Dinbandhu and Dinmitra
Dinbandhu and Dinmitra
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15 December 2023
This teaching tool introduces and explores two newspapers called Dinbandhu (brother of the oppressed) and Dinmitra (friend of the oppressed). Dinbandhu was first published in 1877 and Dinmitra was published later in 1910 in Western India. The teaching tool primarily focuses on Dinmitra which straddled both colonial and post-colonial periods as it continued to get published till the 1960s. These were published by Krishnarao Bhalekar and Mukundrao Patil who had a non-Brahmin social background. Their social identity is crucial as it defined their understandings of everyday life, and most importantly for our teaching tool, it mattered because their views and opinions on ‘freedom’ emerged from a critique of Brahmin dominance in late 19th and early 20th century Western India. Through this teaching tool, the newspapers would be presented as a unique aberration to the otherwise established discourse revolving around anti-colonial and anti-imperial publishing in this period. Unlike the overwhelming demand for political freedom from the colonial rule, these newspapers began their journeys by identifying Brahmin dominance as the root cause of the lack of basic social and economic freedom. This tool explores how these newspapers began this journey by critiquing the social hierarchies within their society and then gradually incorporated the discourse of being critical of the colonial rule. The tool contextualizes this binary in the initial period by providing social profiles to the editors of these newspapers and lays out the reasons for their emphasizing on social freedom over political freedom. The tool ends with complicating notions of freedom by providing a critical appraisal of the colonial rule, albeit with a caveat of exclusionary and hierarchical understandings of freedom harboring within the anti-colonial nationalist movement. By providing a bottom-up approach which focuses on the role of caste and religion in the phase of anti-colonial nationalism, this tool will provide an additional dimension to study alternative aspects of ‘freedom’ during the transition from colonial to the post-colonial.
Origins
Jotirao and Savitribai Phule – Founded the Satyashodhak movement (Truth – Seeking movement) in 1873.
Lower caste assertion in Modern India has been a topic of critical interest for several researchers in the recent past. The Satyashodhak movement (Truth-Seeking Society) spearheaded by Jotirao Phule in 1873 is one such important movement. However, the movement has largely been studied in a teleological manner, from its birth as a social movement to its culmination into a political party. This narrative overlooks the contribution of the non-Brahmin print sphere in shaping the Marathi public sphere from late 19th and early 20th century Western India.
The significance of this movement lies in the fact that it predominantly saw the participation of non-Brahmin writers and leaders confronting the hegemony of the Brahmin community in everyday life. Before unravelling the rationale and how the movement made use of the print sphere, it is important to provide a brief background of what these non-Brahmin communities were fighting against. As one of the most central systems of social stratification, the Caste system has had a long history of existence – more than 3,000 years old in the Indian subcontinent. Based on one’s karma (work) and dharmic (duty) deeds, the system divides Hindus into four categories, namely – Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras. Untouchables or the Dalit communities were the avarna group, which literally means beyond this four-fold varna system. Brahmins, according to Hindu legal texts like the Manusmriti, occupy the topmost position of this hierarchy as the prime sources of knowledge production whereas the Shudras are meant to carry out menial jobs. As B.R. Ambedkar, one of the foremost champions of emancipating lower castes from caste hierarchy, explained the system by calling it ‘graded inequality’, where the system not only exemplified a division of labor but how it was also a division of laborers in watertight compartments.
The newspaper of focus for our purposes in this tool broadly acted as a forum espousing the views of the non-Brahmin communities. The Satyashodhak movement mentioned above largely comprised of Shudra writers and leaders who with the help of the print technology, began asserting their views and opinions against the historically unjust system of caste hierarchy. Along with targeting the system, their aim was also to vehemently oppose Brahminism, which was identified by the non-Brahmin communities as a set of religious beliefs, practices and a way of living that reflected Hindu dharma’s worldview exclusively through the gaze of the Brahmin priests and learned intellectuals. With the bourgeoning of the print sphere for the non-Brahmin communities since late 19th century, this movement developed its own idea of ‘freedom’, which primarily focused on the idea of being free from the clutches of this pernicious system. With the advent of print technology, these writers hailed the presence of the English rule in particular, whose reign was understood as a period which opened avenues like the print sphere for truly breaking free from what Jotirao Phule, the intellectual reformer who started the Satyashodhak movement, called Gulamgiri (Slavery).
