Dalit Literature

Dalit Literature

The demolition of caste walls intended to segregate Dalits from other caste Hindus still appears in our newspapers. This shows that casteism is still a cruel reality in our country. The caste system in India and the racism in America and other European countries have played and still

play an important role in destroying the self esteem and identity of the oppressed group – the Dalits. Erik.H.Erikson’s concept of “Pseudo speciation” explains the psychology of both the

masters and the victims.   Certain tribes, castes, or nations consider themselves superior to certain

other groups, as they believe that they are chosen by God. So instead of accepting the equality of all human beings they try to assert their superiority upon what they call the “inferiors” and torture

them.

Ralph Ellison, James Baldwin, Amiri Baraka and Ismael Reed are some of the few Afro-American writers who have lifted modern Afro-American literature to great heights and as the same time waging war against racialism.

Dalits could voice their bitterness at the caste prejudice and social oppression through their literature, only after the arrival of Dr. Ambedakar as an outstanding national leader with his revolutionary ideas for the social upliftment of the Dalits. The writers who had become familiar with the Black movements and literature established the political movement called the Dalit Panthers in Bombay in 1972. In their holy war for social justice, the Dalit writers portray their hopes and aspirations as also their fight for survival and their day to day life experience which are humiliating and degrading. Their view of protest also pervades their literature.

But the origin of Dalit literature goes back to 1950s. Siddartha Sahitya Sangha (1950) later known as Maharashtra Dalit Sahitya Sangha began the process of Dalit Literature as a movement

and convened its first literary conference in 1958 in Bombay. This inspired Dalit writers to take up their cause with great vigour. They spread Ambedkar’s message, later called Ambedkarism,

throughout Maharashtra.    One of the important decisions at the conference was the defining of

Dalit literature as that written by the Dalits themselves and also those written by others about the Dalits. The term “dalit” denotes “downtrodden” while Dalit literature does not simply mean the

literature of the downtrodden, but it is an expression of Dalit consciousness, their anxieties, their feeling, their experiences and their struggles. Dalit literature therefore is a product of new awareness and is a literature of protest too. Dalit writers view the established literature as an upper class one and hold the view that their literature is more in the tradition of great humanistic literature of the world.

Poisoned Bread, published in 1992 is an anthology of Dalit writing including poems, prose, and criticism translated from Marathi into English. The Oxford India Anthology of Malayalam Dalit Writing being published by Oxford University Press and co-edited by Dr M Dasan, Dr V Pratibha, Dr Pradeepan Pampirikunnu, and Dr CS Chandrika is a representative collection of the translations of Malayalam Dalit writings from the early 20th century to the present times. It really is an attempt to bring out the silenced and marginalized voices unrepresented until now. It includes a collection of Dalit writings in different genres (forms of literature) including poetry, short story, novel, biography, plays, and critical essays by thirty seven writers.