Meaning of Subaltern - The character of Eklavya concept of Subaltern

Assignment

Name-  Hareshwari Kapdi

Course-  M.A. English

Semester-  1

Batch-  2019-2020

Roll No- 10

Submitted- Smt S.B. Gardi Department of English

Paper No- Indian writing in English

Topic- what is the meaning of Subaltern? the character of Eklavya with special reference to the concept of Subaltern.

# Introduction:-

T.P. Kailasm (1884-1946) was a dramatist, poet and short story writer in kannada and english.

∆ His popular play are:-

• Fulfilment
• The Purpose.                        
• The Burden
• The Karna
• The Keechaka

1. T.P. Kailasama's The Purpose is biased on 'Mahabharata'
2. In the Mahabharata highlight the character of Arjuna but in The Purpose highlight the character of Eklavya.
3. Kailasama tried to high-light something which in original myth was neglected.
4. Essentially the purpose of this thesis has been to propose an assessment or interpretation of T.P. Kailasam's "private mythology", of its genesis, its justification and its value. This mythology was, of course, largely influenced by the circumstances of his time. Indeed, we have noted earlier in this thesis that Northrop Frye looked on myth as a means of recounting "a society's history, religion or social structure"

 First of all let us look on T.P.Kailasam’s views on “The Purpose”:

       Kailasam had as intimate a knowledge of The Ramayana as he had of The Mahabharata. But, with the exception of The Burden, all the published plays of Kailasam are inspired by The Mahabharata. Shriranga remarks,

5. “This Kannada Playwright, who wrote complete plays in English did not write a single play purely in Kannada.”

6. Kailasam was brought up upon the Indian epics and they were always a living presence to him:

“These scenes and words      you’ll see and hear

I’ve seen and heard before;

As king or priest, poltroon or peer,

7. Somewhere…some when of

# What is Subaltern ?

Sub +  altern

   |           |

Under   Other

∆ Subaltern means:-

• Effeminate
• Desultory
• Junior
• Celibate

• A Subaltern is someone with a low ranking in a social, political, or other hierarchy. It can also mean someone who been marginalized or oppressed.

• The meaning of Subaltern, the 'subaltern' is used in post-colonial theory the exact meaning of the term in current philosophical and critical usage in disputed.

# Ekalavya as Subalterns

• If we think about these two characters. So these are Subalterns.

                      

• Ekalavya is from lower cast and because of his low caste he can't get an education.

• They have no right to learn. He is smarter than Arjuna and yet he can't be great Archer because of his caste.
• So  Eklavya can't stud Archery from Guru Dronacharya, because he was Nishadha boy. At that time, only high class or king's sons learn archery, and Drona was Guru only Arjuna not any other. So we can say that Nishadha is Subaltern cast or group of people and Eklavya was as a Subaltern person. Even his Purpose to learn archery is good and he was smarter than Arjuna yet he cannot because great archer  because of his caste. He learned archery by himself, yet he compromised with Arjuna as a cost of Gurudakshina and lost his thumb it's not only lost his thumb but lost his archery also.

• Intense focus.
• Dedicated self-learning.
• Willingness to tolerate mistakes.  Self-criticism to learn from mistakes.
• In the Purpose we find that Eklavya from low caste, he was Nishaada boy and Arjuna was king's boy, price and he was Arya.

  Indian Caste System

                   

• In post-colonial theory the term Subaltern describe the lower class people and who are at the margins of a Society. We find that many people are Subalterns and many cast also in our India.
• Parihas  and Tribal people are also marginalized or Subaltern.

# Example of Subalterns

• Ekalavya in the Purpose.
• Karna in the Mahabharata.
• Rosencrants and Guidenstern.
• In lagaan movie in kachara has belonging to low cast.
• In  Ghulami movie Dharmendra is Subaltern.

Ekalavya was a complete confident soul. Who knew what he wanted. He wanted to learn Archery- everything there was to know about it Arjuna wanted a different thing . He wanted to be better at archery than everyone else. Arjuna competed with all archers while Eklavya only competed with himself.

• He surrendered the right thumb to Guru Dronacharya; but it was not driven by the'blind faith'.

Ekalavya indeed was the great Archer,per excellent, Not only archery. He  was the master of yoga, one of the ancient martial arts with a sincere commitment to it. Practices gave him the specific goal of his mind, and that's why it spells he pursued perfection. It was not at all the self-interested belittlement that made Eklavya cut the thumb of his right hand for Dronacharya. This one action that made him immortal was prompted by a particular state of mind. The state of absolute doubtless, about his intent, and of course, in the belief that his progress was contingent on the blessings of his contingent on the blessings of his guru. And surprising thing was that, after giving Gurudakshina, Eklavya started practicing archery, using his other fingers.

The severed thumb that Eklavya presented to Drona was to thank him  for the journey rather than the destination. And destination was everything to Arjuna. Arjuna was in the game in order to be a player. Eklavya had gone beyond the game and the players into something larger. Ekalavya was a complete confident soul who knew what he wanted. He wanted to learn Archery- everything there was to know about it. And that's why by birth or by caste, in Mahabharata. Eklavya was not superior to Arjuna;  but in every aspect of the strength of soul , he was unquestionably superior to Arjuna and Guru Dronacharya too.

# Comparison between Arjuna and Eklavya:-

The similarity between both the characters is that both want to become the world's best archer. Thought the aim is Same, the purpose for it is different. Arjuna has the personal purpose and Ekalavya's purpose is to save the animals. So, we can say here that this all the things are about "The Purpose" or based on the "The Purpose" that how the Purpose is different from each other. So, here we can say that the title of this play is appropriate and we'll chosen by the Playwright of this play.

 Now let's talk about contrast or difference between these two characters Eklavya and Arjuna.

# Conclusion

In 'Can the Subaltern speak?', spivak propounds her theory of Subaltern. The Crux of her theory is that the Subalterns cannot speak. The tenets of Theory became controversial as they were interested with false conviction. The Subalterns were subjected to colonial rule and only colonizer had the voice.