LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 20:2 February 2020
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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Expressing the Marginalised Self: Manifestation of Dalit Consciousness in the Poems of Vijila Chirappad

Dr. Edwin Jeevaraj A. and Aswathy V., M.Phil. Scholar

Abstract

This paper examines the manifestation of Dalit consciousness in the poems of Malayalam Dalit litterateur Vijila Chirappad. A close reading of her poems reveals a series of serious discriminations and disparities meted out to the lower castes by the ideologies upheld by the dominant castes. The canonical tradition of Malayalam literary discourse never bothered to give a realistic representation of the sensibilities of the marginalized sections of Kerala society. For example, the literature produced by upper-caste Malayalam poets was the result of a torpid lifestyle, detached from the world of sweat and toil. The long silenced and neglected voices of Malayali Dalit writers, especially women writers, have now amassed noteworthy recognition and accolades from literary spheres across India as well as academia devoted to Dalit literary studies. One of the chief traits visible in their texts is a strong note of resentment and resistance, which is the manifestation of their long-suppressed anguish and rebellion. Their use of linguistic structures and thematic content might sound too raw and painfully honest. We come across these tenets in the poems of Vijila Chirappad, who had struggled severely to come to the fore through the medium of literature. This paper tries to provide insights into the different forms of discriminations confronted by Dalit women of Kerala society and how Vijila Chirappad, who hails from this community has given expression to it through the frankness of her poems.

Keywords: Vijila Chirappad, Dalit consciousness, Dalit literary studies, Kerala society, Malayalam literature, Resistance, Resentment.

Introduction

Dalit literature or the literature of the former untouchable castes of Indian Hindu society is the new talk of literary and academic scenario. The popularity of this body of writing is so widespread that it has now come to occupy as an area of serious intellectual discussions in the academia devoted to South Asian literary studies.Dalit literature is a body of writing which gives strong voice to the resisting nature of the long-silenced Dalit community. A number of authors, critical evaluators, scholars and other experts from the academic community have repeatedly worked upon the politics encircling Dalit resistance. In the Indian context, the term was first used by Jyotiba Phule, a lower caste social reformer and revolutionary to delineate the miserable conditions confronted by the untouchables and outcastes of a caste-driven Indian society. Dalits have been denigrated on a systematic basis to live in dejection and penury as they are labeled as the ‘atishudras’-the ones excluded from the chaturvarna system of Hinduism and therefore deliberately deprived of any human dignity or mettle.

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

Dr. Edwin Jeevaraj A
Associate Professor
Christ Deemed to be University
Bengaluru
Phone No. 9791239483
edwin.jeevaraj@christuniversity.in

Aswathy V
M.Phil. Scholar
Christ Deemed to be University
Bengaluru
Phone No. 8111924802
aswathy.v@res.christuniversity.in
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