The Outcaste

by Sharankumar Limbale

First published in 1984, The Outcaste is a first-person account of the dehumanizing impact of caste oppression in India.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, Marathi, India, Indian Literature

156 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1984

About the author

Sharankumar Limbale is a Marathi language author, poet and literary critic. He has penned more than 40 books, but is best known for his autobiography Akkarmashi. Akkarmashi is translated in several other Indian languages and in English. The English translation is published by the Oxford University Press with the title The Outcaste. His critical work Towards an Aesthetics of Dalit Literature (2004) is considered amongst the most important works on Dalit literature.

Reviews

[Nandakishore Mridula · Rating 4 out of 5]

My father and his father are Lingayats. Therefore I should also be a Lingayat. My mother was a Mahar. My mother’s father and grandfather are also Mahars. So I should also be one. From the day I was born, I was looked after and reared by my grandpa, my Dada Muhammad Dastagir Jamadar, who is technically my Dada because he lives with my grandma Santa Mai. So can it be said that I am a Muslim? Can’t my grandpa claim that I am a Muslim in lieu of all the love he showered on me? When my mother is an untouchable, how will I be a Savarna? And even when I am untouchable, what about my father? A Savarna?

This is the cry of a soul from India’s casteist hell. Sharankumar Limbale, born of an illicit union between Hanumantha Limbale, a village Patil (head), and Masa Mai, an untouchable Mahar woman, in a village bordering Karnataka and Maharashtra, is having a permanent existence in a twilight zone. Unacceptable (obviously!) as an ‘upper’ caste, he is seen as impure by the Mahars also! Hence the term “Akkarmaashi” – local slang meaning “half breed” – used to tag him. Thus doubly outcast, Sharankumar tells us his story – and it’s a story worth listening to.

The Mahars of the village exist in the “Maharwada” – a separate domicile to keep them away from the other villagers, so that they don’t pollute them by their presence. They have to sit separate in school, make sure to stand aside when the members of the “clean” castes come against them on the roads, keep away from the common village wells so that they do not pollute the water... the list goes on and on. Considered sub-humans, they have to do all the menial and dirty jobs that others will not, and also endure abuse and violence when they occasionally transgress.

Their women, like the author’s mother, are fair game to the upper-caste Hindus (surprisingly, there seems to be no pollution in the act of coitus!). If a girl catches a Patil’s eye, she as good as becomes his, even if she is married – as happened to Masa Mai. Abandoned by their husbands, these poor women are forced live as concubines of one Patil or the other – and they have only the same future to look forward to, for their daughters.

The author talks of their existence on the stark borders of life in simple yet harrowing terms. They eat bhakri (dry chappathi) made out of jowar grain obtained from waste, gleaned from begging, or even picked up from cattle droppings. When a “sacred” cow dies, it is their job to dispose of the body – which makes it a hay day for them, as they can eat the meat. He talks of staying in the common shelters provided for the Mahars; as well as the in the ramshackle shanties which go by the name of houses: and even in the local bus station, where his grandfather worked as a porter.

Sharankumar narrates all this in a matter-of-fact way, as though it is just a fact of life – as it was for him, of course – but for us, who take three square meals a day and the security of four walls for granted, such an existence is unimaginable.

The author starts to question the injustice, later on in his life. And here I got the answer to the stock question: “Why can’t the Dalits come up now, when untouchability has been outlawed and reservations have been provided?” Sharankumar shows us how difficult it is to come up against social excommunication by the dominant class who control all the power centres – economical, political and social. His experience in the police station when he complained against the discrimination in the local tea shop, and the social ostracism which kept him from getting a house on rent even when employed as a telephone operator are enough to convince anyone of the power and arrogance of the dominant castes.

Also, one incident in the story is very illustrative of how the caste system in India has survived so long, even without official support from the government. Sharankumar narrates how he was severely reprimanded and forced to drink cow-urine to “purify” himself, after comporting with a boy of the Mang caste – even further down in the hierarchical ladder! This layering of inequality and the religious justification for the same has ensured that the Dalits will never form a united front and take on the oppressors, who are numerically very weak – as evinced today in the countless caste-based parties that we have. This is “divide and rule” in the classic sense.

