Contemporary society is founded on the ideals of liberty, equality and justice yet Dalits have always remained on the periphery. As socially and culturally ostracizedcommunity, they were deliberately silenced and their tales of woe and oppression had remained unheard for a long time but fight for social justice brought about positive transformation in collective social-cultural consciousness. Cultural discourses accommodated marginalized voices and Dalit writings provided discursive space for negotiating social concerns. This article attempts to explore how far social consciousness is articulated through Dalit writings by analyzing a simplestory, TheStoreyedHouse by WamanHoval, a Marathi writer. The story centers round Bayaji,a Buddhist convert,
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“Dalit literature is the literature produced by the Dalit consciousness.Human freedom is the inspiration behind it.That is its implied value.The nature of this literature consists in arebellion against the suppression and humiliation suffered by the Dalits-in the past and even at present-in the framework of varnasystem.Afeeling of rebellion is invariably accompanied by an extreme psychological commitment.As Dalit sensibility seeks to bring about compatible changes in the social consciousness, it is rebellious as well as fundamentally optimistic and revolutionary”, saysSaratchandraMukthibodh in his essay, “What is Dalit Literature?”(Trans.by Anil .Kulkarni...” Poisoned Bread’ ’p …show more content…
But Kondiba Patil, Bhujaba and companions were filled with jealousy, “They eyed one another as if to say, ‘This untouchable worm has got a swollen head. He needs proper handling.’.”(Poisoned Bread,p 181-182) When it was two o’ clock in the morning the program gathered momentum and the house reverberated with devotional songs on Lord Buddha and Dr. Ambedkar. The song, ‘Take to heart the sweet advice of Bhimaraya and bow down to Buddha for the emancipation of the whole world. I fly to the refuge of lord Buddha, I fly to the refuge of the Faith; I fly to the refuge of the Faithful.’.”(Poisoned Bread,p 182) filled the place with joy, then the ‘undreamt of incident’ occurred. Bayaji’shouse caught fire from all sides. He ran around frantically crying ‘My house, my storeyed house! It’s on fire. My enemy has taken revenge on me. .”(Poisoned Bread,p 182) He climbed up, pulled the pictures of Buddha and Babasaheb from the wall and hurled them down. As he was about to come down the stairs it crumbled down in flames and he couldn’t come out of the burning house. He was trapped in the soaring flames and he wailed, ‘My house, my house’ (Poisoned Bread,p 182) these words have the effects of a mantra, denoting Dalit
“Dalit literature is the literature produced by the Dalit consciousness.Human freedom is the inspiration behind it.That is its implied value.The nature of this literature consists in arebellion against the suppression and humiliation suffered by the Dalits-in the past and even at present-in the framework of varnasystem.Afeeling of rebellion is invariably accompanied by an extreme psychological commitment.As Dalit sensibility seeks to bring about compatible changes in the social consciousness, it is rebellious as well as fundamentally optimistic and revolutionary”, saysSaratchandraMukthibodh in his essay, “What is Dalit Literature?”(Trans.by Anil .Kulkarni...” Poisoned Bread’ ’p …show more content…
But Kondiba Patil, Bhujaba and companions were filled with jealousy, “They eyed one another as if to say, ‘This untouchable worm has got a swollen head. He needs proper handling.’.”(Poisoned Bread,p 181-182) When it was two o’ clock in the morning the program gathered momentum and the house reverberated with devotional songs on Lord Buddha and Dr. Ambedkar. The song, ‘Take to heart the sweet advice of Bhimaraya and bow down to Buddha for the emancipation of the whole world. I fly to the refuge of lord Buddha, I fly to the refuge of the Faith; I fly to the refuge of the Faithful.’.”(Poisoned Bread,p 182) filled the place with joy, then the ‘undreamt of incident’ occurred. Bayaji’shouse caught fire from all sides. He ran around frantically crying ‘My house, my storeyed house! It’s on fire. My enemy has taken revenge on me. .”(Poisoned Bread,p 182) He climbed up, pulled the pictures of Buddha and Babasaheb from the wall and hurled them down. As he was about to come down the stairs it crumbled down in flames and he couldn’t come out of the burning house. He was trapped in the soaring flames and he wailed, ‘My house, my house’ (Poisoned Bread,p 182) these words have the effects of a mantra, denoting Dalit