Individual in history

Drawing on history, folktale and legend, Titu Mir, through the narration of an individual's and his community's sufferings, holds a mirror up to injustice and exploitation, says RANJANA KAUL.

IN the history of the rise of national resistance to imperialism, there are some chapters which seem to have been written in a minor key. Most of these relate to the role of the indigenous subaltern who continually challenged the consolidation of territorial imperialism at the grassroots level and organised frequent protests against the growing exploitation of peasants and villagers. The Narkelberia Uprising (1830-1831) against the British in Bengal, which was led by the peasant leader Titu Mir, was one such event which celebrated the power and the potential of the subaltern.

Mahasweta Devi has often acknowledged her fascination with "the socio-economic history of human development" and has repeatedly chosen to write about individuals who have been nurtured and matured by sharing the sufferings of their community as well as by experiencing exploitation and injustice at first hand. In choosing Titu Mir as the subject of this work of "historical fiction," she once again reveals her fascination with the role of the individual in history, a fascination which is evident in many of her works such as Aranyer Adhikar and her first novel Rani Jhansi.

The story of Titu Mir begins with his childhood and focusses on those traits of character which set him apart from his family of petty landowners and made him into a leader of men. Right from the beginning of the narrative, it is evident that Titu's spirit is too restless to be confined within the circumscribed circle of existence which his family resides in. His father Nisar remarks, "Consider Nolu and then look at Titu. Nolu's a householder, like me. But Titu is like some emperor, born into our house by mistake. Even since he was a boy, he has been unable to tolerate injustice." Titu comes alive in the narrative, not only as a charismatic leader, but also as the member of a close knit family. His relationship with his sister Hashima, his mother, and his uncomplaining wife Maimoona, reveal shades of tenderness and affection which show up the softer side of his personality. His incapacity to suffer injustice, his experiences in Calcutta and his first hand confrontation with exploitation as the lathial of the benign zamindar Bhudeb Pal Choudhury, however, lead him away from his family and set him on a path which ultimately leads to his challenging the might of the East India Company.

Titu Mir lived during a period of transition when the consequences of the Permanent Settlement enacted by Lord Cornwallis in 1793 were being felt by hapless villagers who were paying exorbitant taxes to rapacious absentee landlords. These men had no acquaintance with or concern for the sufferings of their unfortunate tenants. Indigo planters with the tacit support of "John Company" and the absentee zamindars were also forcibly taking over fertile agricultural land and converting it to the cultivation of indigo. The ordinary farmers had no means of protesting against this brutality which was depriving them of their livelihood.

Mahesweta Devi's fictionalisation of Titu Mir's life focusses on the hero's growing awareness of the extent of this exploitation and his conversion to the Wahabi sect after his chance encounter with Syed Ahmed, who participated in the Sanyasi Revolt and died fighting valiantly in the Battle of Balakot. Titu Mir's revolt cannot be compared to the battles fought by kings and nobles against the encroaching powers of British imperialism which were a threat to their sovereignty. This revolt was fuelled by the desperation and hopelessness of the ordinary people. Though relatively puny and doomed to failure, it, nevertheless, signalled the common man's capacity for resistance. The victory lay in the challenge which was also, in a sense, a statement of identity.

Mahasweta Devi has said elsewhere, "I have found authentic documentation to be the best medium for protest against injustice and exploitation". She repeatedly asserts that she researches her subject thoroughly before she represents any historical event in the form of fiction yet she also has "a reverence for materials collected from folklore, for they reveal how the common people have looked at experience in the past and how they look at it now". In Titu Mir she draws upon a combination of history, folk tale and legend to recreate the story of a man with an innate sense of fairness as well as the courage to fight against odds for the rights of ordinary people.

Written in a sparse colloquial style which, even in translation, retains the immediacy and rhythm of an oral recital, Titu Mir is proof of the writer's enduring concern with the portrayal of socio-economic exploitation as a means of holding a mirror up to injustice and oppression.

Titu Mir, Mahasweta Devi, Translated by Rimli B. Chatterjee, Seagull Books, 2000, Rs. 175.

The Book Review

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