I would not call this great literature – but it is a must-read for any Indian who wants to go beyond the platitudes about our golden culture and look at its dark underbelly.

[Conrad Barwa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very powerful Dalit autobiography, first published in Marathi in 1984 that created something of a storm in literary circles. This translation remains faithful to the original version and does not incorporate the revisions and changes made by the author in the later two versions. A correct decision as it retains the anger and raw feeling of the first edition. Two things stand out: one is the strong visual imagery of hunger and the lengths it can drive a person to, such as eating jowar picked from dung-heaps and the leftovers of the better off in the village. As the author comments having a stomach is a terrible thing because it can literally drive you to eating shit. Secondly, the author is a half-caste, born of a Dalit mother and an upper-caste man. As he comments almost every village in India has a patil and that patil has a mistress, often from the Dalit castes. The author is the offspring of such a union and this exposes not only the sexual exploitation of Dalit women which is widespread but also the hypocrisy of the brahmminnical caste system which on the one had grades castes hierarchically according to ritual norms of purity and pollution and on the other underpins and legimitises sexual relations between them; making the practise of formal untouchability, farcical.

[Dr. Charu Panicker · Rating 3 out of 5]

മഹാരാഷ്ട്ര കർണാടക അതിർത്തിയിൽ ദളിത് സമൂഹത്തിൽ ജനിച്ച ശരൺകുമാർ ലിംബാളയുടെ ആത്മകഥയാണ് ഇത്. സാഹിത്യ ചരിത്രത്തിലെ നാഴികക്കല്ലായി മാറിയ ആത്മകഥയായിരുന്നു. മനുഷ്യനെ മനുഷ്യനായി കാണാത്ത ജാതിയുടെ അതിർവരമ്പുകളിൽ അയിത്തം കൽപ്പിക്കുകയും മൃഗങ്ങളെപ്പോലെ കണക്കാക്കപ്പെടുന്ന ഒരു സമൂഹത്തിൻറെ നേർചിത്രം ഇവിടെ കാണാം.

[Shwetha Shetty · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book discusses many issues that were part of our society.

We would have read or heard many stories regarding the miserable life stories of Dalits in India in both pre-independent and post-independent eras but this Story of Sharan Kumar Limbale is quite different.

It is set in post-independent India and mainly focuses on the narrator's life as an "Akkarmashi''.

He was an illegitimate child. He spent his entire childhood as a Mahar boy though his father was a high-caste person.

Throughout the novel, we come across various inhuman acts as well as their poverty and hunger which was unimaginable.

The narrator questions the society and caste system. He is also searching for his own identity.

Did he ever get a peaceful life??
Was he accepted and respected for who is??
This is the question that remains.

[Subrus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hard Hitting.

A great translation of a very powerful autobiography. Limbale takes us through what it was growing up as a Dalit in the seventies. His experiences compounded by the fact that he is a ‘half-caste’ if you will. An illegitimate child of a Mahar and a Patil. Not only is this book autobiographical, it is also philosophical at many points where Limbale asks pertinent questions to no one in general or makes a statement about his life. These serve as sharp reminders of how Dalits, who are humans, lead a inhuman life, only because they are oppressed by other humans who consider them impure. The irony is that the women of these so called impure castes have to ready a bed for these so called pure and caste Hindus for their illicit relations. They need them to till the soil, harvest the food they eat, their money for the tea they drink, to clean the carcasses and so on. But they are ‘impure’. The author takes us through the myriad experiences he had growing up, and on this journey, he questions these conventions and takes us along on his awakening.

[Shihas Yousaf · Rating 5 out of 5]

Must Read. To know how privileged you are.

