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ISSN 2278-9529
Galaxy: International Multidisciplinary Research Journal
www.galaxyimrj.com
The Criterion: An International Journal in English Vol. 14, Issue-IV, August 2023 ISSN: 0976-8165
Representation of Dalit Women in Painting and Text: A Study of Godna Painting

and Sharankumar Limbale’s Akkarmashi
Antara Bhatia
Assistant Professor,
Department of English,
Ramjas College,
University of Delhi.
Article History: Submitted-18/07/2023, Revised-20/08/2023, Accepted-21/08/2023, Published-31/08/2023.
Abstract:
Dalit women have been, through history, a repressed group with subjugation operating
at multiple levels; i.e. gender, caste as well as economic limitations. While numerous writers,
artists and Dalit activists have sought to make a difference in the prevailing conditions,
incidents of casteism, violence and suppression continue into modern times. The objective of
this paper is to examine the representation of the Dalit female figure through paint and text,
analysing instances from a seminal Dalit text, Sharankumar Limbale’s Akkarmashi. This is
conflated with a study of Godna/Mithila art by this community of women, which seeks to
express their interior life and potential for resistance against a patriarchal society. I have
investigated these objectives through a close reading of Limbale’s text, along with an inclusion
in the paper of specific Godna paintings by Dalit women. An analysis of these paintings has
been undertaken in the light of the role of artist within the confines of a discriminator society.
It is evident after research that Limbale offers a profound critique of caste and gender
oppression, with the Dalit woman as ‘outcaste’ even within her own milieu. Godna art, taking
this further, becomes the voice of this marginalised group and a symbol of protest. This paper
thus concludes that the Dalit female figure, while triply subjugated, offers intelligent resistance
through various forms.
Keywords: Dalit women; subjugation; Godna art; Mithila art; Madhubani painting;
Dalit female artist; Limbale; Akkarmashi; Marathi literature; feminism.
Methodology
This paper combines primary as well as secondary research. A survey of Godna,

