Research Journal of English Language and Literature (RJELAL)

Arunakumari S, 2021

This article tries to interact with Indian English fiction narratives and their representation within the academy as a nationwide, secularism, but mostly casteless land. That point raised is about the relationship between caste and the English language in respect to phenomena that are completely ignorant of scientific knowledge. Caste or Varna is certainly not the creation of God, the privileged class created this for their own selfish gains. Many great Scholars and writers like Dr. B R Ambedkar, Om Prakash Valmiki, Kancha Ilaiaah, Sharan Kumar Limbale, and others have taught a relentless battle against the caste system by their thoughts, ideas, and writings. All these writers, written Dalit as a character in their works called Dalit literature, Dalit literature is important because they allow the Dalits as minority groups to provide a window into how they can be resettled into society, interpreting the history and culture of India. During the colonial rule, the upper-class people were studying in England used to have to suffer, humiliation every step of their stay in England, even in train, college, the hotel they want to sit in the third class seat, these upper-class Indians were unaware that perhaps Dalits in India were condemned to even the most severe kinds of humiliated. The humiliation of the Indian elite at the hands of the British, and the humiliation of Dalits now at the clutches of upper caste people are the same.

Studies in Indian Place Names, 2020

India is well-known for its culture and traditions. It is one of the fastest emergent countries in the field of technologies and skills in the universe, yet, it is tarnished for its stubborn prevailing caste system. This paper proposes to examine the persisting socioeconomic condition of Dalits, and how it has been explicated by the Dalit writers through the genre of autobiographies. The study includes the scope of Dalit literature and how commendably they have attempted to achieve in uplifting their community. It discusses in detail, the socio-political experience and how the 'Varna System' functions in India. It also depicts a clear picture of Dalits' struggle for their basic human rights and liberation through autobiographies of eminent Dalit writers like Omprakash Valmiki, Bama, Daya Pawar, Baby Kamble and Urmila Pawar. This paper tries to show how Dalit writers throughout their writings bring to mind an imperative and frequent thematic alarm: a heedful protest against and refusal of the political and cultural supremacy of the caste Hindus. Dalit literature; openly investigates cultures and ideologies from a marginalized position and makes the voiceless to 'voice' on various issues like caste, class, race and gender.

Galaxy: International Multidisciplinary Research journal, 2014

The term ‘Dalit’ is synonymous with poor, exploited, oppressed and needy people. There is no universally acclaimed concept about the origin of Indian caste system. In every civilized society, there are some types of inequalities that lead to social discrimination. And in India, it comes in the garb of ‘Casteism’. The discourses catering to the gentry tastes did not include the subaltern literary voices of the tribals, Dalits and other minority people. The dalits are deprived of their fundamental rights of education, possession of assets and right to equality. Thus Dalit Literature emerges to voice for all those oppressed, exploited and marginalized communities who endured this social inequality and exploitation for so long. The major concern of Dalit Literature is the emancipation of Dalits from this ageless bondage of slavery. Dalits use their writings as a weapon to vent out their anger against the social hierarchy which is responsible for their degradation. After a so long slumber now, they have become conscious about their identity as a human being. This Dalit consciousness and self-realization about their identity has been centrally focused in various vibrant and multifarious creative writings and is also widely applauded in the works of Mahasweta Devi, Bama, Arjun Dangle, D. Gopi and in many more. The anguish represented by the Dalit writers is not that of an individual but of the whole outcast society. The primary concern of present paper is to show how Dalit writers shatter the silence surrounding the unheard exploitation of Dalits in our country in their writings? And how Dalit Literature has become a vehicle of explosion of these muffled voices. The paper makes an attempt to comprehend the vision and voice of the Dalits and their journey from voiceless and passive objects of history to self-conscious subject. The paper will also make a study of the reasons behind the development of Dalit Literature with its consequences on our society, social condition of Dalit in India and how they write their own history. Keywords: Self-realization, Identity, Exploitation, Caste, Subaltern

International Journal of English Literature and Social Sciences, 2019

Woman as such are generally believed to be oppressed and therefore sympathized and seen in perpetual plight. Michael Foucault has concentrated on the resistance strategies adopted by the oppressed. Foucault has a totally novel and refreshing point of view for power relations. What his work tries to do is move thinking about power beyond this view of power as repression of the powerless by the powerful to an examination of the way that power operates within everyday relations between people and institutions. Michael Foucault looks at powerful and oppressed in a positive way and that is the new angle through which I would like to analyze the female characters depicted. In this paper, I have attempted to look at the protagonist Virmati from Difficult daughters by Manju Kapur and her struggles against the powerful patriarchal systems as positive sites of resistance and not just sites of oppression. We can conclude that something new evolves from this power struggle which is a step closer to emancipation.

