A Study of Dalit Feminism in Bama's Sangati

Abstract

Patriarchy is considered to be a big rival of women literature. In association with this, exploitation or oppression of weaker by stronger is nothing new. Feminism or feminist aspect deals with society in general and woman in particular. ‘The Woman’ and ‘The Dalit’ are marginalized, hegemonized and downgraded. This paper examines the varied underlined, invisible ways of sufferings embedded in the lives of the Dalit community, particularly women and their lived experiences portrayed in Bama’s Sangati. It also discusses how Dalit women are constantly exploited by the powerful caste- Hindus and experiences faced by the two protagonists: Mariamma and Maikkanni in the novel. In the light of this background the paper delineates how Bama analyzed and characterized many individual stories in Dalit life.