Viramma : life of a dalit

This is the first Indian edition of this remarkable book which created a great impact in France and was subsequently translated into English and Italian. This edition carries a fresh Afterword by Jean-Luc and Josiane Racine. Viramma, an untouchable woman by birth and listed as one of the authors, narrated the story of her life over a period of ten years to Josiane Racine, a Tamil-born ethnomusicologist educated in France. This book is the result of that conversation.

This book is the result of ten years of conversations between Viramma and Josiane Racine. Viramma's knowledge of popular songs and laments made her a valuable source for Josiane Racine's ethnomusicological research; but, when asked about her life, Viramma's initial tendency was to play down its hardship and, in general, to gloss over any feelings that might appear provocative or critical of the established order. Over five years, a close relationship developed between the two women, which, while acknowledging their differences of class and caste - 'Sinnamma', Viramma's epithet for Josiane Racine, reflects the latter's middle-class, Tamil background - allowed Viramma to speak more openly about her memories and experiences. A sense of trust and affection prompted her to discuss subjects which, under other circumstances, would have seemed either too personal, too controversial or, as her husband Manikkam puts it, 'degrading': that is, likely to play into the hands of those who would stigmatise her caste as 'uncivilised' and deserving of their position in society. What had only been commented on in passing would be de scribed more fully when it was brought up again later, or when a tape of a previous conversation was played back to her and her neighbours and friends. After a decade, working directly from the taped material, Josiane Racine selected and translated into French the narrative which was published in France in 1995 and is the original of this English translation.