Protest
Literature is the Genesis of Future Constitutions
A.M. Khan Yazdani
( Danny)
Law and
Literature in US and India
Convergence
between law and literature is almost a new phenomenon for India. It is more so
for Telugu literature. The study of interdisciplinary connection
between law and literature has taken the shape of an academic movement in US in
the middle third of the last century. It has also registered its ups and downs
there.
I am one of the strong subscribers of the idea that the total
cultural sphere, which we call superstructure, is built over the relations of
production, we call base. Apart from religion, philosophy, economics, politics
and the two subjects in question today, law and literature, are also an integral part of this huge superstructure.
In
that sense, both law and literature are, in general, twins. Their birth, growth
and even their objective is the same society.
We can achieve better results by studying the relation of the both with
the society than merely studying the relationship between law and literature.
During
the 1970s, under the leadership of James Boyd White, Richard Weisberg and
Robert Wiseberg, the Law and Literature movement was on the rise in
universities and the academic world in the US. At that time, an important
tradition emerged in India, and more particularly in Andhra Pradesh.
On
the one hand we see the raise of revolutionary literature, in Telugu language,
to extend support to the Srikakulam Tribal’s Armed Struggle. And, on the other
hand, we also see the emergence of civil rights movement to resist the
government repression within the legal framework. While Maha Kavi SriSri, KV
Ramana Reddy and Kodavatiganti Kutumba Rao, represented the former tradition, lawyers
like Pattipati Venkateswarulu, KG Kannabiran and others represented the later
tradition.
Their
endeavor was not merely to study the relationship between the law and
literature on the academic level. Instead, their objective was to extend their
expertise in their respective line of work to the emerging new forces in the
society.
The
proponents of Law and Literature movement of the US believed that literary
works, especially narratives, which centered on legal conflict provided the
legal fraternity with an insight into the nature of law which otherwise would
have been lost in the study of law in isolation. But their Indian counterparts
went one step further by involving themselves into a social change. In that
sense the Andhra Pradesh movement was distinctively ahead of the US movement in
its understanding of the subject.
Though the superstructure is primarily, determined by the base, after
a reasonable growth the former will also influence the later. That means law and literature not only
reflects the society but also act as catalytic agents in bringing change in the
society.
In the process of upward and downward motion of the mutual effect,
from base to superstructure and vice versa, we will have two kinds of laws and
literature. We can term them as law and
literature from below and from above. Or otherwise law and literature of people
and ruling class. They are antagonistic to each other as they represent two opposite
classes of society. And, they have to be studied separately.
Law &
Literature From Above
Firstly, let us take the case of ruling class law and
literature.
Till the medieval age, religion, philosophy, economics, moral
sciences, history, politics, law and literature were not separated as different
disciplines as they appear today. The ideology and administrative statutes of
the ruling class are being disseminated in the form of epics.
The story of Raja Satya Harichchandra is one such an example.
To
approach this subject as scientifically as possible we must cast at least a
fleeting glance back on the impact of this story on our cultural tradition. The
story of Harichchandra is considered with high esteem among Indian moral
literature. Harichchcandra’s
legend is very popular and often told as a benchmark for an ideal life. First
ever full-length Indian feature film, produced by Dadasaheb Phalke, in 1913, was based on the legend of King Harishchandra. It
has been re-made for at least 20 times so far in eight Indian languages. As far
as the street plays are concerned, hundreds of teams in dozens of languages
have performed them for millions of times. The play has gained higher
popularity in slums and villages than among the elite.
Harishchandra Story
Though every one of us is aware of the story, it
needs brief retelling for the purpose of analysis. The story emphasizes
a quest for truthful living whatever the consequences.
The
story opens in the assembly of Indra. Sage
Vasishta says Harishchandra, the king of Ayodhya, is the most truthful king on
the earth. But another sage Vishvamitra contests the statement. Then He was
asked to prove that Hrishchandra is a liar.
As
the chances of telling lies will increase for borrowers, Viswamitra devices
various strategies and succeed in taming Harichchandra into a big debt trap.
Harichchandra was left with two options to clear the debt. Either he has to
take back his promise or submit his kingdom to Viswamitra. . He chooses the
second one and left for Varanasi along with his wife Chandramati and son Lohita
as he do not have place to live in his erstwhile kingdom.
