The Grip of Change

-P. Sivakami

The Grip of Change by Palanimuthu Sivakami is the English translation of the Tamil novel, Pazhaiyana
Kazhithalum. It is the first full length novel by P. Sivakami an important writer and member of the
Indian Administrative Service who prefers to identify as a Dalit feminist. 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, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Dalit women face different challenges than women
in higher 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. Feminist theories, in an all-embracing way, talk about
equality of the sexes in all spheres; they accord importance to ‘difference’ as it is the different
experiences of women with respect to the systematic domination faced by them in the patriarchal
society that adds up to the feminist body of thought.

P.Sivakami, born in 1957, is a post graduate in History. Later she took up IAS exams as she thought
that she would gain wealth and status in the society by coming to such a high position. She got
through her exams, but considered writing as her first priority. She derived a lot of pleasure from
reading and writing. So even after becoming an IAS officer, she continued writing. She became a full
time writer in 2008 after taking voluntary retirement from Government Service. From then on, she
has been working for the upliftment of the Dalits.

She is the first Tamil Dalit Woman to write a novel, Pazhiyana Kazhidalum in 1989. A literary and
commercial success, the novel created a stir by taking on patriarchy in the Dalit movement. The
novel is translated by the author herself and published in English as The Grip of Change (2006
Sivakami has written four critically acclaimed novels, all of them centred on Dalit and Feminist
themes. She has written numerous short stories and poems focusing on similar issues. Sivakami’s
novels portray the rustic story of women who suffer at the hands of men who strongly believe in and
stand for patriarchy. The conflicts and struggles are between tenacious women and tyrannical men
in the contemporary society.

The work is structured as two Books- Kathamuthu: The Grip of Change and Gowri: Author’s Notes.
The Grip of Change an autobiografiction, partly autobiography and partly fiction, which expresses
and suppresses the self of the author. The prime concern of the novel is the twin oppressive
structure of the society, with special emphasis on the patriarchal repressive mechanisms, that
results in the objectification of Dalit Women. The Book Two is a re-entry into the novel after a
decade. The Author’s Notes confirms the singularity of the narrator, the protagonist, and the author.
Memories, even if blurred, defy factual rearrangements and a philosophical dimension originates. In
this part the author problematises and deconstructs the produced images, representations,
narrative mode, characterisation, the process of writing, and finally the authorship itself.
Retrospection and rumination also lead to contrasting portrayals. The non-linear development of
both sections of the work moves from memory to memory and reflects the sophisticated
psychological journey of the author. The confusions regarding entangled emotional and behavioural
patterns and formations of misleading remembrances, causing instability in the author’s conceptual
map, finds expression in the novel and with more significance in The Author’s Note.

In Shivkami‟s novel The Grip of Change, women characters are epitomes of the burden of
patriarchal dominance. Though born free, they are in a continuous struggle to become free as they
are bound by the prison of patriarchy. This patriarchal dominance makes them vulnerable to
violence and injustice both at home and in the society as a whole. Thangam and her case is
discussed here from different angles like caste , power relations, vulnerability of woman,
prejudices, violence, woman and politics, and triple violence in the form of social, communal, and
patriarchal. In the novel, Sivakami empowers the women by allowing them to question the
patriarchal dominance at play in the society. The novel starts with Thangam‟s story and ends with
Gowri‟s firm decision to remain unmarried after not finding an answer to the patriarchal dominance
around her.

Thangam, a Dalit woman‟s body bears testimonies to the difficulties and violence faced by Dalit
women in general. Her character is that of a Dalit widow. The novel opens with the hysterical ranting
of a Parayar woman, Thangam, who has been violently abused and beaten up by the relatives of her
upper caste landlord. Thangam’s history is constituted by her widowhood, the harassment by her
brothers-in-law when she refuses to submit to them, the sexploitation by her Hindu landlord, and
the assault on her by caste Hindu man and so on. Her demand for a share in her husband’s paternal
land is refused on the ground that she does not have any children from her husband and even
connect her infertility to the infertility of the land. Her brothers in law refuse to give her a share in
the land but try to take advantage of her as a vulnerable widow though despising her and insulting
frequently.

She lives alone and works as a labourer on the farms of the upper caste landlord Paranjothi Udayar,
who rapes her and repeats the atrocity when he realizes that she does not complain of it to anyone.
However when this is found out by the landlord’s brother in law, Thangam has to face the full brunt
of the blame and is subject to extreme violence as a punishment. She is dragged out in the middle of
the night by four mean who beat her mercilessly. On this occasion none come to support or help her
and as such she is forced to take the issue to Kathamuthu, a charismatic Parayar leader, that same
night. Kathamuthu works out the state machinery and the village caste hierarchy to achieve some
sort of justice for Thangam.

Thangam as a widow faces discrimination within her own caste as well. When Kathamuthu has an
affair with the upper caste widow Nagamani, she earns a rightful place by marriage and is placed as
a wife in his home. On the contrary, in the case of Thangam, Paranjothi Udayar uses her to satisfy his
lust and treats her as a mistress and is even subjected to severe physical punishment. The caste
angle discussed by P. Shivkami through this matter is associated to the question of the patriarchal
mindset of a Hindu man. When the matter of the illicit relationship is disclosed to the society, the
same man refuses to accept his relationship with Thangam. His power, pride and aggression are
revealed through the following lines:
‘Ungrateful whore! Even if she was hurt, she was hurt by the hand adorned with gold! A
Parachi could never dream of being touched by a man like me! My touch was a boon granted for
penance performed in her earlier births! And then the dirty bitch betrays me! How can I face the
world with my name thus polluted?” He is concerned of how the discovery of his illicit relationship
may affect his position in the next election. Had it been any other matter he could have managed
with his influence and money. Paranjothi Udayar‟s wife, Kamalam colludes and sends her brothers
to beat Thangam. She feels no sympathy for Thankam though it was she who was raped by her
husband. Rather she questions her husband on how he can manage the issue in his usual manner.
„Can‟t you manage the Police? ‟ (p.34).

The violence inflicted on a Dalit woman is of no concern to anyone. As a Dalit woman Thangam is
the victim but is seen as the perpetrator. None show her any sympathy or support. Thangam’s story
is the oldest of its kind. The power-relation between the Dalit woman and her landlord is a clichéd
story of the power dynamics at work in a society that exploits people on the basis of caste and
gender. The landlord often gazed at Thangam lustfully and has no qualms about exploiting her as she
is his servant and he her master. He felt it was his right and she should not question, resist or
complain. The sexual violence she faces on the very first day left her wounded forever. She had
spent her three years of widowhood untouched by a man; she hated succumbing to the loathsome
old man’s lust. She sobbed with anger sitting alone in the field. For Thangam, there was no other
choice left.

Through the novel, P. Shivkami brings into the focus the vulnerability of Dalit women. Her characters
evolve into cautious women who awaken to the atrocities around them and question the situation.
That is what Thangam does when she takes the issue to the Dalit leader. Even Paranjothi Udayar is
shocked by her extreme step. He always thought of Thangam as a hapless vulnerable widow whom
he can buy with his small amount of money. He never expected Thangam to act to the extent of
filing a Police complaint. Thangam further dares to ask Kathamuthu to go to court for her matter
related to her husband’s share in the land. Thangam‟s daring in the first matter gives her courage
and inspiration to move forward. Thus the author brings under scrutiny the age old notion that the
supremacy of the male must never be challenged and that the burden of proving that one is
innocent is left on the woman.

Thangam had to suffer both as a woman and a Dalit. Kathamuthu helped her to lodge a false
complaint against Udayar. He manipulated the whole story and said that when Thangam took a walk
on the street frequented by upper class people to attend nature call Udayar’s wife abused her:
“You paraya bitch, how dare you walk on this street” ( Grip of change, pg.11) . Thereafter she and
her brother cruelly beat her up till she bled. The policemen who came for enquiry favoured the
upper caste and accused Thangam by declaring she had an illegal affair with Udayar and
consequently Udayaramma’s relatives physically assaulted her. “How can an Udayachi put up with
her husband having an affair with a Parachi” (Grip of change, pg. 30). Policemen also used the caste
name derogatively. They received bribe from Udayar and told him an idea to file a false complaint
against Thangam , that she stole money and a transistor from his house. .

