Bama’s Sangati: A Traumatic Chain of Gender Discrimination

Abstract

Sangati (1994), a novel in translation from Tamil to English, is the second work of Bama (b.1958) also known as Bama Faustina Soosairaj, a Dalit feminist. It is a unique novel without any marked plot or central character, and it seeks to explore the impact of a number of discriminations suffered by Dalit Christian women. This paper is a realistic investigation into the text of the novel to find out the events of gender discrimination resulting into subjugation and marginalization of women especially Dalit women, like Velliaiyamma, Mariamma, Thayi, Vasuki, Maikkani, Maikkani’s mother, Esakki and the narrator herself. All of them are exploited by the male members of their family as well as society and bear the traumatic behaviour at every step of their pathetic lives. In the broad light of day, they are entertained as the home servants and in darkness of night; they are treated as an object of sexual satisfaction. Women have been declared as misbegotten and treated as animals, objects of sexual pleasure, and slaves of men who have their birthrights to exploit, to beat, to burn them alive and so on.