Unsung Heroes: Meet Du Saraswathi, writer, activist, performer who is expanding horizons in Karnataka

Saraswathi looks at the Ramayana “in the modern context” and at “life today from the Ramayana’s perspective” through the eyes of a woman in a village in Karnataka. Using simple, colloquial Kannada, she narrates the Ramayana as understood by a poor woman with her best barbs reserved for “the male ego that leads the world to war”.

“I believe in a collective democratic process, based on dissent and diversity. I call this the politics of love,” says Saraswathi, 60, who has fought for Dalit, women and worker rights in Karnataka since she was 19.

She has been a part of the women’s movement since the 1980s and an important writer whose translations of anti-caste literature and creative works have moulded and added depth to modern Kannada literature.

Sarwasthi’s most recent work ‘Beedi Hennu’ meaning street women is a translation of the famous work of Baburao Bagul’s ‘Jevha Mi Jaat Chorli Hoti’, a revolutionary piece of Dalit literature from the 1960s, which sheds light on caste discrimination faced by the Dalits.

Saraswathi did a doctoral thesis titled ‘Community under siege: socio-cultural study of safai karamcharis in Karnataka from feminist perspective’ which explored the rich, human cultural and spiritual legacy of the safai karamcharis (pourakarmikas) along with their social and working conditions.

“I didn’t come to know about their lives through my PhD but rather by my work as an activist for nearly 25 years. More than 90 percent of the workers belong to untouchable Dalit castes. I thought this issue had to be pushed into academics, so I did my PhD,” Saraswathi said.

The writer and activist has been a part of the women’s movement that swept through Karnataka in the late ’90s which eventually led to the state government to introduce various legal reforms for crimes against women like dowry and domestic violence.

Remembering her motivation behind becoming a part of the women’s movement and her journey in activism she said, “I was drawn to the movement and a great attraction was theatre. I am a part of the autonomous women’s movement which believes in ‘collective, democratic, non-hierarchical, decentralized, autonomous politics’.”

One of the issues that occupy Saraswathi’s mind is the unquantifiable work that women do on a daily basis – hours spent managing households while simultaneously dealing with the intricacies of emotional labour.

“I do not think women are irresponsible. As far as I know, many households have been taken care of by the women. Their contribution to the economy and family can’t be valued If you calculate the amount of energy she puts in, the intellectual energy, physical labour,” she says.

“I do not think people can pay for that, but that is the economy. In a way they are also contributing greatly to the economy. The economy has always been spoken in terms of monetary profits, GDP, per capita income, unpaid, unseen valuable labour is not considered,” she said.

“The women’s movement started talking about this unseen labour done by women, the kind of contribution she has made which is completely neglected. It is the women’s movement which brought light to all kinds of violence which women undergo privately and publicly and her unseen, unvalued labour,” she says.

In the enactment of her Kannada solo play Sannthimmi Ramayana, on stage, Du Saraswathi does not stick to a script but instead builds a rapport with her audience by gauging the situation and brings into play various modern issues in India for discussion from the Ramayana’s perspective – ranging from politics corruption to communalism.

The Sannthimmi Ramayana is a part of the Sannthimmi Purana, a collection of six plays written by Du Sarawathi published in 2018. Among her other well-known theatre performances is Rekke Kattuvira (Will you tie my wings), a play (by B Suresha) on the grief and loss experienced by a family in Hiroshima after the atomic bomb attack in World War II.

Her poem ‘Pakshi Purana’, which came out of angst over violence against children in Kashmir, laments the loss of love in the hearts of men.

The subject that has encompassed her life has been the stigmatization and stereotypical portrayal of the marginalised (Dalits, adivasis, poor, minorities) and women in modern India.

“I have really discovered the true diverse Indian culture among these people. These are the people who have made the society; they are the basis through their labour, their creativity and their knowledge. It is not recognised and valued by the dominant caste; class scale. I am very much interested in this section of India, which has built society and is the root of this country,” Saraswathi shared.

“The whole world of literature is dominated by the upper caste and upper class, so definitely when Dalits started writing, the literary world has undergone a drastic change. It changed the criteria of criticism and politics of language,” she pointed out.

The intersectionality of language and its close relations to caste identity continues to be a hot topic of discussion among scholars, she said.

“Kannada literature has been enriched, its vision widened by this. I feel I speak the language of my experiences, context and culture, which is very much a part of this country that was never considered as ‘cultured’. By breaking the barriers, it widened the vision of Kannada literature,” she says.

Discussing the hope and aspirations she has for the coming years, Saraswathi said, “I hope and I want to work towards building leadership of the marginalised groups. Whatever movements that are there, the workers movement, the Dalit movement — they have brought many changes and brought respect to many people. I see hope in these people, the farmers, the safai-karamcharis, the women in the unorganised sector, even the feminist movement.”

“Those who have (the chance), should bring these women to the forefront, in decision making, in power, in building the nation,” she said.

“Bringing the marginalized caste, class, gender, sexuality people to the mainstream into the power structure, into the decision making, into policy making…is the present challenge before all people’s movements,” Saraswathi said.

“This can help us build a society of true fraternity and equality. I will continue to work in this direction not as a leader but as a fellow being,” she said.