Bhimayana- Pratibha Biswas PDF

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Pratibha Biswas: Polemics and Poetics of Bhimayana Polemics and Poetics of Bhimayana: Towards a New Literary Culture Having its roots in the serial comic strips of 1970s, Graphic Novels have not only inspired adaptations like Batman, Spiderman and Sin City but have also come to acquire literary reputation with Art Spielgelman's Maus(1991) winning Pulitzer Prize in 1992 and academic sanction with the inclusion of Bhimayana in Delhi University's FYUP (though the course got rolled back according to UGC directive). A hybridized media, it blends pictorial narrative with lexical realm subverting the hegemony of 'words' on the page. Rather than illustrations supporting or attempting to explicate the text, the media allows the images and the words to co-exist in equivalence, allowing the subaltern to draw what he cannot speak. It offers a linguistic site for subversive political activism to the subalterns like Dalits for producing counter hegemonic and anti-Brahmanical discourse to assert self respect and social acceptance. Bhimayana: Experiences of Untouchability (2011), called a 'graphic book' by its publishers, is noteworthy as it blends the superhero story of comics, epic conventions , Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar's biography and news reports together, and in doing so not only attempts historiography by rewriting the life of Ambedkar by incorporating what is underacknowledged in history textbooks and popular culture but also archives the Gond tribal art, as the illustrations done by Pradhan Gond artists Durgabai Vyam and Subhash Vyam, through their animistic imagery permeated with thick symbolism, narrate the history of social discrimination experienced by Dalits, at the same time challenging many conventions of the western sequential art form. This paper attempts to analyze the polemics and poetics of Bhimayana by examining the creators' intent and the content as well as the relationship between design, text and illustrations used to narrate the experiences of discrimination and empowerment, to propagate anti-caste ideology. I propose that the book is highly subversive at multiple levels. In terms of content, it projects alternate historiography and alternate mythology. In terms of illustrations too, it counter-poses tribal idiom against the dominant modes of western sequential art forms, as well as opens up a new discursive field of 'visuality' as a para-site for producing counter hegemonic discourse. The book has raised critical debates. For instance John Berger calls it is an extraordinary book and Arundhati Roy calls it "unusually beautiful . . . unforgettable". But there are critics too, who have doubted the books impact as a conscience-raiser calling it simplistic and questioning the efficacy of popular forms of literature like a comic/graphic book to be able to do justice to Ambedkar, who has been subjected to political tokenism in nationalist discourse. They also question the efficacy of tribal art in facilitating depiction of Ambedkar's developmental vision of social democracy. My objective here is to engage with these questions in order to explicate how the book is educative and at the same time subversive, polemical and as put by Joe Sacco "[d]istinctive[ly] . . . challenging in all the right ways". The paper also attempts to delineate how graphic narrative as a media of popular culture may indeed be useful in increasing the impact of book as a conscience-raiser .For this purpose the paper is divided into three sections namely; 'content and intent', 'design, text and illustrations' and the conclusion . In the section content and intent I try to articulate, how Bhimayana attempts to reposition B. R Ambedkar in the national imaginaire which is essentially impinged upon Gandhian ideology oblivious to dalit perspective that defies assimilation into nationalist discourse. This section has two subsections: 'alternate historiography' and ' alternate mythology'. In' design, text and illustrations', I explicate the

efficacy of tribal art in implicitly propagating the anti-caste ideology. The third section which is also the conclusion, throws light on the impact of the book in breaking new ground in subversive political activism. Content and Intent Bhimayana presents a graphic account of incidents in the life of Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, based on a section from his autobiographical illustrations titled "Waiting for Visa", as he recounts his experiences of growing up as an untouchable facing discrimination and humiliation. Divided into four sections, the narrative runs under four themes namely, Water (book one), Shelter (book two), Travel (book three) and The Art of Bhimayana (book four). 'Water' is set in 1901, when British, initiated educational reforms. The illustrations depict how young Bhim, while studying in school, is discriminated against and denied water from the village pump. The section highlights the fact that the most glaring discrimination is practiced by denial of basic amenities like water to Dalits. 'Shelter' illustrates how Dr. Ambedkar is forced to live, under constant threat to his life, in dungeon like conditions, when he is denied boarding in Baroda while working for the Maharaja who had sponsored his education at Columbia University. Disillusioned, Ambedkar quits the job and returns to Bombay. 'Travel' is set in 1934, depicting Ambedkar as an established political agitator for Dalits, mobilizing the depressed classes to assert their rights. The section culminates in explicating Ambedkar's emancipatory politics by depicting incidents like Indian Round Table Conference held in 1931 and his conversion to Buddhism. Though I agree with Gaurav Jain that the book does not address the political dilemma of Ambedkar in its entirety and does not answer questions like "How does Gandhi's humanism end up patronizing Dalits? Or did half a million Dalits actually benefit from following Ambedkar into Buddhism?" To me, that is not precisely the objective of this book. I propose that the book is meant for the relatively uninformed reader, who under the 'assumed neutrality' fails to see caste reconfigured as a contemporary form of power, is oblivious of Ambedkar's contributions as India's foremost revolutionary, his crusade for annihilation of caste and the plight of several untouchable communities like Mahars. The book intends to initiate this reader towards, a much larger and complex political dialectics of anti-caste ideology.

