Topic: Dalit literature

Dalit literature in India is usually tied to the Ambedkar-Phule revolutionary legacy and raw Marathi autobiographies. Now a new translation of Punjabi-Dalit stories shows caste as Punjab lives it.

The book edited and translated by Nikhil Pandhi, ‘Love in the Times of Caste’, was launched at Delhi’s Gulmohar Club. It examines love beyond heterosexual romance, locating caste in desire, intimacy, family, language and everyday negotiations.

At the third edition of the Dalit Literature utsav, writers showcased novels, poetry, and around 70 journals. The upper-caste Bengali book lovers have had very limited exposure to that.

Lohia-BSP-led social justice movement in North India had a different frame and trajectory than in the South. Periyar and Lalai Singh didn't fit in them.

In Exploring the Margins: Caste, Class and Gender Identity, Suresh Kumar explores how Dalit writers enunciate their ‘self’— like Om Prakash Valmiki in Joothan.

Babytai Kamble's 'The Prisons We Broke' subverted the traditional, casteist representation of Dalits across Indian literature. It gave women a voice.

Writing tragedy makes the writer more responsible; writing satire makes the system cautious. 

From Yashica Dutt to Sumitra Mehrol, autobiographies & memoirs by Dalit-Bahujan women have a unique position in centering their experiences.

The debate around Indian translation is not just about cultural loss, it's the role languages play in the field of translation & the hierarchy they fall under.

Dhasal's poetry, which was steeped in harsh words, attempted to translate the violent existence of Dalits and the oppressed to paper.