Krishnarao Bhalekar
After the non-Brahmin movement became more political after 1920, there was a perceptible rise of non-Brahmin Marathi newspapers and periodicals like Vijayī Maratha (Pune), Brahmanetar (Wardha), Rashtraveer (Belgaum) and Jagruti (Baroda) among others. One of the periodicals which was an outlier to this trajectory was Dinmitra (friend of the poor). It started in 1910 and continued to be a regular fortnightly periodical till 1967. It was a unique moment in the non-Brahmin phase which saw one person be the editor of a rural newspaper for 57 years. Straddling both colonial and post-colonial periods, Dinmitra can be seen as a key historical document in shaping the non-Brahmin regional consciousness and public memory.
Reading room in the Mukundrao Patil Trust
Dinmitra was started by Mukundrao Patil in Nevasa, Ahmednagar. The rural base of this newspaper is crucial to gauge both the scope and the growing expanse of the non-Brahmin movement from early 20th century. Dinmitra, even if it served as an outlier among the more urban based non-brahmin newspapers, did have a direct connection to the non-Brahmin movement especially in Pune. Krishnarao Bhalekar, a close colleague of Jotiba Phule, founded the newspaper called Dinbandhu (brother of the poor) from Pune in 1877. Mukundrao Patil was Krishnarao Bhalekar’s son who carried forward Bhalekar’s legacy through Dinmitra. This is a unique cultural example of modern India wherein one family started and nurtured the non-Brahmin print sphere for close to 100 years. Four years before Lokmanya Tilak started Kesari and Mahratta, Bhalekar’s newspaper had humble beginnings with just 13 subscribers. These then increased to 320 subscribers by 1880 1Shinde, Satyashodhak Niyatkalike, p. 94.
▴ Dinbandhu
Present day Maharashtra where both these newspapers, Dinbandhu and Dinmitra, were started in the late 19th century
Mukundrao Patil Trust in Tarawadi, Ahmednagar. (Maharashtra). This is the library which has all the archives related to these newspapers.
Dinbandhu’s primary contribution was to take the new wave of enlightenment seen in Maharashtra to the Bahujans in Maharashtra. Even before meeting Phule and formally joining the Satyashodhak Samaj, Bhalekar had been vocal about how Brahmins, under the guise of religious sanctions, con the innocent Non-Brahmins of Pune 2Lele, Marathi Vrutta Patrānchā abhyās, p. 199. As he opened a library in Pune, Bhalekar started reading newspapers like Lokakalyanecchu and Dnyanchaksu which later inspired him to write and start a newspaper of his own. 3Ibid Another immediate backdrop was the increasing popularity of Brahmin run newspapers like Nibandhmaalaa and Vividhdnyanvistaar which had started casting aspersions on Phule. Bhalekar received substantial monetary support from his non-brahmin colleagues in Mumbai. For instance, Balaji Kalewar and Ramayya Venkaya Aiyyavaru were the two Telugu members who appreciated the idea of starting a newspaper and bought a printing press for 1200 rupees and sent it to Bhalekar in Pune 4Ibid, p. 200.
Mukundrao Patil
Mukundrao Patil was Bhalekar’s son who was later adopted by a Patil family in Nevasa, Ahmednagar. Bhalekar’s sister Kashibai was married into this family. As Kashibai’s husband passed away a few years after their marriage, Kashibai requested Bhalekar to take care of her only child named Ganpatrao. Bhalekar groomed Ganpatrao from a very tender age in writing and speaking against the social dominance of the Brahmin community in Pune. For instance, Bhalekar and Ganpatrao both began organizing public speeches in Mangalwar and Budhwar Peth in Pune against the Brahmin oppression of the Bahujan Samaj 5Dhembre, Mukundrao Patil yanchya sāhityāchā chikitsakh abhyās, P. 36. Ganpatrao also started a periodical called Dinmitra in 1888. This family lineage is crucial as it helps us situate the emergence and growth of Dinmitra which was started by Mukundrao Patil in 1910. It was Ganpatrao’s Dinmitra that was taken as the starting date of this periodical which can be seen by the Dinmitra Silver Jubilee edition which was published in 1938 by Mukundrao Patil. After Ganpatrao passed away in 1893, Bhalekar decided to let his son get adopted by his sister Kashibai. This adopted son was Mukundrao Patil. Mukundrao was married to Lakshmibai who was the daughter of Mumbai’s Nirnay Sagar Press’ chairman Ranauji Rawaji Aaru. It was Aaru who would later help Patil in buying a printing press for his new venture. 6Dhembre, ibid
▴ The first page of a special issue of Dinmitra published in 1938.
