Dalit feminist poet Meena Kandasamy is no stranger to rebellion, and its accompanying dangers. Blas ufffd about the regular death threats she receives online, the young Chennai-based poet continues to pen graphic words that leave readers shocked
Dalit feminist poet Meena Kandasamy is no stranger to rebellion, and its accompanying dangers. Blas ufffd about the regular death threats she receives online, the young Chennai-based poet continues to pen graphic words that leave readers shocked
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Meena Kandasamy is a poet, translator and writer. Above all, she is an activist. The 26 year-old author recently launched Ms Militancy, her second book of poemsu00a0 that looks at Hindu mythology from a feminist perspective. 
"The struggle against caste has to be a feminist struggle if it has to be successful. Being a woman and a Dalit has made me more acutely aware of the politics of caste and the politics of the body," she says in an email interview from London where she is currently based on a residency. In her poems, the young writer uses tropes and images in unconventional and rebellious ways. Her Draupadis "strip", and Sitas "climb on a stranger's lap". Predictably, not many have taken too kindly to her brand of activism.
After listening to her recite poems at the recent Jaipur Literary Festival, one audience member went as far as calling her names online and arguing that her poems worship "group sex practice" and have little to do with feminist Dalit politics. In an interview with Sunday MiDDAY, she insists on the importance of speaking out:
How was Ms Militancy born?
It came about because we are living in a culture where myths are a part of our everyday reality. They cannot be dismissed as mere stories that most people know. Look at the mythical character of Ram: he was recast as an ultra-masculine demigod, a movement was built around him, and consequently, as a nation, we had to witness and suffer the resurgence of rabid Hindutva that destroyed mosques and polarised people.
Retelling Hindu mythology is clearly a political project with a well-defined agenda. I felt an urgent need to rework these mythologies, to crush the standard storylines, to fight dogma, to present alternate histories.u00a0u00a0u00a0
Mythology, religion and the idea of how women should behave and be portrayed is a sensitive issue. How have conservatives reacted to Ms Militancy?
They've reacted without any originality! They hide behind the anonymity of the Internet to abuse me. They give me veiled threats: "You wouldn't be alive today if you had tried writing poetry about other religions!"
I am not sure if this reflects their impotence or intolerance. I don't want to be bothered by mindless attacks.u00a0
You write: 'My Kali kills. My Draupadi strips. My Sita climbs on a stranger's lap. All my women militate'. Why?
In my feminist retelling, Kali, Draupadi, Sita, or Kannagi refuse to collude with patriarchy, they refuse to fit into the roles of obedient wife or damsel-in-distress. My mythical heroines are women who retaliate and make their own choices. It was important for me to render their lives into poetry from a radical perspective so that we could break the shackles of stories into which they have been set. Stripping can be an empowering act, and not just for item-girls. Remember the Manipuri women who paraded themselves naked in order to shame the Indian army and protest the Armed Forces Special Powers Act? Nudity can be provocative. Every day, Dalit girls are victims of sexual violence. They are stripped and paraded naked and worse, raped. Men who are not shaken by these caste atrocities, men who maintain a steady silence about such horror are the same men who claim to be "offended" by my poetry.u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0
Is writing about sex in India more difficult for a woman?
A man writing about sex is seen as creative and ground-breaking. A woman writing about sex is seen as vulgar, obscene; she has her morality called into question; she is called all kinds of names publicly. She is some kind of literary Mary Magdalene. There's a lot of stone-throwing. However, with my poetry, the 'offensive' feeling that people claim to feel comes not because I am a woman writing about sex, but because I am a woman writing about the politics that surround sex.
You say the publishing industry furthers stereotyping in Dalit writing, by publishing autobiographies of 'woe'.
Once we were discussing these "narratives of pain" that are lapped up by the mainstream publishing industry, and a friend remarked that Dalit autobiographies are much sought after by the caste-Hindu elite because they nurture their powers of compassion. I think they read it in order to feel good by feeling bad. I wouldn't like to police what gets into print, I tend to get upset about what never sees the light of day: the militant side of Dalit writing, political essays and speeches, translations of Dalit intellectuals from the colonial era and today.
The Dalit movement has democratised Indian society to a great extent, but unfortunately these contributions are never acknowledged, or even perceived, because it all remains restricted to regional languages and fringe publications.u00a0u00a0
Ms Militancy is published by Navayana Publishing. Available at leading bookstores for Rs 150
One-eyed
the pot sees just another noisy child
the glass sees an eager and clumsy hand
the water sees a parched throat slaking thirst
but the teacher sees a girl breaking the rule
the doctor sees a medical emergency
the school sees a potential embarrassment
the press sees a headline and a photofeature
dhanam sees a world torn in half.
her left eye, lid open but light slapped away,
the price for a taste of that touchable water.
Excerpted with permission from Ms Militancy, Navayana Publishing
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