Madhubani and Mithila paintings has been conducted, in the various locations around the city
where they are now exhibited for artistic as well as commercial purposes. The paper discusses
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017
Representation of Dalit Women in Painting and Text: A Study of Godna Painting and Sharankumar Limbale’s
Akkarmashi
numerous critical analyses by art curators and critics in their exploration of Dalit women's
painting. A close reading of Sharankumar Limbale's Akkarmashi, with emphasis on the women
characters, examines the book in the light of the triple subjugation of Dalit women through
gender, caste as well as financial constraints. My research also includes secondary readings on
the novel, by critics who discuss it in the context of Dalit history, women's oppression and
politics of resistance.
Literature Review
Dalit women's painting has been examined as a form of creative expression as well as
protest by Megha Malakar, who studies Godna painting in intricate detail. Aditi Narayani
discusses how this community has made creative use of art to express their identity. She further
points out how natural materials like flowers and cowdung are used for these paintings, which
make them so organically a part of the Dalit experience. Chandrika Sahai in The Art and
Culture of Dalits of India shows photographs of Godna paintings, commenting on the vibrant
use of colours and designs. Anuradha Goyal in her 2015 article is deeply interested in a
particular artist - whom she calls Mithila's Madhubani artist Ganga Devi. Bharti Varun
concludes that art is a means of crossing caste boundaries and contributes towards the feminist
movement in India. This paper deals with one primary text - Sharankumar Limbale's
Akkarmashi, along with its context and surrounding critical debates. Chhaya Datar talks about
feminism in Maharashtra and the degree to which it moves beyond mainstream Brahminism to
express the marginalised communities. T.J. Gajarawala elucidates the multiple ways in which
Dalit history has suffered erasure and silencing, and the need for re-writing this dominant
historical perspective. E. Zelliot views literary representations of Dalits such as in Limbale's
book, in the light of Ambedkar's politics, vis-a-vis the empowerment of women. S. Rege and
G. Guru specifically look at Dalit women and their position as outcasts even within their own
culture. While there has been progress in scholarship on Dalit art and literature, it is still a
relatively unexplored area. In particular, there is very little extant material on Dalit women's
painting. This paper seeks to investigate and critically analyse this extraordinary creative
expression by this hitherto silenced community.
Introduction: The Dalit Women Community and its Prevailing Conditions
A man can eat paan and spit as many times as he likes, but the same is not possible
for a woman. It is considered wrong if a woman does that. Once her chastity is lost it can
never be restored. (Limbale, 2003, p. 36)
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The purpose of this study is to discuss the way in which Sharankumar Limbale
represents the doubly subjugated Dalit woman figure and the way in which the same figure is
represented and expressed in Dalit women’s painting. I would like to argue that Limbale’s
critique of her condition takes two directions. On the one hand, he depicts their sufferings at
the hands of patriarchy; but on the other, he desists from victimizing them by creating strong,
resilient woman characters with solid, concrete personalities. The Dalit female figure occupies
a troubled position; she is not just subjugated on the basis of caste or by virtue of being Dalit
or Mahar, but also entangled within the patriarchal structures that exist within the parameters
of Dalit culture itself. She thus functions as an ‘outcaste amongst the outcastes’, as it were.
The condition of Dalit women is a subject that needs to be brought into the forefront
mainly because, until recently, this particular group has been largely ignored and has not
noticeably been part of social reforms or resistances against Dalit oppression. Bela Malik
brings out the still- problematic condition of this community through a statistical study. She
identifies their discrimination not just in intellectual terms but also in terms of lack of access
to basic amenities such as water, sanitation, fuel, decision-making processes and legal redressal
(Malik, 1999, p. 323). Chhaya Datar agrees with this in her essay Non-Brahmin Renderings of
Feminism in Maharashtra: Is It a More Emancipatory Force? She remarks that Dalit feminism
needs to be combined with many other movements. It needs to be a part of everyday life and
not just focus on class exploitation but on matters as basic as access to resources, finance and
property in order to make any real difference (Datar, 1999). Gopal Guru illustrates this
conceptually and this becomes a rubric for what I wish to explicate in this chapter. In his essay
Labouring Intellectuals: The Conceptual World of Dalit Women, he begins with a description
of a conference that was held in the district of Karnal, Haryana. What Guru chooses to focus
on is the very significant alignment of the attendees of the conference. He mentions that Dalit
women labourers were involved in an intense, active discussion inside the tent. The male Dalits
were outside the tent, and seemed to be disinterested in the proceedings going on inside. This
is deeply symbolic of the structures of power that inform the Dalit community. They cannot be
homogenised into a long-suffering, oppressed group; there exist within themselves regressive
attitudes and power dynamics that seek to relegate women to the margins.
The attitudes did reproduce inner/outer dimensions in the Dalit public sphere. This ambition
to control the outer indicates the paradox within Dalit imagination. At one level, they would
like to fight their own marginalisation, as produced by the upper caste public sphere, but, at
the same time, they are also required to reduce Dalit women to the margins so that they
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Akkarmashi
occupy their own ‘centre’. They require Dalit women to create this margin so that they can
enjoy their centrality within the space (Gopal Guru, 2013, p. 55).
Dalit males, while oppressed by the caste system, still enjoy autonomy and domination
in their respective space over the women in their community. Limbale’s book is effective in
bringing out this problem, and also in the expression of a collective sisterhood of oppressed
women who in this very togetherness, form resistance against patriarchal structures.
Akkarmashi is thus not just a list of torments and sufferings undergone by Dalits. It aims as
creating realistic characters and redefines the autobiographical form into a complex, multi-
faceted novella which takes into its corpus the women characters as well.
Reworking the Autobiographical Form: Limbale’s Narrative Style

Autobiographies appear to have been the preferred mode of Dalit writing, mainly
because of the relegation of personal experience that this genre makes convenient. Limbale
employs a deeply personal, confessional technique in his first-person narrative. That said,
merely listing the wrongs he has suffered would make the writing repetitive and redundant.
The method of general storytelling would make the book sound like a diary entry. Within these
sub-genres, the author interjects and repeatedly asks disturbing questions following every
single personal experience. It is left ambiguous exactly to whom he addresses these questions;
the reader, the Patils, the upper castes; perhaps even society and history. At the same times, he
outlines the futility of these questions. They have no answers and they question an entire
system, a way of being, especially with regard to women. They seem expressly designed to be
uncomfortable for the reader. Thinking of his mother, Limbale asks in the book:
Why did my mother say yes to the rape which brought me into the world? Why did she put
up with the fruit of this illegitimate intercourse for nine months and nine days and allow me
to grow in the foetus? Why did she allow this bitter embryo to grow? How many eyes must
have humiliated her because they considered her a whore? (Limbale, 2003, p. 37)
The narrator himself is, as is evident from the articulation of these questions, a complex
character. On the one hand, he is conditioned by the system that forms his upbringing and is
deeply informed by social roles and psychologically embedded views about women. On the
other, there is a constant questioning of the system. The narrator’s frustration extends not just
to his own plight but to the other gender as well. He uses the autobiographical genre, extremely
common in current Dalit literature, to outline the humiliation and suffering of the Dalits and
020
becomes a voice of resistance and protest. The refusal, however, to sentimentalise or

