PREFACE
When Prof.Mannigayya, a relative and colleague teaching in the T.V.V.First grade college in Madhugiri, invited me to participate in a discussion on Manegara in his College I learnt that 'Manegara' has been chosen as a text for the students! All the students of the College had participated in this programme. This and the presentation by a girl on the caste restrictions have left an indelible impression on my mind. My thanks are due to Prof.Mannigayya, Principal Prof.Kempanna, Prof.Krishnappa, the faculty of the College and the student community.
The theatrical version of 'Manegara' was another achievement the first production was arranged at the Ravindra Kala Kshetra, in Bangalore. Prof.Chandrashekara Kambar, Jananapeeth awardee, had inaugurated this programme. Dr. Marulasiddappa gave a memorable speech on that day. The function was attended by, among others, Dr.M.S.Murthy and Prof.K.B.Siddiah, the famous dalit poet. KiramNagaraj, the famous poet had expressed his inability to attend as he had prior commitments. Dr.M.S.Murthy had drawn a wonderful sketch of Kiram. I went to Kiram's house to present these to Kiram. He asked me to arrange another presentation. This was arranged in K.H.Kalasoudha. Kiram was extremely happy at this production and promised to write on 'Manegara'. His untimely death was a great loss to me personally and to Indian culture.
When I sat in the December chill in 2014, I received an envelope from the USA! It was a letter from Dr.Krishna Murthy Chandar informing me that he was translating 'Manegara' into English! When Prof. N. Manu Chakravathy, the well-known critic and thinker learnt about this translation he happily agreed to write a foreword to this translation and also took upon himself the responsibility of its publication. His sensitive care and concern is visible on every page of this translation. Chandar and I are indebted to him. Thanks are also due to Sampada Publications for taking up the task of publishing this book and thanks to Sri. Jaikumar who prepared the DTP version and to Sri Prakash S. for designing the cover page. Many thanks for Sri K.K. Makali for the sketches.
Special thanks are also due to my wife S.P.Varalakshmi, my daughter G.R.Priyadarshini and son-in-law LeonSarkar and grandson Prithviraj who have settled down in faraway Guwahati, Assam, my sons G.R. Sanjay and G.R. Keerthi.
FOREWORD
Tumbadi Ramaiah's "Manegara" is a Dalit autobiographical narrative that opens up several frontiers in the most unexpected manner, only because of an open transcendental vision that constitutes its core. Most narratives that emerge from centres of inequality, injustice, oppression and cruelty do not transcend the experiences of pain, suffering and anguish they depict. Such narrations tend to be discourses portraying the misery and agony of victims of social and cultural brutalities. "Manegara" is rooted in an area of poverty & hunger, and springs from memories of humiliation and deprivation. All the traces of a nightmarish past do emerge, and in the most vivid manner, as permanent marks of the present, but without any trace of bitterness, cynicism or despair. The existential angst of the past is transformed into an experience of transcendence shaped by a reflective mind in "Manegara", making the text a truly metaphysical journey into the inner state of the human being. The best of Dalit writing deals with the fundamental existential states of the untouchable communities. To understand the Dalit consciousness is also to enter the experiential realms of those human beings confronting several kinds of oppression and exploitation. If the state of existence is largely sociological in nature, the nature of experience is essentially a matter of Ontology. In other words to understand the depth of experience of Dalit life one needs to integrate the existential and experiential elements, which is to establish an organic unity between the social self and the psychological being. It would not do to function with sociological categories or psychological principles isolating each other. In fact they are deeply interrelated and organically linked. A text like "Manegara" defies facile sociological theorisation, and, at the same time, resists simplistic psychologism in relation to the cosmos it foregrounds. The text demands a holistic understanding of philosophical positions and cultural debates that go into the making of Dalit life and consciousness.
Dalits in Karnataka are broadly classified as Madigas and Holeyas. The Madigas are also recognised as "left hand" Dalits and Holeyas as "right hand". Manegaras are the "left hand" Dalits coming under the category of Madigas. Manegaras carry the burden of a myth that describes them as messengers of death- they are regarded as the carriers of the news of death, and hence are bearers of bad luck and misfortune. This is in contrast to messengers of God who bring good news into the human world. Thus there is a mythical burden the Manegaras carry besides the cruel experiences they go through in their social contexts.
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