The narrative begins with "One day in the recent past, [at] a bus stop in an Indian city" (2014:11) with a male and a female sitting on a bench which is personified with its roof drawn as long hair and arms spread as if inviting one to sit. The illustration shows an upper caste male complaining about unfairness of quota and blaming reservation for his being super qualified yet stuck in a dead end job. It is to this, that the bespectacled activist girl responds by relating incidents from B. R Ambedkar's life. Jai Arjun Singh, in his review of the book purports that it is this illustration that acts as book's 'framing device' by bringing the caste question within the purview of reservation debate and giving it contemporary relevance. This introductory illustration is significant; in making explicit that the intended readers happens to be young adults and foreigners, who are oblivious about the reconfiguration of caste as vector of oppression and casteism in modern times. Caste, rather than being "a remnant of pre-modern hierarchical purity pollution formation specific to Hindu religion" (Satyanarayan and Tharu 2011: 9), is a live force in Indian culture and politics; a form of power and a source of privilege leading to socio-economic marginalization of one section of society and perpetuation of violence and atrocities against them. The speech of the boy reveals the anti-reservationist attitude of the urban middle-class and upper class youth, to whom caste is not a functional presence in modern India and is a nonissue. It alludes to the post Mandal debate, which precipitated an important break in Indian politics, since caste discrimination got reconfigured into the rhetoric of 'national interest', 'merit' and 'efficiency' by anti-reservationist who represented themselves as secular and modern citizens and labeled those who publically invoked caste by asking for caste-based reservations as casteist. The resurgence of caste was condemned as "revival of outmoded forms by politicians playing to masses" (Satyanarayan and Tharu 2011: 12) and the argument was extended to not only oppose caste-based reservations but also caste as vector of oppression in contemporary India. The newspaper reports that intersperse the narrative – for instance that of Dalit siblings preparing for civil services exam, living in Mukherji Nagar area of the capital being thrashed on revelation of their Dalit identity as reported in Hindu on 5th May 2008, or the account of two Dalit women in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, who died after being thrown out of hospital, in the year 2007 – jolt the reader with reality checks, highlighting the contemporaneity of the issue challenging the assumptions of urban youth, who relegate untouchability to rural areas or to a thing of the past. Alternate Historiography The book attempts repositioning of Ambedkar as more than the drafter of the constitution by explicating his emancipatory politics of inclusion and anti-caste ideology. S. Anand in the epilogue of the book clearly states the intent of the book in the following words: In India today, as in the rest of the world, few outside the dalit movement are familiar with these experiences of Ambedkar. India's hidden apartheid has unfortunately not become a global concern. . . . Bhimayana is a small effort to address this anomaly and make Amdedkar's story universal. (2014:103) The sentiment is reiterated by Arundhati Roy in her introduction to the book Annihilation of Caste by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar. According to her "[t]o have excised Ambedkar from Gandhi's story which is the story we all grew up on, is a travesty. Equally, to ignore Gandhi while writing about Ambedkar is to do Ambedkar a disservice, because Gandhi loomed over Ambedkar's world in myriad and un-wonderful ways." (2014:13) She points out that Gandhi's deification, sainthood and godliness has become universal where "Gandhi has become all things to all people: Obama loves him and so does the Occupy Movement. Anarchists love him and so does the Establishment. Narendra Modi loves him and so does Rahul Ghandhi." (2014:40) But his most formidable adversary who challenged him not just politically, intellectually and morally and was equally loved and even deified by his followers,