universalise this experience, and the emphasis on women’s experience as infinitely more
difficult, reflects Toral Gajarawala’s views on this genre of literature:
…despite the continual assertion by writers and critics that the individual figure in Dalit
texts always represents a collectivity and that Dalit humanism is essentially transposable
across Dalit communities, this writing is marked by a conscious historical and cultural
specificity and is hardly interested in the time-and-spacelessness characteristic of other
forms of futurism. Dalit literature therefore insists on its own historicity by other means.
That historicity is tied up with conceptions of authenticity and lived experience and
articulated through an allusive referentiality as well as a formal, yet iconoclastic, realism
(Gajarawala, 2012, p.576).
In other words, Limbale’s book presents an individualised experience through an

everyday, realistic style, moving beyond undue eulogization.
Female Characters in Akkarmashi

The women characters in Limbale’s autobiography play possibly the most important
role both in his writing and on his psyche. On the one hand, he shows them as targets of intense
suffering, physical violence, abuse and rape. However, there are multiple ways in which he
leans towards a feminist approach in his portrayal of their resilience, inner strength and spirit.
All his female characters are marginalised owing to both their caste and gender, discarded by
society but yet unconventional and selfless. Their qualities are intensified by way of
comparison with the male characters, who are presented as a contrast because they are
essentially unpleasant and insipid. What the reader notices is the negativity and violence of the
upper caste Patils and the deepest impression is left behind of the women who counteract this
negativity. While Limbale’s attitude towards women is also governed by his conditioning, he
makes his stance clear in the Acknowledgements:
I regard the immorality of my father and mother as a metaphor for rape. My father had
privileges by virtue of his birth granted to him by the caste system. His relationship with my
mother was respected by society, whereas my mother is untouchable and poor. Had she been
born into the high caste or were she rich, would she have submitted to his appropriation of
her? It is through the Dalit movement and Dalit literature that I understood that my mother
was not an adulteress but the victim of a social system (Limbale, 2003, p. ix).
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Akkarmashi
Limbale’s stance is made even clearer through the fact that the book is dedicated to his mother,
a conscious and feminist act of support.
The book itself takes great pains to describe the high-caste privileged Patils and their
relationships with the women they enslave. Possibly the most positive female character is that
of Santamai who is a stalwart and the backbone of the whole family. She is always seen
working and in movement- picking up lumps of dung, grinding seeds, drying grains in the sun,
foraging for food for the family and sweeping the village streets. Gopal Guru remarks, ‘In
India, among labouring women, Dalits and Tribals form the most vulnerable sections…they
work almost round the clock. Their work, like rag-picking and scavenging, is also morally
demeaning, resulting in drudgery and wretchedness’ (Guru, 2013, p. 58). Santamai is
instrumental in labouring for and managing the household. She is always linked with self-
effacement and sacrifice, putting the family and the children before herself. She is
uncomplaining in all this and her grandson describes her as singing alongside her work in a
melodious voice. ‘Santamai made bhakaris which we ate, squatting. Santamai herself ate the
bhakari made from the jowar collected from the dung, but for us she made bhakaris from the
flour she had collected as alms’ (Limbale, 2003, p. 10). Santamai is a well-rounded character
and is not defined by her poverty or hardship. She is keenly traditional and rooted and has some
unshakeable beliefs that supersede hunger or need. An instance is when she is furious with
Sharan when he collects jowar from near a corpse on the way to burial (Limbale, 2003, p. 12).
She also redefines gender roles and occupies a liminal space between what is stereotypically
seen as masculine or feminine. She chews tobacco, gets drunk and in fact, deals with the liquor
business herself. Added, there is a reversal of roles in the relationship between Santamai and
Dada. ‘Sometimes Santamai too got drunk, and if on that day Dada was drunk, there would be
a fierce quarrel between them. Santamai sometimes even boxed Dada’ (Limbale, 2003, p. 33).
An even more complex character in the novel is Limbale’s mother, Masamai. She has
an illegitimate child, and is an outcaste in more ways than one within her community. It is
through her character that Limbale truly dismantles the acutely embedded patriarchy and
misogyny that pervades the Dalit community. Masamai’s suffering is profound in the novel.
She is separated from her children because of the centrality of the prevailing high-caste male
domination. However, the author emphasizes Masamai’s innate sense of independence. She
refuses to be victimised or pitied. She manipulates the power systems to her own advantage.
She refuses a job as a singer and instead, lives with the Patil who has exploited her openly,
possibly for revenge or as a challenge to the judgemental milieu that seeks to segregate her.
022
She protests against objectification and has a profound sense of honour and self-respect. When
Kaka tries to force her into sleeping with Hanmanta, she hits him with a chappal and drives
both men out of the house (Limbale, 2003, p. 61). Masamai’s lot leaves the deepest impact on
Limbale; nowhere is his agony more evident than for his mother. ‘Now Masamai was kept by
another Patil. What sort of life had she been living, mortgaging herself to one owner after
another and being used as a commodity? Her lot has been nothing but the tyranny of sex’
(Limbale, 2003, p. 59). Both the central female characters in Limbale’s novel can be seen as
feminist, rebellious and unconventional, but also prisoners of an oppressive system, especially
in their relationships with men. An instance of unconventionality is that Santamai and Dada
are not married and live together; added, Dada is part of the Muslim community. Despite all
this, their relationship is a positive force in the book.
The feminine principle pervades the book; even the similes used are all associated with
women. ‘[The bus] came and went empty without passengers, like the foetus of a barren
woman. Yet we kept our hopes alive like a womb cared for after an abortion’ (Limbale, 2003,
p. 41). The feminine is consistently linked with nurture, positivity, nature and protection.
Masamai, shunned by society, finds haven only in her mother’s home. ‘Only a mother and the
earth can accommodate and stomach everything’ (Limbale, 2003, p.37). The supportiveness
of the text vis-à-vis the feminine principle is also through the comparison with the male
characters. The relationship between Dada and Santamai is discussed throughout the book but
Santamai is clearly a far stronger, more resilient character than the mild Dada. Masamai’s