GNOSIS: An International Journal of English Language and Literature (ISSN 2394-0131), 2025

This paper attempts to examine the plight of the people of lower caste in post-independent India and the violence committed upon them from two perspectives by taking into consideration two different periods and two different types of violence perpetrated upon the Dalits of two different Indian states in both the fictional and natural world. It closely observes the character of Langar in Shrilal Shukla's (1925-2011) novel Raag Darbari (1968). It attempts to portray the sorry state of a Dalit individual in post independent Nehruvian India during the 1960s. It also traces the event of the infamous 'Khairlanji Murders' of 2006 to show the physical violence committed upon the Dalits after nearly 60 years of independence. It also tries to connect the real and fictional world using the element of disability: Shukla's fictional character, Langar, gets his name as well as his identity from being disabled, and on the other hand, Sudhir, one of the victims of the 'Khairlanji Murders’ was partially vision impaired which made him an easy prey for the lynching mob. Langar is a representative of Dalits in Raag Darbari who, on the one hand, faces an identity crisis because of his disability and, on the other hand, suffers a lot from unjust social oppression. Unlike Langar, Sudhir faces physical violence in the real world as a disabled, and his family is brutally murdered in the early decade of the 21st century. Using Anand Teltumbde’s discussion, this paper attempts to show that the type of oppression and the place of occurrence may change, but the Dalits always stayed at the receiving end of violence. Both the real and fictional events show the involvement of power and politics in caste, which leads to social, psychological, and, finally, physical violence against the Dalits. Foucault's idea of power can be related to it.

Dalit literature in English constitutes a formidable movement of courage and self-assertion. For generations, India's Dalit communities—historically designated as "untouchables"—endured systemic oppression under the caste hierarchy, their narratives either silenced or appropriated by dominant voices. This article analyzes how Dalit writers transform this reality through potent literary expression, converting personal trauma into collective resistance and reclaiming fundamental human dignity. The investigation specifically examines how authors, including Omprakash Valmiki, Bama Faustina, and Meena Kandasamy deploy literature to confront centuries of discrimination. Their work transcends mere documentation of suffering, innovating narrative forms that synthesize traditional folk idioms with contemporary literary techniques. The strategic adoption of English facilitates dual objectives: engaging educated Indian audiences often detached from caste based realities, and forging transnational connections with global struggles for human rights. Furthermore, the article traces the literary movement's emergence from the ideological foundations laid by Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, who conceptualized education as an instrument against caste subjugation. Critical attention is given to intersectional dimensions, particularly Dalit women's compounded struggle against caste and gender oppression. The analysis also evaluates the literature's societal impact: its role in reshaping educational curricula, catalyzing national discourse on privilege, and empowering new generations.

“The end of law is, not to abolish or restrain, but to preserve and enlarge freedom.” by John Lock The experience of marginalization and oppression makes an individual deeply mute, socially disabled and mentally down-trodden- the age old flaw of hierarchical society; and this social malaise of marginalization and caste discrimination happened to be examined by Tendulkar’s humanistic perspective- the vital, reformative and widely humane to expand the frontiers of thoughts across the society and the nation. Hence, “Tendulkar can be called a complete playwright in the tradition of Shakespeare. There is a total experience of life and he holds up a heightened reflection of society.” (SUNDAY HERALD 2003) Tendulkar, endowed with dramatic genius and vigilance of a cultural squad, probes deeply into the layers of the caste psychology in presenting before us the conflicting and traumatic relationship between Indian middle class and socially outcaste and marginalized communities. The postcolonial subject in India and elsewhere is oscillating between two kinds of rationality: one represented by traditional culture and thought, and the other by the modern Western discourses. It is Tendulkar who, on the stage, acknowledges that “The caste spirit has become dangerous in modern India, the various caste groups are not complementary to one another nor do they contribute to the integration of the community”. (Ravindarnathan 143) This conflict between two cultures, traditions, and civilizations becomes apparent in the works of Mahesh Elkunchwar, Girish Karnad and Mahesh Dattani and many others. To prevent society and humanity from shrinking and degeneration Tendulkar pleads for caste eradication and abolishment of caste subjugation. The playwright’s commitment of human values buttresses the philosophy of his theatre. Kanyadaan, contextualizing Dalit consciousness in Indian theatre, has marked Tendulkar off from the contemporary playwrights. The attempt of the paper is to throw light on Tendulkar’s

