Dalit literature is a genre of Indian writing that focuses on the lives, experiences, and struggles of the Dalit community over centuries, in relation to the caste system and caste-based discrimination. This literary genre encompasses various Indian languages such as Bhojpuri, Marathi, Bangla, Hindi,Patterns of Dalit Literature : Dr. N. Singh, Publisher : Vani Prakashan, New Delhi-110002, Edition: 2012 Kannada, Punjabi, Sindhi, Odia and Tamil and includes narrative-styles like poems, short stories, and autobiographies. The movement started gaining influence during the mid-twentieth-century in independent India and has since spread across various Indian languages.
In the colonial and post-colonial period, Jyotirao Phule's Gulamgiri, published in 1873, became a seminal work describing the plight of the Untouchables in India. Authors such as Sharankumar Limbale, Namdeo Dhasal, and Bama, and movements like the Dalit Panther movement in Maharashtra as well as Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, a jurist, economist and social reformer, have played influential roles in shaping Dalit literature across India.
Dalit feminist writing such as the autobiographies and testimonios of Dalit women authors emphasizing the intersection of caste, class, and gender in the context of social exclusion came through this movement. Dalit women authors, such as Urmila Pawar and Baby Kamble, have written extensively about the complexities of caste, class, and gender in Indian society.
Early Dalit literature
One of the first Dalit writers was Madara Chennaiah, an 11th-century cobbler-saint who lived during the reign of the Western Chalukyas and who is also regarded by some scholars as the "father of Vachana poetry." Another poet from the same Jangam order, who finds mention is Dohara Kakkayya, a Dalit by birth, whose six confessional poems survive. Chokhamela, initiated into the bhakti movement by the poet-saint Namdev, sang several songs in the abhang style during the 14th century. Ravidas (15th-16th century) was also a renowned spiritual leader in the bhakti tradition who came from leather-working caste. Other Marathi Bhakti poets such as Gora, and Karmamela, and the Tamil Siddhas, or Chittars are also suggested to have been Dalits.
The Panchasakha poets—Balarama Dasa, Jagannatha Dasa, Achyutanda Dasa, Jasobanta Dasa, and Ananta Dasa—were influential in Odia literature from 1450 to 1550 AD. They wrote in the vernacular in Odia literature which helped establish colloquial Odia's use in literature, representing a departure from Sanskrit-dominated literary traditions. Their contributions include translations of sacred Hindu texts into accessible language, such as Jagmohan Ramayan, Odia Bhagabata, Harivamsa, Premabhakti Brahmagita, and Hetudaya Bhagabata. Sudramuni Sarala Dasa is noted as a pioneer of the social protest movement in Odisha during the fifteenth century. A Sudra by caste, he depicted the experiences of the marginalised through works written in the vernacular language. His major works, the Odia Mahabharata, the Bilanka Ramayana, and Chandi Purana focused on contemporary issues and everyday experiences and directly critiqued the dominance of Sanskrit in literature and royalty as subjects of such literature.
Telugu Dalit literature has a history dating back to the 17th century, featuring poets such as Potuluri Veerabrahmam and Yogi Vemana, who wrote about the injustice of social hierarchies relating to caste and untouchability.
Modern Dalit literature The body of modern Dalit literature, which encompasses a growing collection of work, is largely rooted in developments from the late 1960s onward. Nevertheless, its origins can be traced to the early 19th century. Muktabai Salve, who is sometimes described as "the first Dalit feminist writer", wrote an essay in 1855, at the age of fourteen, titled Mang Maharachya Dukhavishayi (), published in the Marathi periodical Dnyanodaya (). Scholar Hanumant Ajinath Lokhande writes that "the genealogy of Dalit literature can be traced in Salve's essay." Modern Dalit writing only emerged as a distinct genre following reformist thinkers and writers such as Narayana Guru, Jyotirao Phule, B.R. Ambedkar, Iyothee Thass, Sahodaran Ayyappan, Ayyankali, Poykayil Appachan, among others.
According to scholars Satyanarayana and Tharu, Dalit literature gained traction when the Dalit Panthers movement revitalized and extended the ideas of Ambedkar, critiquing Indian nationalism's Gandhian perspective and launching a new social movement centred on Dalit rights and political mobilisation. Over subsequent decades, Dalit writing evolved into a nationwide phenomenon, reformulating the issue of caste and reassessing the impacts of colonialism and missionary activity. Tatyanarayana and Tharu note that these works vividly illustrate and analyze the persistent workings of caste power in contemporary India Dalit author Sharankumar Limbale characterizes Dalit literature as a medium for expressing the grief inherent in Dalit lives, documenting experiences of discrimination, poverty, and social exclusion faced by Dalit communities. Jaydeep Sarangi, in his 2018 introduction to Dalit Voice, writes that Dalit literature is a culture-specific upheaval in India giving importance to Dalit realization, aesthetics and resistance.
The movement can be traced back to the publication of Gulamgiri by Jyotirao Phule in 1873, which is considered an early influential work that addressed the experiences of Dalits. Notable contributors to Modern Dalit literature include Mahasweta Devi, Arjun Dangle, Sachi Rautray, Rabi Singh, Basudev Sunani, Bama, Abhimani, Poomani, Imayam, Marku, Mangal Rathod, Neerav Patel, Perumal Murugan, Palamalai, Yendluri Sudhakar, and D. Gopi.