When your existence itself is considered a big mistake, when the society doesn't even allow you to fight for your rights, forget rights even for food and water, how would you survive? This book gives a very good picture of the fight every dalit has to put up everyday. Read this book to know about their lives. Should be made a textbook in Indian Schools.

[bri · Rating 4 out of 5]

The descriptions of inhumane discrimination were deeply uncomfortable to read. However, it is even more disturbing to reflect on the fact that the author and the Dalit community actually had to endure these experiences in real life.

It’s agonizing to witness the extent of human hatred on the name of casteism. One community thrives with power and resources, while others are condemned to live suffocated, marginalized lives. It leaves me feeling helpless, furious, and utterly heartbroken.

[Anand · Rating 4 out of 5]

ഒരു ബലാൽക്കാരത്തിന്റെ ഫലമായി ജനിച്ച അക്കർമാശി അഥവാ അർധജാതി. ഏറ്റവും താഴ്ന്ന ജാതിയായ മഹാർ ജാതിയിൽപോലും സ്ഥാനമില്ലാതെ സമൂഹത്തിനു പുറത്താക്കപ്പെടുന്ന ജീവിതം. ഇരുപത്തഞ്ചാമത്തെ വയസ്സിൽ തന്റെ ആത്മകഥ എഴുതുന്നു. "ഇത് എന്റെ ജീവിതമല്ല. എനിക്കു മേല്‍ അടിച്ചേല്‍പിക്കപ്പെട്ട അടിമത്തമാണ്" - ജാതീയതയിലൂടെ അരികുവത്കരിക്കപ്പെടുന്ന ജീവിതങ്ങളാണ് ഈ ആത്മകഥയിൽ ഉടനീളം. ഇതിന്റെ വായന, പലതരം പ്രീവിലെജുകളിൽ കഴിഞ്ഞു കൂടുന്ന വായനക്കാരുടെ ഉള്ളു നീറ്റുന്നതാണ്.

[Jessica Zu · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is not a book for the faint-hearted ... it’s very hard to read ... humans reduced to nothing ... yet still remain hopeful ... no one should be forced to live this way ... yet the sad truth is that it’s still happening ...

[Shintu Abhilash]

Want to read

[Ravina P · Rating 4 out of 5]

The precise description, the unfiltered experience and the eternal existential crisis makes this book what it is: an eye opener, a report of reality.

[Gurbani · Rating 5 out of 5]

Its a first dalit autobiography that I have ever read. I read the english translation but it was first published in marathi in 1984. Its hard hitting as it brings forward the every day struggle of dalits. This book does not mention even a single atrocity levied on dalits by the upper caste. Its law because the kind of life the dalits are made to live is an embarrassment itself and this book will make you acknowledge all your privileges. I think its a MUST read for everyone.

[Radhika · Rating 4 out of 5]

A heartbreaking story of how people have suffered because of the caste system. Horrifying experiences of his childhood and those around have been shared by the author. It's a shame that people have lived like that, in fact, many still do!

[Zainab Wahab · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am amazed and simultaneously rattled by the experiences penned down in this book. It is unfiltered, outright and hard hitting. Here are some thoughts I had while reading this book.
- I love how a child's understanding of poverty and caste-based discrimination is examined by the writer through the concept of hunger- something a child would be most familiar with. His commentary on hunger is interspersed throughout the book. More than the lack of respect and dignity, it is the lack of food on his plate that troubled the writer the most when he was young. This detail is interesting as it is the necessity of food that a child first recognises as he grows up. Everything else becomes secondary. Since the dominant part of the book recounts the writer's experiences as a child, it is brilliant how he perceives and pens down the understanding of caste and poverty as seen through a child's lens. In another instance, the narrator talks about how everyone's blood is of the same colour. This shows the same as well. I found this detail very clever and insightful.
- there's one bit where the writer justifies stealing in the book. As something that's universally acknowledged as immoral, the arguments he uses to justify it are fair and well made. When a community robs entire generations of your family of what you deserve and have a right over, stealing can be seen as a reparation, no less than a setting right of things.
- it's interesting that the writer doesn't use the book to confront or deride the upper caste people. In the pages that entail his childhood, he isn't shown to be much averse to the upper castes in his village. He doesn't consistently hate them. In very few occasions, he's shown to be angry at something the upper castes did. This goes on to show that since the writer was born in an ostracised family, he had grown used to the oppression and violence of the upper castes. As a child, it had become normalised for him as he had gained consciousness in surroundings that had clearly demarcated the rules according to the Varna system and had ordained the rule of the upper castes. To some level, as a child, even the writer had accepted the rule of the upper castes because that was all he had grown up watching.

