(1947- ) poet, novelist
Namdeo Dhasal was born in a small village outside Pune, India. He is a dalit, which means “casteless” or “untouchable,” and grew up very poor. Dhasal had almost no formal education but educated himself on the literature of other dalit writers who also wrote about the conditions of the oppressed. Because of this focus, at no time can the voice of the poet be distinguished from that of the political rebel. Dhasal’s poetry directly addresses the sources of human unhappiness such as poverty, prostitution, and underworld politics of Bombay. His famed knowledge of the city caught the attention of Trinidadian author V. S. naipaul, who used Dhasal as his guide to Bombay and made him an important figure in his book India: A Million Mutinies Now (1990).
The city of Bombay is the subject of Dhasal’s first collection of poems called Golpitha (1973). When the famous Indian playwright Vinay Ten-dulkar offered to write the introduction to Dhasal’s collection, Dhasal insisted that he first come on a walking tour of Golpitha, a red-light district, before writing anything. Dhasal’s portraits of the inhabitants in Golpitha vividly capture “life gone wrong” in a world of poverty, filth, and violence. Paradox, however, is a defining feature of Dhasal’s style and the harsh realism of his poetry is coupled with images that are both alluring and hopeful. In an untitled poem from Khel (Play, 1983), for example, “Butterflies of hibiscus” dance under the sun that throws love over a “wounded dog” turning in circles.
Since Golpitha, Dhasal has written two novels and several collections of poetry. Dhasal writes in Marathi and a hybrid of Hindi and Urdu. His work, written in the language of the streets, has been called a translator’s nightmare. In spite of this, Dhasal’s poetry has been translated into numerous European languages, and he has traveled widely to read his poetry.
Dhasal was one of the founders of the Dalit Panthers in 1972. In 1990, he joined mainstream politics and became a member of the Indian Republican Party. He received the Padma Shri from the president of India for his outstanding contribution to Indian literature and was chosen to represent India at the first International Literary Festival in Berlin in 2001.
Another Work by Namdeo Dhasal
“The Poems of Namdeo Dhasal,” in An Anthology of Dalit Literature. Edited by Mulk Raj Anand and Eleanor Zelliot. Columbia, Mo.: South Asia Books, 1992.
