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{{short description|Indian Dalit anthropologist}}
{{Use Indian English|date=July 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2020}}
'''Chuni Kotal''' was a [[Dalit (outcaste)|Dalit]] [[Adivasi]] of [[Lodha people|Lodha]] [[Shabar]] tribe, a [[Scheduled castes and scheduled tribes|Scheduled Tribes of India]], who in 1985 became the first woman graduate among the Lodha Shabars.

Her death through suicide on 16 August 1992, after years of harassment by officials, united the Lodha Shabar community in a big way. Eventually her story was highlighted by noted writer-activist [[Mahasweta Devi]] in her book in Bengali, ''Byadhkhanda'' in (1994), ( ''The Book of the Hunter'' (2002))<ref>{{usurped|[https://web.archive.org/web/20081201143111/http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/lr/2002/07/07/stories/2002070700220500.htm Forgotten tales]}} [[The Hindu]], 7 July 2002.</ref>

Har Na Mana Har (2021) is a Bengali novel has been written by Subhabrata Basu based on her tragic life

==Biography==
Born in 1965, in village Gohaldihi, in [[Paschim Medinipur district]], [[West Bengal]], into a poor Lodha family with 3 brothers and 3 sisters, Chuni Kotal survived a childhood of impoverishment to become the first woman from a 'primitive' tribe to complete High School. Thereafter, she got her first job as a Lodha [[Social worker]] in 1983 at Jhargram ITDP office, surveying local villages.

Eventually she graduated in [[anthropology]] from [[Vidyasagar University]], in 1985.<ref>''Economic and Political Weekly'', she was the first lodha graduate women. Published by Sameeksha Trust., 1985. ''Page 1467''</ref><ref>''Dust on the Road: The Activist Writings of Mahasweta Devi'', by Mahasveta Devi, Maitreya Ghatak. Published by Seagull Books, 1997. {{ISBN|81-7046-143-X}}. ''The Story of Chuni Kotal - Page 136''.</ref> Two years after graduating, she was appointed as a Hostel superintendent at 'Rani Shiromoni [[SC and ST]] Girls' Hostel' at [[Medinipur]], here again she had to face the social stigma attached with her tribe.<ref name=change/>

Trouble really began for her when she joined the Masters course ([[MSc]]) at the local [[Vidyasagar University]]. Here she was allegedly discriminated against university administrators, who refused to give her the requisite pass grades, despite her having fulfilled the criteria, who opined that a low-born person coming from a "criminal tribe", a [[Denotified tribes of India|Denotified tribe of India]], hence did not have the social privilege and pre-ordained destiny to study "higher discourse" like the social sciences.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=Yib9wsfFMdQC&pg=PA18&dq=Chuni+Kotal&as_brr=0 Introduction] ''Contested Belonging: An Indigenous People's Struggle for Forest and Identity in Sub-Himalayan Bengal'', by B. G. Karlsson, Published by Routledge, 2000. {{ISBN|0-7007-1179-1}}. ''Page 18-19''.</ref> In 1991, after losing two years at the course, she complained, and a high level enquiry commission was set up by the state Education minister to no avail, once the fact that she belonged to a former criminal tribe came to light.<ref name=change/>

==Death==
On 14 August 1992, frustrated by years casteist and racist harassment at Medinipur, she left Medinipur and went to meet her husband, Manmatha Savar, who had been working at Railway workshop at [[Kharagpur]]. They had known each other since 1981 and later married in 1990 through a court marriage; Manmatha was a high school graduate himself. It was here that she committed suicide on 16 August 1992, at the age of 27.<ref name=change>''The Changing Status of Women in West Bengal, 1970-2000: The Challenge Ahead'', by Jasodhara Bagchi, Sarmistha Dutta Gupta. Published by SAGE, 2005. {{ISBN|0-7619-3242-9}}. ''Tribal Women - Page 141''.</ref><ref>''Economic and Political Weekly'', Published by Sameeksha Trust., 29 August 1992. Page 1836.</ref>

