Preliminary Remarks on Dalit Poetry

Abstract

Dalit literature originally emerged in the Marathi language as a literary response to the everyday oppressions of caste in mid-twentieth-century independent India, critiquing caste practices by experimenting with various literary forms. Subsequently, Dalit literature emerged as a remarkable phenomenon in various Indian languages. By commenting on a selection of poems from Marathi, Telugu, Tamil, and Malayalam, this essay introduces Dalit poetry against the backdrop of the various historical contexts within which they emerged. It suggests that though the anticaste consciousness that developed in Maharashtra (in western India) played an influential role in Dalit poetry, the distinct historical contexts and specific concerns of various vernacular publics were what shaped the poetry in each language. The essay also suggests that Dalit poetry does not sit easily with the nomenclature of “Indian literature” or “Indian writing” due to the ways in which the concept “Dalit” emerged as a critique of national identity.