Dalit oppression, and the reverse mechanism of socio-political and religious upheavals against such tendencies have long been part of the Indian set up. Mass conversions to Buddhism, Sikhism, Islam, in the sub-continent, as documented in history, speaks volumes of the denial of basic human rights to the Dalits or the Untouchables by the caste Hindus. These conversions in no way guaranteed the allocation of rights to the Dalits, who continued to suffer under the yoke of overbearing Hindu principles. To take the example of Sikhism, the institution of untouchability and differential treatment of the Dalit converts continues till date, with the Mazhabi Sikhs (caste chamars) being treated as inferiors by the Jat converts. Islam too served as
…show more content…
The atrocities against the Dalits was never addressed. Most of the cases, if registered, ended in a compromise, which did not serve the Dalit needs at all. The incidents of such atrocities were never reported honestly in the media. Thus, by the end of the 1960s, an educated class of Dalit youth started rebelling against the existing status quo. This rebellion metamorphosed into the
Dalit Panthers movement which was spearheaded by Namdev Dhasal and Raja Dhale. (Zelliot 96) The
Dalit Panthers not only agitated politically, but they followed in the literary trends set by Ambedkar who wrote articles for the creation of opinions on Untouchability in Mooknayak, Bahishkrit Bharat,
Equality, Janata, etc and produced poetry. This trend had grown in the 1960s when Dalit writers took to the Little Magazine Movement, which challenged the literary monopoly of the high caste Hindus. It brought anti-establishment literature to the masses, and produced many of the Dalit writers of modern day Maharashtra. The Dalit Panthers followed in the traditions that were set through anti-hegemonic writings in magazines such as Vidrohi, Magova, and Aamhi. (A.Contursi, Text and Practice in a Dalit Panther Community 325) By the 1970s, educated Dalit youth from …show more content…
They formed an organization known as the Dalit Panthers, a name inspired by the Black Panther movement in the United States. (A.Contursi, Dalit Panther Movement in Maharashtra: A Sociological Appraisal by Lata Murugkar 435) The two movements were similar in a lot of ways, in the sense that both the movements were radical in nature, moved away from earlier non- violent demonstrations, produced poetry, expressed their views through independent media, and stood up against police and government brutality against certain sections of the community that had been deprived of their rights for too long. They broke away from mainstream poetry, quite like the Black Panthers, and used in many cases grotesque, uncomfortable, rage filled images in order to unsettle the reader. The Black Panther poets had rejected traditional poetic styles as adopted by poets such as
Countee Cullen, Claude Mckay, and Georgia Douglass Johnson of the Harlem Renaissance. These poets had written about protest themes that held anger, without any hint of revenge. This changed with the
Black Panthers, who sought justice against oppression. A Black Panther poem, written by Cleaver,
The atrocities against the Dalits was never addressed. Most of the cases, if registered, ended in a compromise, which did not serve the Dalit needs at all. The incidents of such atrocities were never reported honestly in the media. Thus, by the end of the 1960s, an educated class of Dalit youth started rebelling against the existing status quo. This rebellion metamorphosed into the
Dalit Panthers movement which was spearheaded by Namdev Dhasal and Raja Dhale. (Zelliot 96) The
Dalit Panthers not only agitated politically, but they followed in the literary trends set by Ambedkar who wrote articles for the creation of opinions on Untouchability in Mooknayak, Bahishkrit Bharat,
Equality, Janata, etc and produced poetry. This trend had grown in the 1960s when Dalit writers took to the Little Magazine Movement, which challenged the literary monopoly of the high caste Hindus. It brought anti-establishment literature to the masses, and produced many of the Dalit writers of modern day Maharashtra. The Dalit Panthers followed in the traditions that were set through anti-hegemonic writings in magazines such as Vidrohi, Magova, and Aamhi. (A.Contursi, Text and Practice in a Dalit Panther Community 325) By the 1970s, educated Dalit youth from …show more content…
They formed an organization known as the Dalit Panthers, a name inspired by the Black Panther movement in the United States. (A.Contursi, Dalit Panther Movement in Maharashtra: A Sociological Appraisal by Lata Murugkar 435) The two movements were similar in a lot of ways, in the sense that both the movements were radical in nature, moved away from earlier non- violent demonstrations, produced poetry, expressed their views through independent media, and stood up against police and government brutality against certain sections of the community that had been deprived of their rights for too long. They broke away from mainstream poetry, quite like the Black Panthers, and used in many cases grotesque, uncomfortable, rage filled images in order to unsettle the reader. The Black Panther poets had rejected traditional poetic styles as adopted by poets such as
Countee Cullen, Claude Mckay, and Georgia Douglass Johnson of the Harlem Renaissance. These poets had written about protest themes that held anger, without any hint of revenge. This changed with the
Black Panthers, who sought justice against oppression. A Black Panther poem, written by Cleaver,