Krishnarao Bhalekar faced enormous financial hurdles in running both Dinbandhu and Shetkaryanchaa Kaivaari in the later stages of his life. As Bhalekar believed in the emancipatory potential of a newspaper, he is sought to have taken an assurance from his son Mukundrao Patil on his death bed about running Dīnmitra for a minimum of 12 years. Patil was handed over the responsibility of procuring the paper, writing most of the newspaper content, approaching local merchants and businessmen for advertisements, printing the paper and then depositing it in the village post office. It can be argued that Patil was the first person who introduced the printing press to rural India. This radical introduction of a modern form of communication must be seen as a transformative moment in creating a rural, non-brahmin reading public.
My own archival journey to Tarawadi in Ahmednagar inspired me to deliberate more on how archival sites add a crucial dimension to methodological approaches. The curator of this site was Mukundrao Patil’s grandson, Uttamrao Patil, who designed the site both as a reading room and a library where ample space was devoted for old and new books, booklets and newspaper reels which were meticulously preserved in files and folders. Methodologically, incorporating individual and historical stories associated with such archival sites becomes crucial especially to give further insights into the evolutionary trajectory of the notions of freedom for non-Brahmin communities. People like Uttamrao Patil become living embodiments and spokespersons of tracing the journey of Dinmitra from once being a staunchly anti-Brahmin newspaper to being a public forum which wholehearted supported the anti-colonial, mass nationalism drive directed against the English rule, albeit with retaining its caustic assessment of ‘political freedom’, spearheaded essentially by groups of Brahmin leaders.
Contextualizing Expressions
Contextualizing Expressions of Gratitude for the English Rule and Critiques of Mass Nationalism from Early 20th Century
Cover page of this new series on Mukundrao Patil’s editorials in Marathi. (Published by Scion publishers in Pune)
Dinmitra was a unique vernacular newspaper which started as a public forum for espousing social freedom in early 20th century to creatively championing both social and political notions of freedom by 1940s . Unlike the mass national movement spearheaded by the Congress since early 20th century against the English rule, the Satyashodhak movement, as was explained in the previous section, focused on confronting the pernicious hold of Brahmin priests on everyday social & cultural life and on encouraging their own brethren to openly embrace education as a pathway to true emancipation. Instead of projecting their principal goal as being anti-imperial or anti-colonial, Dinmitra highlighted the need to first and foremost fight for social freedom. For non-Brahmin leaders and writers starting from Jotirao Phule, this idea of social freedom was about breaking the chains of bondage and suffering in everyday life. They believed that this state of mental and physical slavery was responsible for keeping them away from realizing their full potential and capabilities as human beings. Caste Oppression and its material impact on living a life in poverty as compared to the Brahmin elites failed to inspire them to confront their own ignorance about the deleterious nature of this social hierarchy. In order for the non-Brahmin people to wake up from their slumber, seeking education by becoming the readers and authors of knowledge production themselves was put forth as a radical proposal to treat all human beings equally.
Without social freedom, political freedom was rendered meaningless. Dinmitra’s transition from social to combing social and political was a complex one, as even toward the 1940s, the question of social freedom was nowhere near being realized to its fullest capacity. At the same time, Dinmitra’s own gradual understanding of how ‘politics’ was becoming increasingly central in everyday life for ordinary people made it reformulate its editorial policies. It slowly began reflecting and participating more in the political affairs of the mass national movement and started becoming more critical of the English rule. However, in order to explore this transition, Dinmitra’s early praise for the English rule needs to be further contextualized. As can be seen from the quotes and comments below, the praise for the English rule stemmed from their role in obliterating the historical vice like grip of Brahmanism from everyday life. For these non-Brahmin communities, the English rule came as a form of providence which opened the floodgates of education, democratized the print technology and secularized certain administrative posts which were previously held up by the Brahmin groups based on historical traditions and customs.
Dinmitra’s annual subscription was 3 rupees. There was also an option to be a subscriber for 6 months at 2 rupees. The very first year saw the publication of 3 to 4 thousand issues and cemented an annual subscriber base of approximately 600 1Murkute, Satyashodhak diienmitrakār Mukundrao Patil yānchya vyaktimatwa ani kartrutvācā chikitsak abhyās, P. 140. It was a weekly newspaper which used to get published every Wednesday. The first issue comprised of 8 pages, which included editorial, advertisements, letters of correspondence, news pieces on national and international issues. The first page of the issue normally featured advertisements of hotels, medicines, books, bicycle shops, farmer tool kits etcetera. Occasionally, the rest of the pages also featured columns on book reviews, reprints of serialized accounts of Krishnarao Bhalekar’s writings, guest posts and excerpts from other newspapers. Pictures below provide a glimpse of a weekly issue of Dinmitra which comprises of editorials, letters to the editors, advertisements, reportage of national and world news among others.
