SECTION I

Question 2

Over the centuries, the Indian nation has given birth to exceptional poets/authors who have been

recognized for producing rich, abundant, and evergreen pieces of literature and poetry. One such

author/poet was Kamala Das (1934-2009). She was born in the Thrissur District, Kerela. She

wrote various short stories and poems in both Malayalam and English; she was popularly known

for her one-time pen name; Madhavikutty. Das’s work has been recognized as some of the best

contributions ever made to the modern literature. One of her notable works is the poem ‘An

Introduction’, an autobiographical poem depicting her life. The title signifies the difficulties

faced by Das in her life, for instance, quest of establishing her identity as a female who is equally

educated as men but is still a victim of male dominance, being prohibited from the usage of

English language etc. The following essay focuses on how Das has introduced the reader to her

life through the poem ‘An Introduction’.

She decided to explore new things, go on adventures, all of this was being done in order to find

out her identity as an individual. She decided to leave her womanhood behind as she started to

wear her brother’s trouser and shirt, she cut her hair short, these activities were carried out in an

attempt to break the stereotypes and to establish an identity of her own. As she started to indulge

in these activities the categorizers started to shout on her, told her to start behaving like an ideal

woman would at the time. “Be embroiderer, be cook, Be a quarreler with servants. Fit in. Oh,

Belong, cried the categorizers. Don't sit on walls or peep in through our lace-draped windows.

Be Amy or be Kamala. Or, better Still, be Madhavikutty. It is time to Choose a name, a role”.

(Das) The above lines signify that the society had already created an ideal identity of woman
according to the prevailing norms of the society, which clearly meant that women shall be

restricted to activities such as cooking, cleaning the house, managing the servants etc. Eventually

Das became a victim of this ‘ideal identity’ as she was often told to wear sarees and not trousers,

she was told to manage the work of the household, to be a quarreler with the servants etc. In this

male dominated society, women were treated with inequality, had no voice of their own, and

were a part of this vicious cycle of inequality, stereotype, and prejudices.

A major difficulty faced by the poet in her life was the prohibition on the usage of English

language. Das writes, “Don’t write in English, they said, English is Not your mother-tongue.

Why not leave Me alone, critics, friends, visiting cousins, Every one of you? Why not let me

speak in Any language I like”? (Das) The above lines signify that male dominance was at its

peak during Das’s childhood restricting her the usage of English language as it was a language of

the educated. At the time, females were barred from attaining education or jobs since it was

against the norms of the patriarchal society, they lived in. The role of females was to perform

domestic chores, to get married at an early age and to take care of their children as this was

deemed fit by elders of the society. Das longed to speak English, she writes “It voices my joys,

my longings, my Hopes, and it is useful to me as cawing is to crows or roaring is to the lions”.

(Das) The above lines express the desire retained by her for the usage of English language, she

believes that this language contains the ability to elevate her position in the society, that this

language is as important to her as roaring is to lions. Furthermore, she was a strong believer of

the fact that usage of English language by females would be the first step in the demolishment of

the male dominated society. Due to this she decided to pursue her interest of writing as it would

result in the empowerment of women which would lead to the creation of a society, where

individuals are treated respectfully and equally irrespective of their gender.

She further writes, “they told me I grew, for I became tall, my limbs Swelled, and one or two

places sprouted hair. When I asked for love, not knowing what else to ask For, he drew a youth

of sixteen into the Bedroom and closed the door, He did not beat me, but my sad woman-body

felt so beaten”. (Das) The aforementioned line directs the reader to the point in time when the

poet was undergoing puberty. As she turned sixteen, she began to grow tall, her limbs started to

swell, hair sprouted on different parts of her body as a result of puberty. She was compelled to

get married at the age of sixteen, aching for love. She finally gathered the courage to ask for

love, upon that, her husband closed the door of bedroom, even though he did not beat her, her

body felt beaten. The incident made her feel burdened about fact that she was a woman. She felt

crushed by the weight of her sexual organs as they help men in regarding women as mere objects

built for the sole purpose of satisfying their desires. The same is conveyed by her in the

following lines, “The weight of my breasts and womb crushed me. I shrank Pitifully”. (Das) This

accounts for the fact that women were regarded as objects and not humans, showing that male

dominance again led to inequality against women.