International Journal of Research and Analytical Reviews, 2025

Dalit literature serves as a powerful medium for articulating the struggles of the oppressed and marginalized communities in India. It brings forth narratives that expose the deeply entrenched caste-based discrimination and the structural violence faced by Dalits. More than just storytelling, it is a form of resistance against social injustice, chronicling the experiences of those who have been historically silenced. This literature highlights oppression in various forms-economic exploitation, social exclusion, physical violence, and sexual atrocities-while simultaneously voicing the resilience and resistance of the Dalit community. Within the spectrum of Dalit oppression, Dalit women endure double marginalization-as both Dalits and as womenmaking them more vulnerable to exploitation. They face sexual violence and harassment not only from uppercaste men who see them as easy targets due to their lower social status but also from men within their own communities. This intersection of caste and gender-based violence makes their struggle uniquely complex, as they are oppressed both within and outside their communities. P. Sivakami's novel The Grip of Change presents a stark portrayal of this oppression. The protagonist, Thangam, a Dalit widow, is sexually exploited by an upper-caste man and later subjected to brutal violence by her own community. She is publicly beaten and humiliated by her brother and brother-in-law, illustrating how Dalit women often become scapegoats for maintaining patriarchal and casteist honor. Beyond Thangam's story, the novel depicts how Dalit women suffer domestic violence at the hands of fathers, brothers, sons, and in-laws, reinforcing the idea that oppression exists not just in inter-caste relationships but also within Dalit families themselves. In this article I reflect on Gramsci"s terminilogy of the "subaltern", taking into consideration Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, in her seminal essay Can the Subaltern Speak?, critiques Western intellectual frameworks that claim to "speak for" the subaltern while actually reinforcing their silencing. Thus it is a postcolonial study of subalternity, expanding on Gramsci's concept by integrating postcolonial and feminist perspectives. While Gramsci analyzed subalternity in terms of class struggle and hegemony, Spivak critiques how Western intellectual discourse, colonialism, and patriarchy silence subaltern voices, particularly women.

Brandeis University USA, 2020

Dalit literature has been a major cultural artefact in struggles against caste-based oppression and discrimination. It not only negotiates a collective identity for Dalits but also introduces variability in negotiations for the same. This paper focuses on the nuances of one such negotiation-the making of a Hindi Dalit writer. At the theoretical backdrop of cultural psychology, utilizing the conceptual machinery of Zittoun, the paper analyzes the autobiographical narrative of Om Prakash Valmiki. It identifies the ruptures and the transitional processes in Valmiki's life. These processes of transitions include identity redefinition, knowledge and skills; and meaning making. These processes were facilitated by varied resources: social, cognitive and symbolic. Valmiki's relocation to a city led to the change in his frame of activity. Thereafter, at each stage of his life, his social circle widened, his cognitive skills got enhanced and symbolic resources were used at progressively higher level of reflexivity. The major social resources were found to be the people with whom he came in contact after relocating to the city. The cognitive resources were found to be Hindi mainstream literature, Marathi Dalit literature, and theatrical devices. The symbolic resources were the works of Phule, Ambedkar and Marx. Accessibility and utilization of all these resources eased the reconfiguration of the semiotic prism reifying his identity as a Hindi Dalit writer enabling him transform the caste-based experiences on the plane of fiction challenging the power hierarchy embedded in social reality.