Intervention of Female Identity in Denotified Communities: A Study of Laxman Gaikwad's The Branded

Abstract

This paper examines the intervention of female identity in denotified communities as depicted in Laxman Gaikwad’s autobiography The Branded (Uchalya). Drawing on identity theory and symbolic interactionism, the paper analyses how women of denotified communities occupy a complex position of multiple marginalization — stigmatized both as members of criminalized communities and as women within patriarchal social structures. The paper argues that the female identity in such communities is shaped by forces of caste discrimination, colonial legislation, poverty, and gender oppression, and calls for social, economic, and political empowerment as necessary conditions for the reform of female identity in these communities.

Keywords: Laxman Gaikwad, The Branded, denotified communities, female identity, Dalit literature, marginalization, India

Introduction

The denotified tribes of India, formerly known as the Criminal Tribes under the Criminal Tribes Act of 1871, continue to bear the stigma of criminality even after the Act’s repeal in 1952. Laxman Gaikwad’s autobiography The Branded (Uchalya, 1987), translated into English by P.A. Kolharkar and published by the Sahitya Akademi in 2009, is a seminal work of Dalit literature that chronicles the life of the Uchalya (a Pardhi sub-community) in Maharashtra. The autobiography exposes the brutal conditions of existence for denotified communities: the harassment by the police, the social boycott by upper-caste communities, the grinding poverty, and the constant threat of arbitrary arrest under the Habitual Offenders Act which replaced the Criminal Tribes Act.

Women occupy a particularly vulnerable position within these already marginalized communities. This paper seeks to examine the specific forms of female identity that emerge in denotified communities through a reading of Gaikwad’s text, drawing on the theoretical frameworks of identity theory as developed by scholars such as Stets, Burke, Stryker, and Kiecolt, and on the sociological literature on caste, gender, and denotified communities.

Identity Theory and the Denotified Woman

Identity theory, developed within the symbolic interactionist tradition, understands identity as arising through social interaction and role occupancy. Jan Stets and Peter Burke have argued that identity involves the internalization of the meanings associated with a role or group membership. For women in denotified communities, identity is formed at the intersection of multiple stigmatized roles: the role of the criminal-community member (externally imposed by the colonial and post-colonial state), the role of the low-caste person (imposed by the caste hierarchy), and the role of the woman (defined by patriarchal norms within both the community and the broader society).

This intersection of stigmatized identities creates what may be called a condition of multiple jeopardy. The denotified woman is, to borrow Stryker’s terminology, assigned a very low position in the salience hierarchy of identities recognized by the dominant society. She is effectively reduced to a non-entity.

Women in The Branded

Gaikwad’s autobiography provides a rich and painful documentation of the lives of women in the Uchalya community. Women in the community are valued primarily for their capacity to bear children, especially sons, and for their physical labor. Those who are barren are considered bad omens and face increased abuse. The text records the widespread practice of wife-beating as a marker of masculine authority and social status within the community.

The women of the denotified community are caught in a double bind. On the one hand, they are expected to conform to patriarchal norms of submission, domesticity, and fidelity within their own community. On the other hand, they are exposed to sexual exploitation and violence from outside the community — from landlords, police, and upper-caste men who view denotified women as available for exploitation precisely because of their low social status.

The autobiography records instances of women being used as instruments in the Takmudya practice — a fraudulent police tactic in which the police plant stolen articles in the homes of Pardhi families in order to make arrests. Women’s bodies and domestic spaces are directly implicated in the criminalization of the community.

Caste, Community, and Female Autonomy

The condition of denotified women cannot be understood apart from the broader structures of caste. The Criminal Tribes Act of 1871 was a colonial instrument that codified the British perception of certain communities as inherently criminal. The act mandated the registration and surveillance of entire communities, severely restricting their freedom of movement and occupation. While the Act was repealed in 1952 and replaced by the Habitual Offenders Acts of various states, the stigma of criminality has persisted, as has the use of the Habitual Offenders legislation to harass these communities.

Within the community itself, patriarchal authority is reinforced by poverty and insecurity. The nomadic lifestyle of many denotified communities, including the Uchalya, means that women are denied access to stable shelter, education, and healthcare. Their illiteracy makes them vulnerable to exploitation and unable to navigate legal or bureaucratic systems. As Gaikwad documents, the women of the community are excluded from the social and political processes that might improve their conditions.

Towards Reform of Female Identity

The complex and multiply marginalized identity of the denotified woman can be transformed, as Kiecolt (2000) has argued, through participation in social movements that challenge the dominant identity narratives. Gaikwad’s own autobiography represents such an act: by writing the community’s experience into the public record, he initiates a process of counter-narrative that challenges both the criminalization imposed by the state and the silence imposed by caste hierarchy.

For the women of denotified communities specifically, reform requires action on multiple fronts. Firstly, the Habitual Offenders Acts must be repealed — a recommendation made by both the National Human Rights Commission and the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. Secondly, gender sensitization and empowerment programs must be extended to these communities. Thirdly, economic empowerment through education and livelihood support is essential. Fourthly, efforts must be made to construct a positive and recognized community identity. Finally, broader social sensitization to the conditions of denotified women is necessary, of the kind that Gaikwad has initiated through his writing.

Conclusion

The identity of the female in denotified communities is a complex blend of multiple stigmatized identities. Exploited, tortured, rejected, and abused by both the broader society and within their own communities, denotified women are reduced to non-entities by the combined force of caste discrimination, colonial legislation, poverty, and patriarchal norms. Laxman Gaikwad’s The Branded provides an invaluable record of these conditions, and the paper has sought to analyze the specific forms that female identity takes in this context. The reform of female identity in denotified communities requires concerted action at the levels of legislation, education, economic empowerment, and social consciousness — and the literature of these communities, of which Gaikwad’s work is the most prominent example, has a vital role to play in initiating this transformation.

Notes

1. Patil: A village headman incharge of law and order
2. Uchalaya: Of the Uchale — a community notified as criminal
3. Ghantichor: the thieves who steals tolling a bell as their arrival
4. Wadar: one of the names used for this community
5. Laman Tanda: A group of Lamans, a nomadic tribe
6. Masanjogis: A quack medico and black magician who lives in cemetery
7. Magalsutra: A sacred marriage-necklace; a woman is not supposed to part with it till her husband’s death
8. Ganja: A highly intoxicating drug
9. Takmudya: a fraudulent practice in which the police take help of a landlord, police register a case of theft of ring or watch, then they put the alleged stolen articles in the house of a Pardhi stealthily. The Pardhi is then arrested and slapped with a false charge.
10. Jowar: Millet
11. Panchayat: A community court
12. According to the Hindu custom a woman’s hair is not shaved off as long as her husband is alive.

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