Retrieving a People and a Culture to Visibility Dr S R Chandramohans essay is the first comprehensive study in English of Dalit poetry in Malayalam.

His attempt is laudable for its objective of presenting before nonMalayalee readers an assessment of what he describes as poetry in Malayalam written by poets who are Dalits by birth and who write from a Dalit perspective. Dalit poetry today is a pan-Indian phenomenon. It made decisive intervention in two major literatures in the country in the early Seventies of the last century. The emergence of Dalit writing in Marathi and Gujarati were epoch-making events in every sense. In both literatures poetic sensibility was radically transformed. Dalit poetry in Gujarati and Marathi was not mere agit-prop tools for the Dalit movement. Along with fiction written by Dalit writers, Dalit poetry saw the development of a new distinctly Dalit aesthetics in these literatures. Saran Kumar Limbales Towards an Aestheic of Dalit Literature and D N Nagarajs Flaming Feet were attempts to codify the poetics of Dalit writing. Other literatures like Punjabi, Tamil and Kannada also saw the emergence of Dalit writing in the Eighties of the Twentieth Century. In Malaylam, despite its presence as a distinct stream from at least the beginning of the Twentieth Century, Dalit writing, especially poetry remained in the almost invisible margins till the stirrings of Dalit sensibility in the Eighties of the last century caught up with the mainstream literature in Malayalam. Dalit writing has been extensively translated among Indian languages and into English and foreign languages. It was Dalit fiction, primarily in its role as a document of Dalit life, that gained wide readership in the country. Thus Joseph Macwan, Bama and Sarankumar Limbale became familiar names in literary circles. However, poets like Nirav Patel, Kisan Sosa and Raghavan Atholi are also widely read in translation today. Although a number of collections of poems, stories and assorted selections of Dalit writing in translations in English have been published, Dr Chandramohans essay is probably the first comprehensive critical analysis in English of Dalit poetry in a particular language. The origins of Dalit poetry in Malayalam has been rightly traced to Poykayil Yohannan (Appachan/Kumaraguru). Kumaraguru was activist, preacher and poet rolled into one. He has a number of firsts to his credit: organizing the first anti-war demonstration in Kerala, starting the first schools for Dalits in Kerala, founding the first subaltern Christian sect in India (the Pratyaksha Raksha Daiva Sabha PRDS - , or The Church for Material Salvation), astonishingly similar in structure and agenda to the dissenting sects like the Lollards, the Levellers and Ranters in Fourteenth Century England. Kumaraguru was the first poet to use the Malayalam Dalit idiom and Dalit rhythms in poetry. His poems are probably the first distinct documents of Dalit life in India. A number of his poems are modeled on hymns, and therefore became extremely popular. His most famous line, Kanunneeloraksharavum, ente vamsathintethayi (Gone without a trace, every scrawl of my race) is probably the most authentic statement made by a Dalit writer. It is also remarkable that Kumaraguru was a contemporary of Kumaranasan, a poet whom mainstream literary criticism canonized as the morning star of revolution. Kumaranasans Chandalabhikshuki and Duravastha offer studies in contrast with Kumaragurus poems. The contrast clearly stems from the Dalit and thel non-Dalit points of view. Perhaps there is something in the Gujarati Dalit poet Harish

Mangalams remark that only those who wear shoes know where they bite. A number of Kumaragurus songs, poems and sermons have been collected and published recently. The eclipse of poetry with a distinctive Dalit sensibility in Malayalam after the age of Kumaraguru has been rightly attributed to the ascendancy of both the Nationalist Movement and the Left-leaning Progressive Literary Movement, especially the latter. There were promises in the air, and some writing, mostly by non-Dalit fictionists (Thakazhis novel Randidangazhi comes to mind immediately) on Dalit issues. But dalit issues seemed to have disappeared completely from the radar of Malayalm poetry after Kumaraguru with the notable exception of Changampuzhas Vazhakkula. Even the faint stirrings resumed only in the mid-Fifties of the century, by poets like Kallada Sasi. A few others like K K Govindan and K S S Das emerged a little later. In the euphoria of land reforms and the intellectual ascendancy of the Left, both the cultural identity and the land rights of Dalits were pushed under the carpet. The first half of the Eighties saw the emergence of poets like Kallara Sukumaran, V K Narayanan, Kallada Sasi, Moonthoor Krishnan and K C Kattakkada. In them one finds both a more powerful idiom and more thematic range. But , probably the first poet who demonstrated the dynamism and vigour of Dalit sensibility was Raghavan Atholi It was in Raghavans poetry that the first deliberate attempt in Dalit writing to scuttle conventional idiom and style was made. In that sense he is certainly a pioneer Dalit poetry. The density of packed images in his poetry deserves more critical attention. Dr Chandramohans study has only made a beginning. The last quarter of a century has seen the virtual explosion of Dalit creativity in poetry. Thus we have a host of Dalit poets bursting on to the scene one after the other : S K Raghu, P K Ayyappan, Kesavan Kannanakuzhi, Sunny Kavikkad, Kaviyoor Murali, S Joseph, M B Manoj, A R Renukumar, Sasi Madhuraveli and Sivadasan Purameri. Also significant is the emergence of Dalit women poets like Vijila and K K Nirmala. Any discussion on Dalit poetry in Malayalam will be incomplete without a mention about the significant critical and theoretical contributions made by Dalit writers. They have certainly made substantial contributions laying the foundations for Dalit aesthetics in Malayalam. They include K K Kochu, K K Baburaja, Pradeepan Pampirikkunnu and V V Sami. They have pointed out in their many articles how the writing of Keralas literary and cultural history will remain sketchy without studying the significant outputs of Dalit politics and Dalit literature. Although there are a number of Dalits widely read and proficient in English, very few of them have shouldered the responsibility of writing in English for a non-Malayalee audience on Dalit culture or Dalit writing. An academic like Dr Chandramohanan, perhaps, realizes the relevance of such a task, more than others. One can only wish that this is only a beginning and that more such studies will be forthcoming from him. I am happy to present his study to his readers. Kozhikode 12-12-2010. K M Sherrif