Rudali: A Quintessential Figure of Subalternity, Hegemony, and

Marginalisation

Niharika Singh

St. Aloysius’ College (Autonomous), Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, India

Keywords: Subalterns, Dalits, Hegemony, Marginalisation, Existentialism.

Abstract: Dalits are closely identified and recognized as subaltern. This term finds its origin from the Latin word sub

meaning next below and alterns meaning every other. Subalterns are a group of people or community who

are excluded because of their inferior rank in the Varna system and are under the hegemony of the dominant

class. In the Indian context, marginality stresses on the notion of boundary, edge, and limit. Subalterns or

dalits occupy the edge or boundary of the Indian societal arrangement. This has given rise to their literature

which is arresting the attention of its readers for its authentic descriptions of invisible lives. Mahasweta Devi

has worked effortlessly and dedicated her entire life for the upliftment and betterment of this class of tribals

and dalits, who are tortured, disrespected, and exploited. Her short fiction Rudali portrays the constant

struggle of exploitation and survival of Sanichari. This paper explores her journey as a winner, a quintessential

figure of subalternity, hegemony and marginalisation.

1 INTRODUCTION

“The strong survive but the courageous triumph.”

Michael Scott

Since ages, Literature and society have a close

association with each other. Every event that occurs

is duly recorded variously by different people.

Revolutions, movements, science and technology,

feudal systems, ancient civilizations all find place in

books, which is created by writer(s). Writers perform

the role of a social reformer and point at the wrong

and also suggest remedies to the ailments of society.

They draw attention to the emotional stresses, socio-

economic offences and backwardness of a

community. Specifically, when talking about Indian

writers who voice the callous realities of society

which is divided into various castes and race, voices

the racial isolation and efforts put in to climb the

economic and social ladder by them. The deep-seated

hostilities of a large group of people against the

dominant group of society are expressed by these

writers. A writer makes a conscious effort to bring to

light all that is hidden and experienced in a lifetime.

Harish Narang writes:

The writers attitude plays a crucial role in

depicting this reality, infact no correct formulation of

a book or a writer is possible without probing into the

writers attitude to life because a piece of literature is

not merely a dream but an act of deliberate

communication, a choice of verbal gesture of

advocating a certain point of view. (Narang, 2014)

What a writer creates is a reflection of his or her

own world. Largely therefore, literature created is

autobiographical in nature. This way, the writer gives

way to a thought, an idea or a view that sheds light on

society through every character, situation and plot of

a story. Writers as part of society are affected and they

reflect the changes ushered through their writings. As

an informant of society, writer(s) form the bridge

which links the two.

2 LITERATURE REVIEW

Dalits are closely identified and recognized as

'subaltern'. This term finds its origin from the Latin

word 'sub' meaning 'next below' and 'alternus'

meaning 'every other'. The Compact Oxford

Dictionary Thesaurus defines 'subaltern' as an officer

in the British army below the rank of captain. But the

connotation this term has acquired is far different.

Subalterns are considered a group of people or

Singh, N.

Rudali: A Quintessential Figure of Subalternity, Hegemony, and Marginalisation.

DOI: 10.5220/0012533500003792

Paper published under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

In Proceedings of the 1st Pamir Transboundary Conference for Sustainable Societies (PAMIR 2023), pages 977-980

ISBN: 978-989-758-687-3

977

community who are excluded because of their inferior

rank in the Varna system. They are under the

hegemony of the dominant class. In the Indian

context, marginality stresses on the notion of

boundary, edge and limit. 'Subalterns' or 'dalits

'occupy the edge or boundary of the Indian societal

arrangement. As a result, the 'untouchables' have

occupied a larger and a wider significance in society.

This has given rise to their literature which is

arresting the attention of its readers for its authentic

descriptions of invisible lives. Gayatri Chakravorty

Spivak defines a subaltern as:

A subaltern is someone who has no access to

social mobility. The case is comparable with men on

a much lower class scale than women. ... The disease

of gender blindness like many chronic diseases keeps

the culture alive but unhealthy. It does not kill. The

culture is alive and weak, culture with a huge split

inside it, marked by class. It is because of this gender

blindness changes with class mobility. (Spivak, 2011)

Mahasweta Devi (1926-2016) is a synonym of

tribals and dalits, who are ill-treated tortured

disrespected and exploited. She has used her socio-

political writings as a tool to voice the rights of an

underprivileged class of society. Devi was born to a

privileged middle–class Bengali family on 14

January, 1926 in Dhaka, now part of Bangladesh.

