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| Emergence of Dalit and Dalit Literature in India — A representative image. |
File Information
| Document Information | Details |
|---|---|
| Title | EMERGENCE OF DALIT AND DALIT LITERATURE IN INDIA |
| Article Credit | International Research Journal of Management Sociology & Humanity ( IRJMSH ), ISSN: 2277-9809, Vol.: Vol 6, Issue: Issue 12, Year: 2015, (Pubd in: Academia.edu) |
| Author | Musadhique Kottaparamban (Research Scholar, Deparment of Cultural Studies, English and Foreign Languages University, EFLU, Tarnaka, Hyderabad- 500007) |
| Subject | A study of the historical emergence of the term Dalit and the development of Dalit literature in India, with attention to caste naming, anti-caste thinkers, and literary-political assertion. |
| Category | Research article |
| Institution | International Research Journal of Management Sociology & Humanity (IRJMSH) |
| Main Topics | Emergence of the term Dalit, Caste hierarchy and untouchability, Gandhi and harijan discourse, Ambedkar and Dalit rights, Marxist interpretations of caste, Dalit Panthers Movement, Dalit literature in Maharashtra, Dalit identity and political assertion |
| Number of Pages | 20 |
| Language | English |
| File Type | |
| File Size | 1.08 MB |
Summary Note of this Document
EMERGENCE OF DALIT AND DALIT LITERATURE IN INDIA
This article examines the emergence of the term Dalit and the development of Dalit literature in India. It traces how labels such as untouchable, harijan, Scheduled Caste, and dalit were shaped by different political and ideological positions, and it places these naming practices within the longer history of caste hierarchy and untouchability. The discussion moves through Hindu textual traditions, the social reform interventions of Jotiba Phule and E. V. Ramaswami Naicker, Gandhi’s use of harijan, and Ambedkar’s insistence on Dalit rights, education, and political power. The author also considers Marxist readings of caste as a form of class exploitation, while noting their limits for understanding Dalit experience. A major focus is the rise of Dalit Panthers in Maharashtra and the way Dalit writers transformed literary production into a vehicle for protest, self-definition, and collective identity. The article argues that Dalit literature is not merely aesthetic expression but part of a wider movement for social and political change. It also compares Dalit writing with Black literature and Black Power-inspired militancy, stressing the creation of a distinct Dalit consciousness grounded in resistance to caste oppression and older forms of social exclusion.
Core Themes
- Political naming of oppressed castes
- Untouchability and caste hierarchy
- Anti-caste reform movements
- Ambedkarite rights and self-respect
- Dalit Panthers and militant identity
- Dalit literature as social protest
Keywords
About Dr. B. R. Ambedkar
Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar was born in 1891 as the fourteenth and youngest child of an army Subedar in Mhow. Born into the Mahar caste, which was considered untouchable, Bhimrao faced many hardships at school. He had to sit on a gunny sack that he brought from home. He was not allowed to touch the water vessel or cup, so he could drink water only when the school peon was present to pour it for him. He later described this experience with the words, “No peon, no water.” His mother died when he was very young, and he had a difficult childhood. However, he was the only one of his siblings to pass his examinations and continue to high school, becoming the first person from his community to attend Elphinstone College. With a scholarship from the Maharaja of Baroda, he went on to study at Columbia University and the London School of Economics. He earned doctorates in economics and trained as a barrister at Gray’s Inn. According to the account supplied for this biography, his books were lost when his ship was torpedoed during the First World War.
Despite his education, Ambedkar continued to face prejudice. When he returned to India, he was required to work in Baroda but had to leave the position because of discrimination. His business providing investment consultancy failed when clients learned that he belonged to a community considered untouchable. While working as a professor in Mumbai, his colleagues objected to the idea of him sharing a water jug with his students. These experiences helped spur his activism. He established newspapers to give a voice to marginalized people. He led the Mahad Satyagraha, asserting Dalits’ right to collect water from a public tank, and publicly burned the Manusmriti in 1927. In 1932, he negotiated the Poona Pact with Mahatma Gandhi. Although it involved a difficult compromise, the pact provided reserved seats in legislatures for the Depressed Classes. Ambedkar was outspoken in public life but private by nature. His wife Ramabai died in 1935, and he filled his home in Bombay with a large personal library reported to contain more than 50,000 books. He declared, “I am born a Hindu, but I will not die as one.”
During the period of Indian independence, Jawaharlal Nehru invited Ambedkar to become India’s first Law Minister. Ambedkar chaired the Drafting Committee that prepared the Constitution of India, which abolished the practice of untouchability and established civil liberties and constitutional safeguards, including reservations for historically oppressed communities. He acknowledged the contribution of other constitutional experts, including B. N. Rau, who had prepared an earlier draft. Because of his poor health, including diabetes, Ambedkar married Savita, a doctor who cared for him. In October 1956, he converted to Buddhism in Nagpur along with a vast gathering of followers, commonly estimated at around half a million. He died in his sleep just weeks later, shortly after completing his final major work, The Buddha and His Dhamma. He was posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna in 1990. His message, “Educate, agitate, organise,” continues to inspire people seeking equality and social justice.
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