Dalit Literature: A Song of the Nightingale

Abstract

The word ‘dalit’ has been derived from the Sanskrit root word ‘dal’ which means to crush, so ‘dalit’ word as an adjective describes that section of society which has been crushed, trampled, mutilated and humiliated by the dominant hegemonized society over the years.  The Paper searches the genesis of subaltern and dalit literature in dalit consciousness-an offshoot of postmodern alternate narratives in the lines of feminist literature and others dealing with themes such as homosexuality etc. after World War II. In this scenario, the emergence of these voices which find a place for themselves to be heard and written about in competition with master narratives is a proof and sign of shifting paradigms. It has given rise to a new form of literary studies-dalit and subaltern studies. The subtitle of paper somehow connotes nightingale and its song metaphorically as dalit writer and dalit literature-outpourings of their existential anguish and agony, anger and revulsion, isolation and suffering as a result of centuries long subjugation and subordination, marginalization and discrimination by the normative and brahamnical ideologies after Manusamriti.