Professional Documents
Culture Documents
CIA 3
PRESENTED BY:
KAILASH – 1811011
SUJENDHIRAN – 1811037
VISHWAK – 1811045
SUSHMA – 1811069
THENDRAL – 1811070
HITARTH - 1811074
Writers:
Srividya Natarajan, S. Anand
Publisher:
Navayana Publishing
Genre:
Historical biography, Socio- politics, Graphic novel
Based on:
Waiting For A Visa (1935-36)
Story of a boy named Bhim.
Bhim is a Mahar, an untouchable.
•The Anti-caste movement by Dalit Panthers made the Dalit people lean
more to the side of Ambedkar.
BHIM’S CALL FOR JUSTICE
Constructed as a series of 4
books,
BOOK 1: Water
BOOK 2: Shelter
BOOK 3: Travel
BOOK 4: The Art of Bhimayana
BACKGROUND
Bhimayana is based on incidents narrated in B.R. Ambedkar's
autobiographical notes. These notes were written in 1935 with the
objective of disseminating information about the practice of untouchability
to foreigners. He documented events from his own life and others’ to
provide an idea of the caste discrimination against dalits that is sanctioned
under Hinduism. Navayana published them as Ambedkar: Autobiographical
Notes in 2003.
The book is divided into three major chapters: Water, Shelter and
Travel. As any ordinary human being would, these are the things
Ambedkar seeks in his life. As the young Bhim becomes conscious of
his identity, the struggle for these basic needs translates into
something bigger: the struggle for Equality.
Each chapter is layered with
metaphors. In the first chapter, a
thirsty child in school is made to
look like a fish who pleads to his
teacher for water. Among the
upper castes in the classroom,
Bhim is clearly a fish out of water.
When the young Bhimrao returns
to Baroda from Columbia, his
search for a shelter is also a search
for companionship, comfort and
spiritual recognition. Rejected by
the Parsis at their inn, turned away
by a Christian friend and later
insulted by a Muslim, Bhimrao
learns that no religion is willing to
accommodate Dalits as equal
practitioners. This search for
Shelter lasts all his life until he finds
solace in the Buddha just before his
death.
The book is unapologetically
political in its approach. It is
unsparing of Hinduism, the
Brahmins and Gandhi. At the
same time, it is uniquely
innovative in its narrative
style. While Ambedkar is
quoted throughout, there
are several references to
significant personalities from
his life like his professor at
Columbia, John Dewey. The
poets Namdeo Dhasal and
Dilip Chitre find place in
innovative ways as their
poetry introduces the
reader to the modern day
children of Ambedkar.
The Pardhan Gond artists
use their rich art as they
embrace Ambedkar as one of
their own. They remain true
their own artistic tradition in
their rejection of the usual
boxes and panels choosing
the replace it with the Gond
digna instead. The boundaries
of each digna resemble the
fences one sees in villages.
The Gond love for aquatic
life is wholeheartedly. Other
animals such as the cow,
snakes, peacocks, dogs, lions
and a variety of birds
constitute an important part
of the art work for this book
and have been placed
creative in its narrative.
The story culminates into the most
important events of Ambedkar’s life
towards the end of the book. Namely,
the confrontation with Gandhi over
separate electorates for Dalits, the
drafting of the Constitution for
independent India and the mass
conversion to Buddhism led by
Ambedkar towards the end of his life.
However, the most beautifully
captured moment from Ambedkar’s
life remains the Mahar Satyagraha of
1927. As S. Anand has written, this is
possibly the most innovative use of
gutter space in the history of graphic
art. The struggle for access to water
results in water becoming a panacea
for Dalits.
Ambedkar’s words of wisdom fall on
Dalits like water from sprinklers
Symbolism
Bhimayana chooses the iconic dialectical approach of storytelling through a
conversational style. This has been used by Plato in his ‘Republic’ and Gandhi in
‘Hind Swaraj’ . This is no coincidence. It a choice for the purpose of making the
story most accessible. It is a symbolic statement regarding the historical significance
of the story of Bhim’s life.
