by Komal Prasad Phuyal
Abstract
Nayan Raj Pandey'sUlar (1998)
presents a typical Nepali subject, Prem Lalwa, inquest of his rightful position
that he believes guarantees him with real bliss in life. Thepursuit for happiness
encounters many puzzling circumstances through which to observe thefunctioning
of society, whereby enriching his life with experience of divergent dimensions
of human nature at three levels: local, regional, and national. He passes
through all the layers of society like
an eddy in the maze of politics in democratic Nepal of the 1990s. Unlike
GayatriChakravorty Spivak (1998) who postulates that the subaltern cannot
speak, the paper arguesthat the subaltern speech carries symbolic codes and significance
in that the pursuit of theeddy in the
maze enables him with power of decision, resulting in realization of the
missedcourse in life. In other words, the eddy in the subaltern subjectivity
turns into a boldpersonality, having adequately acquainted with the
maze of local, regional, and nationalpolitics.
Eddy
Ular (1998) presents a Tonga
man, Prem Lalwa, as a typical Nepali subaltern subject,whose journey unfolds the happenings in the
novella. The defeat of his patron in electionbegins his quest for
rightful position. He suffers from ignorance and goes on to accept thingsas they happen, whereby presenting himself a weak
subject controlled by circumstances andouter forces that result in a state
of flux in him. The unrest of mind directly corresponds to thesocio-political
atmosphere of the liberal politics of the 1990s in Nepal. The new wave of change, since it is not well-adopted, produces an
eddy in Prem, positioning himself in thelabyrinth of local, regional,
and national politics; yet, unlike Spivakian postcolonial subject,he explores a meaningful approach to assert
himself after gaining adequate experience of ways of the world.The subaltern in Prem appears in the novel as a
political subject as well in that heattempts to shape a new reality,
albeit with limited resources. He whole heartedly supportsRajendra Raj in election (Pandey 10), for the
latter has provided the former with patronage inthe society: Rajendra
Raj assisted him to acquire citizenship certificate and driving licenseafter
both his parents died. Illiterate Prem is quite impressed by his
benefactor for his abilityto speak English.
However, he never questions the political patron even when he sells land tothe
party for the first time and gets cheated. The ignorance in Prem further
adds to the state of vagueness: he
fails to recognize and accept the doubtful play of Rajendra Raj in local
andregional politics even when he is told that Shanti Raja –Rajendra Raj’s
opponent in theelection – won the election with Rajendra Raj’s support.
In fact, he appears really like aSpivakian
subject screened at multiple layers in the maze (Spivak 298).The contentment
that accompanies Prem in the pursuit is seen in Draupadi. Sherepresents
the whole Badi Community that practices prostitution as a means of livelihood.Her deaf father and ASI Bishne treat her body as
object, for she is exploited for survival and
1MLA
Citation: Phuyal, Komal Prasad. “An Eddy in the Maze: Subaltern Subject in
Pandey’s
Ular.”
Literary Studies
26 (March 2012): 63-66.
The
author currently teaches at Lalitkala Campus, Tribhuvan University,
Kathmandu, Nepal. He cannot reachedat
komalprasadphuyal@gmail.com
pleasure respectively.
Nevertheless, Pandey sees purity in these people: “Draupadi does notknow her
mother’s name. However, when Draupadi asked her, ‘Is your name Sita?,’
hermother replied with surprise, ‘How did you know?'” (21). Every Draupadi is
born Sita. Thepotential of remaining ‘pure’ is lost in the society where the
subaltern subject encounters theignorance of the state. Yet, certain
fundamental values like shame still continue with them:Draupadi
feels ashamed to “stand naked in front of Prem” (27). Both of them
celebrate moralvalues as they are put into
practice elsewhere in the elite society.
Deferral in the Maze
Prem enters the maze of
local politics by accepting guardianship of Rajendra Raj. Thedefeat in election
hits him profoundly in that his campaign could not succeed. Besides,
thecircumstances force him to participate in opponent candidate Shanti Raja’s
procession whereto “encounterular 2”(31). In other words, the
state of directionlessness results in his life after the ular since Basanti, the Tonga horse, dies in it. The ular symbolizes state of the nation thathas lost
its internal dynamics in the 1990s. Ironically, Pandey’s subaltern subject pursueshuman essence of togetherness in this society so
as to attain the fulfillment in life.Furthermore, the subject enters
into the labyrinth of larger domain of politics with the ular.
Prem’s hope and trust
in Rajendra Raj generate additional confusion. On the onehand, he harbors shock
after Rajendra Raj’s defeat in election; on the other, he comes toknow that
Shanti Raja could not have won the election without Rajendra Raj’s consent
andassistance. Prem can never believe political rivals lending a hand to each other!
Trapped inthe communal violence resulting in “local Hindu-Muslim riot” (36), he
falls prey of localpolitics. The climax of such foul play occurs when his
Basanti –the only source for his living–dies. Very aptly, the author weaves tangles
of questions at this point:
For a moment, Prem
Lalwa stood dead-still, confused. Who died?
Basanti or he?
He or Basanti?
