ABSTRACT
Bojja Tharakam (1939–2016) was a human rights activist, Ambedkarite, Marxist, writer and a legal expert and was the intellectual and legal voice of the Dalit Movement in Telugu states. This chapter titled “Why Sanskrit, Oh Swami?” is an essay taken from the book Dalita Vada Vivadalu edited by S.V. Satyanarayana. The book captures an important moment in Dalit movement and the arguments around the identity conflicts. All essays in the aforementioned book have been published in newspapers and speak to one another. There is even an anonymous pamphlet that becomes part of this book. The discussions range from what is Dalit literature to who can write, who can write for whom, what is the language that can be used in Dalit literature, etc. The essay not only debates the use of Telugu but also counters the influence of Sanskrit on Telugu because Sanskrit was forbidden for lower castes thus making it a domain of the privileged communities. It was written to counter another contemporary article that argues that restrictions of caste should not be inflicted on writing. Bojja Tharakam questions how it is possible when language and literature are defined and decided based on social stratification. Also, he questions the terms such as people’s language and people’s literature as neither people nor their language and culture are homogenous. The essay, apart from presenting a brilliant argument about the language influences, extensively plays on language in order to prove that language is open to interpretation and experimentation. For instance, the author uses the word Sanskritakam, in the title of the essay, by combining Sanskrit and kritakamu (artificial) to hit at the artificial qualities of Sanskrit language, which has never been the language of common people and which is a reflection and a tool of the social and cultural stratification in society.
