The Constrained Position of Dalit in Society- Bama’s Seamless Effort for the Evolution of Dalit Community with Reference to Karukku

Abstract

The novel ‘Karukku’ plays a tectonic role in Dalit society. It was written by Faustina Mary, her pen name is Bama. Karukku probed into the conflicts between the community and the author. It portrays the thirst of a Dalit woman for her progression. She worked not only for her development but also strived a lot for the evolution of her community. This novel depicts three different types of discrimination in the life of Dalit people. It encompasses the caste, class and gender discriminations. The protagonist went under many social tribulations throughout her life. She struggled a lot in the patriarchal society to let her community free. Bama wanted her community to be united and she explained this desire in her novel. Dalits were treated by high borns as untouchables. Bama’s certainty on shrine’s endeavor over Dalits evolution become a failure conception. She only experienced failures in all her endeavor for the betterment of Dalits. All her efforts end in vain. According to her no one leads a civilized route for the evolution of dalits than her, so she quit from the shrine as a nun and started working for her people by her own. Dalit believes that they were created by God because of his likeness. So no one could disdain them. Even though they have lots of issues which beset them they have thousands of reasons to sustain their loyal life. They believe themselves as superior. Above all they too are humans like others. They were segregated by the ethics of human but not by God. Bama want to change this identity of Dalit by becoming an Identity for her ‘Dalit’ Community. She wanted to educate and impart knowledge to her people which is the basic right of human. She used Karukku as a weapon to instill the thought of upper born as wrong. She is the first person to talk about all these taboos faced by Dalit people. As a victim of this tribulations she portrays her pain using this novel. And insisted the need of independence and liberation. This paper aims at revealing Bama’s efforts for the evolution of Dalit Community.