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Untouchable Woman Analysis

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Ironically, Manu’s dictum can be seen as prevailing in many quarters of Indian society even today, and women are seen as the helpless non-choosers. They are deprived of selfhood (Prasad). Women’s history reads like a grim saga of oppression and suffering through the ages. And the misfortune of being a ‘woman’ doubly increases when she happens to be a dalit too.
Thanks to the deeply embedded caste system in India, that the ‘untouchables’ have been subjected to brutal oppression and inhuman conditions in our society for ages. Once designated as “broken men”, dalits are now conscious of their ‘being’ and are coming to the fore to challenge and interrogate the hegemony of upper castes and classes. This has clearly been reflected in the recent emergence of Dalit Literature, which is a part of the Dalit Liberation Movement (Kumar 116). The objective of this paper is to examine some of the autobiographies of dalit women, peep into their lives and hear their voices from …show more content…

As Raj Kumar explains it: They are the most underprivileged group left out at the bottom of the hierarchical caste society for centuries. Compared to dalit men, they suffer more due to their dual disadvantages: being dalit and being woman. Being dalit, they suffer due to caste discrimination. And being women, they become the victims of the patriarchal social order in their families and outside. They are alienated at three levels- due to their caste, class and gender position. While the upper caste men sexually exploit them in their work places, at home they are beaten up by their own men. Thus, violence against dalit women is rampant.
ADVENT OF DALIT LITERATURE
The concept of Dalit Literature emerged roughly in the 1950s. According to Mridula Garg, the last few decades have been witnesses to the emergence and publication of dalit literature. First, the men wrote. Then came the women, demystifying the male reformers yet remaining faithful to the reality of the dalits at large, embracing both men and …show more content…

This text presents a very realistic portrayal of the Mahar community in Maharashtra which is trampled upon by the oppressive and unjust tyrant forces of the Hindu caste instituition. The book is an embodiment of the lifestyle and the hardships faced by the Mahars due to poverty, epidemics, lack of medical facilities, lack of education and reasoning, ignorance, blind faith in religion and

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