Firstpost
  • Home
  • Video Shows
    Vantage Firstpost America Firstpost Africa First Sports
  • World
    US News
  • Explainers
  • News
    India Opinion Cricket Tech Entertainment Sports Health Photostories
  • Asia Cup 2025
Apple Incorporated Modi ji Justin Trudeau Trending

Sections

  • Home
  • Live TV
  • Videos
  • Shows
  • World
  • India
  • Explainers
  • Opinion
  • Sports
  • Cricket
  • Health
  • Tech/Auto
  • Entertainment
  • Web Stories
  • Business
  • Impact Shorts

Shows

  • Vantage
  • Firstpost America
  • Firstpost Africa
  • First Sports
  • Fast and Factual
  • Between The Lines
  • Flashback
  • Live TV

Events

  • Raisina Dialogue
  • Independence Day
  • Champions Trophy
  • Delhi Elections 2025
  • Budget 2025
  • US Elections 2024
  • Firstpost Defence Summit
Trending:
  • Nepal protests
  • Nepal Protests Live
  • Vice-presidential elections
  • iPhone 17
  • IND vs PAK cricket
  • Israel-Hamas war
fp-logo
The hell-pit that is caste
Whatsapp Facebook Twitter
Whatsapp Facebook Twitter
Apple Incorporated Modi ji Justin Trudeau Trending

Sections

  • Home
  • Live TV
  • Videos
  • Shows
  • World
  • India
  • Explainers
  • Opinion
  • Sports
  • Cricket
  • Health
  • Tech/Auto
  • Entertainment
  • Web Stories
  • Business
  • Impact Shorts

Shows

  • Vantage
  • Firstpost America
  • Firstpost Africa
  • First Sports
  • Fast and Factual
  • Between The Lines
  • Flashback
  • Live TV

Events

  • Raisina Dialogue
  • Independence Day
  • Champions Trophy
  • Delhi Elections 2025
  • Budget 2025
  • US Elections 2024
  • Firstpost Defence Summit
  • Home
  • long-reads
  • The hell-pit that is caste

The hell-pit that is caste

Jayant Parmar • August 6, 2017, 13:00:30 IST
Whatsapp Facebook Twitter

In this 11th edition of Bards of Resistance, meet Urdu poet Jayant Parmar from Ahmedabad

Advertisement
Subscribe Join Us
Add as a preferred source on Google
Prefer
Firstpost
On
Google
The hell-pit that is caste

Editor’s Note: Naked display of dissent straddles the boundary that separates fear from revolution. For India’s Dalits, this proclamation of dissent has assumed many forms, both passive and combative. It has mutated over the millennia before BR Ambedkar prodded the word Dalit into mainstream consciousness, and transformed anew since then. Some things have not changed — songs remain the sinew of Dalit protest in almost all its configurations. And the lyrics that sew these together continue to serve as a manifesto of resistance. The poems in this series, drawn from Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi and curated by Krupa Ge, founding editor of The Madras Mag, represent the prosody of contemporary Dalit literature. They are accompanied by Chennai artist Satwik Gade’s illustrations. In the 11th edition of the column, meet Urdu poet Jayant Parmar from Ahmedabad. His poetry collections include ‘Aur’ (1999), ‘Pencil aur Doosri Nazmen’ (2006),  ‘Manind’ (2007), ‘Antaral’ (2010) and ‘Gaconetti ke sapne’ (2016). He was awarded the central Sahitya Akademi award for Urdu 2009 for ‘Pencil aur Doosri Nazmen’ and Bhasha Bharti Samman in 2006 for ‘Aur’. His work has been translated in Kashmiri, Punjabi, Hindi, Marathi, Bangla, Kannada, Gujarati, Oriya and Slovenian.

