Dalit Writers Research Articles

Public health as critique: examining the caste of filth and disease in Katherine Mayo’s Mother India

Drawing on Dalit writer Kanwal Bharti’s 2019 translation of Katherine Mayo’s Mother India (1927), this essay argues that through the employment of a radical anti-caste reading practice, the original text yields a powerful critique of Hindu caste structures and Hindu supremacist ideologies that assume a new significance in contemporary India. An against-the-grain reading of Mayo’s emphasis on life and health as opposed to casteized purity, when unmoored from the author’s original intentions, offers a vision of public health that operates in conjunction with the social, and can be reclaimed to the advantage of the marginalized and dispossessed. In its emphasis on the impact of colonial modernity on marginalized lives in colonial India, the text finds an intriguing alignment with radical anti-caste politics. This solidarity between what is widely recognized as a colonialist critique on the one hand, and radical anti-caste thought on the other, I argue, is a reminder of the uneasy relationship between colonial politics, Hindu nationalism, and anti-caste politics that sought to use colonial rule to strategically counter Hindu supremacy.

Exploring Self-Reflexivity in Selected Dalit Literatures

Dalit literature, which emerged prominently in the 1970s and 1980s, represents a significant shift in Indian literary and cultural discourse. It is deeply connected to the Dalit Panther Movement in Maharashtra, which sought to confront and challenge entrenched caste hierarchies and social injustices. Historically, Indian literature has been dominated by upper-caste perspectives, which marginalized lower-caste voices and reinforced existing social structures. Dalit literature disrupts this hegemony by foregrounding the experiences of those historically marginalized, challenging traditional literary canons that glorify upper-caste perspectives and advocating for a redefined cultural legitimacy. Self-reflexivity, a process of critical self-examination within social contexts, plays a crucial role in Dalit writings. It involves reflecting on one’s identity and its formation within oppressive socio-cultural frameworks. Dalit literature often explores the interplay between spatial identity and caste discrimination, emphasizing how physical and social spaces are laden with historical and cultural meanings. This reflexivity enables Dalit writers to question and reconfigure their identities in response to systemic inequalities. Historically, Dalit writings can trace their roots back to Vedic traditions that justified caste hierarchies. Figures like Sharankumar Limbale and Eleanor Zelliot highlight how Dalit literature is a counter-narrative to these oppressive traditions. Early Dalit writers, influenced by social reformers like B.R. Ambedkar and movements such as Bhakti, used their works to critique caste-based injustices and advocate for social change. Education has been a transformative force in Dalit autobiographies, serving as a means for personal and societal advancement. Despite historical resistance to the education of untouchables, British colonial reforms and missionary schools played a pivotal role in improving educational access. Figures like Jyotiba Phule further advanced educational opportunities for marginalized communities, challenging entrenched social norms and promoting empowerment through learning.

Identity Portrayal of Dalit Characters, Class and Culture: Comparative Study on Novels Written by Dalit and Non-Dalit Novelists

The paper attempts to explore the identity portrayals of Dalit characters, their class, and culture in the Nepali texts by both Dalit and Non-Dalit writers. KoAchut? (Who is Untouchable?) by MuktinathTimsena and NayāGhar (New Home) by Bishowbhakta Dulal, are selected two novels to examine the issue of Dalit characters, class, and culture. The study employs a qualitative method, particularly textual analysis for the interpretation. The data have been meticulously extracted from the novels to compare and contrast the internal dispositions and external socio-cultural interactions of the characters represented by the writers from both mainstream community and marginalized ones in Nepali surrounding. Major drawing from Stuart Hall's opinion of discursive identity and representation in cultural studies, the study tries to include the supportive perspectives from scholars such as Chris Barker, Eagleton, and Foucault, as well as insights from Indian writers like Vandana Bhatta, Ghanshyam, and Neha Arora to augment the textual analysis. The findings emphasize a recurring theme of class struggle in both narratives, showcasing Dalit characters wrestling with poverty and disenfranchisement while non-Dalit counterparts are positioned as prosperous and influential figures. A notable discrepancy emerges as Dalit characters are relegated to minor roles, contrasting with the predominant roles given to non-Dalit characters. Interestingly, Dalit writer draws from personal experiences and real-life events while non-Dalit writer only speculates on the complex development and dogmatic progression of Dalit characters. This research sheds light on the socio-cultural complexity within Dalit literature, emphasizing the implication of comparative scrutiny in addressing the societal subtleties surrounding culture, privilege, and representation.

