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.
