ABSTRACT
Jayadhir Thirmal Rao and A.K. Prabhakar are critics with a social perspective. Jayadhir Thirmal Rao has extensively researched the Gond tribal community in Telangana region, collected their literature and published it to make it accessible to the non-tribal readers thus enriching Telugu literature. Jambapurana is one such text which subverts the mainstream narratives of creation and creates its own version of origin stories of untouchability. Different sub-castes of Dalit communities narrate different versions of Jambapurana, but all of them assert their initial location in the divine habitat of Shiva, that is, Kailasa and the subsequent downfall to the earth consequent to the curse by Shiva and Parvathi. The essay in this chapter is an excerpt from the introduction titled “Holding a Mirror to the Parallel Culture: Jambapuranam” to Jambapuranam, which is a performance done by Chindu people, the dependent community on Madigas, a sub-caste of Dalits. The essay argues that Dakkali performers have been preserving it and continuing it as a parallel purana by giving performances, without any association with the ashtadasa puranas and the other upa puranas. According to the authors, this is the highest form of cultural revolution and this is also their cultural achievement. These are described as the narratives of self-respect by the marginalised communities and the working classes. Their philosophy lies in their refusal to accept the hegemony or in declaring solidarity with groups like themselves, say the authors. They lament that despite their excellence, these art forms remain untouchable for the Brahmanical institutions. On the one hand the Dakkalis have securely hidden their art forms, while on the other hand the hegemonic institutions have always ignored them and dismissed them.