Born into a family with a long custom of civic spirit

and high literacy, she grew up among men (her

relatives) who played important roles in shaping early

Indian nationalism as well as modern Bengali

literature– apparently the richest and the most

dynamic of the literary traditions in India. Devi was

not just a fiction writer but she was actively engaged

as a creative writer, editor and journalist. A writer so

multi-faceted merits no comparisons and her volumes

of work speak for her. Mahasweta Devi articulates the

socio-cultural, mytho-religious and circumstantially

muted positions of the subalterns in contrast with the

ruling, nationalist patriarchal class. She exposes the

superficiality of the bourgeois class who claimed that

they lived in a world that was based on equality and

freedom. Mahasweta Devi throughout her stories

searches for this equilibrium but is unable to locate it.

Rudali is a powerful short fiction written by

Mahasweta Devi. The decisive motif of the short

fiction is to portray the constant struggle of

exploitation and survival. Devi has created a strong

character called Sanichari whose complete life

revolves around mistreatment and endurance. Born

on a Saturday, Sanichari is named after ‘sanichar’,

which in the Hindu mythology is considered

inauspicious. So, from the time of her birth Sanichari

had to battle hard for her existence and identity. Often

quoted by her mother-in-law 'sanichar' or

inauspicious heightens the tension reaming high in

her life. She is unable to understand why and how

those born on the other days of the week are lucky and

why is she termed 'manhoos' or ominous. Sanichari is

also poor which places her in a weak socio-economic

condition in a village of Rajasthan and her caste

pushes her to the periphery of severe poverty. The

opening lines of the short story, "In Tahad village,

Ganju's and Dushads were in the majority. Sancihari

was ganju by caste. Like, the other villagers her life

was lived in poverty" (Devi, 2009).

She suffers from brutal poverty, as a result is

unable to pay off for the funeral rites of her own

husband. In order to fulfill customs and traditions she

is forced to borrow rupees twenty and thumbprint on

a paper for rupees fifty to be paid in the next five

years. Unfortunately, being poor and illiterate her

condition worsens and she is gets into deeper debt.

She's even helpless at the time of death of her mother-

in-law, brother-in-law and sister-in-law and her son

Budhua. In order to perform the cremating rites she

had no time to shed tears in remembrance. She feared

Ramavatar and later his son Lanchman who could

resort to anything to teach a lesson to the ganjus and

dushads. Her son Budhua, died suffering from

tuberculosis and her daughter-in-law left her and the

grandson Haroa eloped with a magician. Her

utterance while Budhua still suffering is poignant.

She utters sincerely:

Sanichari felt as the flames of the funeral pyre

were burning within her, she felt the scorching heat

blowing about her day and night. She could see that

he was going to die, and realized that her dreams of

building a life around Budhua would never be

fulfilled. (Devi, 2009)

However, Sancihari was not affected by her son's

death because she had a bigger responsibility of

upbringing her grandson. Unfortunately, her

grandson Haroa also leaves her and Sanichari is again

left wrecked and incapacitated. Fortunately, some

happy moments does knock her door, when she meets

her childhood friend Bikhani. Bikhani has the same

story like Sanichari's and they start living together at

Sanichari's place on Bikhani's earnings. Their

survival needs force them to find work and here

Dulan's entry changes the entire scenario. He

introduces them to the profession of rudali, wailing

loud and rolling on the floor for the dead one was now

to be their job. Sadly, they were driven towards the

profession only to fight hunger. Their shift to the

profession of rudali comments on the miserable

condition of the Indian poor and the writer purposely

introduces the reader to understand the divide in

PAMIR 2023 - The First Pamir Transboundary Conference for Sustainable Societies- | PAMIR

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society. The character of Dulhan is used as the

mouthpiece to remark upon them. Dulhan remarks in

the novella, “Don’t weigh right and wrong so much,

leave that kind of thing to the rich. They understand

it better. We understand hunger” (Devi, 2009). The

survival needs forced the two to adopt the profession

of rudalis. According to Dulhan, this profession was

practiced to extract money from the rich and

simultaneously unleashed the hypocrisy of the elite

class of the society. This profession of rudali brought

them in demand in the entire region. "They were

professional. The world belongs to the professional

now, not to the amateur. … Professional mourning for

the unmourned dead is a regular business. …" (Devi,

2009). Thus their business prospered. This gave

Sanichari the confidence that allowed her to grow as

a fighter.

