Dalit Literature

T.Y.B.
A
SEMESTER – VI
PROJECT WORK – II
PROJECT TOPIC - DALIT LITERATURE – PIONEER OF INDIAN

MODERNITY
PROJECT GUIDE – DR. SACHIN KETKAR
SUBTOPIC – I
INTRODUCTION
 WHO ARE DALITS?
 HISTORY OF DALITS
 WHAT IS DALIT LITERATURE
INTRODUCTION: WHO ARE DALITS?
AND THEIR HISTORY.
The Indian Caste system is divided into four main social groups
– Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras. These main
castes are further divided into about 3,000 castes and 25,000
sub-castes, each based on their specific occupation. Outside of
this whole system of caste come the people called as ‘Achhoots’
literally meaning ‘Untouchables’. A large section of people who
are abandoned and left unacknowledged. They face
discrimination and even violence from members of higher castes
in every matter including access to jobs, education and even
basic necessities for survival. The belief is that people who have
been ungrateful in their past life, pay for their misbehaviours by
being born as ‘Untouchable’. Untouchables performed or were
forced into performing spiritually contaminating work, such as
preparing bodies for funerals, tanning hides and killing rats.
Doing anything even remotely related to cleaning waste or
touching dead was believed to corrupt the soul of the worker
and hence these duties were handed over to ‘Untouchables’.
This practice was recognized and shunned with the coming of
the British Raj in 19th century, partly because the concept of
reincarnation was strange to them. Many Indian reformers took
up the cause. During the fight for independence, Mahatma
Gandhi named them as ‘Harijans’ meaning ‘children of god’ to
emphasize their humanity. Jyoti Rao Phule coined the term
‘Dalit’ – the literal meaning of the word in Sanskrit is ‘Broken’
or ‘Scattered’. The term Dalit was the beginning of the later
movement ‘The Dalit Movement’. Soon the term ‘Dalit’ was
referred to people belonging to the caste ‘untouchables’ who
acknowledged the unfairness of the system and the suffering
inflicted upon ‘Untouchables’ and other lower castes. Following
the Independence of India in 1947, these social groups were
identified as ‘scheduled castes’ under the new constitution,
singling them out for consideration and assistance. Scheduled
Caste communities exist across India, they do not share a single
language or religion. They now profess various religious beliefs,
including Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism and Christianity. As
per the latest census, they comprise 16% of India's population
(200 million people). The term ‘Dalit’ was popularised by B.R
Ambedkar, although he included all depressed people
irrespective of their caste into the definition of Dalits. In 1932,
the British Raj recommended separate electorates to select
leaders for Dalits in the Communal Award. This was favoured
by Ambedkar but when Mahatma Gandhi opposed the proposal
it resulted in the Poona Pact. That in turn influenced the
Government of India Act, 1935, which introduced the
reservation of seats for the Depressed Classes, now renamed as
Scheduled Castes. It is said that, untouchability came to India
around 400 AD due to the conflict of supremacy between
Buddhism and Brahmanism. Eknath, an excommunicated
Brahmin, fought for the rights of untouchables during the Bhakti
Period. Historical examples of Dalit priests include Chokhamela
in the 14th century, who was India's first recorded Dalit poet.
Due to isolation from the rest of Hindu society, many Dalits
continue to debate whether they are "Hindu" or "non-Hindu".
WHAT IS DALIT LITERATURE?

Dalit literature is an important stream of Indian writing in English and
other languages of India. It is literature about the oppressed classes
and caste of India. Dalit is not caste. It is a symbol of change and
revolution. Dalit Literature talks about the injustice and suffering
inflicted upon Dalits in India. A literature – for Dalits, by Dalits and to
Dalits. It criticises the India caste system and its flaws along with
description of their lives. Dalit Literature was a movement to bring
forth the voice of the unheard, silenced and the oppressed. Modern
Dalit writings are founded on the works and ideological insights of
Ambedkar, the chief architect of the constitution of India. Dalit
writing is in reparably tied to Dalit liberation movements in various
parts of India. Inspired by the ideology of B.R Ambedkar and Jyoti
Rao Phule, the modern movement for Dalit literature in India began
from Maharashtra and in Marathi language in the 1960s when the
Maharashtra Dalit Sahitya Sangh was established as an alternative
platform to the mainstream Marathi literature. Even prior to the
1960s, writers like Baburao Bagul, Shankarao Kharat, Anna Bhau
Sathe were expressing Dalit concerns and issues in their literature.
Baburao Bagul (1930–2008) is considered as a pioneer of Marathi
Dalit writings in Marathi. The movement for Dalit literature has later
spread to other languages like Gujarati, Punjabi, Hindi, Malayalam
and Bengali. Dalit literature has used all literary forms – poetry, short
stories, novels, plays and autobiographies in various languages. These
writings formed a collective voice that questioned through articulation
of their social reality the kind of writings that made them in visible or
distorted their identity. Most Dalit writers also believe that the
principal purpose of writing literature is to bring about social change
rather than recreation. As Baburao Bagul wrote, “Dalit Sahitya is not
a literature of vengeance. Dalit Sahitya is not a literature which
spreads hatred.

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T.Y.B.

PROJECT TOPIC - DALIT LITERATURE – PIONEER OF INDIAN

WHAT IS DALIT LITERATURE?

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