In recent years, new voices in Dalit literature have emerged, broadening the scope and impact of this genre. Among these are P. Sivakami, whose work The Grip of Change is noted for its depiction of Dalit life, and Vijila Chirrappad, a writer from Kerala who addresses the challenges facing Dalit women. Dev Kumar, founder of Apna Theatre in 1992, has used drama to promote Dalit consciousness, while Tamil Nadu-based Meena Kandasamy combines feminist and anti-caste themes to highlight the intersections of gender and caste discrimination.
The first Dalit literature conference, Dalit Sahitya Sammelan, was held in 1958 organised by Annabhau Sathe. He was a communist, who turned to Ambedkarite movement in the later part of his life. Scholars have described this gathering as significant in the establishment of Dalit literature as a distinct literary genre.
Regional literature
Dalit literature in Marathi Dalit literature in the modern era emerged in the Marathi language as a literary movement as a precursor to its flourishing in various Indian languages. The formation of a distinct literary culture can be traced to the formation of Anarya Dosh Pariharak Mandal in 1890 started by Gopal Baba Walangkar, a retired British army officials from the Mahar and Chambar communities. Gopal Baba Valangkar, a close associate of Phule, started his main body of literary work post his retirement from the British Army. Contemporary poet Kondaji Ramji or Pandit Kondiram, had written on the inhumane conditions imposed on the Mahars. Kondiram's poetry made distinctions between Hinduism dictated by the Manusmriti's Brahmanic laws and the Bhakti movement as a path to spiritual enlightenment.
In 1958, the term "Dalit literature" was used at the first conference of Maharashtra Dalit Sahitya Sangha (Maharashtra Dalit Literature Society) in Mumbai - "The only demand Dalits have is that the contemporary literature should represent their issues. It is not wrong to expect to be seen as we are". Notable Dalit authors writing in Marathi include Arun Kamble, Shantabai Kamble, Raja Dhale, Namdev Dhasal, Daya Pawar, Annabhau Sathe, Laxman Mane, Laxman Gaikwad, Sharankumar Limbale, Bhau Panchbhai, Kishor Shantabai Kale, Narendra Jadhav, Shankar Rao Kharat, and Urmila Pawar.R. S. Morkhandikar. “Dilemmas of Dalit Movement in Maharashtra: Unity Moves and After.” Economic and Political Weekly, vol. 25, no. 12, 1990, pp. 586–590. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/4396063 . Accessed 21 July 2020.
Baburao Bagul's first collection of stories, Jevha Mi Jat Chorali (English: When I Hid My Caste), published in 1963, depicted the societal cruelty experienced by Dalits and thus brought in a new momentum to Dalit literature in Marathi. Actor-director Vinay Apte later adapted it into a film, contributing further to its cultural impact.Issues of Language and Representation:Babu Rao Bagul Handbook of twentieth-century literatures of India, Editors: Nalini Natarajan, Emmanuel Sampath Nelson. Greenwood Publishing Group, 1996. . Page 368.Mother 1970 Indian short stories, 1900–2000, by E. V. Ramakrishnan. Sahitya Akademi. Page 217, Page 409 (Biography).Jevha Mi Jat Chorali Hoti (1963) Encyclopaedia of Indian literature vol. 2. Editors Amaresh Datta. Sahitya Akademi, 1988. . Page 1823. Namdeo Dhasal, who founded Dalit Panther and its members wrote works that amplified the genre's impact on Marathi literature.
Shankarrao Kharat served as president of the 1984 session of Marathi Sahitya Sammelan (Marathi literary conference) held in Jalgaon highlighting the increasing acceptance of Dalit voices in mainstream Marathi literary forums. Dalit literature started being mainstream in India with the appearance of the English translations of Marathi Dalit writing. An Anthology of Dalit Literature, edited by Mulk Raj Anand and Eleanor Zelliot, and Poisoned Bread: Translations from Modern Marathi Dalit Literature, originally published in three volumes and later collected in a single volume, edited by Arjun Dangle and published in 1992. 'Poisoned Bread' - the collection takes its name from a story by Bandhu Madhav about Yetalya Aja, a Mahar who is forced to consume stale bread covered in dung and urine and dies as a result. Before he dies, Aja tells his grandson to get an education and take away the accursed bread from the mouths of Mahars.
In 1993, Ambedkari Sahitya Parishad organized the first Akhil Bharatiya Ambedkari Sahitya Sammelan (All India Ambedkarite Literature Convention) in Wardha, Maharashtra to re-conceptualize and transform Dalit literature into Ambedkari Sahitya, named after the Dalit modern-age hero, advocate and scholar B.R. Ambedkar. Ambedkari Sahitya Parishad then successfully organized the Third Akhil Bharatiya Ambedkari Sahitya Sammelan in 1996 and became a voice of advocacy for awareness and transformation.
Dalit literature in Bengali In Bengali literature, the term "charal," derived from the Sanskrit word "chandal," serves as an umbrella term for Scheduled Castes, and the literature emerging from this context is often referred to as "Charal literature." This genre reflects the experiences and struggles of marginalized communities in Bengal. Notable examples of Charal literature include Jatin Bala's Sekor Chhera Jibon (An Uprooted Life) and Samaj Chetanar Galpa (Stories of Social Awakening) and Kalyani Charal's Chandalinir Kobita. The development of Dalit literature in Bengal was significantly influenced by the leadership of Harichand Thakur, a prominent figure in the Motua community, and the ideas of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar.