Dr. Darshana Trivedi
Professor & Head ,
Department of English,
School of Languages,
Gujarat University,Ahmedabad
E-mail:-drshntrivedi@yahoo.in
(M) 9228391245 Abstract
Confronting the Power Structure: A Study of Dalit Self narratives from Humanistic Perspective
Dr.Babasheb Ambedkar in his speech “Annihilation of Caste” says:
You cannot build anything on the foundations of caste. You cannot build up a nation; you cannot build up a morality. Anything that you will build on the foundations of caste will crack and will never be a whole.
The above quoted lines of Dr.Ambedkar is the main ideology that constructs the notion of Dalit self narratives. Dalit self narratives focus …show more content…
These autobiographies form a different genre which has no roots in tradition or canon. Each self- narrative though an inscription of unending saga of suffering, is unique in its description. Writers like Sharankumar Limbale, Laxman Mane, Om Prakash Valmiki, Baby Kamble, Urmila Pawar, Bama to name a few, narrate their own experience of atrocities, injuries, subjugation of self due to their lower caste. They represent the quest for human identity which has been denied to them due to their subaltern status. A great deal of Dalit literature is available in the genre of life writing. These narratives seek to capture the authentic Dalit experience through the minute chronicling of the smallest detail of daily life which is crude, impure and uncivil. The anguish expressed in the self-narrative is not that of an individual but of the entire out cast society. As Limbale observes:
“Dalit self-narratives are a new and distinct stream of autobiography. It has contributed to Indian literature fresh experiences, a new sensitivity and vocabulary, a different protagonist, an alternative vision a new chemistry of suffering and revolt.” …show more content…
Dalit women are alienated at three levels-due to their caste, class and gender positions. Dalit women writers are small in number. A few of them have written their self-narratives in Indian languages. There are also few self-narratives available in narrated form. Sumitra Bhave’s Pan on Fire can be termed as a collection of “narrated autobiographies”, where eight Dalit women narrated their life story. As mentioned in the preface to the book the purpose of this collection was, “to find out a woman’s image of herself”.(Bhave. xvii) The eight Dalit women who narrated their life accounts were: Sanjeeta, Chhaya, Rukhma, Rukmini, Mangala, Ashoka,Savitri and Leela. They came from diverse backgrounds and were different from each other in age, education, religion, taste, choice, profession etc. however what is common about them is that all of them lived in various slums of Mumbai and represent a common slum culture. Frances Maria emphasis that, how each one of us can learn from the first hand experiences of these Dalit Women. She
Professor & Head ,
Department of English,
School of Languages,
Gujarat University,Ahmedabad
E-mail:-drshntrivedi@yahoo.in
(M) 9228391245 Abstract
Confronting the Power Structure: A Study of Dalit Self narratives from Humanistic Perspective
Dr.Babasheb Ambedkar in his speech “Annihilation of Caste” says:
You cannot build anything on the foundations of caste. You cannot build up a nation; you cannot build up a morality. Anything that you will build on the foundations of caste will crack and will never be a whole.
The above quoted lines of Dr.Ambedkar is the main ideology that constructs the notion of Dalit self narratives. Dalit self narratives focus …show more content…
These autobiographies form a different genre which has no roots in tradition or canon. Each self- narrative though an inscription of unending saga of suffering, is unique in its description. Writers like Sharankumar Limbale, Laxman Mane, Om Prakash Valmiki, Baby Kamble, Urmila Pawar, Bama to name a few, narrate their own experience of atrocities, injuries, subjugation of self due to their lower caste. They represent the quest for human identity which has been denied to them due to their subaltern status. A great deal of Dalit literature is available in the genre of life writing. These narratives seek to capture the authentic Dalit experience through the minute chronicling of the smallest detail of daily life which is crude, impure and uncivil. The anguish expressed in the self-narrative is not that of an individual but of the entire out cast society. As Limbale observes:
“Dalit self-narratives are a new and distinct stream of autobiography. It has contributed to Indian literature fresh experiences, a new sensitivity and vocabulary, a different protagonist, an alternative vision a new chemistry of suffering and revolt.” …show more content…
Dalit women are alienated at three levels-due to their caste, class and gender positions. Dalit women writers are small in number. A few of them have written their self-narratives in Indian languages. There are also few self-narratives available in narrated form. Sumitra Bhave’s Pan on Fire can be termed as a collection of “narrated autobiographies”, where eight Dalit women narrated their life story. As mentioned in the preface to the book the purpose of this collection was, “to find out a woman’s image of herself”.(Bhave. xvii) The eight Dalit women who narrated their life accounts were: Sanjeeta, Chhaya, Rukhma, Rukmini, Mangala, Ashoka,Savitri and Leela. They came from diverse backgrounds and were different from each other in age, education, religion, taste, choice, profession etc. however what is common about them is that all of them lived in various slums of Mumbai and represent a common slum culture. Frances Maria emphasis that, how each one of us can learn from the first hand experiences of these Dalit Women. She