Exploring the Dynamic Relationship Between Caste and Gender in Bama’s Two Novels

This research explores the dynamic relationship between gender and caste in the select novels of Bama, a prominent Tamil Dalit writer. Drawing on feminist and Dalit literary theories, this study analyzes Bama’s novels, Karukku and Sangati, to reveal the nuanced ways in which gender and caste intersect that shape the lives of Dalit women. Through close readings of Bama’s narratives, the article highlights the systemic violence, discrimination, and marginalization faced by Dalit women. She fearlessly scrutinizes the role of family, church, school, and government in inflicting both physical and psychological harm on the Dalit community. She emphasizes the need for collective struggle against this systemic favoritism as the key to individual liberation. Bama’s literary work brings to the fore the critical importance of comprehending the complex interplay between gender and caste in the context of oppression. Through her writing, she illuminates the agency and unwavering determination of Dalit women as they strive for social justice and equality.

Ink and Resilience: Understanding Bangla Dalit Narratives

Interviews with Bangla Dalit Authors is a collection of interviews of Bangla Dalit writers conducted by Jaydeep Sarangi. This review is an attempt to read the book as a repository of personal information about the writers; their collective narratives of Dalits in Bengal; and how social changes, historical events, and cultural movements have influenced the Dalit literary movement in Bengal.

Translation as Process and Protest: Reading the Tradition of Malayalam Dalit Writing in Translation

The proposed paper attempts to situate the layered stakes involved in translating Dalit literature from Malayalam to English. Dalit writers while envisioning their literature as a mode to establish their visibility and dissent have also observed how language itself has limitations in conveying their radical politics. Their counterhegemonic writings are often ignored or labeled “uncouth” for the literary public. Through a reading of Pulayathara (1962), we examine the following questions – Do errors in the English translations of Dalit literature always result in what Venuti calls, the “ethnocentric violence” of a culture? How does the lack of cohesive readership, given the fact that the target audience can be both foreigners and a wide cross-section of heterogeneous Indians, complicate the translator’s job? We argue that translations of Dalit literature from Malayalam to English contest caste-determined regimes of writing and reading, making the project a subversive force that challenges established power structures.

Resistance and Resilience: A Critical Study of Bama’s Vanmam

This paper aims to analyze how Dalit women are portrayed in literature in Bama's Vanmam. The current study looked specifically at how caste and gender interact in Vanmam, with an emphasis on how Dalit women are portrayed there. The second half of the 20th century saw a thriving output of Tamil-language works by Dalit writers, who are thought to have explored the writers' responses to issues related to the Dalit community's caste identity and its interaction with a gendered social matrix. The book being studied depicts a ten-year proactive involvement in Tamil literary discourse that gave rise to a fresh, lively voice that challenged literary and cultural clichés, establishing new benchmarks and novel perspectives on literary frameworks. Dalit women are depicted as continuously weeping, wailing, wishing for male protection, cursing their femininity, and lamenting their incapacity to maintain their chastity on their own. Instead of being portrayed as fighters like in Bama's novels, they are shown as victims. Dalit women are victims of sexual violence.

A Study of Dalit Literature: Giving Voice to the Unvoiced

The word "Dalit" connotes people who are impoverished, oppressed, abused, and in need. The origin of the Indian caste system is not a widely accepted theory. There are several forms of inequality that give rise to social prejudice in every civilised community. Additionally, it is dressed in "Casteism" in India. The subaltern literary voices of the tribals, Dalits, and other minority groups were absent from discourses tailored to the tastes of the nobility. The dalits are denied their basic rights to equality, property ownership, and education. Dalit literature thus arises as a voice for all those marginalised, oppressed, and exploited populations who have long suffered from societal injustice and exploitation. The liberation of Dalits from this never-ending slavery is the central theme of Dalit literature. Dalits, who feel that the social order is to blame for their downfall, utilise their works as a weapon to express their rage. They have finally awakened from their extended sleep and are aware of their identities as humans. The Dalit awareness of their identity and self-realization has been a major theme in a variety of colourful and diverse creative writings. It is also highly praised in the works of many other authors, including Mahasweta Devi, Bama, Arjun Dangle, D. Gopi, and many more. The suffering that the Dalit writers depict is not unique to them; rather, it is the suffering of the entire marginalised community. The main goal of this article is to demonstrate, how Dalit writers break the taboo around the unreported exploitation of Dalits in our nation through their literary works. And how these silenced voices are now being unleashed through Dalit literature. This paper attempts to understand the vision and voice of the Dalits and their transformation from silent, helpless objects of history to active, self-aware subjects. The reasons behind the growth of Dalit literature, its effects on contemporary society, the socioeconomic status of Dalits in India, and how they create their own history will all be examined in this paper.

