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Sadhana, a male
comrade wrote the popular novel "Rago" which deals with the social
oppression of an Adivasi Gond girl, her resistance to that oppression and her
integration into the life of an armed revolutionary. He wrote it on the basis of
his experiences while working in Dandakaranya , at a time when the tribal
women’s movement was still in an embryonic stage.
Almost a decade
later, the adivasi girls of DK are themselves composing songs in Gondi to
express their oppression and anguish and their path to liberation. From the
hills in Balaghat and Abhujmadh to the banks of the Godavari and Pranhita rivers
the forests are resounding with songs not only about revolution in general but
also about women’s condition and their aspirations. This cultural outpouring of
young women squad members joining together to compose songs is spreading. Young
girls can always be found in villages jostling each other while standing to give
chorus when these songs are being sung.
An old but popular
song that has been adapted in the various dialects of Gondi as it has spread
from area to area is the Kamalakka song. This song has played an important role
in spreading awareness among village women. Written as a dialogue between a
village woman – Kamala- and a peasant organisation leader – Sangham Pandu — It
begins –
Madvimir, Madkamir kamalakka
What have to say, speak Kamalakka
How much can I tell, sangham Pandu
What can I tell, sangham Pandu
Then Kamala laments
about the marriage forced upon her by her elders and parents and then goes on to
vividly describe the slave like labour she performs in the house of her in-laws
and husband and her utter neglect. She describes her work –
I labour all day, but then my in-laws
Call me a lazy daughter-in-law!
To collect the leaves, to bring the firewood it is the
daughter-in-law,
To fetch the water, to cook the food, it is the
daughter-in-law
To make the toggu, to cook the gruel, it is the
daughter-in-law,
To clear the stumps, to gather and sweep it is the
daughter-in-law.
I get in the darkness, Sangham pandu
And pound and pound the grain
Till the sweat flows Sangham pandu
I slave in the house, I slave in the forest,
Cutting the paddy, cutting the Kohla I do well.
Yet, girl you may not thresh they say,
I looked after the house, bring the needs from the hills,
But I cant go near the grain store
I breed the hens , I breed the pigs,
But he eats without asking his wife and children
Near the panch, near the ritual if we go,
What do women understand they say
What sin have we committed sangham pandu
I cannot go anywhere, Sangham pandu.
He takes the cows and bulls and sells them off
He drinks and spends the money, my man
He never brings anything, not even clothes
As if he doesn’t know he has a wife and children
This song very
popular among women, young and old, poignantly brings out the unending,
unrecognised toil that is the fate of tribal peasant women
The patriarchal
family, the subordinate position of women in the family and her lack of rights
is a theme repeated in many of the songs on women. Like in this song written by
the squad women in North Baster two years ago :
The red flower, sister, is flowering
Let us follow the path of the red flower and struggle…..
In the village, the elders, sister
The elders threaten and suppress us sister
In the house mother and father
Without listening to mother and father we cannot go
anywhere
They marry us off sister…..
You bring up the sons and daughters
You do all the work in the house
But the man has the right to the house
The children too are the father’s right
Sister, the sons and daughters get the father’s name,
Sister the house too is in the man’s name
Wherever sister, we are seen as outsiders
Wherever we look everything is in the man’s name…..
In the flag song too, the lack of rights over crop, land,
house is emphasised:
You give birth to girls and boys, but your name is
nowhere sister,
The store is full of paddy, but girls cannot get it,
sister
At a tender age, they are performing marriages sister,
If she says she wont go, they are beating her sister….
We look after the crop, we look after the harvest, but we
have no right sister
Even though woman looks after the cattle and goats, her
name is not there, sister
Sister on the land
Even if she looks after the hens and pigs, the girl has
no share
The land and sky are equal, women and men are equal
The social oppression
faced by girls due to some of the traditional customs and superstitious beliefs
are also repeated in many songs. Like forcible marriage practiced quite
commonly, the practice of forcing women to remove the blouse once they get
married in parts like Gadhchiroli:
At a tender age they marry off sister,
If she says she wont go, they are beating her, sister
They are bringing grown-up wives for small boys sister
Without asking me they married me, my parents,
They took the liquor and fixed it up the elders
The MADIA CUSTOM IS DIFFERENT,
The men don’t have the custom
The custom of removing the blouse
At marriage they remove the blouse
They put the haldi and take off the blouse
They make me the daughter-in-law of the madkamirs
The feelings of a young girl forced
into marriage have been poetically expressed in this song which goes like this:
In the darkness of no moon
In the light of full moon
In the deep forest I am alone,
I put my foot forward, I take a step backward
Wherever I step it is dark, brother
Their only daughter, this bright beauty,
This beautiful face they have ruined, brother
They have forcibly married me off, brother
The imagery in the song expresses the
depths of despair that young girls feel due to the outmoded customs and
practices. In the end when she realises that women must organise themselves and
struggle to end these conditions, she says:
Yes, brother yes, I have heard your view
I will no longer stay in this darkness
I will go forward towards a red dawn
The songs emerging
from the revolutionary women’s movement are clear about the way forward, towards
equality. They reflect what progressive young tribal women view as the only
concrete way to achieve their goal of emancipation from social exploitation and
oppressive tribal traditions – the path of building women’s organisation and
joining the armed struggle or supporting it to establish a new democratic order.
Thus the flag song ends by saying:
The land and sky are equal, women and men are equal
If our troubles have to go
Join the struggle sister
Let us build a Red army and win power
Let us build our liberated areas in the world
The red flower songs ends in this way:
Sister in the forests of Dandakaranya
Let us take the struggle for new democratic revolution
forward
All the people must unite sister
We have to build our raj (power)
Hold the red flag in your hand sister
Let us also join the war sister
At the same time
songs on other issues concerning women have also been written , sung and become
popular. This one song deals with the atrocities of the police on women and the
people’s resistance to them. Taking the background of the rape of the nuns in
Jhabua district of MP it strings together a series of incidents. It goes like
this :
In the rule of this police, in the rule of this
Government
There is no security for sisters
There is fear in the village, there is fear in the
forest……
The tehsildar with the eyes of a cheetah, the ruler of
Narayanpur
Reached Vedmakot, and summoned a meeting
Like a cat he slipped and tried to molest Kamaladidi
The people enraged went to Narayanpur,
They took out a procession, did a chakka jam
Women of the Christian faith, who nursed children
The goons of Jhabua district, with the lotus symbol
This Congress Govt is false, they entered within
And raped them, the whole country was enraged
There was a strike in Antagadh …
All these songs are
structured in the forms of their traditional songs — the re re la, or re la
setting the tune. Hence these songs are easily remembered and easily sung. The
growing women’s movement has also spawned a cultural movement.
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