After a careful consideration of the above text, I would hereby conclude the essay by saying,

Kamala Das faced numerous instances of inequality and ill treatment in her childhood. She broke

all the stereotypes and prejudices to achieve her dream of being a writer. She wrote this

autobiographical poem to outline her journey which in turn will help empower women from all

parts of the country.

SECTION III

Question 5

Back in the 19th century, in a country where caste system was deeply engrained emerged a man

named Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar who seek out to bring justice to the oppressed castes such

as the Shudra caste, the outcastes often referred to as the untouchables and the Dalits. As he

came back to India, he was traumatized as he witnessed the cruelty and injustice against the

Dalits due to the prevailing caste system. He sought to reform the Indian society which meant

eradication of the caste system. He made vast contributions in the upliftment of the Dalits, he

organized protests and campaigns for the untouchables. He also played a key role in inspiring the

Dalit Buddhist Movement. In the pursuit of his goal, he organized a separate election for the

Dalits. One of his critical works was The Annihilation of Caste, an undelivered speech later

made into a publication. In ‘The Annihilation of Caste’ he goes on to talk about the need to get

rid of the caste system. However, a small set of reformers known as the ‘Arya Samajists’ felt that

it was possible to reform the caste system by organizing the society into four classes known as

Chaturvarnya instead of keeping four thousand castes. The following essay focuses on the

various reasons provided by Ambedkar against this reform project of the Aryasamajis.

Firstly, the Chaturvarnya system is where all the castes are concise into four castes i.e., Brahmin,

Kshatriya, Vaishya, and Shudra. “The supporters of this system claim that it is based on the

worth of people and is not ascribed.” (Ambedkar 277) Ambedkar points out, if this a system

where individuals are assigned castes on the basis of their worth then there need not be labelling

of individuals. Any smart individual would remain smart regardless of whether he/she is a
brahmin, any warrior would remain one regardless of their caste. All the reform movements are

based on the emotions and sentiments of individuals, and at certain times, some words are

associated with specific notions and sentiments. “The words of Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas

and Shudras are names which are associated with a definite and fixed notion in the mind of every

Hindu. Ambedkar further writes, whenever a Hindu would hear the above four names, they

would refer to the hierarchical division of power and this will continue till the time these names

are ceased to exist.” (Ambedkar 278) Secondly, Chaturvarnya would be a miserable failure as its

basis for existence is impractical. For instance, the system of caste is completely opposite to the

system of varna. The former is based on ascribed status whereas the latter is based on worth of

an individual. “The implementation of this system would pose many restrictions as any

individual belonging to a high caste would not vacate his position without finding out their worth

first.” (Ambedkar 279) Whereas it would be nearly impossible to compel individuals to

recognize an individual’s status solely on the basis of their birth if they belong to a low caste

status.

Thirdly, Ambedkar feels that this system of Chaturvarnya would fail as it distributes all the

individuals into four different castes. The individuals would be divided into the castes on the

basis of their worth but the “utilization of the qualities of individuals is incompatible with their

stratification by classes as the qualities of individuals are variable.” (Ambedkar 280) This system

would fail as it is not possible to assign people four definitive classes as those four castes are in

reality four thousand castes. Fourthly, for the successful working of this Chaturvarnya system,

the Aryasamajis need to install a penal system which would maintain it by its sanction. In an

absence of a penal system, there will be activities of transgression as men would not keep to their

respective classes, they will want to become part of a higher class, which in-turn would cause an
imbalance in the entire system. This penal system shall be enforceable by law as this system

cannot exist on by its own inherent goodness. “An example of this would be that of Manu-Smriti,

they prescribe inhuman punishments such as cutting off ears, tongue or spilling molten lead into

the ears of a Shudra if they are caught reciting or hearing a Veda.” (Ambedkar 280)

Fifthly, Ambedkar raises the question, is the system of Chaturvarnya going to apply to women as

well? He further answers it by saying that the protagonists of Chaturvarnya have been extremely

negligent that they did not give any thought towards the above questions. He later criticizes the

system by saying that if women are told to acquire the status of their husband after marriage,

then that would completely undermine the basis on which the Chaturvarnya system was formed,

or they will have to agree that their system does not apply to women. On the other hand, if it

does apply to women, then the protagonists shall be ready to face the logical consequences of it.