But
Viswamitra was not satisfied with the kingdom. He is more particular about
other formalities such as Dakshina. He sent Nakshatraka along with
Harichchandra to collect Dakshina,
On
the way to Varanasi, Nakshatraka was
caught in a bushfire and Harichchandra’s family rescues him at the cost
of their own life. To remit the Dakshina, Harishchandra sold his wife and son
to a Brahmin householder at Varanasi and sold himself to a Chandala guard at
the cremation ground, who was in charge of collecting taxes for the bodies to
be cremated.
Subsequently,
Lohita was bitten by a snake and he died instantly. Chandramati, having nobody
to sympathies for her, carried his body to the cremation ground. In acute
penury, she could not even pay the taxes needed to cremate him.
Harishchandra
recognizes his wife and dead son. But he was reluctant to allow the cremation
of his own son without collecting the tax, as he was duty-bound by his job. He
advises his wife to sell her golden mangalasutra and pay the tax.
While
wandering with distress in the streets of Varanasi in the midnight, in search
of a pawnbroker, Chandramati was arrested by the city soldiers and alleged with
the crime of murdering the prince. Then
she was brought to the cremation ground and job of execution was endorsed to
Harichchandra.
Again
duty-bound by his job, Harichchandra prepared to cut-off the head of his own
wife and raised the sword. When he goes
to strike her suddenly his sword turns into a garland. All gods including Shiva
the presiding deity of Varanasi and the sage Vishwamitra himself appeared on
the scene, and praised Harishchandra for his perseverance and steadfastness.
They brought his son back to life. They also offered the king and his wife,
instant places in heaven.
Notes on
Harishchandra play
Following
the introduction of canal irrigation during mid 19th century, the
Indian Agriculture started yielding surplus production by the turn of 20th
century. This development further led to institutionalization of commerce and
money lending which is precursor for industrial revolution. Though the story of
Harishchandra has reference in great epic of Hindu religious stream,
Mahabharata, it has been developed in to a full-night play in Telugu, in the
first quarter of 20th century only by noted poet, actor and freedom fighter Balijepalli
Lakshmikantam.
The
modern form of the play has been necessitated to extensively disseminate the
new morals that were emerged along with the modern money lending system. The
play is an ideal example for the law and literature from above.
The
play is a pack of morals. It prescribes new code of conduct for borrowers and
employees. They include the following:
- One should
not lie and should not take back promises, particularly, in money dealings.
- One attains
MOKSHA only when he gets free from all debts.
- One will
achieve a palace in paradise only when he clears all his debts.
- Loanees should
save the loaners even at the cost of their own life.
- One should have to reimburse his debts
even by selling his wife and children.
- Workers
should not favour their wife or children while on duty. And, lastly,
- One should
not hesitate to cut the heads of their spouses when duty demands.
We
find further interesting analysis in the story. Satya lifestyle is not just
holding the promise. It is a system where one mature awareness of where to hold
the promise and where to take it back.
The story, subtly, tells us that people can take back their promises except
in money dealings.
Traditionally,
bridegroom promises bride that he will not leave the hand of the latter in
Dharma, Ardha, Kaama and Moksha. But Harichandra sells his wife to fulfill the
promise he made to a money lender by breaking another promise he made to his
wife at the time of marriage. And the story praises Harichcandra for his
devotion to truthfulness and Dharma.
We
find further interesting manifestations in the tale. Being an emperor,
Harichandra does not need to go for any debt.
But the financial institutions require worthy clients only as their loan will be guaranteed by collateral. The
story provides lot of guidelines to financial institutions. It tells that they
have to adopt corrupt and immoral means and even conspiracy methods to bring
worthy clients in to debt trap.
At
the height of it the story advises the financial institutions to setup recovery
teams. And Nakshtraka is the grandparent of present day notorious loan recovery
teams.
Now
let us find out the class nature of the moral that goes as “speak only truth”.
In this story Vishwamitra is a lender while Harichandra is a borrower. Lenders
will never say that they have not lent the money to borrower as it is lifeline
of their trade. As such the chances of telling lies remains only with borrowers,
as there is a possibility for them to escape from debt by telling a simple lie.
That means, the condition of stick to the moral of truth is meant for borrowers.
We
are all aware that money lending is the backbone of capitalistic society which
is more so in imperialistic era. We do not find any similar story in world epic
literature that dealt with finance capital and mercantile laws with such an
authenticity. Some may refer Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice in this context.