Seeing the emptiness of Malik Mahajan for their

dead taught her few good lessons. While the person is

alive no care is taken but after his or her death grand

funerals are planned and rudali’s are summoned. This

raised the prestige of their family which actually was

hollow and empty. "...the amount of money spent on

the death ceremonies immediately raised the prestige

of the family" (Devi, 2009). The story takes a

dramatic turn when Bikhani, also dies and that leaves

Sanichari afflicted again. The death news leaves

Sanichari in shock and she attempts to visualize her

future without her and pushes her from grief into fear.

She deeply sighs:

What did she feel? Grief? No, not grief, fear. Her

husband died, her son had died, her grandson had left,

her daughter-in-law had run away – there had always

been grief in her life. But she never felt this devouring

fear before. Bikhani’s death affected her livelihood,

her profession, that’s why she’s experiencing this

fear. (Devi, 2009)

She had a fear that she was also growing old that

may become an obstacle to her profession. But

Sanichari has evolved and knows that in order to stay

alive she has to work which is possible only if she

continues the profession of rudali. She had to protect

her profession just like our land. Dulhan’s utters, “It’s

wrong to give up one’s land, and your profession of

funeral wailing is like your land, you must’nt give it

up” (Devi, 2009).

We also witness Sanichari as the emancipator of

the prostitutes or whores. She takes the initiative in

giving the chance to the prostitutes of ‘randi bazar’

(whore's market) to mourn and earn some money.

Dulhan remarks, “It’s a question of survival” (Devi,

2009). Sanichari reflects the image of a strong woman

who fights exploitation, oppression and turns a

survivor against all odd circumstances. She learns to

exploit her tears against Malik Mahajans and is able

to enjoy better life which once was denied. However,

the amount received (as rudali) is very little yet it

stands in contrast to all the demands which the poor

and the low caste bear at the time of the deaths to

fulfill religious rites. As a woman, she is marginalised

and she suffers under the dictates of upper classes.

This has been the situation in many parts of India

when a woman is double marginalised for being a

woman and from the low caste. They (women)

become mere commodities used and discarded.

Sanichari is also a victim of this particular situation

which she battles hard to recover. Sanichari's

discovery of her daughter-in-law at the randipatti

(whore market) brings a lot of embarrassment to her,

yet she accepts her giving way of life to join the other

whores as rudali. Her dilemma discourages her to do

so but after Dulhan's advice we find she accepts her.

"What one is forced to do to feed oneself is never

considered wrong"(Devi, 2009). Anjum Katyal

rightly comments, “Grief is turned into commodity,

and mourning is labour. If sorrow is controlled by the

malik-mahajans, tears can be used as a produce, of

earnings by professional mourners” (Devi, 2009).

Sanichari as a woman stands as a hope to all the

whores who have been forced to become whores

weather by choice or used and discarded by their

mahajans in order to acquire the colourful life

promised by the rich. Nonetheless, we find one thing

that connects all reasons mentioned together is the

hunger for food. In order to survive one has to feed

the stomach otherwise death is compulsory. Sanichari

laments aloud, “Money, rice, new clothes- without

getting these in return, tears are a useless luxury”

(Devi, 2009). The whores are out casted by every

community in the world but Mahasweta Devi through

Sanichari comments on the situation of these whores.

A helping hand is extended by Sanichari to them

which may be enumerated a bold assertion by her,

though being low caste. Anjum Katyal writes,

"Whores are not a separate caste, as they believe,

merely poor women like them who are forced to earn

a living. ...the prostitutes too are victims and should

not be treated like outcasts and untouchables"(Katyal,

2009). Sanichari evolves in the story from being

submissive to strong and powerful woman. Vandana

Gupta rightly comments, on Sanichari, "the evolution

of the protagonist, Sanichari, from a suppressed

'voiceless' subaltern woman to an empowered and

empowering agent of resistance carrying the potential

of deconstructing the exploitative forces"(Devi,

2009). She reflects a positive approach to survive.

