The Central Theme In Dalit Literature

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“Reconstruction of society” as the central theme in Dalit Literature; A Focus on Omprakash Valmiki’s Joothan; A Dalit’s Life
Dr. Shakeela Noorbaha
Dept of English
ANU College of Architecture & Planning noorbasha.shakeela@gmail.com There is a tide in the affairs of men, Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. -Shakespeare

Dalit literature as a new genre in Indian English literature plays a significant role and gave a new dimension to Indian English fiction. The literal meaning of the word ‘Dalit’ is one who has been oppressed, exploited, insulted, humiliated and thrown outside the pale of civic society and treated as untouchables …show more content…

The central theme of all these writings is ‘to bring total revolution in the society’ and ‘to reconstruction of the society’. Dalit literature exists from long back i.e before Kabir and Ravidass. Great people like Dr. Ambedkar, Plule, Periyar,Swami Achhutananda and Adi Hindu Mahasabha brought consciousness in Dalit people through their literary production. Their goal is reconstruction of Dalit identity in India. The Dalit writers themselves being the victims, used literature as a vehicle to spread the Ambedkar’s ideology. Dalit literature includes all genres like short stories, novels, poetry,critical essays, plays , autobiographies etc. These piece of works help to bring the awareness that caste is the root cause of social discrimination and helps to reconstruct themselves from this …show more content…

It is an autobiographical novel which highlights his life and experiences as a Dalit. He says that the only way to overcome these situations is through education. Education helps to re-construct the society. The present selected novel Joothan : A Dalit’s Life is one such work from Dalit Literature first published in Hindi in 1997. The author describes from his past experience that the Dalits were no allowed to fight for education because their ordained job was to sweep the roads, clean the cattle barns, get shit of the floor, dispose of dead animals, perform other physical labour for upper caste people etc. The story Joothan is description about poor living chuhra community. Here both the human beings and animals like pigs live

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