Occasionally in this period, specific sections were devoted to documentation and reportage on World War 1 in the world news section. Dinmitra’s sympathetic gaze vis-à-vis the English rule could be understood with how it backed the idea of supporting them, which was seen as a benevolent act for the ‘common good’ for all colonized people. This praise of the English Rule however needs to be contextualized in how Dinmitra and its adherents were positioning themselves in the public sphere, primarily informed by their own understanding regarding caste and identity. For these non-Brahmin communities, the English Rule was already looked upon as their social and economic savior. This can be explained further by the following examples.
First few years of the start of Dinmitra can be seen as a period where the British rule got praised in various ways. One of the ways by which that was done was by showering praise over King George. For example, In an editorial titled ‘Celebrating the praises of King George 5th’ (5th July 1911) happiness is expressed over King George and his wife getting felicitated in London. Dinmitra expresses gratitude over how because of the King, they were able to heave a sigh of relief – have a family, have their own occupation and enrich themselves with education. Dinmitra’s editorial hints at the idea of ‘constant celebration’ – with the everyday usage of railways, roads, mills, ships. Dinmitra expresses its desire of how their reign should have come much earlier. It laments that 100 years ago, they were treated as cats and dogs and it was only then that they started realizing humaneness through education. The idea of how there was no sense of equality before the British was very strong. Dinmitra expresses how being loyal to this rashtra is tantamount to staying true to this new gift of humaneness.
Dinmitra also makes a claim of how the non-Brahmin community enamoured with the recent history of the King and Queen as well – talks of how in 1835, King George’s grandmother Victoria had spent 22 crores from her own coffers to eliminate slave trade! The same editorial also lavishes praise on the British for introducing new technological developments like fighter planes, destroyers, Torpedoes.
However, it must be noted that this stand on what the British had done for the Bahujans up until this point did not hold the Bahujans and newspapers like Dinmitra to make additional demands for the fulfilment of more basic human rights. There were calls for mandatory education and taking away the rights of hereditary village Kulkarnis and giving the rights to state appointed Talathis (state appointed revenue collector).
As opposed to this example, Dinmitra was extremely critical of those who were demanding freedom from the British at this stage. For example, this can be seen with how Dinmitra understood and responded the Home Rule movement started by Lokmanya Tilak and Annie Beasant. In an editorial published on 13th October 1915, Dinmitra lambasted the demand of Home Rule by saying that its advocates should be ashamed to talk about political freedom. The editorial continued, “have they every compared our profound lack of religious togetherness with the one we find in Ireland and South Africa? The latter is more robust on religious equality. Why this demand of Home rule in the middle of a war? Our people still don’t know what ‘religion’ and ‘nation’ means, still no respite from the vice of untouchability – How will Home rule resolve all of this?”
Dinmitra then argued that the champions of Home rule never bothered to teach virtues of equality to their non-Brahmin countrymen. It issued a call for Brahmin elites to give the ‘smaller home rule’ to the ‘inferior’ people of the country first and then demand a ‘bigger home rule’ from the British rule later.
Once again registering the significance of the incoming of the British, Dinmitra opined, “we got to know the art of deshbhakti (service for the country) by living with them. Many might get angry with my statement and say before the English, didn’t we have Deshabhimaan, Deshbhakti and Deshunnati? For them I want to cleary say – Yes! Before the English, you did not know what it means to take pride for your country.” (20th October 1915)
- Murkute, Satyashodhak diienmitrakār Mukundrao Patil yānchya vyaktimatwa ani kartrutvācā chikitsak abhyās, P. 140→
Dinmitra
Pictures below provide a glimpse of a weekly issue of Dinmitra which comprises of editorials, letters to the editors, advertisements, reportage of national and world news among others.