She witnesses many deaths in her own house but does

not lose her composure but on Bikhani's death she

Rudali: A Quintessential Figure of Subalternity, Hegemony, and Marginalisation

979

badly shaken and realises the upcoming challenge of

her life. However, she assures herself not to cry again

as she has understood tears are now a mere

commodity and part of commercial transaction.

Though she fears the loneliness of her life yet she

moves ahead. She evolves as confident, courageous,

provider, decision-maker and an employer to many

outcastes at the end. This assertion is confirmed by

Anjum Katyal in her article "The Metamorphosis of

Rudali" where she writes,"...the text sees an evolution

in the central character Sanichari, who emerges at the

end as better equipped to adapt, survive, and

manipulate the system- in the other words, more

empowered - than she is at the beginning"(Devi,

2009).

Devi’s women caricatures are circumstantially

muted since their right to speak and express is

forcefully taken away and pushed to the margin.

However, Sanichari changes the tradition and evolves

stronger and indestructible. Her dalit representation in

her story is purposeful to give voice to the voiceless

and she appears successful in her task. Vandana

Gupta writes, “Mahasweta Devi in fact, moves

beyond to envision a ‘remedial’ nation. She re-

envisions nation as a space which is inclusive,

egalitarian, non-hegemonic, gender-neutral that truly

empowers the erstwhile ‘othered’ populace” (Gupta,

2009).

Sanichari emerges a bread winner to many women

who are outcasted and herself, who had a tragic

history. She is a classic example of being burdened

by the malik-mahajan, and severe poverty that

compelled her to remain at the periphery of society.

She struggled hard to be recognized and she does get

an opportunity to mock at the malik-mahajan through

her profession of rudali. She collects many whores to

mourn the death of Gambhir Singh. She learns the

hypocrisy practiced by the maliks and exposes the

truth of their life. To this, S. Guru Shobhna rightly

remarks: Leaders are born out of survival such as

Sanichari. She emerged as natural leader to the randi

rudalis and made the commercialization of tears not

only a s means of survival but as a tool in the hands

of the victims to strike back. A woman who could not

shed her tears on her own grief, sign of depression

became a professional mourner and inverted it as sign

of empowerment. (Guru, 2016)

3 CONCLUSIONS

Thus, Sanichari emerges a winner, a quintessential

figure of subalternity, hegemony and marginalisation.

Her journey is not a happy one, yet continued

existence is important. According to the theory of

existentialism and its multiple prepositions, two

imperative opinions incorporated in the novella are

‘existence precedes essence’ and ‘freedom’ of an

individual. Both of these are highlighted through the

character of Sanichari. Her existential spirit

throughout the novella is remarkable and motivates

millions, that a day arrives when exploitation,

suffering and pain is put to an end. In case of

Sanichari and the other women portrayed in the short

novella, the profession of mourning (rudali) serves as

an escape window from age long tyranny and

affliction.

REFERENCES

Devi, Mahasweta. and Usha Ganguli. (2010).

Rudali: From Fiction to Performance. trans. Anjum Katyal.

Calcutta: Seagull.

Gupta, Vandana. (2009). "Fiction History and Memory"

Mahasweta Devi: A Critical Reading. New Delhi:

Creative Books. 44.

Narang, Harish. (2014). "Politics and Poetics of

Writing/Translating Dalit". Towards Social Change:

Essays on Dalit Literature. ed. Sankar Prasad Singha

and Indranil Acharya. New Delhi: Orient Black Swan.

122.

Shobhna, S. Guru.(2016). “Mahasweta Devi’s Rudali: A

Story of Survival – From Tears to Triumph”. Journal of

English Language teaching and Literary Studies. Vo. 5

No. 1 January-June. Web 15 February 2023.

Spivak, Gayatri Chakraborty. (2011). "The Author in

Conversation". Mahasweta Devi: Critical Perspectives.

ed. Nandini Sen. New Delhi: Pencraft International. 62-

63.

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