The work of exploring, understanding and strengthening this relationship is crucial, now more than ever. In this article, we explore this question by zooming in on the links between theatre and anti-caste activism in India.

1. Theatre and Resistance: An Anti-
Caste Perspective
What is the relationship between art and politics?
Art, through creative impulse, builds bridges of expression and resonance of our
shared truths. Politics provides the will to fight for these truths. The two share their
roots and goals, striving toward them in their own ways. In its excess, however, art
gets reduced to creation for fame, entertainment and commerce, and politics is limited
to resistance, conflict or a fight for popularity and power. These excesses threaten the
balance that art and politics bring each other.
The work of exploring, understanding and strengthening this relationship is crucial,
now more than ever. In this article, we explore this question by zooming in on the
links between theatre and anti-caste activism in India.
Histories of Theatre and Activism
Historically, theatre has been a medium for social change, world over. Athens
witnessed the simultaneous birth of Democracy and Greek Tragedies. Closer home,
Savarna reformers used theatre, based on mythology and classical literature, for
nationalist consciousness building during the anti-colonial struggle.
Indian People’s Theatre Association (IPTA), the cultural wing of the then undivided
Communist Party of India, spearheaded people’s theatre movement, and travelled the
subcontinent with anti-fascist, anti-communal and anti-imperialist performances.
Groups such as Jana Natya Manch followed in these traditions post-Emergency, with
street-plays on communalism, economic policy, trade union rights, globalisation,
women’s rights, and education system. The communists viewed theatre as a vehicle
for propaganda and raising class-consciousness.
Chronicling the history of Anti-Caste performances, Yogesh Maitreya, the founder of
Panther’s Paw Publication, writes: “The first turning point came in 1873 with the

2. advent of Jyotirao Phule’s Satyashodhak Jalsas, which added a reformist edge to the
traditional form of street theatre, featuring poet-composer Shahirs. The next watershed
was the inception of Ambedkar’s anti-caste movement in 1927. It was at this time that
Ambedkari jalsa was born, and shahiri… acquired a truly rebellious form in which the
world otherwise hidden from society was made visible.” Annabhau Sathe, a powerful
figure in Marathi theatre, was a Lok-Shahir who started out as a Marxist-Communist,
a member of Lal Bawta Kalapathak (Red Flag Cultural Squad) and IPTA, but later
became an Ambedkarite and became known as the founding father of Dalit Literature.
The Need For A Cultural Revolution
When communist leaders such as Annabhau Sathe and KG Satyamurthy began
leaving the Marxist-Communist traditions for an Amberkarite assertion of caste
consciousness, it was symbolic of a deeper rift within communist parties, whose
Savarna leaders refused to acknowledge and address questions of caste as separate and
more complex than the class struggle. Leaders Annabhau Sathe (L) and KG
Satyamurthy (R). Source: raoit.in and forwardpress.in
These Dalit leaders argued that caste
was not just a question of material
inequalities but of deep rooted social
and cultural prejudices that could not
be subsumed within class conflict. In
the book My Life Is A Song,
revolutionary Telugu poet Gaddar
says, “The idea is that our lives are
entrenched in culture. Cultural
revolution is therefore imperative
and urgent. The work that our songs
do, the task our poets try to
accomplish, is to challenge cultural
norms.”
Reorganising the socio-cultural
landscape of society and establishing
Ambedkar, not just as an individual but as a school of thought, philosophy and
ideology, is the impetus behind Ambedkarite Dalit Theatre. Starting as get-togethers,
and evolving through folk and street forms, Ambedkarite Theatre gives expression to
the ideology by challenging traditional Sanskrit style and craft of theatre, replacing
traditional heroes with its own, as in Gurram Jashuva’s Gabbilam, a reinterpretation of
Kalidasa’s Meghaduta where the Untouchable Hero sends his message to Lord Shiva
through a bat.
Not just literature, music, theatre or cultural and artistic practices but also social
practices that are created within the ghetto resist the established norms of caste order.
A powerful example is Premanand Gajvi’s Ghotbhar Pani which portrays the
absurdity of the workings of caste in middle class households and its dehumanizing

