(Chapters 1-3)
Malapalli, Chapters 4-6
Chapters 4 to 6 give us a peek into a day in the life of Ramadasu and his family. The author had apparently gone to great lengths to record the details. Each
of the characters are shown to be in transition one way or another, symbolizing some the views prevalent in society at the time.
Ramadasu is moving from the third [gruhastha] to fourth [vanaprastha] stage of Hindu dharma. In his language and reflections, he is philosophical, and
compassionate in his actions. His wife, Malakshmi, is a beautiful, intelligent woman who follows her husband in his footsteps per the principles of wedded
life. She also is kind and compassionate conciliatory in nature and practical.
Venkatadasu, their eldest son is in prime of life, brawny and feisty. He just started getting involved in farming duties and trying to relieve father of his
responsibilities.
Ramadasu’s second son, Sangadasu, probably in his late teens, is working as a hired hand in the household of a local landlord, Chowdarayya and befriends
his son Ramanayudu.
Jyoti, probably six or seven years old, is a lively and inquisitive child and loved dearly by everyone in the family.
They also have newborn son, Rangadu.
Appadasu, Ramadasu’s sister’son, is a 14-year old young man. Ramadasu takes him under his wing, pays higher wages than usual and gives him education
as well.
Following is a brief outline of the chapters, illustrating some of the arguments to follow.
4. Family
Malakshmi put the baby to sleep and returned to the front porch. Ramadas was awake and back into the “illusion” of family life.
Malakshmi asked him whether she should bring water for him to bathe or would he go to the yard. Ramadasu told her to bring the water to the front and
went out.
The area is surrounded by three hills. There is also a lake, a Siva temple and two railway stations—one on the northeast side and another on the southeast
side of the village. On the northwest side the madiga village; to the west of his house, a few other villages, hills and a strip of wasteland; on the eastside a
stream which provides water to the fields, and on its banks a temple for the local goddess.
Theirs is a flat roofed house with double beams across from each other. There are tiled porches on the east and south sides of the house, a huge a yard in
front and next to the street, a thatched hut along the compound wall. On the west side a huge yard and on the south the animal shed. Encompassing all
these, a tiled compound wall was built. The animal shed and the house have doors leading to the open fields on the west side. On the east side, there is the
main entrance and sprawling wasteland.
A wall is put up dividing the western room but the eastside room is not divided. To the easts, there are barns for storing grains and the produce.
On the west there is some arid land where his father had planted a neem tree, which had grown huge. At the foot of the tree trunk, they had constructed a
platform and put up a saffron colored flag in honor of Veerabrahmam. Sangadasu applied to the government for land to build a library and a Rama temple
under the tree. It is not sanctioned yet.
Venkatadasu and Appadasu came with pots of water and teasing each other playfully. Ramadasu asked them why they were late. Appadasu said they had
filled all the troughs and vessels in the shed with water. He also said that bava [Venkatadasu] was bantering him. Ramadasu told Venkatadasu that it is not
nice to tease the little boy. Venkatadasu replied Appadasu is not a little boy.
While the three men were bathing, Malakshmi scrubbed her husband’s and son’s back, and Jyoti scrubbed Appadasu’s back, which was “narrow at the
waist and broad at the shoulders”.
While eating, Jyoti kept interrupting: She wanted a plate with broad rim, rice for all the three meals, and cucumber slices to share with brothers and so on.
Venkatadasu said that there was not enough yield in fields for them to eat rice in each meal. He asked if they would be growing tobacco upcoming year.
Ramadasu pointed out that Sangadasu was against tobacco usage and for that reason they must not grow tobacco. Nevertheless Venkatadasu wanted to
sell the stock on hand at least.
Mahalakshmi said that she was giving the leftover rice from the night to Jyoti. She was worried about the baby while she ran errands and took food to her
husband and son. Until recently Ramadasu’s mother had been taking care of the child but now she passed away. Ramadasu commented that everybody
would have to go when the time came, there was no escape from that.
That set off a brief conversation about god, whom he would favor and why; why the upper caste people would not allow the mala people into temples.
Malakshmi tried to explain it away. It was their [the upper classes] problem, not ours. Sangadasu was working towards having a temple built for them.
Ramadasu as usual threw in a couple of quotes from books and proverbs. “If rocks were gods, won’t they swallow the funds?” and “Like coconut milk,
riches come and go, and nobody knows how.” God is present in everybody; why worry about the gods carved in stone. …
I find these comments from Ramadasu out of character and even shallow. He is supposed to be a dasari, to be in a position to preach and guide others.
Speaking sensibly is one of the virtues of being a good preacher.
Venkatadasu’s response that if everybody thinks on those lines, they would have nothing to eat is apt. He was concerned only with the work in the fields
and bring produce to home so they all could eat three meals a day.
