Dalit

Transformation of Identity: Reasons and Examination of the Success of Religious Conversion by Dalit Hindus The social hierarchical structure of caste in Hinduism has been one of the most discriminatory systems of the world. Based on the principles of ‘purity and pollution’, the ‘pure’ upper caste Brahmin community treated the lower caste and ‘Untouchable’ community with great disdain – untouchables were prohibited from wearing finer clothes and ornaments, they were not allowed to walk the same…

social and cultural domains and Dalit women’s suppression cannot be decontextualised from these realities. It is emphasized that women’s subjugation is the result of sexual oppression, economic exploitation, socio-cultural suppression, unequal gender relations. Dalit women shared an impurity in nature and even shared the location with dalit men of their same community.However,…

The Outcaste is written by Sharankumar Limbal, portrays the anguish and ridiculous experiences of his life as a Dalit. The Outcaste captures the impacts of violence and discrimination against Dalits. In this novel the author is haunted by the crisis of identity. This is an autobiographical novel which shows the dark side of India in which the Dalits are oppressed. . He uses the metaphor, idioms and imagery to explore his inner grief and quest for identity. He faced the discrimination…

By engaging with the historical knowledge of such disempowered women, Spivak expands the original definition of the subaltern given by Guha and others to include the struggles and experiences of women also. According to her, “Both as object of colonialist historiography and as subject of insurgency, the ideological construction of gender keeps the male dominant. If in the context of colonial production, the subaltern has no history and cannot speak, the subaltern as female is even more deeply in…

should treat every individual equal on the grounds of social relationship, cultural history; so that one can acquire desirable profits out of his/her labor. In India, Hindu religion did not provide this equality for all individuals, especially for dalits, though the modern constitution granted it for all individuals. This is why Ambedkar respected western modernity for its commitment to individual liberty, human rights and scientific progress of human civilization. He found that these moral…

The Dalits did not negotiate caste oppression with upward mobility with Sanskritization or a move away from the system in the mode of Bhakti. The lower castes wanted to fight against the system and seek its very eradication. ‘It is an unfortunate truth of our…

Dalit literature emerged as a response to the hegemonic Brahminic oppression and its various forms of silencing the Dalits. Though there are various thinkers, such as Buddha, Jyotiba Phule, S.M. Mate who were concerned about the plight of the lowest caste and untouchables but it was B.R. Ambedkar (1891-1956), who is considered "the pioneer of Dalit literature" (Dangle vii). Ambedkar's writing and his political activism played a significant role in understanding the injustices and atrocities of…

A group of men gang-raped a forty two-year-old Dalit women and burned her alive after she, her husband, and two sons had been held in captivity and tortured for eight days. This injustice occurred because the woman’s son fell in love with the torturer’s daughter, who happened to be of a higher caste. “The local police knew of the whereabouts of the Dalit family, but they did nothing because the rapists” came from a higher caste family (Mayell n.pag.). Even with decades of struggle to end…

exploitation of members that are considered to be of lower social significance but whose economic output is exploited. This is a notion that is exemplified by the documentary by Stalin K regarding caste discrimination in India (Kurup, 2007). According to Dalit Solidarity Network DSN (n.d. Par. 2), a caste system is a divisionary social and economic system whereby rights are accorded by birth and hereditary. As such, it is a never ending cycle in which the underprivileged are condemned to a life…

Traditionally, the organization of the Indian social classes relies on the caste system, a system introduced some 3,000 years ago by Aryan invaders in India. This system divided the existing Indian society into a hierarchy according to professions and trades. Additionally, individuals inherit their parents' caste at birth (Ninian, 189). Parents pass down their caste and property to future generations, and marriages usually occur within castes. Due to supposed divine origins of the caste system,…