But I think the Shakespeare’s play is no match to Balijepalli’s play both in
its concept and human drama.
Law &
Literature From Below
Now
let us turn to people’s literature and find out how they reject the old laws
and set the new ones. Revolutionary writer Bhushanam’s 1973 novel Kondagali
will be ideal for the purpose studying the case of law and literature from
below. The novel depicts the miseries
created by the Nationalization of Forests Act – 1953 to the survival of tribal
folk. And it chronicles people’s resistance against the Forest Acts.
Kondagali
is the first ever novel produced by the Revolutionary Writer’s Association that
was founded in 1970. The novel holds the credit of illustrating the backdrop of
historical Srikakulam Armed Struggle for the first time.
The
novel depicts the distress of tribal folk and peasants in the forest villages
namely Naiduvalasa and Gadabavalasa of Undivided Srikakulam district in the
Eastern Ghats during second half of 1960s which is followed by a historical
struggle that cemented a new thinking in the spheres of law and literature
apart from social concepts.
Kondagali story
line
It
is an ensemble novel as more than one protagonist shares the stage for the
revelation of story. However, Ademma character may be considered as prime
protagonist as she occupies the center stage at end of the novel.
Ademma
is a tribal woman of Gadaba tribe lives in Gadabavalasa village. Her husband
Sukkadu is a heinous scoundrel who does not hesitate to compel his wife to
brothel for a glass of wine (Page- 84). She separated from Sukkadu and lives
along with her brother Somayya in the same village. Sukkadu abuses Ademma
frequently in the absence of Somayya.
Another
major character is Gaddisetti. He is a traditional village washer man and serf
of Naiduvalasa village. His wife died of Smallpox. There are about four washer
men families in the village and their job is to wash the clothes of
Naidu-families who hold the major chunk of farming land in the village. Same was the case with other artisan
and occupational communities in the village. There is no salary or even a wage
for these serfs. They have to render their services to the rich farmers at the
fields, forest and houses throughout the year. They get their proceeds in the
form of paddy and pulses at the mercy of the farmers at the time of harvest
every year.
The
farmers do not even arrange the inputs to these occupational communities. The
washer men have to depend on nearby forest for firewood, soap nuts etc to carry
on their occupation.
With
the Nationalization of the forests in 1953, which were earlier with the
zaminders, the impoverished artisans of nearby villages have lost their rights
over forest. Now they were reduced to collecting firewood and grazing cattle
only. It is very hard to carry out even these nominal rights in the presence of
forest staff who are exceedingly corrupt in nature and extremely notorious in
behavior. Foresters sell the timber to
contractors against rules and lodge false cases on tribal folk and peasants.
(Page-102).
They
impose penalties on firewood pickers and cattle grazers. Sometimes, they arrest
them and sentence to jails. As the
tribal folk and peasants do not know how to tackle with law and courts their
lives virtually ends in jails once they were arrested even in petty cases.
Forester
Raju is a synonym for cruelty. Tribal folk calls him ‘ERRA JINDAVA’ that means
red leopard. (Page – 58). Then we have forest guard Appa Rao, worst than Raju.
Locals call him ‘TALLI KI MOGUDU’ that means a person who does not hesitate to
have sex even with his mother. (Page – 61). Sexual molestation on women folk is
common practice in the forest. Guard Appa Rao boasts that he “undress one saree
at one bush everyday” (Page- 102). (“ROJUKO TUPPA DAGGARA OKA KOKA
IPPATAVUNNANU”)
The
village is not less than a forest. We find rich farmers like Naidus that
virtually control the lives of tribal folk and peasants. Then there will be
Shavukars like Sondi Sambanna that deals with ration and forest produce in the
area. In essence both Naidus and Shavukars are two sides of the same coin
though they adopt different means to exploit the locals. While the Naidus adopt
adamant measures to oppress the artisans, Shavukars deploy sugar coated means
to exploit the clients.(Page- 73).
This
apart we find outside traders in the market places. They pay popcorn price
while purchase and collect cashew nut price while selling. Life of the local
folk is crushing under these four evils vis-a -vis Naidus, Shavukars, Traders
and forest staff.
