Relevance of Dalit Life Narratives: A Contextual Study of Urmila Pawar’s ‘The Weave of My Life: A Dalit Woman’s Memoirs’

Revathi M Anil

doi:10.24113/ijellh.v8i12.10868

Abstract

Urmila Pawar’s autobiography Aaydan (The Weave of My Life: A Dalit Woman's Memoirs) is a moving saga of a socially deprived woman who fights all odds in life. Pawar narrates the pitiable tales of three generations of Dalit women driven deeper into invisibility by the patriarchy. In her memoir, Pawar not only shares her tireless efforts to surmount hideous personal tragedies but also conveys the excitement of an awakening consciousness among the Dalit community. This paper explores the relevance of Dalit autobiography in the present scenario with particular reference to Urmila Pawar's autobiography The Weave of My Life: A Dalit Woman's Memoirs. She delicately navigates her readers through her long journey from the harsh landscape of the Konkan region to Mumbai, first as a Mahar and later as a woman as she challenged the conventions of both caste and gender to emerge as an activist and strong literary voice. Urmila Pawar is an Indian writer and activist, born in a Hindu Mahar family in Maharashtra. Apart from The Weave of My Life she has published several short story collection which talk about the caste-class and gender axes in everyday life. She is a prominent figure in the Dalit and feminist movements. Her writings are hailed as a critique of social discrimination.

Highlights

Autobiographies are part of a literary genre that brings personal accounts of life into public domain
To Dalit writers, autobiography, in realistic sense is not about the mere facts and events related to the achievements and failure of their personal life, it is about a political act by their choice to interpret it from a Dalit point of view and make sense of these events to assert Dalit identity
Remarkable in many ways, her autobiography demonstrates the deep fissures between feminist movement and movements for uplift of lower castes

Summary

Introduction

Autobiographies are part of a literary genre that brings personal accounts of life into public domain. Keywords – Caste, Dalit feminism, Gender, Life narrative, Outcaste The autobiographies of many Dalit women writers unveiled the worse living conditions of Dalit women and how they are degraded, demoralized, exploited and kept uneducated in our society.

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Conclusion