Author: Sankar Prasad Singha
Indranil Acharya/
Publisher: Orient BlackSwan
Year: 2016
Language: English
Pages: 180
ISBN/UPC (if available): 9788125045106
Description
An eternity of oppression’ has defined the lives of Dalits. Yet, they survive, resilient and defiant. Drawing on the works of Dalit writers, Survival and Other Stories is a collection of Bangla fiction in translation, that speaks of Dalit lives lived on the edge and of suffering, negation and revolt.
A mason is tortured for claiming equality with ‘upper-caste’ people but he refuses to yield. A ‘gunin’, or witch doctor, holds a woman responsible for the illness of her grandchild; her son kills her but the child dies, so the man kills the gunin too. A zamindar repeatedly taunts another for his ‘lowly’ ancestry: the latter forces him to drag a plough - replacing a bullock ! A penniless man, woman and child wage a fight for survival with a poisonous snake: it’s coiled up in a hole full of grains.
A proposal for marriage from the progressive-minded son of a corrupt politician is turned down by his ‘low-born’ lover believing that society is not ready to accept their union. A stick-wielding hireling of landlords, and later of a political party, learning in old age from his erstwhile Muslim adversary that they had been cynically exploited, reluctantly accepts his friendship.
Evocative of the indignities heaped on the Dalits, these stories are insightful and perceptive. They are a sensitive retelling, that retains the rhythms and idioms of the original Bengali narratives.
The spectrum of experiences as depicted in these probing and absorbing stories is a must read for students and scholars of Dalit and caste studies, development studies, Indian Literature in Translation, and gender studies.
Each story has a glossary with meanings of non-English words in the end.
Contents
Publisher’s Acknowledgements
Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1. The Deceived by Achintya Biswas
2. Footprint of an Elephant by Anil Gharai
3. Reincarnation of Parashuram by Anil Gharai
4. The Sky of Drought by Anil Gharai
5. Bazaar by Gautam Ali
6. On Water and on Shore by Gobinda Shoundo
7. On Firm Ground by Jatin Bala
8. The Other Jew by Kapil Krishna Thakur
9. Farmer Gopal’s Caste and Creed by Makhanlal Pradhan
10. Munnali by Manohar Mouli Biswas
11. Shabori by Manoranjan Barman
12. The Son of a Peasant by Nakul Mallick
13. The Story of the Grey-eyed Oil-fry Seller by Nalini Bera
14. Survival by Shyamal Kumar Pramanik
15. Dhani Bauri Gets ‘Salvation’ by Sunil Kumar Das
16. Mukunda and an Extraordinary Love Affair by Susnata Jana
17. Friendship by Taraknath Majhi
18. Fisherman by Utthanpada Bijoli
Notes on the Dalit Authors
Notes on the Translators