Toward Independence: From Social to Socio-Political Freedom
If Dinmitra’s position from 1910s was that of frontally targeting the Brahmin leadership of the anti-colonial struggle, it progressively started voicing its concerns over the paucity of material support being provided from the English government to farmers and workers. There were more direct complaints about the government not initiating and proposing enough measures for improving the field of education, with the lament focused primarily toward the increasingly neglected conditions of primary education. The piecemeal treatment toward improving the material conditions of farmers by not providing adequate modern tools and equipment’s also started getting chronicled in the columns of Dinmitra. It was becoming clear that Dinmitra was not shying away from making political remarks against the English rule. However, even if Dinmitra’s position was very clear about supporting the demand of political freedom from the English rule, from sensing the pulse of the mass nationalism from early 1920s to 1940s, it is important to note how it expressed its support with multiple caveats. In the process, Dinmitra was critical of all the major stakeholders throughout the buildup to the freedom. As can be seen from a few quotes from below, Dinmitra was critical of Gandhi’s role in these latter stages of the freedom movement, Congress’ overall strategy which did not offer much succor and lastly to the Bahujans and Hindu nationalists, especially the Hindu Mahasabha, who was reminded to offer concrete plans to include non-Brahmin groups in the Hindu fold, instead of stoking the communal divide.
Glossary
Nirashrit Hindus
Defenseless Hindus/Depressed Hindus – This term primarily included all ‘Hindus’ apart from ‘pure Brahmins’ and ‘pure Kshatriyas’. These included both farmers and workers. This later became an influential framework for Bahujans to imagine a Hindu dharma without Brahmins.
Introduction of the book titled ‘Nirashrit Hindus and Brahmin Kshatriya
Sarvabhaum, Dayalu Ingraj Sarkar
All-embracing/encompassing, merciful English rule.
This was a common invocation in the writings of Dinbandhu and Dinmitra, both from the editor and also from the ordinary readers of the newspapers who expressed their gratitude to the English government. Because of making education more accessible and establishing institutions like Courts and judges, Bahujans realized that the English rule was merciful and benevolent as compared to the erstwhile upper caste dominated Peshwa rule.
Example of Praise for the English rule from a Letter to the Editor by an ordinary reader.
Example of English rule being praised in one of the Dinmitra editorials from 1911.
Vidyet Magaaslela Varga:
Literal translation being – a group of people deemed backward in terms of education. However, this was not seen as a limitation or a drawback in their pursuit of social justice. They identified themselves as backward and illiterate (adaani), to first and foremost register the reasons for their position. Once again, the English rule came out as a savior in comparison to the hierarchical conditions under the upper caste brahmins.
Example of English rule being praised in one of the Dinmitra editorials from 1911.
Bhikshuk/Bhikshukshahi
Used primarily for Brahmin priest or Brahmin mendicant. In the non-Brahmin movement’s context, the word ‘Bhikshukshahi’ is used repeatedly for connoting the hegemony of Brahmin priests and Brahmin leadership in everyday life.
Peshwai
Reference to the Peshwa rule which was heralded by Chitpavan Brahmin rulers. The Peshwa was the appointed prime minister of the Maratha Empire, from 1674 to 1818. The term ‘Peshwai’ refers to a hegemonical way of functioning. Dinmitra and other non-Brahmin newspapers and leaders used the term to contrast the deplorable conditions of the lower castes during the Peshwas as opposed to the improving material conditions under the English rule.
Dinmitra published serialized accounts of short stories on the shenanigans of upper-caste leaders and writers during the Peshwa rule. These short booklets are now being published from the Mukundrao Patil Smarak Samiti, a small publishing center running from a place called Kukaanaa, near Tarawadi in Ahmednagar district. Dinmitra was started from Tarawadi in 1910.
Gramkantak
This term was initially used by Dinbandhu. This was primarily reserved for the bhikshuks. The literal translation of the word is ‘thorn of the village’. Here, the thorn of the village is the village Kulkarni (record keeper), who is among other things, identified as someone who dupes ignorant, gullible farmers. Once again, this term denotes the erstwhile pitiable conditions for lower castes in a traditional village setup, as opposed to the incoming of a new post called village Talathi (village accountant), whose appointment (in the benevolent English rule) related to the demand and collection of land revenue was seen as more democratic.
Shetji-Bhatji-Latji
Mukundrao Patil churned out various types of writings like editorials, novels, poetry (khanda kavyas) essays, short stories and satire. Right from his first issue of the Dīnmitra in 1910, Patil consciously included different genres of writings which were deployed to target the Brahmanical trinity of ‘Shetji-Bhatji-Laatji’ (Landlord, Temple Priest and Colonial Servant). Later, Dinkarrao Jawalkar would use the same term to galvanize the Non-Brahmins in Poona. The term is also significant to note how even if Dinmitra and other non-Brahmin newspapers expressed their gratitude to the English rule, they were equally critical and assertive in demanding better wage conditions, improvement in farmer’s equipment, opening of free primary schools among other things.