Gabbilam: A Dalit Epic

Gurram Jashuva is considered the father of Dalit literature in Telugu. He wrote using theSanskrit meter in classical Telugu to prove himself an equal to Brahmin pandits.In Gabbilam Jashuva challenges the dominant Sanskrit and Telugu literary sphere bychoosing the bat known as Gabbilam in Telugu and believed to be a bad omen as it isconsidered neither a bird nor an animal to reflect the existential status of untouchables.He subverts the classic Meghaduta and instead of using swans parrots peacocks andclouds as messengers like the Savarnas he uses the stigmatized bat that hangs upsidedown in temple towers to send his message of suffering to the god Shiva.Gabbilam presents a Dalit man as the hero and protagonist perhaps for the first time inthe classical verse-epic tradition of Indian poetry and is the earliest text to highlight theoppression exclusion and dehumanization of untouchables in casteist Hindu society. Itoccupies a pre-eminent position in the Telugu literary sphere not just for the depiction ofDalit suffering but also for bringing the language of ordinary people into the classicalmedium. In its English translation for the first time this Dalit epic can now be read andrelished by a global audience.