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Marhi Da Deeva: Caste as Economics

Gurdial Singh’s first novel Marhi Da Deeva (1964) is one of his most famous novels. Retrospectively, it is considered the first dalit novel in Punjabi. It has acquired the status of a classic in Punjabi fiction. Apart from being translated in many Indian languages, it has been translated in Russian; the version selling ten lac copies. The movie version of the novel, produced in Hindi and Punjabi by National Film Development Corporation was critically much acclaimed. It bagged the best regional feature film award in 1990. Jagseer, the protagonist of the novel, was hailed as the first dalit hero in Punjabi fiction. Here, one is tempted to place the novel within the corpus of dalit writings. But, as is argues here, the text does not support such a reading. Whatever comes up during the course of the novel is only authentic experience. This authenticity is best understood if we compare this novel with Samskara. One readily realizes that Samskara lacks any direct negotiation with the reality. It is rather a distanced vision. The novelist ends up talking about himself rather than the society. Marhi Da Deeva, however, stems from direct experience.