Jyoti asked for yogurt. It was not enough milk to make yogurt and serve to all in the family. It was getting hard to maintain even the two buffaloes they
had.. The rich landowners would allow the untouchables pick it for their animals; they would rather let the grass in their fields wither and die. It would nice
if Subbalakshmi could collect the hay for them. But Subbalakshmi was having problems of her own. She was struggling to maintain even the one buffalo
she had.
Malakshmi said she would like to see Venkatadasu married and brought the bride home. At the mention of marriage, Venkatadasu’s face lit with smiles.
After they finished eating, they all went into the east room. Malakshmi sat down to eat.
Jyoti asked her about the cucumber slices she was saving to share with her brothers.
Ramadasu looked for his book, bhaktiyogam by Srirama Sastrulu but could not find it.
Malakshmi told him that Sangadas and Tungadurti Bucchayya had come earlier and they might
have taken the book.
Ramadasu was sorry that he missed them and decided to visit them the next morning.
Appadasu alerted them that the buffalo was about to give birth to the calf. It was an exciting event for them all.
5. Buffalo
They all watched as the baby was born and got busy.
Here we have a detailed description of the entire process of the birth of a calf and the subsequent nurturing them. I have to skip this part since there are
several words I am not familiar with. But the care and concern each one of them displayed for the two animals is touching. The buffalo and the calf are
part of the family.
Amidst all that excitement, each one of them was busy either washing, cleaning, clipping the toenails etc. or telling others to do this or that. Ramadasu kept
relegating the birth and nurturing to the human experience with his metaphysical comments.
Jyoti’ was looking forward to junnu, the first round milk, cooked with sugar and spices. Malakshmi assured her that they would have it the following day.
The first day milk would go into the kuditi [water mixed with washings of rice, etc.].
Appadasu gave fodder to the buffalo. He squated by the animal, daydreaming about his trip to the pastures the next morning along with other cowherds. He
asked Malakshmi to pack yogurt and rice for his afternoon meal.
They would have to pay pullari [levy]—a half-rupee per animal and a quarter per calf. Ramadasu asked if they had to pay right away. Appadasu said they
could pay later; the clerk would make a note of it in his books.
Ramadasu was thinking about Bucchayya garu. He moved closer to the lamp, and started humming the lyrics of his guru. He noticed the placenta and
asked Appadasu to throw it away before the animal ate it.
He dozed briefly and started pondering over the affection or the attachment the animals seemed to illustrate:
The calf forgets the affiliation to its mother after it has grown up. Probably the desire for wife and children is less of a concern in the animal world. In
fact, the attraction between a male and a female may not be called a vice. The animals do not care for each other except in time copulation. Venkatadasu
was tickled when his mother talked about marriage. His face glowed. He was so childlike until yesterday. Probably each person changes thus when he
comes of age. It looked like a unique tidal wave of experience rose in his mind. Some people refer to them as ‘base pleasures’, and call them ‘vicious’.
These two visions I had seen—are they just desires? Illusory? Illusion has several meanings. Let it be. Sangadasu says god’s love manifests in various
ways. Then they also must be everlasting since the god is everlasting. Is illusion not everlasting then? People say these are immoral and to be shunned.
Following this logic, we must label the love of Yasoda and the cowherdesses also as “desires”. If they are to be considered mundane desires, how can they
be instrumental for attaining salvation? In addition, they say anger also is a means to achieve salvation. On the whole, it appears that the mundane life is the
path leading to celestial life. It depends on the way the path is made use of. We can use a ladder to go up or down. Based on the stages in the creation, we
humans have went up considerably. I like to call them instruments for salvation rather than desires. This animal with has climbed one step up with this
delivery. That is the reason, rajayogam is considered the best of all. Rajayogam means climbing up the ladder. For humans it is not possible to jump to the
next higher level but must walk up the ladder one step at a time.
Sangadasu has learned to value good qualities due to his good deeds in his previous birth. He is still raw but can cross over the obstacles in good company.
I hope Bucchayya garu will take him under his wing. Maybe I can mention it to him tomorrow.
All these thoughts came to his mind effortlessly. He did not initiate them. At first, he tried to discard them. Then he got lost in a flood of reflections.
Finally, he came to his senses and collected himself. His thoughts were running amuck. He remembered his guru, still struggling to stay focused.
A vision of lord Krishna rose in his mind. He saw himself as a gopika who was trying to recall the enchanting music of Krishna’s flute and failed, like a silly
brahmin who wandered in the nigama forest to find the Ultimate Brahman and failed. Ramadasu stood there heaving a sigh and tears brimming in his eyes.