husband, Ithal Kamble is described indirectly as a weak-minded man who deserts his wife
when she is pursued by Hanmanta Limbale, despite taking financial help from the latter
previously. There is a distinction, a far from positive one, drawn between mother figures and
father figures throughout the text. Kamble and Hanmanta are absent and indifferent to their
children’s fates; in fact, Hanmanta Limbale is ashamed of his son and refuses to acknowledge
him. The mother figures, however, are always present and deeply devoted in the text. Women
are seen as all-encompassing foundation stones for the family and the individual. Each female
character is not generic but unique and takes on multiple roles and personalities. Along these
lines, Sharmila Rege points out the many problems with feminist studies of Dalit literature and
culture. She says there is always a danger of homogenisation- all women are ‘conceived as
‘victims’ and therefore ‘Dalits’’ (Rege, 1998, p. 42). She adds that therefore ‘the Dalit women
remained encapsulated firmly in the roles of the ‘mother’ and the ‘victimised sexual being’’.
This is, to an extent, not entirely true of Akkarmashi because the writing elides such rigid
categorisations of any of the women. Rege’s point is that the Dalit corpus should not be lumped
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Akkarmashi
under a sweeping mass or group. Within Brahminism, there exist multiple patriarchies which
cannot be universalised and it is thus important to see the individual Dalit woman’s experience.
Despite the centrality of the women characters and their individualised experiences,
identity in Akkarmashi is linked to father figures even though it is actually Limbale’s mother
and grandmother who are the nurturers and who have been responsible for his upbringing.
When the schoolteacher decides to enrol Sharan’s name in the attendance register, it is the
father’s name he requires (Limbale, 2003, p. 45). It is ironic that Masamai and Santamai do not
form any part of his identity in spite of being the backbone of the family. This evidence of the
absence of any form of identity intensifies the marginalisation of women as reiterated in the
book. Alongside this, there are disturbing incidents of violence against women throughout the
text.
Once a Dalit youth dared to look lasciviously at a high-caste woman from the village…The
whole village turned against the young man and attacked the Maharwada. Later the whole
village went to court against young Dalit men who were sentenced to prison for a year.
When they returned after serving their term, every man’s wife had had a baby. The Dalit
women had been raped when their husbands were in prison (Limbale, 2003, p. 71).
The conquest of any community or area is performed through the conquest of the
women who become collateral damage. The narrator himself seems to have internalised the
violence; when he goes to see Kaka’s house and feels angry at the latter’s neglect, he remarks
that ‘I felt like raping his mother’ (Limbale, 2003, p. 46). Violence against women is
normalised in this society and becomes a means for revenge, control and assertion of power.
At the same time, the importance of the maternal is reiterated again and again in the narrator’s
emphasis on motherhood and its role in children’s lives. These conflicting views are possibly
intended to reflect the views of society in generally that seeks to worship and pedestalise
women while at the same time treating them with aggression and violence.
The chief victims of this misogyny are some of the minor women characters of the
book. Sharan’s classmate, Shobhi, appears very briefly, but even in that moment is the target
of vindictive sexual aggression. Sharan and Parshya, his friend, think of avenging her insults
to them in school by way of rape. After their verbal abuse of her, they retract and are frightened.
Their thoughts are along the lines of, ‘What would happen if anyone had seen us? Or if she
told people in her village or someone in her house when she went back? What would the fate
of our sisters be now?’ (Limbale, 2003, p. 71) The battles of the men in the book in particular
and in society in general always seem to ultimately boil down to revenge on women and the
024
conquest of them. Added, the choices available for women in general are limited. There is a
preoccupation throughout the book about the marriage of Limbale’s sisters. It seems that the
only choices available to women and girls in Dalit society seem to be between marriage or
becoming the keep of a Patil. Another minor character, Limbale’s wife, Kusum, is mainly seen
in her role as wife and mother to his children. Further, the novel brings to light, both through
the conditioned responses of the author, as well as various incidents peppered through the text,
the disturbing discourse around chastity. They are constantly subjected to the male gaze,
commodified and seen as objects of lust; by strangers and relatives alike. The narrator himself
at various points thinks of revenge for the outrage of the so-called honour of his mother or
grandmother. Such internalised responses indicate that women are seen within a set of
normative, defined qualities- helpless, victims of lust and pitiable. They are barely seen as
separate from their expected core values of chastity and purity. By way of comparison with
another significant Dalit text, Joothan by Omprakash Valmiki, one can see the differences as
well as overlaps in the treatment of women. Joothan focuses on the trials and tribulations of a
male character and women are largely absent. The ones who are described are seen merely in
their roles as wives to the main characters. Women in literature are thus often stereotyped and
the discussed texts also face the danger of fitting into this paradigm. However, while the
Akkarmashi narrative brings out all these serious problems, Limbale’s stance is evident
throughout. G.N. Devy remarks:
The most memorable element of Limbale’s life story is his attitude to women. There are
many women characters in it, and not one of them without a serious complication in her life.
There are widows, childless women, deserted women, and as the ultimate of all this divine
and social injustice, Limbale presents his own mother who has been cheated again and again,
exploited most blatantly in every relationship she strikes, burdened with a roll call of
children and their upbringing (G.N. Devy in Limbale, 2003, p. xxiv).
The author’s position comes out in strong support and empathy for the women in his
life. The text also makes sure to point out the essential strength and creativity of these
characters in the way in which they find new ways to alleviate and relieve the everyday
existence of their families. Santamai tries to discover new and innovative ways to provide
nutrition to her family, and both she and Masamai are described as possessing melodious
singing voices. The text highlights the creativity and talent of Dalit women despite their
circumstances. On this note, the next section will discuss Dalit art over recent years. Similar to
literature like Akkarmashi, it aims at providing a voice and identity to this community.
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Akkarmashi
Dalit Women’s Art: A Means of Resistance and Creative Expression

