THREAD:
Remembering Baburao Bagul on his birth anniversary today.

For Bagul, Dalit Literature was about defiance in the face of suffering. He established a discourse in which Dalit Literature does not mean sorrowful accounts alone but revolutionary assertion.

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He broke new ground in Marathi literature by evolving a “Dalit consciousness”.His literary creations were rebel acts that aimed at dethroning the brahmanical forces.

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His characters not only question the caste-based hierarchy but destroy its very base. They are angry, they dissent, they revolt. They are subjected to sufferings, but they are not resigned to their situation. They fight ferociously to assert their self-respect and dignity.

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The protagonist in one of Bagul’s stories, says, “When was I beaten by them? It was Manu who thrashed me.” In a society in which people are unwilling to see an aspiring Dalit, Bagul’s work should be read again and again, louder than ever.

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Baburao Bagul started writing in 1952. His groundbreaking works include Jevha Mi Jat Chorli Hoti (When I Hid My Caste), 1963 which was hailed as “the epic of Dalits”. He went on to publish Maran Swast Hot Ahe (Death is Getting Cheaper) in 1969 and Sud (Revenge) in 1970.

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The conversation in one of the stories between Jai and his father in “Revolt” tears apart the "division of labourers".
“‘Where is it written that a Bhangi’s son must become a Bhangi?’, asks Jai.
‘In our poverty. In our dharma. In our country’, replies his father.

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"What dharma? If it breaks a person and turns him into an animal? In this country that invests greater significance in a stone than in a human being? I will not heed such a dharma. If it has given us only this poverty, this deprivation, then it behoves us to reject it", Jai says.

Another character, Kashinath in “When I Hid My Caste” asserts his defiance against the birth-based occupation given to him, he shouts in rage, “I am a Mahar but that doesn’t mean I’m going to clean human shit and piss from the walls.”

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The Dalit Sahitya Sansad was established under the leadership of Baburao Bagul. Daya Pawar and Arjun Dangle held the position of general secretary of Dalit Sahitya Parishad.

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Bagul says, "Even if Manu has been thrown into darkness, he has not died. He is living today in books, in holy scriptures, in temple after temple. He lives in mind after mind. The structure of the society that he created is what we have today.

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"Only his (Manu) loving people are at the centre of power. So in India at this time there are two worlds, two powers, two life traditions and two scriptures. He who wants victory, he who wants influence must take a role in determining the future."
- Bagul

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Bagul’s explanation of how Manu still rules this society is an important argument that needs to be reiterated to “his loving people” who are quick to dismiss puranas and dharmashastras and the casteism that they theorize and uphold as things of the past.

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Bagul was a rebel and a visionary. His vision was based on his realization of the root cause of the degradation of Dalits. His attack on Manu distinguished him from other writers who, even while talking about miseries and human pain, never questioned the root cause.

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