[BigRedTree · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Semi Autobiography from Sharankumar Limbale. The book is so raw in its expression of the pain of the Dalits. This was my first book from Dalit literature. I knew about the inhumane treatment of the Dalits, but reading this book felt like I was there witnessing it. Each page showed me the inhumane and dreary life the character led, I had to take it slow while reading or I would have broken down.

Reading this after just finishing Annihilation of Caste was like seeing theory and it's application. It was one thing to just read about injustice of caste by Ambedkar, quite another to see such inhumane treatment from an autobiography that takes place in the 70's. And all of this takes place AFTER Independence! After the days of Ambedkar's Constitution!

Anyone who thinks caste is irrelevant in today's india is living in privilege and ignorance. I too was guilty of this. Caste is still strong in both rural and urban parts of India but takes different forms. 95% of all marriages in India is still among the same caste! Caste has just taken a more civilized front in today's society.

I thank my HOD for recommending this book😂

[Sreenidhi Sreekumar · Rating 5 out of 5]

A powerful piece that opens our window to the life of a Dalit or Mahar in this case. Given my background as a privileged individual, the life of Sharankumar Limbale felt impossible and always sounded fiction to me. One that I can only read or see in movies. But the fact that they are real makes one feel ashamed of the nation that we call India. As long as these caste driven injustices continues to be a social reality, taking pride in this fake idea of 'democracy and diversity' can only be superficial and parochial. The author also questions the ideas of morality. His narrative forces us to see how subjective or relative, human morality can get. One feels that the idea of morality among humans is a fake one at best and is always a tool that facilitates subjugation of the powerless by the privileged.

[Tanisha · Rating 5 out of 5]

"I am twenty five years old now and cannot recognize my own brothers nor my father. They are all alive. We may not recognize each other even if we happened to travel in the same bus. That's what this journey of life is like. Our eyes are blindfolded and we wander not knowing where, like Dhritarastra and Gandhari or Karna and Kunti or Eklavya and Aswathama. On the battlefield of life we fight our own fathers, uncles, sisters, brothers, mothers. We battle with ourselves as if we are our own enemies."

Changed my whole perspective about a lot of things, would probably say that it highlighted things that are willingly ignored nowadays, but nevertheless can testify that the collective feeling of imposed humiliation is still there in the consciousness of people who share this experience.

[Sainaz Farzana Kazi · Rating 3 out of 5]

An important read to understand the nature of casteism and untouchability that had been prevalent in India for a long period of its almost hidden history. Important read to understand the necessity of reservation.
But, as a sensitive reader with OCD it was a bit disturbing for me. I felt some of the smilies and metaphors were deliberately made uncomfortable just to made the readers feel how it felt to be a Mahar among the caste Hindus. It also tells how equally difficult or worse it was for the Muslims too.
I struggled to finish this book, but I'm glad I read this. It was an eye opener.

[Fahyas · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am glad to here

[Niveditha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heart touching

[Kookie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heartbreaking and breathtaking

[Therese Jose · Rating 2 out of 5]

Puissant in its emotional tone .

[Esha Oberoi · Rating 5 out of 5]

A poignant and hard-hitting glimpse into the life of a Dalit. I needed to read this to truly open my eyes to the atrocities the community faced and continues to face. A must read.