The society shall be ready to witness women soldiers and priests, it was one thing for the Hindu

society to get accustomed to women teachers and barristers. Ambedkar concludes his argument

by stating that, “No one except a congenital idiot would hope and believe in a successful

regeneration of the Chaturvarnya”. (Ambedkar 281)

The above lines account for the fact that Ambedkar was strictly against the system of

Chaturvarnya or the caste system for that matter. All this life, he fought to reform the Indian

society. Before passing away, Ambedkar did achieve his goal of getting rid of the caste of system

from the Indian society. Today if anyone indulges in the practice of caste dominance, he/her

shall be liable for causing harm to an individual’s fundamental and/or constitutional rights.
SECTION II

Question 1

‘Before the Law’ is a short story written by the German author Franz Kafka (1883-1924). This

story was published in the year 1915 and later became a part of his novel The Trial. The story

revolves around a man who has taken a long journey from the country in order to be admitted to

the law. As he reached the gate to be admitted in the law, the gatekeeper refused to admit him

inside the law. The following paper shows how the theme of deification is manifested in the

story ‘Before the Law’ by Frank Kafka.

Before the law, there stands a gatekeeper. A man from the country comes to the gatekeeper

asking for entry to the law, the gatekeeper politely refuses. The man then asks, will I be granted

entry in the near future, to this the gatekeeper says, nothing is certain but there might be a

possibility. After this conversation, the man decided to stay there and wait till he was admitted

into the law. While waiting, he was curious. He tried to look past the gatekeeper in order to

figure out what was stored inside. As he did this, the gatekeeper laughed at him and told him,

that he could still go inside, but in order to go inside he would have to get past the gatekeeper,

who was mighty and big. The gatekeeper than said, even if you get past me, there are many other

gatekeepers, and I am only the weakest of all.

The man then decided to wait for the gatekeeper to grant him permission to go inside. The

gatekeeper then pulled out a little stool and offered it to the man. The man sat on that stool for

days and then years. He kept requesting the gatekeeper to let him go inside, he continued this act

for years, he would offer him all the riches of the world so he would let the man go inside. Some
might even say, he indulged in the practice of deification with reference to getting admitted to

the law. The reason for this was that the man was desperate to get admitted to the law, and only

the gatekeeper had the power to make that happen, hence that man would do everything to

convince the keeper. After a certain point, the man started indulging in the practice of bribing the

gatekeeper, the gatekeeper on the other hand would accept all the bribes but would still not admit

the man. His reason for doing this was that he did not want the man to feel that he did not try

everything.

Another way in which he was treating the admittance to law like a god was, throughout the

years, the man sitting on his stool would just observe the gatekeeper without a moment’s pause.

He was so focused on this one gatekeeper that he forgot about the other gatekeepers. He would

pray to the gatekeeper to let him in, and he would not budge. After a point in time the man

realized that there were no other gatekeepers but just this one, who was standing as an obstacle

between him and the law. As more years passed, the man grew old and now began to lose his

eyesight. Before he was about to die, all his experiences with the gatekeeper flashed before his

eyes and he tried to ask the gatekeeper one thing he had never asked before. The gatekeeper bent

downwards to hear the question. The man asked, “if everyone strives the law then why has no

one demanded entry in the past years”? (Kafka) The gatekeeper had realized that the man had

almost reached his death, so he finally decided to answer the question. The gatekeeper said,

“Nobody else could obtain permission here. This entrance was destined only for you. And now I

am going to shut it.” (Kafka)

The above lines show the reader that the man wanted to be admitted into the law which is

basically a physical space that was beyond the doorway being guarded. The man treated the
admittance to law as God as he was ready to devote is entire life to the law and wanted to get to

know law in its actual sense.

WORKS CITED

Das, Kamala, An Introduction, September 2020

Ambedkar, B.R, Annihilation of caste

Kafka, Franz, Before the Law, October 2020