Over the years, there has been lack of access to education for Dalits, especially women.
They have consistently been assigned tedious, menial jobs and sometimes hard labour in the
fields. However, it is interesting to note that they used this time not for playing the victim but
for creating unique ways to express themselves. They have, over the years, evolved modes of
expression other than writing, such as tattooing, painting and folk poetry. In fact, they have
appropriated art as a form of articulating their own narratives as well as that of protest. An
example of this is Mithila painting, a consciously distinct, regional style that picks up scenes
from mythology and legend, as well as deities and religious themes. It has been primarily
developed in Mithila, Bihar, particularly by the women of Dusadh and Chamar communities.
Through these paintings, the artists subtly involve themselves in a cultural heritage and history
that has hitherto marginalised them. Another popular form of art specifically developed by
Dalit women is Godna art, a genre of tattoo paintings. Tattooing has always been a symbol of
rebellion and radicalism. Guru discusses this in his essay in some detail: ‘As a number of
studies show, Dalit women have invented a language of their own. Dalit women from Bihar
have also tried to make conceptual sense of their pain and used Godna as an idiom to make an
elevated sense of Dalit emancipation, which they explain in terms of annihilation of caste and
the restoration of manuski (dignity to themselves)’ (Guru, 2013, p. 60).
Godna art incorporates subtle resistance in multiple ways. It was originally inked onto
the bodies of prisoners by Dalit women. Although they were seemingly following orders of
authority, they expressed themselves by drawing creative designs. Moreover, in the very act it
challenged the paradigm of untouchability since tattooing involves touch and etching.
However, the history of Godna also lies in the discrimination suffered by Dalit women, who
were forced to wear ornaments of iron and other inferior material only, as prescribed by the
Manu code. Tattooing was in a way a flouting of that prescription. Godna, thus, became for
Dalit women not just the inversion of markers of identification, but also an attractive
medium for forms of subaltern expression (Aditi Narayani, 2018, Mithila Paintings).
The colours in these forms of painting were from their own life and narratives- they
used earthy colours, natural and made from leaves, vegetables, cow dung and flowers. They
evolved a distinct style that has played a significant role in giving a voice and creative space to
this community. In Fig. 1, the recurring motifs of this style of painting are fairly evident. The
colours are earthy, the design intricate and complex. The artist’s closeness to nature can be
acknowledged through her artwork. The painting appears to emanate a sense of life and growth,
not just through the image of the tree but also the layered, three-dimensional effect.
026
Figure 1: The Tree of Life, by an unidentified Mithila artist; from a set of photographs taken
by William G. Archer between 1936-1940. British Library, London. (Source: Chandrika
Sahai’s The Art and Culture of Dalits of India. Retrieved from dalitfoundation.net)
According to Guru, ‘Modern Dalit painting also suggests the shift from the body as the
site of cultural imagination, to Ambedkar as the symbol of social revolution, that has been a
new development in Bihar’ (Guru, 2013, p. 67). Indeed, these works of art express an untamed
riot of colours, hitherto suppressed by their adversities. Figure 2 is even more complex, with
deeply intricate designs and motifs from the artist’s surroundings. It consists of a lively mix of
colours, but consciously blended together harmoniously similar to the way they exist in nature.
The rows and rows of leaves are drawn with materials taken from the natural environment and
the surroundings of the village community. The colours are mostly soothing, earthy browns,
oranges and greens.
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Akkarmashi
Figure 2: Untitled, by an unidentified Mithila artist; from a set of photographs taken by

