Kalyani Thakur Charal

Last updated

Kalyani Thakur Charal (born 1965) is a Dalit feminist poet from India writing in the Bengali language.

Life

Charal was born in Bagula, Nadia District, West Bengal, within the Matua community. [1]

Charal cites her parents as an early influence in her interest in feminism, describing an incident in which her father intervened to prevent a case of domestic abuse in their village, as well as her mother's commitment to ensuring all her children were given an equal opportunity to gain an education. [2] [1] Her father worked as a security guard, but also took employment as a farmhand and woodcutter. [3] She adopted the name 'Charal', signifying her membership in the marginalised Matua community, after facing discrimination on the grounds of caste for it. [3] [1] She completed a bachelor's degree in Commerce and began working as a clerk in the Indian Railways after qualifying through an exam, later resigning after experiencing discrimination and harassment based on caste. [1] [4]

Kalyani Thakur Charal has published four volumes of poetry: Dhorlei Juddho Sunischit, Je Meye Adhar Gone, Chandalinir Kabita, and Chandalini Bhone. In addition to these, she has published a volume of critical essays titled Chandalinir Bibriti, and a collection of short stories, and an autobiography, Ami Keno Charal Likhi (Why I Write Charal). [2] [5] Her autobiography, as well as her essay and poetry collections titled 'Chandalini' (tr: 'the untouchable woman') are widely popular, containing accounts of the discrimination that she faced for reasons of caste, while working in government service. [1] In 2017 she won the Sparrow Literary Award for her autobiography. [4] She edited the volume Dalit Lekhika: Women’s Writing from Bengal. [4] [6] Her work has been received to critical acclaim, with one essay on Dalit women's writing from Bengal applauding her "strong and powerful voice". [7] Her adoption of the pen-name 'Charal' has also been praised for 'recovering space' for Dalit writers. [8]

In 2003 Charal began publishing a multilingual magazine called Nir, which contained recordings of folklore, poetry, plays, and fiction, as well as non-fiction writing focusing on Dalit experiences. The magazine included contributions in Bengali as well as local languages and dialects including Santali, Kamtapuri, Rarh, and Dapno. [2] The magazine continues to be in wide local circulation, and has provided a platform for people belonging to marginalised communities to record personal experiences. [3] Charal is a member of the editorial board of Chaturtha Duniya, a Bengali publishing house that focuses on works by Dalit writers, and is also on the board of the Dalit Sahitya Sabha, a literary organisation dedicated to Dalit literature. [4] In an interview, Charal cited Bengali poets and writers including Subhas Mukhopadhyay, Purnendu Patri, Binoy Majumder, and Rabindranath Tagore, as her early influences. [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mahasweta Devi</span> Indian Bengali fiction writer and socio-political activist

Mahasweta Devi was an Indian writer in Bengali and an activist. Her notable literary works include Hajar Churashir Maa, Rudali, and Aranyer Adhikar. She was a leftist who worked for the rights and empowerment of the tribal people of West Bengal, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh states of India. She was honoured with various literary awards such as the Sahitya Akademi Award, Jnanpith Award and Ramon Magsaysay Award along with India's civilian awards Padma Shri and Padma Vibhushan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nadia district</span> District in West Bengal, India

Nadia is a district in the state of West Bengal, India. It borders Bangladesh to the east, North 24 Parganas and Hooghly districts to the south, Purba Bardhaman to the west, and Murshidabad to the north.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dalit</span> Marginalized castes in India and other South Asian countries

Dalit, also previously known as untouchables, is the lowest stratum of the castes in the Indian subcontinent. Dalits were excluded from the four-fold varna system of Hinduism and were seen as forming a fifth varna, also known by the name of Panchama. Dalits predominantly follow Hinduism, with significant populations of the adherents of Buddhism, Sikhism, Christianity, and Islam. Scheduled Castes is the official term for Dalits, who get reservation under positive discrimination, as per the constitution of India.