remains ignored by history. "Ambedkar was a prolific writer. Unfortunately his work, unlike the writings of Gandhi, Nehru or Vivekananda, does not shine out at you from the shelves of libraries and book shops."(2014:37) Yet Ambedkar's legacy has been kept alive by Dalit intellectuals dedicated to the cause of caste annihilation. The book puts the debate in context for those unfamiliar with it. It is section three of the book, titled 'travel,' that initiates the reader to the ideological conflict between Mahatma Gandhi and B.R Ambedkar regarding caste system and the issue of separate electorate for depressed classes, when Gandhi, "with his fast, twisted the government's arm as well as Ambedkar's" (2014:90) making the government shelve the idea of independent electorate, when Ambedkar was on the verge of convincing the British government. The event that unfolded at the heart of India's national movement rarely gets included in the teleological nationalist narrative of India's struggle for independence defining national consciousness by incidents like Khilafat movement, Chauri Chaura, the Salt March, Quit India Movement and Gandhi's assassination. Moreover, as Arundhati Roy puts it " [t]he caveats continue to be murmured" labeling Ambedkar " 'British Stooge' (because he accepted an invitation from the British government to the First Round Table Conference in 1930 when Congressmen were being imprisoned for breaking salt laws) and 'Separatist' (because he wanted separate electorates for Untouchables) .. . ." (2014:39) Since, the grand narrative of Indian Nationalist struggle for freedom fails to document momentous events likeMahad Satyagraha; 'the Declaration of Independence' by Dalits, whereby after four years of preparation and peaceful protests, Ambedkar lead 3,000 Dalits to the Chavadar tank to drink a few sips of water which ultimately lead to the growth of Dalit resistance to the hegemonic Brahmanical discourse in asserting 'Dalit subjectivity'; historiography from Dalit perspective has emerged as an important strategy for dalit intellectuals, in revealing the 'discontinuities' and 'differences' in the archeology of caste and nation. Bhimayana is produced with the same intent to challenge sacrosanct status of the nationalist discourse that has become entrenched in the popularimaginaire. Alternate Mythology The functionalist theory of Myth proposed by Brownislaw Malinowski purports that religious myths emerge in order to support and reinforce social order of a culture giving validation and strength to the power structures. They codify beliefs as well as engender the roles that are considered appropriate for each member of the society. This is done by attributing prestige to the tradition and "tracing it back to a higher, better, more supernatural reality of initial events" (qtd. in Dundes 1984:149). In the opinion of Uma Chakravarty: "Unlike racism, where its practitioners may on occasion, experience guilt and conflict because the existential order does not match the ideal order laid out in their constitution, in caste stratified Indian society the real behavior of upper caste vis -a- vis the lower castes harmonizes with the ideals laid out in ancient Brahmanical texts which continue to be regarded as sacred. . . . ;indeed these texts continue to provide validation despite deviance from the constitutional ideal of equality because these people, including the castes at the bottom of the scale, would regard themselves as upholding 'tradition'" (2003:3). The Vedas, Puranas and epics like Ramayana and Mahabharata as prominent sources of myths have for centuries defined the image and place of Dalits in the society, validating caste ideology and depriving Dalits of dignity and personhood. Challenging Brahmanical epical beliefs of culture has been an important way through which Dalit intellectuals have attempted to produce counter-hegemonic discourse. The dissent is shown not only overtly through protests like the second Mahad Satyagraha, when Ambedkar and his followers put a copy of Manusmrition fire but also discursively whereby Dalit intellectuals assert alternate

myths by reinterpreting the dominant mythologies. For instance, Mahatama Jyoti Rao Phule's Gulamgiri makes King Bali an icon of Shudra liberation. Keeping in line with the tradition, the title of the book Bhimayana positions it as a counter-epic, a skit upon the revered Brahmanical epic Ramayana . To quote Prajna Desai : "[ T]he title Bhimayana which could be a cheeky send-up on the Ramayana, which is a pivotal Hindu text that recounts the high-caste mythical god prince Ram's exile from everyday royal luxuries. Bhimayana's account of everyday expulsions from ordinary civic dignities — water, shelter, and travel — presents an alternative epic of heroism." I propose that the narrative adheres to and at the same time subverts many characteristic features of the genre of epic. For instance, rather than being a long narrative poem it is a graphic narrative but the subject matter is serious, centered