Her death became the focal point of immense political, human rights and social controversy in the media in West Bengal, and eastern India,<ref>''Human Rights: Theory and Practice'', by Debi Chatterjee, Sucheta Ghosh, Sumita Sen, [[Jadavpur University]] Dept. of International Relations. Published by South Asian Publishers, 2002. {{ISBN|81-7003-247-4}}. ''Page 128''.</ref><ref>''Environment and Women Development: Lessons from Third World'', by G. K. Ghosh. Published by Ashish Publishing House, 1995. {{ISBN|81-7024-674-1}}. ''Page 270''.</ref><ref>[http://asnic.utexas.edu/asnic/sagar/fall.1994/dec.94.fn.html "Chuni Kotaler Attohota" (The Suicide of Chuni Kotal)] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/19980201081830/http://asnic.utexas.edu/asnic/sagar/fall.1994/dec.94.fn.html |date=1 February 1998 }} [[Anandabazar Patrika]], 20 August 1992."Debashish Bhottacharjo, "Amader Progotir Mukhosh Khule Dilen Chuni Kotal, Tanr Jibon Diye" (By Losing Her Life, Chuni Kotal Has Taken Away Our Progressive Mask)"</ref> where the discourse is traditionally [[Brahmin]]-[[Baniya]] dominated. However, her death did not receive the attention of [[Indian American]] social science professors as it did among Western social scientists who were studying the [[Indian caste system]], like Professor Nicholas B. Dirks at [[Columbia University]] and Professor Jan Breman at the [[University of Amsterdam]].

Upon her death, Bangla Dalit Sahitya Sanstha, [[Kolkata]], organized a mass movement through different seminars and street corners, street play protesting against university teachers, on the street of Kolkata.<ref>[http://www.dalitmirror.com/topic1.html Why Dalits in West Bengal are on Protest] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080827150943/http://www.dalitmirror.com/topic1.html |date=27 August 2008 }} ''dalitmirror''.</ref> Since 1993, it organizes the Annual ''Chuni Kotal Memorial Lecture'' in [[Kolkata]] every year.<ref>[http://nandigramunited.blogspot.com/2008/01/home-about-us-contact-us-community.html 13th Chuni Kotal Memorial Lecture]</ref> Later a motivational video film has been produced on her life story by Department of Education, [[Govt. of India]]<ref>[http://education.nic.in/cd50years/12/8I/74/8I740902.htm Media and Communication Supports] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090410155941/http://education.nic.in/cd50years/12/8I/74/8I740902.htm |date=10 April 2009 }} Department of Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development, '' [[Govt. of India]] ''.</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
*{{usurped|[https://web.archive.org/web/20081201143111/http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/lr/2002/07/07/stories/2002070700220500.htm Forgotten Tales]}} Review of Mahasweta Devi's ''The Book of the Hunter'' by Uma Mahadevan-Dasgupta in ''[[The Hindu]]''. Retrieved 23 March 2007.

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kotal, Chuni}}
[[Category:Scheduled Tribes of India]]
[[Category:People from Paschim Medinipur district]]
[[Category:Indian anthropologists]]
[[Category:Indian caste leaders]]
[[Category:Victims of human rights abuses]]
[[Category:Suicides in India]]
[[Category:1965 births]]
[[Category:1992 deaths]]
[[Category:Discrimination in India]]
[[Category:Vidyasagar University alumni]]
[[Category:Indian women activists]]
[[Category:Indian women anthropologists]]
[[Category:Dalit women]]
[[Category:Indian women social scientists]]
[[Category:Scientists from West Bengal]]
[[Category:Dalit activists]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian educators]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women scientists]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian social scientists]]
[[Category:Women scientists from West Bengal]]
[[Category:Activists from West Bengal]]
[[Category:Adivasi activists]]
[[Category:Adivasi women]]
[[Category:Educators from West Bengal]]
[[Category:Women educators from West Bengal]]
[[Category:20th-century anthropologists]]
[[Category:20th-century women educators]]

Chuni Kotal - Revision history

Red apple learning: add layout as per guidelines and fixed typos to improve readability

>GreenC bot: Reformat 2 archive links. Wayback Medic 2.5