The Journey of the Dalit Refugees in Bengal: A Comparative Study of Allen Ginsberg and Jatin Bala’s Poetry

Dalit literature seeks to present the struggles and experiences of the oppressed. Bengali Dalit literature has become a powerful tool for social and political action. It provides counter-narratives that talk about their experiences and realities. Bangla Dalit literature depicts the lives of refugees with sensitivity and empathy, emphasizing the struggles and resilience of those displaced from their homes and communities due to political, social and economic factors. The term “refugee” refers to a person who has been forced to flee their country of origin. A large part of the population had to leave their homes and migrate from East Bengal to West Bengal as part of the Partition of Bengal, mainly due to the communal tension. However, most of the refugees who migrated to West Bengal during the Bangladesh Liberation Movement in 1971 were mainly Dalits or other marginalized communities who faced discrimination and oppression in their homeland. Jatin Bala, one of the eminent Dalit writers and one of the refugees, himself reflected the pain and suffering of these Bengali Dalit refugees, on the other hand, Allen Ginsberg, the famous American writer Ginsburg, who visited Bangladesh amid the conflict, he also paints a sad picture of the loss of these Bengali refuges in his long poem “September On Jossor Road”. This study aims to carry out a comparative study of the representations of the two authors about these refugees.

Voicing the Voiceless Dalits with Special reference to Bama’s Karukku

In India, Dalit Literature has become a prominent concept or genre in the field of literature in several Indian languages. Dalit literature is a distinct genre that offers a voice to those who have experienced humiliation, exploitation, marginalization, and revolt in India's underprivileged communities. The discourse of the dissenting Dalit writer Bama Faustina, whose work provides a comprehensive and integrated portrayal of Dalit's suffering, gives Dalit literature a gendered perspective. Faustina Mary Fatima Rani, better known by her pen name Bama, she was lauded as India's first Dalit woman writer with her autobiography ‘Karukku’. Her work depicts the situation of Dalit women, about their suffering and persecution at the hands of patriarchs. This paper focuses on the suppressed voice of Dalits and represents Bama as a voice of Voiceless Dalits. 'Karukku' examines many forms of brutal persecution of Dalits, as well as the atrocities perpetrated upon oppressed women in the paraiyar caste. In light of the growing relevance and awareness of Dalit Literature, this research aims to depict the sufferings of women both inside and outside the community. This paper also tries to demonstrate how a Dalit woman expresses herself by accepting and embracing Dalit society's paradoxes.

Munshi Premchand and Dalit Literature: Breaking the Definition Gap

Of late ‘Dalit Literature’ as a literary genre has been in vogue. But even before the introduction of the term, ‘Dalit Literature’, we were blessed to have a great writer, Dhanpat Rai Srivastava known by his pen name Munshi Premchand who wrote some extraordinary texts to make the people understand how the colonial India was conflicted by religion, casteism, discrimination and exploitation of lower-class people or Dalits. In fact, through his writings he seems to emerge as a singularly powerful cultural symbol around which Dalit literary and political identities are constituted. It is undeniable that Dalits are still marginalised in one way or the other. But the contention arises with some of the works of Premchand for which he is being denominated as ‘anti-dalit’ recently by some Dalit writers and critics. This paper discusses the valuable contribution of Premchand to Dalit Literature and throws question on the existing definition of Dalit Literature.

Mapping the Poetics of Memory: A Critical Reading of Manoranjan Byapari’s Interrogating My Chandal Life as Cultural Archive

The article analyses the idea of a text as a cultural archive by mapping the question of personal and collective or social memory with particular reference to the acclaimed Bengali Dalit writer Manoranjan Byapari’s Interrogating My Chandal Life: An Autobiography of a Dalit. The memoir is a chronicler of the collective history of the marginal Namashudra community/ties of Bengal, their saga of pain and excruciating experiences of peripherality of existence that is perceived through the lens of the author. Located in the historical centre of the Dalit worldview, the autobiography investigates how the trajectories of collective histories, memories and shared identity of the Dalit community result in the emergence of what Derrida calls an ‘archive’ or a ‘palimpsest.’ Drawing on theories with regard to the role of cultural memory in the formation of a cultural archive, this article addresses questions as to how a text becomes a cultural archive and testimonies to history through the excavation and circulation of knowledge of the collective historical past.

