Narratives of the 1857 Uprising in Dalit Literature

 The popular Dalit narratives on 1857 by Dalit Scholars have been started in the 60’s however it was popularised in the 90’s with rise of BSP. These narratives comprise a retelling of the revolt of 1857, a pivotal episode in the history of Indian nationalism that marked the first attempt of Indian rebellion against British colonisation. These literature articulate an active participation and contribution of Dalits in the revolt of 1857 which has not been registered in the official histories. This comprises a revival of Dalit heroes and heroines extracted from folk narratives, oral histories, myths and legends which are shaped up in the literary format through these pamphlets. The absence of these heroes and heroines in the recorded history of Indian nationalism is etched out in these narratives followed with a glorification and celebration of their contribution.

Commenting on the same Narayan argues that “The narratives of the 1857 Rebellion helped them not only to establish their own heroes, but also to dethrone the existing higher-caste heroes from the mainstream narratives” (Tiwari, 2007). Resonating the same idea Hunt comments, “By replacing established heroes and heroines of the nationalist movement with Dalit ones, biographies of Dalit heroes and heroines of 1857 proclaim the invaluable role the Dalit community played in the national freedom movement” (Tiwari, 2007: 111). A collective view of both the interpretations earmarks a dethronement of the ‘upper’ caste heroes then replaced by the Dalit heroes and heroines. This solidifies their previous argument as mentioned above that Dalit pamphlet literature functions as “counter” narratives.

The objectives of these narratives of revival of history is outlined by Hunt as “reconstructing the community’s identity” (Hunt 2014:), whereas Narayan views it as “democratisation of history” (Tiwari, 2007: 88) and also to support their demand for an “appropriate share in the power structure of state and society”. The motives of registering the Dalit history are embedded in meeting the contemporary needs for the Dalit community. Hunt’s painstakingly done study of Dalit pamphlets outlines a history of pamphlet literature beginning from 1920’s. She argues that these pamphlets reinterprets historical moments and asserts a share in the mainstream historical discourse. Grounding his research on same, Narayan presents the multiple layers of these narratives; deconstruction and reconstruction of history; translation of myths and oral history in cultural capital; political mobilisation of Dalits and the symbolic capital of these narratives.

A study of these pamphlets allows an understanding of the development of Hindi Dalit literature and the political awakening of the Dalits in north India. These pamphlets are generally low budget production printed on inexpensive paper, meant to be sold in melas and other social gatherings which are predominantly meant for the grassroots Dalits. These pamphlets or booklets are often referred by scholars like Badri Narayan, Charu Gupta and Sara Beth Hunt as “Dalit dissenting culture”, “alternate forms of knowledge”, and “Dalit counter public” respectively. These pamphlets have sufficiently been argued as a challenge to the ‘meta-narrative’ and provide an alternate history, an idea which cannot be contested against. These arguments suffice the popular academic criterion of studying the narratives emerging from the margins under the label of ‘counter culture’.