Bhimayana

Bhimayana 

 

Bhimayana is a graphic book published in 2011, which represents an imaginative visual translation of Bhimrao Ambedkar’s autobiography “Waiting for Visa”.  Bhimayana is an  effort to address the oppressions faced by the historically subjugated population of Untouchables and to make their story a universal experience. It  deals with the issue of ‘Otherness’ faced by Dalits in the society, accounting for everyday expulsions from – Water, Shelter and Travel.

The narrative of ‘Bhimayana’ is replicated in the form of text, design and illustrations. The tribal craft of the Gond community of central India is used in illustrating the graphics of the book. These illustrations are symbolic, evocative, densely metaphoric and form a very significant component of the graphic narrative. The whole idea resonates around the hegemony of graphics over words where graphics become the constant companions of expressions for the marginalised and serve as a linguistic site for the them to draw what they can’t speak.

Bhimayana deploys this tribal artform infilled with Digna pattern work, rendering a traditional ethnicity to the book and hence, creating a powerful visual biography. The book doesn’t seek realistic representation of the characters in the form of photorealism but creates a non-realistic world where almost all the characters look alike.

Prajna Desai in her review to the book writes-

“Its two interlocking strands join Ambedkar’s biography with a string of thumbnails about present day caste prejudice, violently pervasive in villages, though all but invisible to most urban Indians.”

The book coexists in repressed historical events and ignorant contemporary reality perceived by the urban Indians. In a world where the looming presence of Dalit atrocities is still denied, graphic narrative juxtaposed with texts, clippings and art becomes an attractive mode of representing this sub-altern issue.

In Book 1, Water, we see thirst embodied as fish. The water pump, too becomes an angry face when Bhimrao is denied water. A harvester is seen crying in response to the massacre at Satara. Even the chair on the bus stand appears to be benign and gentle to all the people irrespective of their caste, gender or opinions. It’s the human beings that tend to decide the place to one must belong.

The book is constructed in a way to generate a constructive imagery based on the idea of silence. The pointing finger image symbolise accusatory fingers, pointed in the direction of the victim of caste.

There’s an anthropomorphic structuration of inanimate objects. The bus in which Ambedkar travels is cheerful and gentle. The art makes a contrast as inanimate objects are seen serving as metaphors and embodies emotions while upper class people tend to remain inhumane in their approach towards Dalits.

Ambedkar’s words in Book 2 (page 48) are shown as shedding water and thus, reviving the souls and quenching the centuries old thirst of the Dalit people. Since generations Untouchables have been segregated from the society. The book exploits this fact and provides an alternate structure through its Art, which is beyond the hierarchies of the society; rejecting the realistic and existing caste ideology. The human chain metaphor in Book-3 (page 90) suggest an unbreakable network of unity of Dalit community while witnessing the Gandhi-Ambedkar debate. A dancing peacock represents the happiness whereas a fort which Ambedkar visits take the shape of a dungeon (Book- Travel, page- 73). 

Bhim and his brothers leaving for Masur
Book 1- Water

Also, a hunger starved, preying animal imagery in the form of crocodile is always present along with the casteist Brahmins, and a fish always accompanies the Dalits; creating a contrast between the two species of marine animals, one preying on the other.  A contrast in the form of speech bubbles is also created. Victims of oppression are generally given the “bird speech/swan balloon” whereas oppressors have been awarded with “sting balloons”.

Bhimrao becomes the face of the Dalit community as the book maps the journey of discrimination faced by him since his childhood. The book uses art as catharsis which makes the readers relate deeply to the story. The art of Bhimayana depicts the sorrows and the pains felt by the marginal people. It pierces through the readers making a space for the emotions which can’t be represented through mere words. These heart-wrenching experiences leave a dramatic influence on the readers. It also evokes an unsettled feeling that leaves it traces in the shape of these imageries.

The genre helps the readers  to connect with the social inequities and the dehumanised otherness which symbolise the victims as ‘type’ and not ‘individuals’. Visual narratives have become a powerful tool of communication in popular literature as it is able to exert a control through profuse use of imagery. Visuals have always been more perceptible and communicative than textual mediums. It is because of the intense and engaging nature; the book is able to generate an emotional appeal.

Bhimayana being a graphic novel bridges the gap between the insusceptible readers and the victims of segregation. Through its graphic narrative, it is able to translate the atrocities faced by Dalits and render it to the readers, amplifying the magnitude of the subject.