Art is a manifestation of ideas. In India, Art holds a unique space for stirring civic consciousness and becoming the voice of the voiceless, including for the Dalit community. Placed at the bottom of the caste hierarchy, discrimination against Dalits continue to be a reality in present India. Within countless collective actions or individual heroism, fighting against these archaic practices, art has served a new agency for resistance, promoting an ethos of rationality and liberation through visual depictions.
The Dalit use of art in the form of paintings and literature requires venture and imperatives to thrive in mainstream society. One of the lenses to view this objective could be through understanding art in the form of paintings and literature that has been the medium of mobilization for Dalit movements in particular.
Traditional Use Of Art
Some of the famous art forms in India such as Mithila Painting (Madhubani Art) were started by the upper caste women. This art form is used to depict rituals and important occasions.
Lower caste women had little awareness of Hindu deities. They found it difficult to compete with their counterparts owing to social differences. This is where motivation and skill led to evolution of Dalit paintings in its current form. Dalit paintings are celebration of defiance of dominant social norms. It is a way of attaining agency to assert oneself, take pride and give expression to one’s lived experiences. In these paintings, they try to depict their icons to arouse and consolidate the Dalit identity. The women belonging to the Dusadh and Chamar (Jatav) community had developed their own distinct style of paintings and various new themes were included to master the art of Mithila painting distinct from the paintings made by upper caste women.
These earlier use of art in the form of paintings, presented them in distinct ways was the first step Dalits took in asserting their existence in society. It began with the basic motive of generating income and as aesthetic pleasure, both of which were denied to them. At very small scale, they sought opportunity in creating these paintings to overcome past patterns of discrimination and structural inequalities. This step paved way for contemporary art form, a stepping stone towards ensuring Dalit inclusion in political society.
The history of Godna style of painting lies in the discrimination suffered by the Dalit women when they were forced to wear ornaments of iron and inferior materials. Tattooing (Godna) was thus seen as an inversion, which publicly distinguished the lower castes. Shanti and Chano Devi experimented with natural colors and created more distinctive style which became the main identifier of Dalit Godna paintings. These natural colors were extracted from cow-dung base, leaves, flowers, vegetables, barks, and roots. These paintings portrayed scenes from their day-to-day lives, nature, chores of Dalit women and included the depiction of god Salhesa (representative of all Scheduled Castes). It marked a major shift in beginning of Dalit contribution in the world of Mithila paintings.
Gobar style of painting or art form, started by Jamuna Devi, drew inspiration from Bharni and Kachni paintings which were composed of Brahaminical or high caste rituals and deities. These were made by giving the paper a light Gobar (Cow dung slurry). Jamuna Devi was one of the first Dalit woman to start commercialized painting. The distinctive style of painting she pioneered would go on to attain huge recognition and demand in coming times, besides being emulated by painters from upper caste as well.
Geru style of painting depicted deities, animals and plants boldly with a few bright color contrasts mostly in brown. However, this style did not attract many buyers and soon disappeared. Geru painters such as Bhagvati Devi stopped painting. Women from upper and the Scheduled Castes practiced distinctive but overlapping styles of art; it is said that the Brahminical religious form was produced by upper castes and the ‘secular’ forms drawn from daily life were developed and depicted by the lower caste women.
These earlier use of art in the form of paintings, presented them in distinct ways was the first step Dalits took in asserting their existence in society. It began with the basic motive of generating income and as aesthetic pleasure, both of which were denied to them. At very small scale, they sought opportunity in creating these paintings to overcome past patterns of discrimination and structural inequalities. This step paved way for contemporary art form, a stepping stone towards ensuring Dalit inclusion in political society.
Contemporary Use Of Art
The contemporary art work was made by Dalit painter, Savindra Sawarkar who projected Dalit people’s pain and anguish in the visual culture, which are unique in the Indian context. He is the first Indian artist to visualize the Chaturvarna through pictorial signs as a critique of caste and inequality.
In his famous painting, ‘Foundation of India’, he depicted the political democracy of India through four blocks, arranged one upon the other. First block represents the angry face of Brahmin; a conduit of power. Second, arms of the Kshatriya extended signifying authority lies in their hands. The third cube represents the Vishaya, revealing their relentless appropriation of social surplus. The Shudra and the Antyaj together, forming one block, reflected signs of Buddhism, the Stupa and the Chakra pointing toward the possibility of political and religious solidarity among the hierarchically divided lower-castes. The feet that bear the burden of these four blocks are those of women, pushed down by all, even by lower-caste solidarities, yet they walk. Savindra Savarkar’s artwork conveys non-violence.
Other recognized paintings such as ‘Untouchable Couple with Om and Swastika’. The untouchable figures have two dark-dots for pupils in red signifying anger. They carry a clay pot made to spit into each painted with the sacred Hindu sign of Om and Swastika signifying caste burden. The silent outpour of the untouchable couple echoes with the sound of the bells on the stick. And in ‘Two Untouchables under the Black Sun’, shows two untouchables sitting with two crows, signs of untouchability. The sun is not black during an eclipse alone; it is always eclipsed for untouchables, inhibiting progress of culture and identity.
Other recognized paintings such as ‘Untouchable Couple with Om and Swastika’. The untouchable figures have two dark-dots for pupils in red signifying anger. They carry a clay pot made to spit into each painted with the sacred Hindu sign of Om and Swastika signifying caste burden. The silent outpour of the untouchable couple echoes with the sound of the bells on the stick. And in ‘Two Untouchables under the Black Sun’, shows two untouchables sitting with two crows, signs of untouchability. The sun is not black during an eclipse alone; it is always eclipsed for untouchables, inhibiting progress of culture and identity.
Dalit Literature
Dalit literature serves the purpose of participation and opposition in subtle ways. It intends to gather support of masses in two ways: a) emotionally connect all the members of Dalit community, and, b) try to bring change in the perception of caste by popularizing Dalit struggle. The context of literary writing may vary but it ultimately tries to attain political activism and to initiate reassessment and restructuring of history and culture.
Dalit literature is self-explanatory as it illuminates their sufferings, it as expresses how their experiences paved the way for gaining the political consciousness, self-respect and dignity for their community and for their own individual selves. The actual Dalit Literary Movement started in the 1960s. The writings of Dalit writers are reflective of lived realities of their individual and collective experience which makes it the literature authentic, sharing a collective relationship to a common cause, common identity, and a common political stance.