William G. Archer between 1936-1940. British Library, London. (Source: Chandrika Sahai’s
The Art and Culture of Dalits of India. Retrieved from dalitfoundation.net)
The next painting is significant because its subject is the varied facets of the female
gender. The artist gives a variety of expressions to the women, granting an individualism and
personality that is otherwise denied to the members of this community. Moreover, the natural
colours used serve to link women with nature, harmony and equipoise, a similar method to that
which is used in Akkarmashi. The complex nature of the design instantly links with the complex
nature of the figures in the painting, and can be likened to the intricate women characters in
Limbale’s novel. The materials used in all the given figures is symbolic of the lifestyle of the
Dalits and their surroundings. According to Chandrika Sahai:
These paintings were largely composed of rows and concentric circles of flowers, fields,
animals, figures and spirits drawn with a pointed bamboo pen and lampblack ink. This style
was adopted by many Dusadh women and soon was further innovated to include the use of
bamboo brushes and a range of colours made from flowers, leaves, barks, berries etc. The
theme of the paintings also expanded and they came to include complex scenes from their
daily village life and ritual practices (Chandrika Sahai, 2018, Godna Painting).
028
Figure 3: Untitled, by an unidentified Mithila artist; from a set of photographs taken by William
G. Archer between 1936-1940. British Library, London. (Source: Chandrika Sahai’s The Art
and Culture of Dalits of India. Retrieved from dalitfoundation.net)
The Dalits create an alternate form of art, expressing the marginalised voices that have
been denied space. The materials used are from natural sources such as turmeric, flowers,
leaves and bark. Meghna Malakar comments that this form of art has a ‘unique artistic
aesthetic’. She goes on to say, ‘…people continue to paint in the Godna style because there is
a deep aspect of resistance to this art. The artform of tattoo painting by Dalit women not only
became a form of expression of subaltern art but also a symbol of annihilation of caste and
oppression’ (Malakar, 2021). The vibrancy and energy of these paintings can be seen in Figure
4, where a pregnant woman paints on a huge canvas, highlighting the infinite varieties and
opportunities present to women, along with the rich inner life of the artist. It also brings forth
the idea of woman as creator in multiple ways. Figure 5 is by innovative Mithila artist Ganga
Devi, who painted on canvases formed from her school notebooks. This painting is rich in
mythological lore through its depiction of the killing of Ravana.
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Akkarmashi
Figure 4. Manav Jivan Series- Pregnant woman lying on the floor painting, by Ganga Devi.
(Source: Inditales.com)
030
Figure 5: The Killing of Ravana, by Ganga Devi. (Source: Inditales.com)
Findings and Conclusion: The Current Milieu

Limbale’s mention of the Dalit Panthers at the end of the book signifies a ray of hope
and an intimation that such movements contribute greatly in alleviating oppression. This group,
like Limbale himself, questioned the hitherto accepted position of the oppressed classes and
consciously brought forth a dissenting voice. What was significant about this movement was
that it enveloped all castes and genders in its folds, without prioritizing any specific section.
Women were included and counted as the main targets of exploitation and patriarchy.
Untouchability was seen as a universal problem, regardless of gender. Limbale shares similar
concerns. As has been discussed so far, his creative expression is not limited to his own gender,
as it may very well have been. A major part of his novel describes his frustration, worry and
empathy for the women in his life and the limitations they are put through. This also serves the
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Akkarmashi
purpose of eliding homogenisation and universalisation, especially vis-à-vis the individual

variety of his characterisation. B.R. Ambedkar, the Dalit Panthers and Limbale himself all have
recognised that the Dalit problem is multidimensional and the word itself has a much broader
meaning than has been accepted so far. The aggression and violence too includes and in fact
targets the female gender. The violence described in Akkarmashi, in a disturbing sense, is
reflective of violence that has continued outside in society as well. It is very likely that any
leader who has fought for this community and voiced their plight has suffered arrest, torture
and legal redressal. An example of this is the Marathwada riots, in response to the Namantar
Andolan in 1994. While the revolution was eventually successful, it came at a price. The riots
were particularly significant because those who suffered violence were women and children in
large numbers. Women thus played a major role in the movement. This proactive stance by
these women and other activists such as Shantabai Dhanaji Dani contradicts the dichotomous
view of Dalit women that has been the case so far. They have mainly been viewed in two
opposing lights; one of pitiable victim of oppression and discrimination, and the other as
prostitutes of male high-caste Brahmins without identity. In Limbale’s autobiography, some of
the helplessness and entrapment is certainly described, but many of the women do not fully
subscribe to the defined and conventional roles set out for them.
Social reforms and efforts towards the empowerment of Dalit women have only
recently begun to gain momentum. Dalit women artists have turned symbols of their
oppression, i.e. what Bharti Varun calls ‘ornaments of iron and inferior materials’ (Bharti
Varun, 2020) into a challenge to the social, political and patriarchal forces that oppress them.
There has been the rise of many new Dalit women writers as well, especially through the
autobiographical mode. Authors such as Baby Kamble, Mukta Sarvagod and Kumud Pawde
provide indispensable portrayals of the restrictions and censorship in their lives at every turn.
There are others such as Urmila Pawar who combine both writing and activism, thereby playing
a multi-faceted, resistant role. Pawar’s writing is not just socially active, but also in a direct,
confessional style similar to Limbale’s, that has the effect of evoking empathy and compassion
in readers. Dalit women have thus consciously and against all odds, begun to assert their
identity and voice. They have also faced much criticism because of being pioneers in their
fields as well as due to the relentless and truthful style of their writing, uncomfortable for many
readers who may have either faced similar discrimination or been part of the society that caused
it. The rebellion and vision for change may have started, but clearly, the community has a long
way to go before it has fully rid itself of the shackles of history and patriarchy. The movement
needs to be activated further and this community encouraged to express more and more. In the
032
words of Eleanor Zelliot, ‘It is up to Dalit women themselves to explore ways to control the
patriarchy they face both within and without the Dalit family. It is up to all who care about
human rights to work for freedom, equality and justice for women’ (Zelliot, 2007, p. 329).
Works Cited:
Datar, Chhaya. "Non-Brahmin Renderings of Feminsim in Maharashtra: Is It a More
Emancipatory Force?" Economic and Political Weekly 34.41 (1999): 2964-2968.
Gajarawala, Toral. "Some Time between Revisionist and Revolutionary: Unreading History
in Dalit Literature." PMLA 126.3 (2011): 575-591.
Guru, Gopal. "Labouring Intellectuals: The Conceptual World of Dalit Women." India
International Centre Quarterly 39.3/4 (2012-13): 54-68.
Limbale, Sharankumar. Akkarmashi. Trans. Santosh Bhoomkar. New Delhi: Oxford

University Press, 2003.
Malik, Bela. "Untouchability and Dalit Women's Oppression." Economic and Political
Weekly 34.6 (1999): 323-324.
Narayani, Aditi. "Mithila Paintings: How Dalit Women have Used Art to Reclaim their
Identity and their Stories." 18 August 2018. dailyo.in. 2 November 2018.
<https://www.dailyo.in/variety/dalit-mithila-paintings-bihar/story/1/25978.html>.
Rege, Sharmila. "Dalit Women Talk Differently: A Critique of 'Difference' and Towards a
Dalit Feminist Standpoint Position." Economic and Political Weekly 33.44 (1998):
WS39-WS46.
Sahai, Chandrika. "Godna Paintings." n.d. dalitfoundation.net. 2 November 2018.

<https://dalitfoundation.net/godna-paintings/>.
Zelliot, Eleanor. "Empowerment of Women." Aryama, Sukhadeo. Ambedkar in Retrospect:

Essays on Economics, Politics and Society. New Delhi: Rawat Publications, 2007.
317-360.
Paintings Cited:
Figure 1. The Tree of Life. From The Art and Culture of Dalits of India, by Chandrika Sahai.
Retrieved from https://dalitfoundation.net/godna-paintings/.
033
Akkarmashi
Figure 2. Godna Painting. From The Art and Culture of Dalits of India, by Chandrika Sahai.
Figure 3. Godna Painting. From The Art and Culture of Dalits of India, by Chandrika Sahai.
Figure 4. Devi, Ganga. Pregnant woman lying on the floor painting. From Mithila’s
Madhubani Artist Ganga Devi and her Paintings, by Anuradha Goyal. Retrieved from
https://www.inditales.com/madhubani-artist-ganga-devi-mithila/
Figure 5. Devi, Ganga. The Killing of Ravana. From Mithila’s Madhubani Artist Ganga Devi
and her Paintings, by Anuradha Goyal. Retrieved from
https://www.inditales.com/madhubani-artist-ganga-devi-mithila/
034

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AboutUs: http://www.the-criterion.

Representation of Dalit Women in Painting and Text: A Study of Godna Painting

Article History: Submitted-18/07/2023, Revised-20/08/2023, Accepted-21/08/2023, Published-31/08/2023.

This paper combines primary as well as secondary research. A survey of Godna,

Introduction: The Dalit Women Community and its Prevailing Conditions

Reworking the Autobiographical Form: Limbale’s Narrative Style

becomes a voice of resistance and protest. The refusal, however, to sentimentalise or

In other words, Limbale’s book presents an individualised experience through an

Female Characters in Akkarmashi

Dalit Women’s Art: A Means of Resistance and Creative Expression

Figure 2: Untitled, by an unidentified Mithila artist; from a set of photographs taken by

Figure 5: The Killing of Ravana, by Ganga Devi. (Source: Inditales.com)

Findings and Conclusion: The Current Milieu

purpose of eliding homogenisation and universalisation, especially vis-à-vis the individual

Limbale, Sharankumar. Akkarmashi. Trans. Santosh Bhoomkar. New Delhi: Oxford

Sahai, Chandrika. "Godna Paintings." n.d. dalitfoundation.net. 2 November 2018.

Zelliot, Eleanor. "Empowerment of Women." Aryama, Sukhadeo. Ambedkar in Retrospect:

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