In Malapalli, an Untouchable corner of a village in the Andhra region, every child's dreams are crushed. They cannot stay at school. They tend the buffaloes. They work the fields. They are sexually exploited. They are expected to be content with a paltry pay When they assert their rights, they are threatened, killed, or worse. forced to migrate to unknown far-away lands.
This is the story of the first sixteen years in the life of Sorajjem. born during the month of India's Independence. It is also a story of the sufferings of her community, the Malas In this country where Gandhian values run deep, caste oppression is comfortably entrenched. This story is set in the recent past. But it can well be a story of contemporary India.
Written in 1975 and published in 1981, Sonagem is one of the early Telugu novels written by a non-Dalit writer that depicts the problems faced by the Dalits. This masterful translation. captures the lived reality of inhumanity, alienation, displacement and sexual atrocity that the Dalits face at the hands of caste-Hindus, and explores why seeds of revolution are sown in Dalit lives.
AKKINENI KUTUMBARAO is a well-known film maker, script writer and director of Telugu films, especially of what is referred to as 'parallel cinema'. Among the films he directed, 'Bhadram Koduko' won the National Film Award for the Best Feature Film in Telugu in 1992. Along with this film, three other films, Patha Nagaramlo Pasivadu,' 'Gulabeel and 'Amulyam' have won the Nandi Award from the state for the Best Children's Film. His film 'Thodu, produced by the National Film Development Corporation of India (NFDC), won the Nandi awards in seven categories. Kutumbarao's contribution to literature through his writings in the genres of the novel and the short story is no less significant. Among his works are the novels, Sorajjem (1981), Adhojagat Sahodari (1982), Venuganam (1982), Mohana Ragam (1987), Karmika Geetam (1987), Chedupata (1990), Amma (1990), Kolleti Jadalu (2014), Tholi Adugulu (2015), and a collection of short stories, Panizaditanam (2005). Sorajjem, written in 1973 and published in 1981, won the first prize in the Swathi Novel Contest. Kutumbarao was presented the Sri Potti Sriramulu Telugu University Keerti Puraskaram in 2015 for his contribution to the genre of the novel.
ALLADI USA and M. SRIDHAR have taught in the Department of English at the University of Hyderabad. They have translated many works of literature from Telugu into English, including Untouchable Spring (2011), Pandita Paramencara Sastry's Will (2010), Bhoomi (2008), Water Song: A Long Poem (2005), Mohana!, Oh Mohana! and Other Poems (2005), Beware, the Cores are Coming (2001) and Ayoni and Other Stories (2001). They have occasionally translated from English to Telugu, significant among which is Chichibaba Sodarula (2001; Brothers from Chichibaba by D. P. Sengupta), a children's story on nuclear warfare between neighbouring countries. Uma and Sridhar have won the Jyestha Literary Award, the Katha Commendation Prize and the Rentala Memorial Award for their contribution to the field of translation.
Akkineni Kutumbarao (b. 1946) is often remembered as a film maker, script writer and director in Telugu, especially of what is referred to as 'parallel cinema.' Among the films he directed, Bhadram Koduko' won the National Film Award for the Best Feature Film in Telugu and the state Nandi Award for the Best Children's Film. The film was about the problems of street children and child labour. Three of his other films, 'Patha Nagaramlo Pasivadu, Gulabeelu and Amulyam' have won awards for the Best Children's Film. Another film, Thodu was adjudged the Third Best Feature Film in Telugu. As a producer, he dubbed Attenborough's "Gandhi' into Telugu. He also produced several tele-films and serials for the Doordarshan and private channels. Given this scenario, one seems to forget that Kutumbarao has contributed immensely to the field of literature through the genres of the novel and the short story. Among his works are his novels, Sorajjem (1981), Adhajagat Sahodari (1982). Venuganam (1982), Mohana Ragam (1987), Karmika Geetam (1987), Chedupata (1990), Amma (1990), Kolleti Jadalu (2014), Tholi Adugulu (2015), and the short-story collection, Puniraditanam (2005). Sorajjem was written as early as in 1973, many years before he shot into fame as a film maker.
Sorajjem is the story of a Dalit girl born in 1947, a midnight's child. For a male, non-Dalit writer, it must have been quite challenging to write his first novel on the discrimination of Dalits based on caste and gender. Though the Indian society is heavily caste-ridden, there has been a general tendency among Indian social novelists who use the realistic mode to depict the society as if caste distinctions did not exist. In those texts, caste exists primarily in the portrayals of characters who are professionals, like the priest, the barber, the cobbler, etc. Telugu novels are no exception to this. It is only after the Mandal Commission report in the 1980s and the subsequent Dalit Bahujan movements that caste as a category has been put to serious debate in literary texts. The Dalit movement in particular has been responsible for bringing to the fore poetry, autobiographies and novels by Dalits themselves in all Indian languages. Prior to this, there have only been isolated instances of novels sensitively depicting the problem of caste. Kutumbarao's Sorajjem belongs to this category.
Written in 1973, the novel was published only in 1981. Though the debate between Ambedkar and other national leaders over the need for social reform taking precedence over political reform was fought (and lost) in the decades preceding Independence in 1947, it did not seriously enter the literary imaginary. Naming the Dalit woman protagonist of his novel, 'Sorajjem' (which means Independence), Kutumbarao historicises this debate. The novel links the deteriorating economic conditions of Dalits under feudal landlordism in villages with their being continuously discriminated on the grounds of caste, and Dalit women on the basis of gender and caste. Situating the novel in Choutapalli village in Krishna district of coastal Andhra region immediately after the freedom struggle. Kutumbarao creates upper caste Kamma character, Brahmam, who represents Gandhian ideals. Through the various incidents that unfold in the lives of upper-caste landlords and Dalit coolies who work for them, the writer asks if the economic exploitation of Dalits would not constitute violence of a different kind. The novel also depicts historical incidents in other districts of coastal Andhra that followed the armed struggle for Telangana wherein Communists were brutally 'encountered' by the Malabar police for their active support to the cause. This aspect of the novel puts to serious debate the issue of 'state' violence.
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