3. effect on Dalits. Through processes of creating Ambedkarite work, theatre groups
have made their voices heard and become weapons for the pro-change, counterculture
movement that challenges hegemonic cultures of domination.
Much like Black Theatre in the US, Anti-Caste theatre emphasizes on thinking beyond
the nation state and building wider solidarities against discrimination and exploitation,
insisting on locating itself in the present and building a vision for a more equal future.
It is a voice of humanity, self-respect, a fight for emancipation and an Ambedkarite
consciousness. Well-known Dalit dramatist B.S. Shinde explains that the main
objective of the Dalit Theatre is to unite everyone who has been oppressed and
exploited under the umbrella of humanity and dignity. A prolific Dalit Marathi
poet, Yashwant Manohar writes that Dalit Theatre takes the thoughts of the great
Ambedkar and Jyotiba Phule to society, relieves the sufferers of their sufferings, and
helps Dalits discover their identity, their self-esteem and even their existence.
Knowledge and Consciousness Building
Brazilian Theatre Practitioner Augusto Boal, creator of The ‘Theatre of the
Oppressed‘, said that, “Theatre is a form of knowledge…and can also be a means of
transforming society. Theatre can help us build our future, rather than just waiting for
it.”
Knowledge creation and dissemination through theatre take various forms, such as
informing the oppressed of their rights under the Indian Constitution. The work of
Irular Cultural Troupe in Tamil Nadu who travel to remote villages with plays on the
Bonded Labour Abolition Act or the work of Dalit Women run organisations
like Vanangana in Bundelkhand, who perform street plays on domestic violence laws,
are potent examples.
Building social consciousness, however, extends beyond an awareness of laws. The
work of Satya Shodhaka Yuvajana Sangam (SSYS) in Sangareddy district of
Telangana helps change people’s mindsets about Ambedkar, and educates other
marginalised communities – particularly Bahujan, Adivasi and Muslim communities –
that Ambedkar did not just speak for Dalits but represented ideas of equality and
liberation for all, thus building wider solidarities.
Speaking at an online webinar, members of SSYS shared that their rehearsals become
a space to actualize theory. Going to each other’s homes, having meals together, and
working together are practical ways of breaking notions of untouchability and
informing political praxis in an embodied sense. Renuka, one of the members who
spoke at the webinar, feels that for young women like herself, experiencing freedom
and liberation through theatre and being able to use the stage to change minds of
communities, even her own family, is a deeply empowering experience. “I didn’t
know I had so much within me to say. Now, imagine if all young women were
provided this opportunity,” she wonders.

4. While Anil, a member of Kudali Learning Centre and a SSYS collaborator, appeals to
urban intellectuals to return to rural roots to disseminate anti-caste ideas at the
webinar, others argue that urban intellectual spaces, including proscenium theatre, are
itself in need of revolution.
Jyotsna Siddharth, a Dalit Queer theatre maker based in Delhi, argues that the space of
theatre needs to be changed rather than simply placing marginalised communities into
it. She says, “While there are several playwrights who have actively addressed caste-
based issues like Vijay Tendulkar, the representation has always been very one sided
and linear. Who is representing whom? When I do theatre, I feel like there are still
very few people who are open and vocal about their caste identity in the theatre space.
It’s not like there are no Dalit women or Dalit trans folks in the space, but not
everyone is open and ready to talk about this because the space itself is so
exclusionary. The idea is to break that.” Her performance piece Janeu Prompts,
developed in response to caste-based and sexual violence, addresses the apathy of the
state towards marginalized communities.
If theatre is to continue playing its historic role as “the rehearsal for the revolution”, as
Boal called it, the community needs to strengthen its relationship to politics,
particularly anti-caste politics, and ask how it can inform our art, and evolve our
practices in form, content, space and every other aspect of theatre-making.