At last, Prem Lalwa
realized it was Basanti that died.(37)
With a hope of overcoming the unexpected
circumstance, Prem travels further into the web of local politics
that just pushes him into deeper flux. Rajendra Raj writes a note to
Shanti Raja,asking to “provide some
financial aid to Prem” (42): morally, Shanti Raja has to compensatethe death of
Basanti in that the Tonga horse dies in Shanti Raja’s victory procession. On
thecontrary, Shanti Raja’s “Come tomorrow” (44) and “Come to Kathmandu”
(47) completelythrow him into the center of illusory entrapment of national
politics. Moving from margin tothe center,
he arrives at Kathmandu in search of the lost horse, but just to be “tired
of thinking” (54) and rejected by/in Kathmandu. The eddy journeys in the
core section of labyrinth: he moves in the inner passage of
Buspark-Pulchwok-Singha Durbar-Baluwatar-Party Office-Pulchwok-Ministry
of Transportation section of national politics (56-8). It is inthis web where his quest is deferred.
The deferral of object
sought leaves Prem empty: he is left without any answer. Back home, the
house is ruined in the rain; and the Tonga, stolen. Nevertheless, he possesses
onemore
thing: will to live. Strengthened by the observation of politics at various
levels fromlocal to national, he is rewarded with realization that he has
got to break free from the chains of
assumed patronage of Rajendra Raj. The eddy paves a road for a politicallyaware
and bold subjectivity, capable of understanding the process of marginalization
(78). Infact, he fails to speak and act as
long as he is afraid of the society that is full of RajendraRajs, aiming at
robbing from him his land. Selling the land, he regains all he lost during his journey
in the maze: horse, Tonga, and house. For one thing, he is further pushed to
themargin from his central location at the
bazaar since he buys house and land away from hisprevious place. For the other,
he is rewarded with the power of decision: he makes decisionon his own now.
Hence, he accepts and declares Draupadi his wife. Having been
adequatelyacquainted with the world, he takes a bold decision by rejecting
Rajendra Raj as hisbenefactor.
2Imbalance due to the load only in the back part of tonga
or cart.
Subaltern Subject
Spivakian subaltern
subject is basically situated in the discourses as produced in themetropolitan
academia of the West so far as she seeks to locate the representation of thesubaltern
in the discourses of the West. For her, the subaltern
speech turns meaningful,provided it is well-represented in said discourses;
besides, her problems lie with the layers of screening
the subaltern is surrounded with. She illustrates a case of Sati in India: it is knownin the west through English
and in India through the discourse of dominant Hindu men(Spivak 298). In this sense, whatever sati means emerges as the produce filtered throughthese
discourses. Similarly, Spivakian subject must be dealt with “the position
of reader/writer vis-à-vis the subaltern and the dominant discourse”
(Maggio 425-6). The broadcivilization differences and the position of the
subaltern subject in the western academicdiscourses
help to deny the voice of the subject because of issues relating to therepresentation
and translation.
Originally, Gramsci made use of the term
“‘subaltern’ with regard to social class”(Green 2). Reading Marx through
Derridian post structuralism and following Saidianintellectual frame of
civilization differences in representing the ‘Other,’ Spaak’s subalternfails to emerge as a social class, but as a
civilization group dominated and depicted in thediscourses of the
colonizers. She also notes that “the subaltern as female cannot be heard orread” (308). On the one hand, she emphasizes on
extensive civilizational categories like thecolonizer and colonized; on
the other, she seeks to scrutinize the social class on the ground of gender
alone. Furthermore, Maggio states that “the production of the postcolonial
subject isdependent on the intellectual creation of the West as a subject
of study, as well as Said’sOrient” (425).
Thus, the subaltern’s voice is measured on the scale of how the westunderstands
it: the failure of representation of the subaltern for Spivak turns silencing
of theentire social class. In fact, she
assumes a very elitist position to deny a specific social classtheir voice when
the western discourses –she attempts to build her methodology on thefoundation
of her Derridian reading of Marx –utterly fail to represent the subaltern.
Also, thelimit of the western discourses
cannot be measure of subaltern in every society.
Nayan Raj
Pandey’s subaltern subject in Ular does not succeed to assert
what hewants as long as he does not fully
observe the functioning of social phenomena. Thedominant group as represented
by Rajendra Raj and Shanti Raja (later minister) always wantsto put people like
Prem Lalwa at their service and continuously exploit them. UnlikeSpivakian
discourse of the subaltern that denies them with power of agency (299), Green notes, “Subaltern
groups have to become conscious of their social position, organize, andstruggle
to transform their social positions, since organization and representation
alone willnot transform the relations of subordination” (19). Prem Lalwa also possesses
potentialagency to bring about
transformation in his life. The journey to Kathmandu in quest of thelost
horse is not a mere act of a patient: it has vigor of gaining his
rightful position though itends in
realization that he has to act for his happiness. The eddy’s search in
socio-politicallabyrinth results in the bold speech in that unlike Spivakian
subject with its deaf Eurocentricaudience, Prem Lalwa, as a typical Nepali
subaltern, speaks very meaningfully in his owncontext: he accepts Draupadi as
his wife and rejects Rajendra Raj’s patronage, wherebyenabling himself to make
decision on his own.
Works Cited
Green, Marcus. “Gramsci Cannot Speak:
Presentations and Interpretations of Gramsci’sConcept of the Subaltern.”
Rethinking
Marxism
14.3 (Fall 2002): 1-24.Maggio, J. “‘Can
the Subaltern be Heard?: Political Theory, Translation, Representation,
andGayatri Chakravorty Spivak.”
Alternatives
32 (2007): 419-43.Pandey, Nayan Raj.Ular.
Kathmandu: Fine Prints, 1998.Spivak,
Gayatri Chakravorty. “Can the Subaltern Speak?”
Marxism and
the Interpretation of Culture
. Eds. Cary Nelson and Lawrence Grossberg.Urbana,IL:University
of IIIinois Press,1998:271-331.
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