Depiction of the Hegemonic Internalization of Socio-Cultural Biases: A Study of Sharankumar Limbale’s The Outcaste

Sharankumar Limbale (1956 b.) is a Marathi author who is primarily known for his autobiography Akkarmashi (1984) originally published in Marathi. Having been translated into several Indian languages, the English translation of the autobiography by Santosh Bhoomkar got published by Oxford University Press in 2003. This paper aims at the portrayal of the abject poverty, utter helplessness, and biases prevalent in the socio-cultural milieus while offering contemplation to the practices of untouchability or discrimination based on caste, like how the minds of the people in a particular culture or society are trained to internalize the particular behavioural patterns of the dominating class of society. The paper also analyzes the ironic attitude of the men of upper-caste like how do they wish to cherish the physical charm of the beautiful women of the outcastes secretly, whereas socially they seek complete dissociation from them. Everything leads to the ostracization of the outcastes overtly and the outcastes stop reacting to the discriminatory patterns of behaviour, thus, their indifference to these becomes their habit turning them senseless.

experiences, and as an employee all mirror the society where he lived in. As Limbale's family lived in the village Maharwada,where the lower-caste people were pushed to peripheries and the villagers being the low caste were supposed to do odd jobs like removing the dead animals of the upper caste people, skinning the dead animals, sweeping the village streets, and working as labourers even unpaid ones. Being low-caste, Mahars were considered untouchables in society. He counts the difficult days of his grandmother Santamai, hardwork of his grandfather as a porter, the scarcities of the family, his mother's adultery, his mother's keepers, superstitions and dual attitudes of the upper caste people. Abject poverty, helplessness, discrimination based on caste and hypocrisy are the focal issues, the writer hints at in the novel.
While pondering over social and cultural subjects known as "prison notebooks", the term 'hegemony' becomes the most echoed concept of the Italian communist Antonio Gramsci who believes that a social class achieves a predominant influence and power, not by direct and overt means but succeeding in making its ideological views so pervasive that the subordinate classes unwittingly accept and participate in their oppression (Abrams 208 (1985) argue for the understanding of society grounded not in economic determinism but in the nature of language (Abrams 209).
In his essay "Mirror for Man" Clyde Kluckhohn defines culture as the total way of life of a people; the social legacy the individual acquires from his group; a way of thinking,  . On the other hand, the meaning of culture for Clifford Geertz is a semiotic one. Agreeing with Max weber that man is an animal suspended in webs of significance he has spun. She considers culture those webs, and an analysis of it is to be interpretive one in search of meaning (Geertz 5 While showing the hierarchies in the matter of possessing natural resources Limbale says that the resources of superior quality and having prime locations were owned by dominating upper caste people whereas the inferior ones were left for the use of the low caste people. After school, he used to go to the river to swim. The high-caste villagers used to fill their water pots and their women used to wash their clothes upstream. Downstream the kunbies and shepherds used to collect water in their vessels and carried them off. They also used to wash their clothes and wash their buffaloes besides bathing themselves. The water at the lowest end was meant for Mahars. Limbale says, "I used to stand in the river, collect water in my cupped palms and drink it. One day some mother had washed her baby clothes that sent a lump of shit towards me. But is there anything purer than water? The water flowing down from up the river had already entered my stomach. I felt sick" (7). In other words, people had no choice but to comply with the world order.
Although the Constitution of India abolishes untouchability under Article 17 of Fundamental Rights, still the minds of the people are governed by the prevalent socio-cultural practices. Limbale sharing his school experiences says that Brahmin and Wani boys used to play kabaddi in the school which used to attract him and his friends but low caste, they were not allowed to join them, so they used to play separate games. The walls and the flour were smeared with a cow-dung paste every Saturday. He says, "At home, I wouldn't do even the smallest chore, but in the school, on Saturdays, I was made to do this duty that was allotted to me. A man from my community had to carry out such duties in the village for the high-caste people" (4). Whenever the school was held in the Marwari's mansion the Mahar students were made to sit on the floor whereas the upper-caste students were made to sit on the raised platform (5). The educational institutions are supposed to set examples in society but they prove paradoxical in this respect. The barbers' refusal to give a haircut to Limbale as a child (22) Limbale says that he feels ashamed of his coarse bhakaris as the upper-caste students shared their refined bhakaris with the teachers along with a variety of delicious dishes. After lunch when the teacher tells the upper-caste students to collect the leftover and give it to the lowcaste ones. Everyone eats the leftover delightedly. When Limbale narrates this to his mother, she says, "Why didn't you get at least a small portion of it for me? Leftover food is nectar" (3). During the harvest season, Limbale used to accompany his grandmother to the fields to collect cow dung: During the harvest when cattle grazed in the fields, they passed undigested grains of jowar in their dung. The grains were yellow and swollen. Santamai picked up such lumps of dung and on the way home washed the dung in the river water, collecting only clean grains. She then dried them in the sun. As they dried they shrank. We went home when the grains were dry. When Santamai came home, she ground the jowar grains into flour. (10) Limbale's grandmother Santamai used to make bhakaris in the evening for him and his grandfather from the jowar collected from alms whereas, for her, she used to use the jowar collected from the dung. Once Limbale turns adamant to have a piece of bhakari, and while eating it he felt like eating dung. Finding unable to eat, he returns it to his grandmother.
Limbale's claim that during his school days he never used the soap, scrubbed his body with stone while bathing in the river ( The novelist further presents a kaleidoscopic portrayal of the characters who feel compelled to take up varied ways due to abject poverty and helplessness for their survival in society. At times some might feel like rebels but they too get pacified and offer themselves in Masamai visits Kaka's mansion, she is served tea by Kaka's wife. Masamai is also known by Kaka's parents but they never wish to get spread the affair in society. The upper-caste men do not eat food made by Mahars but they do cherish the low-caste women physically. Such dual standards are considered normal in the novel.
The above analysis shows that socio-cultural circumstances play a crucial role in driving the lives of people in society across the globe. The dominating air in any sociocultural milieus cannot be changed overnight and The Outcaste exemplifies the same. The behavioural patterns, rituals, customs, faith, superstitions, beliefs, values or ethics of centuries get internalized in the personalities of the inhabitants, hence, become an integral part of their habits. Even the constitutional provisions prove a failure to bring any change.
Numerous instances of discrimination based on caste, starvation like condition, helplessness compelling the poor to do anything for the sake of survival, hierarchical divisions of natural resources, description of Mahar settlements on fringes, and dual attitudes of the people all reflect the hegemonic internalization of socio-culturally biased patterns in the novel.