The Life of the Dalit People Reflected in Pudhumaipithan's "Thunpakkeni"

Abstract

At the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century, the farmers of Tamil Nadu, affected by the wrong agricultural policies of the British, migrated to different places for their livelihood. The tea plantations of Sri Lanka, the rubber plantations of Burma, and the sugarcane plantations of Fiji, created by the British, lured them in like the gates of heaven. Various pieces of literature have recorded the sufferings and hardships of the people who went to live in these areas. Among the records, the work that received the most attention was the writer's "Thunpakkeni." In this short story, the writer documents the painful life faced by economically and caste-oppressed people who travel to the tea plantations of upland Sri Lanka. This article seeks to learn about the lives of Dalits at the time through a story written by the innovator and published in Manikodi magazine from March 1935 to April 1935.