it is important to
follow the principles of Babasaheb rather than worshipping. She writes, I have
never worshipped Dr.Babasaheb Ambedkar with sandalwood paste, flowers and
dhoop sticks. I have never made a public display of my reverence for him. I
worshipped, instead, the principles he stood for. I have had to face several
adversities in my life and I fought these bravely with the weapons of sheel and
satwa.(Kamble 117)15
As per the advice of Babasaheb Mahars educated their sons and daughters. The
narrator educated all her sons and daughters. She even started an ashram shala for
orphans from the backward castes.
Conclusion:
In her autobiography Baby Kamble presented the live picture of Mahars life in past
50 years living in Western Maharashtra. She candidly showed her anger toward the
Chaturvarna system of Hinduism as well as against the patriarchal order
predominant among Mahars which gave a lower status to their women. The
autobiography is a self-critique of the patriarchy and superstitions prevalent among
Mahars.It is also a document which recorded the poverty and hunger of Mahars.The
autobiography is a social critique of the Hindu Social system as well the patriarchal
order of Mahars.Baby Kambles self and frank analysis made her autobiography
totally different from the autobiographies of higher caste women as well as Dalit
male autobiographers where the presence of Dalit women as an independent

human being rarely felt.Through her narration Baby Kamble bring to the fore the
plight of Dalit Women.

Works Cited:
Kamble, Baby. The Prisons We Broke. New Delhi: Orient Blackswan, 2009.
Sarkar, Tanika. Hindu Wife,Hindu Nation. New Delhi: Permenant Black, 2001.