Bhatkal & Sen is a publishing partnership between Mandira Sen and Popular Prakashan. The company is based in Kolkata and publishes the imprints Stree and Samya. It is noted for publishing authors such as Kancha Ilaiah, Om Prakash Valmiki, Uma Chakravarti, Gail Omvedt, Manikuntala Sen, Ashok Mitra, V. Geetha, and Bani Basu, and has prominent scholars such as Susie Tharu and Maithreyi Krishnaraj as editors. It publishes academic works in the social sciences, memoirs and classic fiction in translation in English and Bengali.

<i>Majya Jalmachi Chittarkatha</i>

Majya Jalmachi Chittarkatha is an autobiography of Shantabai Kamble published in 1983. This is considered the first autobiographical narrative by a Dalit woman writer. The work has been translated into various languages and is required reading for Marathi literary students at the University of Mumbai.

Bihar has produced a number of poets and writers in its languages like Bhojpuri Maithili language, Magahi language, Angika and Bajjika including Bhikhari Thakur, Heera Dom, Viveki Rai,Satishwar Sahay Verma, Pandey Kapil etc are writers of Bhojpuri, Vidyapati in Maithili. Besides its regional languages, Bihar has also produced writers in English such as Raj Kamal Jha, Amitava Kumar, Tabish Khair, Gunjesh Bond, Abhay K, Siddhartha Chowdhury; and Hindi including Raja Radhika Raman Prasad Sinha, Kumar vansi, Acharya Ramlochan Saran, Acharya Shivpujan Sahay, Divakar Prasad Vidyarthy, Ramdhari Singh 'Dinkar', Ram Briksh Benipuri, Phanishwar Nath 'Renu', Gopal Singh "Nepali", Ramesh Chandra Jha and Baba Nagarjun. Writer and Buddhist scholar Mahapandit Rahul Sankrityayan was born in Uttar Pradesh but spent his life in the land of Buddha, i.e., Bihar. Hrishikesh Sulabh is a short story writer, playwright and theatre critic. Arun Kamal and Aalok Dhanwa are poets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meena Kandasamy</span> Indian poet, fiction writer, translator and activist

Ilavenil Meena Kandasamy is an Indian poet, fiction writer, translator and activist from Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.

Dalit literature is a genre of Indian writing that focuses on the lives, experiences, and struggles of the Dalit community, who have faced caste-based oppression and discrimination for centuries. As Jobymon Skaria explains, "Dalit literature has been the most potent literary expression of Dalits' daily struggle for human dignity." This literature encompasses various Indian languages such as Marathi, Bangla, Hindi, Kannada, Punjabi, Sindhi, Odia and Tamil and includes diverse narratives like poems, short stories, and autobiographies. The movement originated in response to the caste-based social injustices in mid-twentieth-century independent India and has since spread across various Indian languages, critiquing caste practices and experimenting with different literary forms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matua Mahasangha</span> Religious movement in Indian subcontinent

Matua Mahasangha is a religious reformation movement that originated, around 1860 AD, in modern-day Bangladesh, with a considerable number of adherents both in Bangladesh and in West Bengal of India. Matua is a sect of depressed class AVARNA Hindus who are Namasudras, a Scheduled Caste group. The movement was launched as a reformation by the followers of Harichand Thakur. Thakur attained atmadarshan at an early age and would subsequently preach his Darshan in Twelve Commandments. The teachings of Thakur establish education as preeminently important for the adherent and the upliftment of the population the adherent's duty, while also providing a formula for ending social conflict.