The Necessity ofDalitude: Being Dalit in Urban and Academic Spaces in the Twenty-First Century in India

AbstractThis article examines the existing and emerging morphology of caste-based discrimination in urban and academic spaces in India. Practices of caste-based profiling are similar to racial profiling or policing but are not acknowledged as caste-based discrimination by the public and the law, since they do not match constitutionally recognized practices of discrimination like untouchability. Caste-based profiling is deeply ingrained in how upper-caste people in urban and academic spaces speak, read, and think. Profiling performs the same function as untouchability, since it weeds out the Dalit from public spaces that pretend to be liberal and secular. Profiling is part of a larger process of “casteization,” which ensures the continuation of caste-based discrimination in newer forms to maintain caste hierarchy and upper-caste hegemony. Profiling traps the urban Dalit in a conundrum with respect to self-representation—should they reveal their Dalit identity to build solidarity with the Dalit, Bahujan, and Adivasi community but risk social ostracization and stigmatization, or should they hide their Dalit identity and try to evade caste-based discrimination? This article defines the emphasis of a new political movement inaugurated by Dalit writers called “Dalitude,” which attempts to break out of this conundrum, challenges casteization, and aims to empower a lower-caste majority.

Destitutionalised Reading of Gender and Caste in Baburao Bagul’s Short Stories

In this research paper, I analyze the effects of institutionalised ways of reading ‘gender’ and ‘caste’ in Marathi literature with reference to Baburao Bagul, one of the important Dalit writers, short stories with the help of some notions and arguments from Antonio Gramsci’s Prison Notebooks, Jacques Derrida’s essay “Structure, Sign and Play in the Discourse of Human Sciences”, Aniket Jaaware’s essay “Destitute Literature” and the book Practicing Caste: On Touching and Not Touching. Baburao Bagul’s short stories re-valuated the established institutionalized reading practices of gender and caste in literature set by the Marathi writers and critics, mostly upper-caste, before the 1960s. However, other Dalit writers did not venture to re-valuate the representation of gender and caste in literature. Before the concept of ‘Destitute Literature’ was propounded by Aniket Jaaware, most of the reading/analysis of Marathi Dalit literature followed institutionalized ways of consumption of literature. The dominant practices of reading literature in academia as well as out of it did not spare even the scholars who claimed to be different from the hegemony. The descriptions and analysis of gender and caste were mostly on the grounds of identity politics. For example, all the essays in the Marathi book Samagra Lekhak: Baburao Bagul (Complete Writer: Baburao Bagul) edited by Dr. Krushna Kirwale offer the institutionalized readings of Bagul’s stories, their form, content, and the characters. I attempt to critique such earlier writings and criticism written on Baburao Bagul’s stories and re-read the stories in destitutionalised way.

Writing as Resistance

The paper analysed the novel Koogai (2015), written by Cho. Dharman. The paper looked at the alternative discourses in the text. The paper owed theoretical framework from Nancy Fraser’s idea of counterpublic. The paper dives deeper into the text to underline the relevance of language, motifs, myths and legends to create a counter narrative against the established narrative. I have attempted to provide an insight regarding how Dalit writers interrogate the casteist public sphere to posit writing as the means of registering protest and asserting their voices.

Theme of Resistance in The Prison We Broke and The Weave of My Life

In this paper I want to explore the theme of Resistance which is very common in Dalit writings. Sometimes their resistance is against the dominant class, sometimes it is against economic deprivation and the other time it is strongly against the age old caste system. Earlier Dalit Literature was not given a prominent place in the mainstream literature but by the efforts of Dalit writers this scenario has been changed. Today Dalit Literature has acquired a significant place amongst other literature. In fact, Dalit Literary Studies have also been introduced in several universities. The notion of Caste is very crucial for understanding the system of structural inequalities. Dalits have often been marginalized and oppressed in several ways. Therefore, it can be said that this discrimination was the major factor which gave birth to resistance. Although, the term “resistance” should not only be seen in a negative manner because sometimes resistance is very essential in bringing up a social transformation in the society. I have selected two autobiographies namely The Prison We Broke and The Weave of My Life which are written by dalit female writers to depict the discriminatory system prevailed in the society and the harsh realities faced by dalit people. Autobiographies are generally considered personal narratives which provide a first-hand account of their experience and struggle for human dignity. For many Dalit writers literature has becomes a medium to raise their voice against the evil power of oppression and injustice. In their narratives they depict how their people have been exploited and treated inhumanly in everyday social life. Thus, these poor down trodden people ended up in a life full of pain and misery. In the last section I also want to discuss the role of B. R. Ambedkar in spreading awareness amongst the masses regarding their rights. He believed that the role of education is very important for social emancipation and eliminating the discriminatory attitude of upper caste people.