Ademma
and Gaddisetti, who are facing similar problems at workplace and at home,
obviously come close to each other and settled to marriage. Community head
imposed a penalty of three hundred rupees on Gaddisetti for marrying other
caste woman.(Page-149)
Confrontation
starts when Sondi Sambanna establishes unscrupulous relation with forester Raju
and takes the advantage in further exploiting the locals. (Page-76). Raju
endorses Sambanna’s monopoly of trading forest produce. Raju further counsels
Sambanna to be a masked tiger for sheep and goats like locals. (Page-77). Both Raju and Sambanna become bone
of contention for locals in forest and village respectively.
Confrontation
aggravates in the forest, when the government decides to raise eucalyptus
plantation and forester Raju decree the peasants to work in plantations without
any wage. (Page – 58)
The
first sign of Resolution manifests with entry of revolutionary communists in
the village. (Page - 107).
Confrontation
leads to high point when timber contractor Guravaiah and forest guard Appa Rao
attempt to molest Ademma. As retaliation Gaddisetti attacks Apparao with axe.
Shocking
with the news of amputate of Appa Rao’s leg (page – 163) forest staff and
contractors united together to take revenge on Gaddisetti. Various false cases
were lodged against Gaddisetti and he was sent to jail.
Appa
Rao episode alerted the Shavukars, Naidus and traders also. They seized the house of Gaddisetti for the
recovery of an old loan. And Ademma was again brought to streets. Her second
husband was in jail while first one turns into a police informer.
Anticipating
a major law and order problem, government deployed battalions of special police
in the forest as a precautionary measure. Charged by the support of special
police, forester Raju dares to raise plantations even in the patta lands of
local folk. (Page-173).
Now
the battle lines are clearly drawn. Naidus, Shavukars, Traders, community
heads, and Forest department are on the one side and Tribal folk and peasants
are on the other. While police, courts, Jails and state machinery stands in
support of the former, the latter were left with no option than to embraces an
armed struggle. They realize the saying of Mao Tse Tung .” Revolution comes only through the barrel
of a gun” (Page-145).
Then
time was heavy with child and gave birth to a new struggle. The first gun was
fired in Srikakulam forest inviting a new society. Annihilation of class enemy
pogramme was commenced with the killing of shavukaru Sondi Sambanna in
Gadabavalasa village in daylight in the presence of huge gathering of tribal
folk and peasants. (Page – 182). Smbanna’s death was preceded by the death of
police informer Sukkadu. (Page – 181).
Ademma
was not pleased with just killing of Sukkaduu and Sambanna. She wants to
annihilate all class enemies in the surrounding villages. The novel concludes
with the crowd moving to Nayudolasa village to wipe out class enemies there.
(Page-183). The rest is history.
Notes On
KONDAGALI
The
novel Kondagali ably illustrates the unscrupulous exploitation of Tribal folk
and peasants. It narrates in detail the social evils, inhuman approach of
Forest Acts, despotism of government machinery and finally the social and
economical conditions that eventually led
to an armed struggle.
Welfare
and oppression are two inseparable faces of dictatorship. Tyrants seek to
oppress the people’s struggles with the force of police, weapons, jails, gallows, laws and
courts. During the outbreak of the armed clashes in Naxalbari and Srikakulam,
Charu Mazumdar, the patriarch of Communist revolutionaries in India, named the
1970's the "Decade of liberation". But the Indian state chose to make
it the "decade of repression". But no movement will end with
oppression.
Every
movement will bring forward a new thinking and ideals. And, it is not so easy
to contain ideologies with force. Ideologies require separate mechanism to deal
with. That is why it becomes inevitable for the successive governments to
initiate welfare measures, following every movement, to pacify the people and
to contain the further damage. Introduction of fresh and newer welfare schemes
and enacting certain new Acts or amending the controversial older ones are part
of this damage controlling programme.
So
far we have hundreds of, perhaps thousands of, articles that dealt with
Srikakulam Armed struggle. They can be divided into two primary categories.
First category deals with the repression imposed on the movement. And, the second category deals with the
impact of Srikakulam Armed struggle on literature, society and ideology.
Only
just we have third category that desires to deal with the impact of the
movement and its literature over the law and vice versa. Kondagal novel is an
ideal example for the law and literature from below.
As
this is the first time I am tackling this subject systematically, then it may
very well be happen that in the first lecture on this difficult subject I may
not succeed in making my exposition sufficiently clear and comprehensible. I
just present the glance of my findings.
