CRITIQUING THE PAST THROUGH THE PRESENCE OF CASTE IN JOOTHAN: A DALIT'S LIFE

The Indian Society has been divided in the varna system and caste hierarchy. The lower castes have been reduced to an insignificant status in the Indian social system, so they have been facing discrimination and inhuman treatment by the upper castes which has been degrading them for ages. In fact, the first article of Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) of United Nations states that, “all human beings are equal in dignity and rights and they are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood”. UIt unites all human beings in one chain and sees them at one level but the Indian peculiar caste system has created division and inequality among human beings. The Indian caste system has deprived Dalits of their human dignity and treated them with inferiority and contempt. In 19th century, the social reformers like Mahatma Jyotirao Phule and Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar played the crucial role to awaken the conscience of the society. They devoted their entire life to bring justice to the lower castes people who were trapped in the mire of this caste system. They fought with the caste society so that all could live as human beings with dignity and rights and in brotherhood. Mahatma Gandhi called the people of the lower castes as Harijans, and tried to eradicate the caste system and create a sense of unity. He took to satyagraha for caste reforms, and in his later period he did advocate inter-caste marriages. Untouchability is legally banned in India since independence in 1947, but it is still being rampantly practiced in various forms. In the post-independent era inspired by Dr. B R Ambedkar, many men of letters have been expressed their agonies, struggle, suffering, and exploitation in their writings; one of them Omprakash Valmiki has written his memoir ‘Joothan’ in Hindi, which is later, translated in English as ‘Joothan’: A Dalit’s Life’. In this autobiography, he discusses how lower caste have to endure suffering while living as an untouchable in the Indian caste society. This paper attempts to look at the concerns raised by the narrator through his memoir. Omprakash Valmiki has been well known as a pioneer of Dalitwritings in Hindi. He has acknowledged that he has been inspired by the writings of Dr. Ambedkar, Marathi Dalit literary movement and the Dalit Panther.