LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 23:4 April 2023
ISSN 1930-2940

Editors:
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         T. Deivasigamani, Ph.D.
         Pammi Pavan Kumar, Ph.D.
         Soibam Rebika Devi, M.Sc., Ph.D.

Managing Editor & Publisher: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.

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Empathy & Reality in Dalit Autobiographies: A Brief Discourse

Boudhayan Biswas, Ph.D. Research Scholar


Courtesy: www.amazon.com

Abstract

Dalit autobiographies are significant literary works that shed light on the lived realities of India's marginalised and oppressed Dalits. These memoirs frequently give an unvarnished and uncompromising portrayal of Dalits' social, economic, and cultural struggles, highlighting the impact of caste-based prejudice on their daily lives. Dalit authors use the autobiographical genre to tell their own tales while also portraying the collective realities of their group. These works serve as a kind of resistance against oppression, providing a forum for Dalit struggles and ambitions. They offer a fresh take on India's history and culture, questioning mainstream narratives and elevating the voices of those who have been suppressed for generations. Manohar Mouli Biswas’ autobiography Surviving in My World, Growing Up Dalit in Bengal, reflects the harsh realities of Dalit existence, like poverty, prejudice, and violence, as well as how Dalits have fought these pressures. This study attempts to navigate through the autobiography using the tools provided to decode Dalit aesthetics in Dalit literature.

Keywords: Dalit, Autobiography, Empathy, Sympathy, Reality

Introduction

Annada Shankar Ray, a bitter opponent of the partition of 1947, in an immensely quotable Bengali rhyme Teler Sishi Bhanglo Bole (Because the Oil Jar Broke), voiced his protest against the absurdity of the country’s bifurcation:

You scold the little lass
when she drops the glass
but what about you,
adult brats
when you shatter India
into little parts. (Das 378)

The partition of 1947, by dividing the community geographically and uprooting many from their territorial anchorage, finally destroyed the Namasudra caste-oriented movement. The Namasudra community hesitated about the partition based on religion and thought that the Hindus and Muslims could cohabitate and coexist in undivided Bengal. They wanted a peaceful communal cohabitation despite partition. The leaders like Jogendranath Mandal and Rasiklal Biswas, who were associated with the Scheduled Caste Federation founded by B.R. Ambedkar based on what they surmised, were totally against that kind of freedom of the country, at the cost of dividing the nation; and that too basing it on Hindu-Muslim separatism. Independence from the hands of the British resulted in the partition that had an enormously cruel impact on the life of the common people of Bengal. This division caused both Dalits and non-Dalits to face tremendous grief and suffering. If reality is examined thoroughly, it will be found that the Dalits had too few resources to fight the dreadfully adverse conditions in which they found Themselves. This study deals with those dreadfully adverse conditions after the partition of 1947 that the Namasudra Dalits faced in independent India. Articulating those experiences through their autobiography cements the Dalit aesthetics of empathy and reality.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Boudhayan Biswas
Ph.D. Research Scholar, Centre for English Studies
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India
boudhayanbiswas3000@gmail.com
Contact: +91 7980223577
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