Government Brahmana Reviews

                                                           The Hindu Book Review


GOVERNMENT BRAHMANA: Aravind Malagatti; Translated from the original Kannada by Dharani Devi Malagatti, Janet Vucinich and N. Subramanya; Rs. 195.

MOON MOUNTAIN: Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay; Translated from the original Bangla by Pradeep Sinha; Rs. 245. Both the books are published by Orient Longman Private Limited, 3-6-752, Himayatnagar, Hyderabad-500029.

Very different in substance and style, but extremely rewarding, are these translations of two celebrated works, one of Kannada and the other Bangla. Aravind Malagatti has provided a loaded term of all-India significance. "Government Brahmana" is used as an equivalent to the word `Dalit'. It is imperative that it is used only where unmistakable goodwill exists between conversationalists or correspondents, since the author says that he was teased that way.

Government Brahmana was first published in Kannada in 1994, by which time quite a few Dalit works of other Indian languages had been rendered in English and so were accessible to readers all over the world. While the agony and anger is unmistakable in all Dalit writings, including Malagatti's, the language of English takes away a bit of the intensity. But as works of social criticism, all the works gained in translation.

Vignettes


"Government Brahmana" is a series of vignettes of Malagatti's experiences made excruciating by his sensitivity and awareness. It is not only about physical and psychological indignities heaped on Dalits. It also registers how not all corrective steps taken by the government or other agencies achieved the objectives. The satire is telling when the author resorts to humour or tries to shrug off machinations of the society — as in "Some Girls Who Flirt With the Future". The book is made up of 21 episodes, a translator's preface and an informative afterword which helps sharpen non-Kannada reader's perception of Indian Dalit literature in general and Aravind Malagatti's in particular. It throws light on the difference between Dalit and non-Dalit autobiographies, the seeming secularity in the latter almost amounting to subterfuge.

Moon Mountain is a totally different experience. Like R.L.Stevenson's `Treasure Island' it is a story for readers of all ages and for all times. It has aspects of human experience, the joys and sorrows of the young and the old alike, poverty, dropping out of school because of family circumstances, a promising sporting career cut short for a clerkship to keep the home fire burning, etc. It is also a novel of fulfilment. At first the young protagonist's plunge seems fanciful. But it is a fact that, in the 1920s and 1930s, a number of poor families in India had some one or other going away to Ceylon (present-day Sri Lanka), Burma (Myanmar), Malaya (Malaysia), Africa and even the West Indies in search of employment.

Graphic account


Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay had only to look to his contemporary Sarat Chandra Chatterjee who went to Burma to work almost on a blind promise. In the case of "Moon Mountain" the author makes it truly exotic, without in any way glossing over the hazards of the unknown. Bandopadhyay had written so graphically of a land he could only visualise from a map in the geography book. Tamil writer Sundara Ramaswamy wrote, in the early years of his long writing career, a successful short story set in Africa at a time when he had not set foot outside his hometown. The writing of "Moon Mountain' seems so simple, but in terms of provoking the imagination of a reader, its power is enormous.

It must be said that many Bangla writers of the early 20th century, whose works are now treasured as classics, were popular. The author of "Pather Panchali" and "Chander Pahar" (Moon Mountain) was a popular writer like Sarat Chandra Chatterjee, Bimal Mitra, Rakhaldas Bandopadhyay, and Tarashanker Banerjee. All these made no compromise where human dignity was at stake.

In his translation endeavour Pradeep Sinha has had the guidance of Sujit Mukherjee, who taught English but promoted excellence in Bangla writing through dedicated and creative translations in English.


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