[Ittimalu Sobha · Rating 4 out of 5]

അക്കർമ്മാശിയെന്നാൽ.അർദ്ധജാതി. ആർക്കും അധികാരം.സ്ഥാപിക്കാവുന്ന ദളിതജീവിതത്തിലെ ഒരു നേർക്കാഴ്ചയാണു ഈ പുസ്തകം. ഇന്നത്തെ സമൂഹത്തിലിങ്ങനെയും ഒരു ജീവിതമൊ എന്നു ചിന്തിക്കാവുന്നിടത്തോളം എത്തുന്ന അനുഭവങ്ങൾ. വിശപ്പ്‌ -എല്ലാം അതിനു അപ്പുറമിപ്പിറമെന്നാണു നിർവ്വചിക്കപ്പെടുന്നത്‌. ഉന്നതർക്കടിമപ്പെടേണ്ടിവരുന്ന ദളിത്‌ പെണ്ണിന്റെ.ജീവിതത്തിന്റെ നരകവാതിലും അതു തന്നെ. അങ്ങിനെയൊരു ബന്ധത്തിൽ പിറക്കുന്ന മകന്റെ അസ്ഥിത്വപ്രശ്നത്തേക്കാൾ.ഇല്ലായമയും.വിശപ്പുമാണു.ഇതിൽ.കൂടുതൽ തെളിയുന്നത്‌.

"അവനവന്റെ വിശപ്പുമാത്രമായിരുന്നു ഓരോരുത്തരുടെയും മുഖ്യ വേവലാതി. വയറായിരുന്നു അവരുടെ കർമ്മശേഷിയുടെ ഉമ്മറപ്പടി "

ഇതെന്റെ ജീവിതമല്ല എനിക്കുമേൽ അടിച്ചേൽപ്പിക്കപ്പെട്ട അടിമത്തമാണു - ഇത്‌ പറയുന്ന എഴുത്തുകാരൻ വിദ്യാഭ്യാസവും ജോലിയും നേടി അതിൽ നിന്നും പുറത്തുവരാൻ ശ്രമിക്കുന്നു. അപ്പൊഴും ജന്മം ചർത്തിക്കൊടുത്ത അക്കർമ്മാശി പട്ടം വിട്ടുപോവാതെ പിന്തുടരുന്നുണ്ട്‌. ഒന്നുമില്ലായ്മയിലും മുത്തശ്ശിയോടും ദാദയോടുമുള്ള സ്നേഹം ദുരിതങ്ങൾക്കിടയിലെ സുന്ദരമായ ഒരേടാാണു.

[Melvin Varghese · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Outcaste is an autobiography by Sharankumar Limbale that provides a vivid insight into the lives of India's Dalit community. Limbale's personal account of his upbringing and young adulthood is a powerful depiction of the resilience of the human spirit, even in the face of oppression and discrimination. Through his descriptive writing, readers gain a first-hand understanding of the persistent social and cultural prejudices that still exist in India. Despite facing many difficulties, Limbale's love for learning and unwavering determination led him to become a successful writer and intellectual. This book is a must-read for anyone seeking to understand the experiences of India's Dalit community and the ongoing fight for equality. Limbale's writing style is emotive and engaging, making The Outcaste a captivating and moving read for all.

[Sarath Krishnan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A typical Dalit work. As in any other postcolonial/Dalit fiction, one cannot expect any interesting story line or plot. It looks rather a political pamphlet. We can categorise it as political satire which talks about the crisis in the present day dalit politics.

[Indah]

just check my presentation. will upload in my blog soon, after revisions

[Jasun Chelat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Identity is complicated

[Sameyah Roomi]

It's upsetting, bordering on painful. But I guess that is what the author wants to make the readers feel.
This story comes across as a narrative of pain. The pain of ostracization, humiliation and the blatant discrimination that comes with casteism. It is also the author's search for his identity which is fragmented.
The concept of fragmented identity comes as a huge problem because unfortunately we live in a society that acknowledges people who share their identity, disregarding those who are different.