on Ambedkar's heroic struggle for caste annihilation , which defined the future of Dalits in India. Also, instead of a ceremonial or lofty style, which is a defining feature of an epic, Bhimayana is narrated in chatty and informal dialogues. But according to Nandini Chandra it is the tribal art with its animistic excess and fluidity that creates a mytho-epic universe. For instance " . . .the road [that] takes on the serpentine pattern, moving in coiled loops, the in-between spaces interspersed with trees, grass, animals grazing, birds flying, but all of them interpolated as listeners to the narrative. Some of the animals are shown really twisting around as if straining to hear the fading conversation." Design, Text and Illustrations The emancipatory polemics that guides the content of Bhimayana gets replicated in its form as well, i.e. in the design, text and illustrations. Defying categorization within the categories of western sequential art form like comics and graphic novel, the publishers call it a 'graphic book'. Though the reason has not been specified by the publishers for calling it so, I would like to suggest, referring to Amanda Gluibizzi's analysis in 'The Aesthetics and Academics of Graphic Novels and Comics,' that it could be because comics in production, publication and consumption are essentially serials, possibly printed on newsprint or glossy magazine and have a possibility that they might be published indefinitely where as graphic novel acts as a monograph and serves as distinct volumes within collections. Another spectacular feature that distinguishes Bhimayana from other visual narratives is thedignas (a traditional decorative pattern) created by Gondi artists Durgabai Vyam and Subhash Vyam. Though the artists were made to browse through the books of masters of the graphic book genre like Joe Sacco, Will Eisner and Art Spiegelman , the Vyams refused to suffocate their characters within the confined spaces and boxes meant for illustration. They counterposed their own philosophy of art by preferring to mount their work in open spaces (khulla). To quote Anand, "[t]his was a defining moment- we were on something that would defy the conventional grammar of graphic books. Tiresome photorealism was out of the question. Nor would the Vyams offer cinematic establishment shots . . . which have come to constitute the mis-en-scene of graphic book" (2014: 100). While in graphic novels, texts and illustration share relatively equivalent relationship acting as a supplement to the text, according to Vasvi Oza in Bhimayana the free flowing patterns of dignas allow the images as well as words to flow and interact with each other, making the text almost secondary. It is the images steeped in tribal idiom and symbolism that provide a rich subtext to the narrative. For instance, the three different types of speech balloons reveal the different opinions of characters about caste system; those in the shape of bird stand for victims and people who speak softly, scorpion's tail represents vicious views of those who subscribe to caste system and the thought bubbles with three thoughtful eyes represent words that cannot be heard but perceived used mostly for Ambedkar during instances of humiliation. In one of the digna under the section 'travel' Ambedkar's head becomes the front of the bus carrying "thirty odd political workers of Mahar and other untouchable castes" (2014:77) symbolizing his leadership in mobilizing the untouchables to struggle for caste-annihilation

and demand civil rights and as pointed out by Nandini Chandra in her review of Bhimayana titled "Ambedkar Out of Frame", "A supine and fattish Gandhi is shown resting with a saw, a metaphor for his insidious sabotage of the separate electorate for the depressed classes." According to Prajna Desai, the novelistic narrative method typical of Gond art which hints at and does not elaborate, captures reader attention demanding complex reading strategy making the reader debunk the linear mode of reading. The graphic patios slow down reading: [g]iving reason to sort out why a stick that beats is sighted like a panopticon, or why a water pump seems to want to burst into tears. We can guess that the stick with eyes, a striking theme, is the social CCTV monitoring untouchable life, and the personified water pump is unhappy [that] Bhim left thirsty at school. . . . But the images are always focused, tweaking the plot, making a comment, or leading the eye to wander into intended asides. In response to the critics who consider the use of tribal idiom to narrate Dalit caste politics as fundamentally flawed, since dalit and tribal politics...