The narrative ploy of representing the woman as the Dalit who informs the
nonchalant upper caste man is equally radical. When Ambedkar is thirsty, he
becomes a fish. When Ambedkar is contemplative in Kamathi Baug, he becomes the
garden.
When Ambedkar returns to Baroda after completing his studies in Columbia, his
life takes a full circle. The naive Ambedkar is under the impression that he has risen
above his social status and Caste identity but the Brahmin co passenger on the
train to Baroda is quick to make him conscious of it. The cyclical nature of identity
based oppression is depicted through the circuitous path of the slithering train.
The book uses different bubbles to represent different thought processes. A
person whose thought process is casteist speaks from a snake-like bubble. All
victims of caste based discrimination speak from bird-like bubbles. A third kind
of bubble is the thought bubble that has eyes of its own and represents things
that remain unspoken. In the end, the upper caste man finds himself speaking
the language of the oppressed after having received a lesson in his caste
privilege from the Dalit woman. When he says “Jai Bhim!” to her before
boarding the bus, his speech bubble transforms from a snake to a bird for the
first and only time in the book.
But the most symbolic metaphor in the book remains the use of hands in it.
Hands of all kinds can be found in it. The hand that refuses to touch and hence
leaves behind an echo of casteism is recurring element. Whenever a character
makes a casteist remark, s/he is shown having a progressing trail of hands that
point at the oppressed. Similarly, the Mahars leave a trail of their footsteps
wherever they go. The hands of solidarity, the touch of the hand amongst
Dalits, the strength of the fist and the profound message entailed in a raised
hand with a finger pointing upwards while the other hand carries the book
serve varying purposes in the overarching narrative of Bhimayana.
Book I – Water
‘Water’ sets the scene in 1901, on an ordinary day in Ambedkar's life as a
10-year-old Mahar schoolboy. He is humiliated at the hands of the Brahmin
teacher and the peon who, paranoid about the possibility of contamination,
refuse him water. Young Bhim goes back home where he asks his aunt
why he cannot drink from the tap like other boys, despite being cleaner
than upper-caste students. The text also compares Ambedkar's own lack
of access to water at school with his father's work in Goregaon, which
entails ‘helping build a water tank for famine stricken people who would die
if it weren't for his work’.
Young Bhim along with his siblings is invited to stay with his father in
Masur. They get off the train to find that no one has come to receive them
and seek the station master's help. As soon as they reveal that they are
Mahars, the stationmaster turns hostile. He finds them a cart-ride on the
condition that they pay double. Eventually they find their father's house. It
turns out that his secretary had forgotten to inform him of their arrival.
The narrative voice moves back to the frame story here, and the unnamed
storyteller concludes that Ambedkar said it was because of the secretary's
mistake that he had learnt ‘the most unforgettable lesson about
untouchability’. The section ends with an account of Ambedkar's Mahad
satyagraha against lack of access to water from the Chavadar Tank.
ART
WORKS
GOND ART
Artwork
The first section of the book, which deals with the right to water, is full of
water-based imagery—when the young Ambedkar is thirsty, his torso turns
into a fish; and when he urges a crowd to stand up for their rights, the
speakers morph into showers sprinkling water onto the audience.
A section on shelter has the recurring imagery of the banyan tree and its
many twisted roots. Even the speech bubbles have significance—harsh or
prejudiced words are given a tail like a scorpion's to evoke their sting.
Gentle words are encased in bubbles shaped like birds, and unspoken
thoughts are given an icon to denote the mind's eye.
The pages are not formally structured and digna patterns divide
the story into loose frames for a khulla (open) visual imagery.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhimayana
http://www.tcj.com/reviews/bhimayana-experiences-of-untouchability/
https://graphicshelf.com/bhimayana-experiences-untouchability/
THANK
YOU!