Analysis Of Dalit Literature

Introduction to Dalit literature

‘Dalit’ is a term used to describe the people who are placed at the bottom of the traditional Indian caste system. In a lay man’s language Dalits are referred to a category the untouchables. Dalit literature is a platform to express the sufferings of Dalits and call out for their liberation. Dalit literature does not only deal with Mangas, Mallas, Chamars, Tagis, etc but it is also about the upper class people who mock at lower sections of the society. Dalit literature gained its momentum under the legacy of Savitri Bai Phule, Jyotiba Phule, and Bhimrao Ambedkar. People who contributed to Dalit literature were Baburao Bagul, Bandhu Madhav, Shankarao Kharat, Omprakash Valmiki, Mulk Raj Anand, Daya Pawar,

Srividya Natrajan and S Anand wrote the story whereas Durgabai and Subash Vyam added the amazingly beautiful artistic elements of Gond art (tribal art form) and dialogues to enhance the impact of simple messages put throughout the novel. Every single cartoon, text bubble, line, divisions on the pages, bifurcation of the upper and lower caste, etc everything has some message to convey. For example, bird shaped bubbles contain the messages of people from the lower class to indicate their soft behavior; whereas the bubbles with tail of a poisonous animal contain the messages of upper class people. Such bubble with a twisted coil of a poisonous tail indicates hateful messages and cruel behavior of the people with bad intentions towards people from lower caste. This is the specialty of Gond art that it tells story through sketches which is adopted here to tell the life and struggles in the life of a Dalit. The Vyams were unaware belonged a village in Madhya Pradesh where Gond art was practiced on daily basis with different kinds of mitti (earth). The Vyams continued their practice but also turned Gond art into a profession to earn their livelihoods. When they were approached by Natrajan and S Anand to do sketching for their biographical account of Ambedkar, they did not know anything about Ambedkar. When his life and the condition of Dalits were put in front of them they felt sympathetic; the humiliations done to the untouchables affected them