LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 11 : 4 April 2011
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         S. M. Ravichandran, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.

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Ostracized Beings
Dalit Women as Portrayed in Bama Faustina's
Sangati - Events

Dhanalakshmi A., M.A., M.Phil.

Bama

The Tamil Dalit Community

In Tamilnadu, Dalits are referred to as taazhttapatoor or odukkapattor which means marginalized and oppressed. Among the Tamils EVR Periyar and Anna and the leaders of the Dravidian movement greatly focused on the plight of the Dalits as part of the Self Respect movement. Lakshmi Holmstrom in her Introduction to Sangati - Events points out that the publication of the journal Manusanga by Unjairajan in 1990 flagged off Dalit literature in Tamil.

Bama, a Great Creative Writer

Born as Faustina Mary Fatima Rani in a village called Puthupatti in Tamil Nadu, South India, Bama is the leading voice of the suppressed class - Dalits. It is her autobiographical work Karukku (tender shoot of the palmyrah tree) that brought her into limelight. She penned only for the deprived class, for she thinks that it is her duty to voice her people's plight to the society. She has penned many stories which include novels like Karruku, Sangathi (Events), and Vanmam (Vendetta), and also short story collections - Kusumbukkaran and Oru Tattavum Erumaiiyum.

Bama's Works

Karukku, Faustina's first novel, received many accolades and was translated into many languages. She left her promising job as a convent school teacher to educate her people, for she felt that, as a convent teacher, she led a different life. In an interview to The Hindu, the leading daily of South India, she said that the life style in the convent was different and it made her resign her job. The unstable life after her resignation prompted her to write but she did not write with the intention to publish. In the interview she said, "I did not write with that intention (to publish). And I refused because it was not only about me, but my people, my family, my village… Karukku was radical because I have used the local dialect of the people and not the formalised text."

Sangati is actually an account of incidents that happen in the life of Dalits. Bama as the narrator at times becomes a critic, voicing out her views.

Sangati Cover Page

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Dhanalakshmi A., M.A., M.Phil.
Assistant Professor
Department of English
PSGR Krishnammal College for Women
Peelamedu
Coimbatore 641 004
Tamilnadu, India
shreedhana@yahoo.com

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