Bama , also known as Bama Faustina Soosairaj, is a Tamil Dalit feminist, teacher and novelist. Her autobiographical novel Karukku (1992) chronicles the joys and sorrows experienced by Dalit Christian women in Tamil Nadu. She subsequently wrote two more novels, Sangati (1994) and Vanmam (2002) along with three collections of short stories: Kusumbukkaran (1996) and Oru Tattvum Erumaiyum (2003), 'Kandattam'(2009). In addition to this, she has written twenty short stories.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Urmila Pawar</span> Marathi writer

Urmila Pawar is an Indian writer and activist in the dalit and feminist movements in India and her works, all of which are written in Marathi language, have often been hailed as a critique of social discrimination and the savarna exploitation by commentators and media outlets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manoranjan Byapari</span> Indian writer and activist

Manoranjan Byapari is an Indian Bengali writer, socio-political activist and a politician. He is among the early writers of Dalit literature in Bengali from the Indian state of West Bengal. He could not afford any formal education and is perhaps the only convict-turned-Rickshaw puller who has penned a dozen novels and over a hundred short stories, apart from non-fiction essays. He was elected as an MLA, from the Balagarh in 2021 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manohar Mouli Biswas</span>

Manohar Mouli Biswas is the pseudo-name of Manohar Biswas, a popular and most likely the best known bilingual poet, essayist and writer of Dalit Literature from Bengal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pramatha Ranjan Thakur</span> Indian politician

Pramatha Ranjan Thakur was an Indian politician elected as a member of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly from the Hanskhali constituency in the 1962 elections as a candidate of the Indian National Congress. The seat was reserved for candidates from the Scheduled Castes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rajni Tilak</span> Indian Dalit rights activist (1958–2018)

Rajni Tilak was one of the most prominent Indian Dalit rights activists and a leading voice of Dalit feminism and writing. She served as the Executive Director of the Centre for Alternative Dalit Media, co-founded the National Association of Dalit Organisations, and served as President of the Dalit Lekhak Sangh.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dalit feminism</span>

Dalit feminism is a feminist perspective that includes questioning caste and gender roles among the Dalit population and within feminism and the larger women's movement. Dalit women primarily live in South Asia, mainly in Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan. Dalit women face different challenges than women in oppressor castes in these countries. They are more likely to be poor, uneducated and socially marginalized. Dalit feminists advocate and have advocated for equal rights for Dalit women based on gender, caste and other issues. They have addressed conferences, created organizations and helped elect other Dalit women into political office.

Vijila Chirappad is an Indian Dalit poet who writes in Malayalam.

Guruchand Thakur (1846-1937) was an Indian reformer who works for the upliftment of the untouchable peoples in the Indian society. He leads the Matua sect of Hindus after the death of his father Harichand Thakur. Under his strong leadership, the Matua section achieved a major organizational push and started the Namasudra protest movement in 1872. He established many schools for the upliftment of the Dalit community. He preached the abolition of caste inequality, gender equality via performing secular duties. Matua Movement is one of the first Dalit uprisings in the Indian subcontinent.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Ghose, Amita. "Why Bengali Dalit feminist poet and writer Kalyani Thakur added Charal (for Chandal) to her name". Scroll.in. Retrieved 2020-12-26.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Sarangi, Jaydeep; Pal, Bidisha (2020-08-02). "Bangla Dalit Womanist Speaks: Interview with Bengali Dalit Writer Kalyani Thakur Charal". Writers in Conversation. 7 (2). doi: 10.22356/wic.v7i2.78 . ISSN   2203-4293.
  3. 1 2 3 "Through the ceiling of silences". www.telegraphindia.com. Retrieved 2020-12-26.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "They are using Dalit votes for selfish ends". www.telegraphindia.com. Retrieved 2020-12-26.
  5. ↑ "Kalyani Thakur Charal". Monash Indigenous Studies Centre. Retrieved 2020-12-26.
  6. ↑ "Why Dalit Lekhika Is Women's Writing That Delivers A Punch In The Gut". Women's Web: For Women Who Do. 2020-12-09. Retrieved 2020-12-26.
  7. ↑ Ray, Panchali (2019-07-24). Women Speak Nation: Gender, Culture, and Politics. Taylor & Francis. ISBN   978-1-000-50727-0.
  8. ↑ Banerjee, Supurna; Ghosh, Nandini (2018-09-17). Caste and Gender in Contemporary India: Power, Privilege and Politics. Taylor & Francis. ISBN   978-0-429-78396-8.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.