Then he saw suddenly the lord:
Krishna with peacock feathers on his head, the eyes floating on his face like two white lotuses in the lake, the locks playing with the kasturi dot on his
forehead, charming smiles spreading to his delicate cheeks, … playing on the flute with his fingers like tender shoots, … surrounded by a group of
gopikas. It is a superb picture of unparalleled love and oozing the nine rasas.
Ramadasu thought, “This vision is also a manifestation of the Lord’s love even as the river Krishna rolls over boulders in one place, plays hide and seek in a
forest bursting with trees, and yet another place, squalls forth in a fit of rage and washes out the creation.
… The same love that mother Yasoda displays at seeing little Krishna’s playful acts is reflected on the buffalo’s face on seeing the baby calf. The little
smile that is dancing on Krishna’s countenance is the same as that on Venkatadasu’s face. Both are the paths of redemption for Venkatadasu and the
buffalo no doubt.”
He fell asleep as the fascinating vision calmed down the agitation at his heart.
The description of this vision is one and a half page long and is narrated in classical Telugu. Readers may attribute the experience to Ramadasu but the
language is clearly that of the narrator. This is one of the few places where the author overlooked his preference to tell the story in colloquial Telugu I
guess.
6. Cowherds
Malakshmi woke up early, washed up, and sent Appadu [Appadasu] to the shed and started churning buttermilk. Jyoti came and sat down with the
leftover rice and chunky yogurt. Ramadasu woke up to the sounds of the churner, gave fodder to the animals and went out.
The place was filled with the sounds of churners; a young boy who guarded the fields all night was singing beautifully. Men were transporting water with
their kavvillu noisily. Strong stench was spreading all over: the stench from the discarded bones, the leftover grunge after animals were butchered, and
from the meat hung from rods. Although Ramadasu was accustomed to this stink since his childhood, it was still unbearable to him. He thought, “These
people got the name candala because of this candalam [repugnant, base matter]. Most of them have no sense of cleanliness because of ignorance and
poverty. Sangadasu is trying to set up schools and vocational training. That requires funds and regulation …”
Malakshmi massaged the baby with castor oil and bathed him and went to milk the buffalo. She invited Subbalakshmi to share junnu, since she was the
eldest sister-in-law. Ramadasu asked her whether she would give some milk to the neighbors. Malakshmi said she would send them some milk in the
evening.
Ramadasu inquired about Venkatadasu work for the day and then told them that he would visit Bucchayya later.
Subbalakshmi and Malashmi chatted about their children. Unlike Venkatadasu, Appadu was modest and unassuming. Sangadasu was getting close to
Chowdarayya’s son, Ramanayudu which spread some gossip in town. From what she had heard, Sangadasu and Ramanayudu were sitting at the same
table to eat. Chowdarayya was upset about it but was not ready to fire Sangadasu since he needed him in the fields.
Subbalakshmi suggested Appadu’s marriage with Jyoti. Appadu chuckled and Jyoti was bashful Ramadasu noticed it, could not make sense of it though.
Malakshmi asked whether Subbalakshmi would consider another mala girl for her son. Subbalakshmi replied, “I would but aren’t we dasaris, the brahmins
among the mala people?”.
Malakshmi said that the question underscored the real issue—discrimination exists in all groups, not just in the upper classes alone. Then she alerted
Appadu that it was getting late for him to steer the animals to the pastures.
Appadu propped the food bag to the stick and went to the shed to let loose the cows and buffaloes and proceed to the pastures. Other cowherds join him at
the pastures. The bookkeeper Subbarayudu sat next to the statues of heroes and noted down the count of the grazing herd. Women were jostling around
for the dung.
The cows went up hill into the open fields. The buffaloes were thrilled to see water, went into the lake. The cowherds almost one hundred in all gathered
there. They hung their food bags to the tree branches and started playing games. They argued for sometime regarding what games to play. Some of them
were playing flute.
They played for until noon and they all were tired. Then they jumped into the water, swam; some of them showed others the new strokes they had learned.
The took the food bags from the branches and sat down to eat. Venkadu offered his rice to Sayibu in exchange for his bread. Sayibu said how could he
accept the food from a mala boy. Venkadu asked what did Appadu bring. Appadu said he had sajja meal and pepper.
After they finished eating, Appadu asked somebody to sing. Venkadu said Narisigadu was the best for singing. They all dragged Narisigadu into the center
and prodded him on to sing. He said he could sing bawdy songs. Narisigadu finished his performance with a popular song:
I put kaatuka on my eyes
Held the pot on my waist
And came to the lake;
I filled the pot with my tears.
Appadu was moved by the song, he could not explain his reasons for it though.
The description of a day in the lives of cowherds—the games they would play, the songs they would sing and the chitchat they would conduct—is
interesting. To me, it is interesting to read about these nearly extinct practices.
* * *
(Chapters 7-12)