NPTEL-NOC IITM

Bhimayana Part 5

This lecture focuses on the title ‘Bhimayana’. on the one hand, it reads in rhythm with the Navayana school of Buddhism inaugurated by Dr. Ambedkar. On the other, it marks a comparison with and subversion of the epic Ramayana through an Ambedkarite lens. Being an Indian English text which reworks a canonical Indian myth in the graphic mode, it also aligns with the tradition of Dalit writings. Towards the end, it focuses on autobiographical details and creative vision of the artists, Durgabai and Subhash Vyam, who belong to the Pardhan Gond tribe. The graphic novel forges a complicated solidarity between Dalits and the tribals, based on the discrimination both face in a caste society. The combination of Ambedkar’s story with Gond art generates new meanings and articulations. These experimentations with Indian writing in English fashion a new idiom to narrate Indian experiences from marginalized perspectives.