Dalit experience in autobiography: A comparative study of government brahmana and mudrahiya

Abstract

Dalit Autobiography, a recent offshoot, introduces a new world of experience in Indian literature. It widens the range of expression and makes use of the language of the Dalits who have been excluded from the mainstream Indian society and discriminated, exploited, humiliated and marginalised on the basis of low caste status. There are various Dalit autobiographers who portray the sufferings of Dalits in their creative works. Aravind Malagatti and Tulsi ram are two significant Dalit autobiographers who have made attempt in raising the voice of Dalits in hierarchical society. The foremost objective of this research is to highlight social, cultural and economic conditions of Dalits and role of Education in their development within the reference of the autobiographies of Aravind Malagatti's Government Brahman and Tulsi Ram's Murdahiya . Both Aravind Malagatti and Tulsi Ram represent Dalit society in their personal narratives. Both Aravind Malagatti and Tulsi Ram interrogate social norms in different episodes of autobiographies and use their personal experience to expose the domination and subjugation of Dalits. A thematic approach from Dalit perspective has been adopted for this study.