Thangam’s alleged sexual indulgence effectively fictionalizes her rape by making her complicit in the
loss of her own reputation. She is deemed an unreliable witness to her own rape, which is
invalidated by her past acquiescence and presumed consent to what in reality is an exploitative
relationship. While Kathamuthu interprets her sexual relationship with an upper caste man as a
threat to the integrity of caste patriarchy— a threat that has to be regulated and controlled—the
double standard that governs the caste regulation of sexuality is made evident by Kathamuthu’s
marriage to his younger wife, Nagamani, a poor upper caste widow he took under his care. A sexual
hierarchy thus coincides with a caste hierarchy when Thangam’s alleged affair with an upper caste
man preempts any claim to her own desire and body. Her widowed status is further interpreted by
men as a sign of her sexual availability, which ostensibly justifies potential threats of rape.

What is of particular interest and this becomes the focal point of the novel, is the elision of sexual
violence by caste violence. Although both these forms of violence are implicated in Thangam’s raped
and battered body, it is the visible signs of physical assault that are privileged over her rape. Her
battered body is perceived purely as an instance of castist violence and not as a rape, which in any
case, is an unverifiable event ostensibly legitimized invalidated by her past acquiescence.
Kathamuthu dictates a petition to his daughter Gowri on Thangam’s behalf that is addressed to the
police. In the petition he overlooks Thangam’s rape and distorts her account of her brutal mutilation
by upper caste men in the Dalit locality by accusing her assailants of assaulting her for walking
through their street. The misrepresentation is thus not merely the elision of what was also the
sexual violation of an individual Dalit woman, but the politicization of Thangam’s battery as an
incriminatory instance of upper caste aggression. By relocating Thangam’s body from the secret
confines of sexual assault to a caste encoded space like the upper caste street, Kathamuthu’s
distorted petition strategically diffuses Thangam’s victimhood to implicate the entire Dalit
community. Thangam’s sexed body is thus displaced by her caste body that materializes the brutal
effects of an unsolicited expression of upper caste violence. In what follows, Thangam’s caste body
becomes the site where the inter-caste struggle for political power plays out.

During the police investigation, the attack on Thangam gives rise to further fabrications, which
become the pretext for new inter-caste feuds. The police inspectors appointed to carry out the
inquiry interrogate Thangam’s in-laws who first spread rumors of her illicit relationship with
Paranjoti. One of Thangam’s in-laws corroborates Kattamuthu’s distorted version of Thangam’s
assault to ensure the Dalit quarters are not accused of being complicit in the attack. He claims he
saw Thangam waking up to a stomach ache and walking to the village tank behind Paranjoti’s house
where the Padaiyachi street begins. She is spotted by Paranjoti’s wife Kamalam who abuses her by
her caste name for entering the upper caste street. She is later assaulted by Kamalam’s brothers.
The Chakkiliyars, another untouchable laboring caste, confirm the rumors to the police believing
them to be true and accuse the Padaiyachi men of assaulting Thangam for her affair with Paranjoti.
While one of the investigating constables assumes Thangam’s rumored affair is true the other
dismisses the possibility that Thangam may have coerced Paranjoti into a sexual relationship when
his wife Kamalam is clearly “not being smart enough to keep her husband” (Sivakami 29).
Both the constables blame the women for Paranjoti’s infidelity.

During the inquiry there is a meeting of laborers and farmers at Kattamuthu’s house. Kattamuthu
announces his decision to constitute a panchayat or village council of elders to punish Paranjothi, his
wife and his in-laws if they are proven guilty. His intention is to charge Paranjoti with castism that
would lead to the loss of his Dalit voters and undermine his political power. Kattamuthu is convinced
Paranjothi will neither confess his relationship with a Dalit woman nor permit his wife to be taken to
court and consequently beg him for mercy. When the police inspectors give Paranjoti a copy of the
complaint, he realizes the complaint has been framed as a caste related assault that has nothing to
do with the rape. Paranjoti appeals to the inspectors and offers to pay them if they promise to
rescue him. One of the policemen suggests he lodge a counter-complaint against Thangam by
secretly plant a transistor and a large sum of money in her house and accuse her of theft. He
encourages Paranjoti to file a complaint before Kattamuthu files a report.

But Kattamuthu spots one of the inspectors at a toddy shop getting drunk on arrack. He discovers
the inspector has been bribed by Paranjoti. The inebriated inspector reveals Paranjoti’s plan to press
charges against Thangam. Kattamuthu immediately sends his men to guard Thangam’s house
through the night as she convalesces at hospital. Paranjoti’s men fail to place the transistor and
money in Thangam’s hut although they manage to escape from Kattamuthu’s guards. Paranjoti,
anxious that the counter-charge of theft against Thangam may backfire for lack of evidence, decides
to accuse all the Dalit men of attacking his brothers-in-law when they entered their street to recruit
laborers. Soon, there are rumors of the Paraiyars’ (Dalits) attack on the Udaiyars (Padaiyars). The
Paraiyar women laborers who work for the Udayars discover to their anger and desperation that
they have been replaced by Chakkiliyar women. Paranjoti is determined to let the Paraiyars starve to
force them to relent and withdraw Thangam’s complaint. He threatens to burn the Dalit locality if
she refuses to take back her charges. The attempt by wealthy upper caste farmers to entice workers
from neighboring villages with higher wages fails because of the political support that Kattamuthu
enjoys in these villages. Other smaller farmers desperately in need of workers to plant their crops
before the end of the planting season direct their rage towards the Paraiyars. A large part of the
Paraiyar slum and some huts on the Chakkiliyar street are set on fire by some Udaiyar men. The
moment the Dalit locality is set on fire the wealthy Reddiars join forces with the Udaiyars, the two
castes being equal in status. They are also united by their shared allegiance to the ruling political
party to ensure that no land reforms are implemented or land holdings registered under false
names. The Paraiyars, the Chakkiliyars and the Padaiyachis are divided not just by caste but by their
struggle for survival, which preempts any solidarity in the face of caste aggression. Kattamuthu tries
to prevent the Paraiyars from potentially destroying themselves by controlling their desire for
revenge. A gathering of the tahsildar (the revenue officer), the inspector, Paranjoti Udaiyar and
some of his men, and Kattamuthu is organized to settle the dispute.

What was initially a case of rape and exploitation is politicized into an issue of caste and class
oppression. At the gathering, Kattamuthu argues that the Dalits have been relatively underpaid for
the time they spend planting paddy when laborers in the surrounding villages are paid much more.
He accuses Paranjoti of burning the cheri or Dalit quarters as the Dalits refused to work for lower
wages. The Udaiyars and the Reddiars are embarrassed by his accusation and as per Kattamuthu’s
demand are made to compensate the Dalit victims with money and clothes. Kattamuthu is clear that
the Dalits and the upper castes need each other for their own survival and negotiates an agreement
with them “I have been telling you from the beginning that the relationship between us should not
break down. You have to take care of the Harijans (Dalits) as if they are your own children.”
(Sivakami 69) Generously quoting from the Hindu epics the Ramayana and the Mahabharata and
Gandhi’s autobiography My Experiments with Truth, Kattamuthu urges the upper caste men to
cooperate with the Dalits and foster a mutually beneficial relationship. He assumes the Christian/
Gandhian position of expiating caste prejudice by internalizing its pain and suffering to spiritually
transcend the bane of caste. He tries to convince them that their conflicts can only be resolved and
their solidarity renewed if they “bear their suffering in patience…[for they] will ultimately rule the
world” (Sivakami 73). Kathamuthu’s Gandhian position clearly does not suggest the dismantling of
the caste system; on the contrary, it upholds the caste system and the interests of all its (male)
stakeholders.

Unable to settle on a suitable compensation for the affected Dalits, Paranjoti begs Kattamuthu to
settle the dispute in a panchayat meeting. When Kattamuthu informs everyone of his decision to
join the Ambedkar Association’s protest against police inaction in the Thangam case, Paranjoti grows
anxious that his relationship with Thangam may be settled in court. Finally Paranjoti and Kattamuthu
agree on an out of court settlement and Thangam receives monetary compensation. Thangam gives
Kattamathu her compensation out of gratitude and offers to cultivate and harvest his land in return
for his protection. Kattamuthu’s desire for Thangam empowers her over his wives. Her disputes with
his jealous wives often end in violence. Thangam is transformed from being a poor and emaciated
widow to an adorned and healthy woman who enjoys Kattamuthu’s patronage (Sivakami 87). She
assumes the responsibility of paying the laborers who work on Kattamuthu’s land and receives
people who come in search of him (Sivakami 93). She gradually becomes a part of the family and the
household. Kattamuthu’s wives who are initially hostile and jealous later have no choice but to
befriend and accept Thangam. But Kattamuthu’s protection and his sense of responsibility for
Thangam come with a price—the sexploitation of her body. Although the text does not voice
Thangam’s concern for the loss of her bodily integrity, her silence suggests this loss for her is clearly
not primarily a matter of reputation. She seems to come to terms with her loss that for her is I
suggest an unfortunate but necessary compromise to secure relative power and protection. She
acquiesces to Kattamuthu’s sexual advances and continues to work for him even after she wins the
case in court and regains her land from her in-laws. That she is represented as a victim of caste
rather than sexual violence enables Thangam greater access to public spaces of legality like the court
and the village council of elders that are exclusively occupied by men who possess legal authority
and political power.

.
The upper caste people planned to hire workers from the neighbouring village after this incident.
They were ready to pay more for the neighbouring labourers rather than to the men / women of
lower caste. The discrimination was based on the different categories of work undertaken. “Pallars
were agricultural labourers, Parayars were drummers and menials and the chakkiliars were cobblers.
The first grade pallars were absent in Puliyur. The Pallar were considered themselves superior to the
rest. The parayars considered themselves higher than the chakkiliyars , who themselves considered
higher than the paravannars washer man community”(Grip of change, pg.63).

For lower castes parayan, plan, valluvan, chakkilian, vannan are considered to be of different
categories while for the upper caste considered these divisions went unrecognised as all of them
were the Dalits. Few days later three huts in the Cheri was burnt down. The Dalits believed that the
upper caste people burnt the Cheri because of their refusal to work for them. This ensured a
communal riot among the two groups. At last the police entered the village for a reconciliation. To
ease the issues, the upper caste people were advised to accept their demands and offer
compensation for the victims with an increase of fifty paise on their daily wages. Kathamuthu
demanded of Paranchothi Udayar a sum of twenty thousand rupees as compensation for Thangam.
But Udayar denied it. Finally he parted with ten thousand rupees as compensation. Kathamuthu
goes on to deceive Thangam. One night Thangam was offered arrack by Kathamuthu’s wife and later
he physically abuses her and she is forced to settle down in Kathamuthu’s house as his third wife.

“In present- day – society a Dalit woman is also considered to be unequal to her man. Today, Dalit
women, who constitute the major working force, are thrice alienated and oppressed on the basis of
their class, caste and gender. (John E.Mary, pg. 445-450). The Dalit man unleashes his frustration
and establishes his supremacy in the human society by harassing the women of his community. The
Dalit woman enjoys no safety being victimized, exploited ravaged and mercilessly run down both by
the men and by the caste divisions. Women through education can acquire financial independence.
This could render them free from the clutches of exploitation and endow them with the courage to
question and fight all discrimination. Sivakami offers a world of possibilities with a world of
negativities.

The writer for the first time is not only exhibiting the power struggle outside the Dalit community
but also lays bare the contrast and contradictions that exist within the marginalized sections.
Therefore the cure to these conflicts could be had only with mutual respect, feeling of oneness , the
solidarity to fight against their disparaging position in the society with one mind , one body and one
force.

Towards the end of the novel we see the emergence of a new generation of educated young men
and women of different castes who are united in their attempts to transcend social and sexual
hierarchies—Kathamuthu’s daughter Gowri refuses toget married and becomes the first Dalit
woman in her village to complete her college education. Her cousin Chandran becomes a worker at
the rice mill and joins the workers union that unites Padaiyachi and Parayar workers whose shared
labor concerns enables them to potentially overcome their caste differences. He gets married in a
secular ceremony that does away with the Brahmin priest and rituals. He promises “his wife would
be an equal partner in the marriage” (Sivakami 117). Rasendran, a Paraiyar youth who is entrusted
with the responsibility of guarding Thangam’s hut, protests Kathamuthu’s conciliatory attitude
towards the upper caste Udaiyars and Reddiars at the gathering of elders. Elangovan, a young
Parayar banker has an open affair with an upper caste woman, Lalitha who defies her mother’s
injunctions.
The Grip of Change is the English translation of Pazhayani Kazhidalum (1988), the first Tamil novel by
a female writer. It is comprised of two books: Book 1: Kathamuthu: The Grip of Change and its
sequel, Book 2: Gowri: Author’s Notes. Palanimuthu Sivakami wrote the first book when was twenty-
six and the sequel ten years later. The protagonist of Book 1, Kathamuthu, is a charismatic Parachi
leader with two wives . The novel opens as a Parachi woman, Thangam, finds refuge at
Kathamuthu’s after having been seriously beaten up by the relatives of her upper caste employer
because her in-laws spread rumours about her having an affair with the latter, a married man.
Kathamuthu uses his influence within the village caste hierarchy to obtain some sort of justice for
Thangam while still looking down on her as an inferior being since she is but a woman. In the second
book, Gowri, Kathamuthu’s daughter, that the readers see grow up in the first book, compares the
town of her memories which inspired the writing of The Grip of Change to what she observes as a
thirty-one-year-old woman. Gowri is the fictional author of The Grip of Change – though the
question of whether or not she is to be understood as a younger Sivakami is left open –. The sequel
contrasts what happened in her family and community to her interpretations of those events and
thus points to the gaps in the narrator’s knowledge and understanding of past events. This
undermines her authorial reliability, while also pointing to her gained maturity and autonomy at the
end of the narrative.

The novel cannot be read as a classic bildungsroman since Gowri’s voice is one of many in Book 1. In
this book, it is Thangam’s body which takes centre stage. Thangam is rejected by her in-laws who
refuse to give her the land she should receive. She is raped and exploited and is almost beaten to
death at the beginning of the novel. She is considered as a useless woman since she is childless and
widowed. Her broken up body shows how vulnerable Dalit women are to male sexual assault and
harassment. Since the narrative hinges on Thangam’s body and the abuse she suffers, a mute
woman whose existence was marginalised becomes central to the plot and, in an amazing turn of
events, her ordeal can even spark a caste riot (Meena Kadasamy 2005, 194). Eventually, Thangam
obtains justice; her in-laws are forced to give her some land. She repays Kathamuthu by physically
yielding to his desires, but she also manages to use the very body which had been subjugated and
oppressed to gain power in Kathamuthu’s house and dominate his first two wives.

The novel is also an expression of Dalit youth’s eagerness to work for change and socio-political
progress. The first book ends with an enumeration of vast economic, social and political changes
with which the elderly cannot keep up. Kathamuthu’s wives, accustomed to the patriarchal system in
which they had evolved till then are unable to envision any changes when Gowri eagerly evokes the
women liberation movements: “Gowri constantly goaded Kanagavalli and Nagamani with talks of
women’s liberation. However, both women were used to bending to Kathamuthu’s demands. They
were happy for Gowri, but felt it was too late for them” (125). The novel concludes on an optimistic
note for the younger generation as Gowri defies her father and refuses to marry. She manages to
win her independence by completing her studies, she gets a doctorate and then a teaching job. Yet
Gowri is still forced to hide what caste she belongs to as she looks for a job then for a place to stay,
and she is harassed by her neighbours and colleagues. The novel thus ends on the long road ahead
for women Dalits to obtain full and equal rights.

The novel’s style and prose do not reproduce the vitality, humour, crudeness and subversiveness of
Dalit women’s language, most likely because the fictional author, Gowri, embodies a well-educated
younger generation independent from casteism. Resistance is mostly enacted through the
characterisation of Gowri, who authorises her own life as she writes her own narrative and the life
stories of other Dalit women. Yet, as the sequel, Gowri: Author’s Notes, dissects and deconstructs
the first book, it illustrates the hesitation, worries and anguish that accompany the act of writing and
reflects the challenges met by female Dalits to become authors of their own life.