From Tattered Past to Triumphant Present: Weaving Partitioned Lives by a Dalit Girl-child in Kalyani Thakur Charal’s Novella Andhar Bil O Kicchu Manush

Inherited memory reflects the intensity of the impact of incidents, experienced by the ancestors on the descendants, and in the case of the partition of Bengal, these memories of memories are about both the violence-induced partition and its distressful reverberations as well as about the amiable and delightful past habitation in East Bengal. However, the awful commotion that the survivors confront steals all the researchers’ attention, pushing the amicable exhibition in the past land to the background. Again, the transportation of memory to the second generation of these refugees assists them to reconstruct as well as to dismantle the eulogized notion of the lost land and look to analyze the past incident in a more pragmatic way that consequently leads to a dichotomous intellection of the two generations, as can be found in the novella Andhar Bil O Kicchu Manush (Waterbody Named Andhar and Some People) by Bengali Dalit writer Kalyani Thakur Charal. The juvenescence dealing with the postmemory of past times by the progeny of the refugees, more specifically by a Dalit girl in this novella, paves the way for further study on the class, caste, and gendered space of Dalit women in partitioned Bengal from the perspective of a child. A deductive, analytical, and objective method has been used in this research to comprehend the factual local historiography of a particular community in a specific locality of the border region of West Bengal through a fiction based on the collective memory of the populace.

Representational Space as Cultural Production in Dalit Text

This article discusses how space works in the narrative world of a Dalit writer and how space is evolved for a writer to represent and register their perspectives. A Dalit writer’s representation can be evolved from recognition of themselves within their community and place. It happens in a particular period when the writer realizes their identity as Dalit. The cultural production happens through language when the experience is penned down. The fullest expression of the writer is so vivid when the narrative space is supple. This article involves Sharan Kumar Limbale’s Outcaste and Yashica Dutt’s Coming Out as Dalit. These two autobiographical novels talk about the spatial influence, importance, changes, and reproduction of culture through language, and their text is explained. Auto-narration is more important in the aspect of Dalit writing and it is being explained here the importance of it. The auto narrative of a Dalit writer gives an extended meaning to the text.

Dalit Literary Discourse : Mapping the Journey from Pain to Tale

The Present paper traces the journey of Dalit Literature in India andrepresentation of Dalit Characters in the works of Indian Writers.Dalits, the marginalized, outcastes, have undergone a long period ofhard sufferings and travails till Dalit Literature has come of an age inPost- Independence Era with some canonical Indian texts by thewriters like Premchand. Dalit Literature in India emerged for the firsttime in Marathi and from thereon it went on in other Southern statesand then to Northern regions of India. The paper also interweaves init the famous Dalit Charatcers like Gangi, Velutha, Bakha of theUntouchables Chamar family of A Fine Balance; Dalits Portrayed byBama. Towards An Aesthetics of Dalit Literature is a famous criticalwork in the area of Dalit Literature by Dalit writer Sharan KumarLimbale. The literary works voiced the community's pangs and itbecame united resultantly to find a better treatment in the society andbecame united for their cause. Its aestheticism lies in the challengesand pains borne by the Dalits. Dalit works are an emancipation of thecommunity.

JOSEPH MACWAN’S THE STEP CHILD AND RICHARD WRIGHT’S THE OUTSIDER: COMPARISON OF SUBJUGATION ACROSS THE BOARDERS

The subjugation of the Dalits in India and the Blacks in the USA has been the result of slavery imposed on them. Out of these traumatic conditions, African American writers started their revolt against this dehumanization through the words. Dalit writers also began their protest through their literature. Their writing is not just for literary satisfaction but the manifestation of their angst against marginality. The literature that was produced by writers, who themselves had experienced at first hand, the oppression and subjugation, issued out of the cores of their bleeding hearts. Joseph Macwan’s the Stepchild presents the painful voice of the Dalits from Gujarat, an Indian State. From the beginning of the novel, the Dalits suffer due to their caste. They protest and in return they have to suffer more. Teeha, a brave Dalit, cannot resist against the power of the Upper Castes. His untimely death puts the novel among the marginal novels. Their marginality can’t be removed. In The Outsider, the same plight is discussed by Richard Wright. The lives of Blacks are depicted with such a painful dilemma out of which they want to come. Here also in The Outsider, Damon’s murder alarms for the very fundamental questions. He can hide his real identity due to his intellect. But at the end, he is victimized and made a prey of the Communist party. His existential quest is due to his being marginalized. The names under which suffering is imposed and the reasons for which marginality advocated may be different. But subjugation, with any name, for any reason, is imposed on the inferior groups by the superior communities for centuries. The paper tries to explore those reasons, focuses on its impacts and suggests reconciliations as the texts suggest some hopeful solutions.