Martin Macwan’s Mari Katha is the tale of not just one individual, the author, as the title, “My Story”, would lead one to believe, but that of an entire community—the dalits of rural Gujarat. The book is based on Macwan’s personal experiences with the dalit community. A number of dalit people contributed to this work by reading its drafts and offering suggestions, which were incorporated by Macwan, who gratefully acknowledges their efforts.
Macwan expresses the principal idea of his book in the subtitle, where he states the belief that human beings are born free and that, the inclination to discriminate, perceptible from the earliest stages of our cognitive development, is responsible for what is perceived as the inequity between human beings. He affirms that equality is a goal that can be achieved from the moment that one decides to be equal.
Mari Katha is attractively packaged; the cover depicts a young girl, struggling to study under a lantern, with scavengers’ tools in the foreground, and tea being poured into a saucer with great care, so as to ensure that the kettle does not touch the saucer. Macwan thus communicates effectively with the help of sketches, depending not just on the written word.
The book is in the form of exercises and at the end of each chapter, which Macwan calls a ‘rung’, the author has inserted a number of forceful questions that serve as a standard of measuring the reader’s attitude; it serves almost as a manual for equality. An excerpt from the back cover reads: Dalit’s Struggle: In my own village, can I Move about freely without any harassment? Make a home wherever I wish? Draw water from all the wells? Worship in the place of worship without harassment? Choose my occupation at will? Have the same rights as a man?
Our answer to most of these questions will be in the negative, since our struggle to gain equality is still on. The language of the book is that of the masses. The author brings his work closer to the reader by employing a colloquial and everyday language, using the proverbs, similes and the parables of rural Gujarat. Macwan says, “paddy seedling(s) can yield nothing but paddy and a grain of wheat can yield only wheat. Then how is it that from humans develop Darbars, Patels, Banias, Dalits or Tribals? … That which is natural is controlled by nature. …Not nature, but the humans control that which is humanly created (p. 1). Using the popular metaphor, ‘Many an ant can pull a snake,’ he says, “Why does an ant not go out to ask someone whether she is strong enough to pull a snake or not? … Why doesn’t the Darbar of the village come to ask me if he has the ability to exploit others or not?”
Like his namesake Dr. Martin Luther King, who revolutionized the concept of, and the taboos attached to the issue of racism, Macwan is making efforts to transform the meanings of words like Dalit, Pollution and Untouchability, in the belief that language has the potency to determine and develop and even change attitudes. Moulding and monitoring language, is the way to influence our attitudes. Macwan says, “Untouchability arises from fear. The job of the mind is to keep us away from that which we fear. But the mind does not create fear till I teach it to be afraid of some things. … How is it that a common person is afraid of snake whereas a snake charmer is not? … People in America do not get polluted because they’ve not been taught to be polluted by anyone. … One who gets polluted believes self to be weaker … than the one who pollutes. When I find myself incapable of facing a person or situation, I experience fear” (p. 55).
Macwan is aware that the dispossessed classes are at a disadvantage in their struggle because they lack unity and it is his aim to bring them together for the cause of equality. In an effort to merge with the mass, some dalits have changed their names, dress, their homes, even their language and religions. Macwan sees this and is sympathetic instead of being contemptuous, “…both want to gain independence, both want equality and self-respect … the difference is in the approaches taken” (p. 26). Recognizing the importance of unity, he cites the example of the three visually challenged persons trying to, with the aid of their other senses, discover the animal that stood before them. He believes that if they had shared their experiences, though these were incomplete data, they would, by a team effort, work out that the animal before them, was an elephant. Collaboration, according to him, is possible only among those who respect and value each other. This calls for self-respect. He says, “Self-respect is not like (a) babul bush that thrives on its own. It’s like a mango tree that needs care from inception onwards … money, power, considering (the) self better than others (,) can create (a) babul bush, but not mango trees (p. 54).
In the struggle to establish the dignity of all human beings, one has to rise above personal likes and dislikes and one has to resist the temptation to sit on the fence, or to not acknowledge our responsibility to society and to one’s self, or to take the easiest of options—blaming a faceless, “they”. One needs to garner the support of all men and women of goodwill. The struggle, according to Macwan, is against an ideology and not against any person or group. A change in ideology will transform one’s language, behaviour and relationships. Macwan says, “If I consider my mother, sister, daughter and wife inferior on account of their femininity, the language of my address to them will become rude … But the moment I consider myself equal, my language of addressing them, my dealings, relationship would change. With that, the atmosphere of home too would change” (p. 20). Macwan is against the victim reversing roles and becoming the exploiter. Raping the women of the exploiters’ households in retaliation for the rape of dalit women is not a solution and it denudes one of humanity, erasing the difference between the oppressor and the victim. The only solution that Macwan offers is that of self respect, one that arises out of a respect for one’s language and culture for one’s community and for other oppressed groups such as that of women, making one human, thus raising the self above the oppressor. Macwan’s agenda is not just the expression of the problems of the dalits. He takes a step forward by infusing in his book a supportive attitude towards the issue of the emancipation of rural women, and by laying a positive inflexion upon their roles in the community. He says, “Having received the news of the birth of a baby girl in the first pregnancy, many an in-laws postpone visiting their son’s wife and her new born baby girl” (p. 54). He treats gender issues with sensitivity and includes them in his work, making it an exploration of all the ostracized, without discrimination. Macwan envisages a complete change in the attitudes of society. To bring about this transformation, he considers the question of religion, since it is an important aspect of the Indian society. Religion, as is now practised is more enslaving than liberating. He challenges traditional religious practices, urging that it is now time for a change, to be free of religion that has itself become a burden. But Macwan is not advocating conversion, or the changing of one’s religion. Switching from one set of beliefs to another does not set one free. Macwan puts forth the point that while dalits are considered a minority, statistically speaking, the percentage of Brahmins in our population is 5.5% whereas the dalits when united form 20% of the total population. Macwan does not mince his words and is honest about calling a spade, a spade. He condemns the lack of unity in the dalit community. Criticizing the role played by dalits in the recent Anti-Muslim programme, he says, “Today, in 2002, after 19 years, some dalit youth, calling (them)selves Hindus, have been itching to cut Muslims with the sword held by (the)BJP and its allies. The reason is that no one has taught them 19 years old history of 1981” (p 87-88). Macwan draws attention towards the fact that the present political policy is not beneficial to the dalits, as he talks of the system of Political Reservation. Mari Katha seems to have been written in a hurry. There are some errors with regard to language. Macwan has used popular stories as illustrations but at times the connections between the story and the book are not very clear.
This book however, has emerged at the right time. There is a wide spread dissatisfaction among the dalits. A number of people and groups are working for dalit emancipation. These efforts however need to be united to make a dynamic difference. Mari Katha serves this purpose.
Fr. Francis Parmar is Principal, St. Xavier’s College, Ahmedabad.