Bards-of-Resistance

At an age when they should be flying kites, the children of my community begin earning their daily bread. I too have suffered the acid burns of a caste system that is thousands of years old. The pain of the anti-reservation movement in Gujarat as well as elsewhere, has accumulated within me and reveals itself as poetry. They are not mere descriptions of events or analysis or just passing things. They are a search for roots, too. I cannot write anything that has emerged only from the world of dreams and is far from the truth of life. All epics that deny the existence of human beings should be thrown away in ocean. True poetry is that which inspires and heartens human beings in their struggles through life. Though Gujarati is my mother-tongue, I taught myself the Urdu script and language as my neighbourhood was predominantly Muslim. Painting was a hobby since my childhood days. In Urdu titles on movie screens and in the aayats inscribed on mosque walls, I saw paintings. This is why (after learning Urdu) I am fond of calligraphy. [imgcenter]

nastaliq

[/imgcenter] नरककुंडकी बास नरककुंडकी बास मेरे स्कूल तक आती थी धूपकी छतरीके नीचे नंगे पाँव उतरती थी नरककुंडमें ! . जानवरोंके चमड़ेको नमक और पानीमें भिगोकर अपने मरियल पाँवोंसे कर देती ठी साफ़. बदलेमें वह गोष्तके टुकड़े ले आती थी मेरे लिये!! आज भी मैं आफिस जानेसे पहले अपने जूतेको चेरी पालिश करता हूँ तब उसकी चमकमें माँका चेहरा दिखता है. नरककुंडकी बास मेरे आफिस  तक आती है ! [imgcenter] ![Resistence-11](https://images.firstpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Resistence-11.gif) [/imgcenter] The stink of hell-pit The smell of hell-pit used to dog me right up to my school. Under the canopy of a scorching sun she would descend barefoot in the hell-pit. She would soak stinking animal hide in salt and water and cleanse it with her numb feet In return, she would bring for me a few pieces of meat. Even today when I polish my shoes with cherry blossom before leaving for office in their glow I see my mother’s face. The smell of hell-pit dogs me right into my office! From ‘Pencil aur doosri nazmein’ Dr GK Vankar has translated this poem from the original. He is a Professor of Psychiatry. He has translated Gujarati Dalit literary works in English as well as Hindi. He has also translated Jayant Parmar’s Urdu poetry, ‘Inkpot and other poems’, and BN Vankar’s Gujarati Dalit poetry, ‘Overbridge’. His translations have appeared in literary journals such as ‘Indian Literature’ and ‘Muse India’, and ‘Shared Mirror’. He has created several blogs on selections and translations of Dalit poetry from Gujarati and Marathi languages. He was the editor of biomedical professional journal, ‘Archives of Indian Psychiatry’ of Indian Psychiatric Society.

Tags
Dalit Poetry Urdu poetry long reads Bards of Resistance
End of Article
Latest News
Find us on YouTube
Subscribe
End of Article

Top Stories

Israel targets top Hamas leaders in Doha; Qatar, Iran condemn strike as violation of sovereignty

Israel targets top Hamas leaders in Doha; Qatar, Iran condemn strike as violation of sovereignty

Nepal: Oli to continue until new PM is sworn in, nation on edge as all branches of govt torched

Nepal: Oli to continue until new PM is sworn in, nation on edge as all branches of govt torched

Who is CP Radhakrishnan, India's next vice-president?

Who is CP Radhakrishnan, India's next vice-president?

Israel informed US ahead of strikes on Hamas leaders in Doha, says White House

Israel informed US ahead of strikes on Hamas leaders in Doha, says White House

Israel targets top Hamas leaders in Doha; Qatar, Iran condemn strike as violation of sovereignty

Israel targets top Hamas leaders in Doha; Qatar, Iran condemn strike as violation of sovereignty

Nepal: Oli to continue until new PM is sworn in, nation on edge as all branches of govt torched

Nepal: Oli to continue until new PM is sworn in, nation on edge as all branches of govt torched

Who is CP Radhakrishnan, India's next vice-president?

Who is CP Radhakrishnan, India's next vice-president?

Israel informed US ahead of strikes on Hamas leaders in Doha, says White House

Israel informed US ahead of strikes on Hamas leaders in Doha, says White House

Top Shows

Vantage Firstpost America Firstpost Africa First Sports
Latest News About Firstpost
Most Searched Categories
  • Web Stories
  • World
  • India
  • Explainers
  • Opinion
  • Sports
  • Cricket
  • Tech/Auto
  • Entertainment
  • IPL 2025
NETWORK18 SITES
  • News18
  • Money Control
  • CNBC TV18
  • Forbes India
  • Advertise with us
  • Sitemap
Firstpost Logo

is on YouTube

Subscribe Now

Copyright @ 2024. Firstpost - All Rights Reserved

About Us Contact Us Privacy Policy Cookie Policy Terms Of Use
Home Video Shorts Live TV