Promulgation of
new laws
Immediately
after oppressing the Srikakulam Tribal struggle with iron heel, the Andhra
Pradesh Government realized the need of amending certain contentious Acts
related to tribal land. Regulation 1 of 1970; the Andhra Pradesh (Ceiling on Agricultural Holdings) Act brought in
to force on 3rd February 1970. Under the provisions of 1/70
Act, land in the scheduled areas cannot be alienated to a non-tribal.
As
we know, the major slogan of the
Naxalite movement is “land to the tiller”. The slogan spread like a wild fire
in forest areas as well as in plains during 1970s. The ambition of the peasants, somehow,
reflected in the law also. As such, Andhra Pradesh Land Reforms (Ceiling on
Agricultural Holdings) Act was promulgated in 1973.
The
effect of Srikakulam Struggle on law is not limited to land reforms alone.
There were bunch of new laws promulgated to protect various rights of tribal
folk and to regulate sale procedure of forest products. One cannot easily deny
the impact of ideology of Srikakulam struggle on various family laws and police
and jails reforms that promulgated later on.
At
the height of it we find the effect of Naxalite upsurge even on the Indian
Constitution. Socialism, the ideology brought forward by the Naxalite movement
has been incorporated in the preamble through 42nd Amendment on 18th
December 1976. Then the preamble is
readout as "WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, having solemnly resolved to
constitute India into a SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC"
Some jurists term the 42nd Amendment as Mini-Constitution. This is
how the Protest Literature transforms into Future Constitutions.
It
is also interesting to note the occasion selected for incorporating socialism
into Constitution of India. During the first regime of Indira Gandhi, the
President of India has declared emergency under Article 352 of Constitution of
India, on 25 June 1975, suspecting civil liberties and elections in the
country. The emergency, which is considered as most controversial and darkest
era of the Indian parliamentary history, continued till 21st March
1977. Ironically, the 42nd Amendment to the Constitution of India
was made during the fourth quarter of Emergency phase. What a paradox!
General Remarks
Before
closing my remarks on the subject I have to call attention to the process and relation
that is being continuing between society, struggle, literature and laws.
Firstly,
the contradiction with in family system mounts up and it will be manifested
into feminist literature, which obviously leads to feminist movement and
finally translated into Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act.
Similarly,
the contradiction between influential communities and weaker sections in the
society shoot up and it will be displayed into Dalit literature which obviously
leads to Dalit movement and finally translated into enactment of The Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
Correspondingly,
the contradiction between religious majority and minority communities in the
society amplify and it will be demonstrated through ‘Minority’ Literature which
obviously leads to movement of Minorities and finally translated into the Prevention of Communal and Targeted
Violence Act.
What
does this whole process indicates? In a class system, dominant group will
oppress the relatively weaker group. To prevent the oppression, the oppressed group
conceives its own ideology and creates its literature. Such ideologies and
literature will lead to a new movement.
When these efforts succeeded, even partially, they will be translated
into new Laws. Culmination of such partial successes will one day leads to a
great revolution and replaces the present constitutions with newer and better
ones. In other words, today’s protest literature will emerge as future
constitutions.
Conclusion
In
this context, one may remember the claim of English romantic poet, Percy Bysshe Shelley. In his
notable article of 1821, “The Defense of Poetry", Shelley claimed that
"poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world".
Today
we cannot reduce the whole literature to poetry alone. Thus one can broaden the
nomenclature of Shelley’s ‘poets’ to philosophers, writers, singers, novelists,
performing artists, painters and even to the public speakers also as literary
formats has witness a radical expansion during 20th century.
It
does not mean that every poet and writer is an unacknowledged legislator. As a
matter of fact Shelly’s statement was also referring to revolutionary-minded
philosophers of his time like Thomas Paine, William Godwin, feminists Mary
Wollstonecraft and last but not the least Voltaire.
We
are all aware that in every phase of the history we find two different and
opposite types of poets, writers and artists. The supporters of the status quo
will be perished with the change of the historical phase. And proponents of
change will be uphold by the future generations. Their writings will attain the
status of Constitutions. Kondagali, once
again proves this.
The
whole world is open for jurists and writers
to
choose among status quo and change,
to
chose among sovereign and people
to
choose among past and future!
(Full Text of Speech delivered on 12th
February 2012 at National Seminar on Law and Literature at Council for Social
Development, Hyderabad )
The writer is senior journalist and social worker
The writer's email ID
is khanyazdani@yahoo.co.in
Cell Phone : 90102
34336
good and enlightening yaz saab love j
ReplyDeleteThank you Jagathi gaarui.
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