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The term 'Dalit' meaning oppressed or broken, Dalit studies is a growing body of works foregrounding the experience of the caste-based oppression rife in Indian society even today. That it has catalysed a large intellectual group is evident in the increasing number of creative texts, critical debates and courses/programs offered in colleges and universities. The present study attempts to situate a critical intervention by a non-Dalit Tamil writer, Sundara Ramaswamy, on Dalit literature. After tracing the origin and growth of Dalit writing, especially in Tamil, I present my English translation of the previously untranslated Tamil essay, "About Dalit Literature" (1992). The concluding section of this study highlights the forward-looking ideas foregrounded in the text by comparing them with the views expressed by the Marathi Dalit writer and critic, Sharankumar Limbale, in his recent text Towards an Aesthetic of Dalit Literature: History, Controversies and Considerations (2004).
Origin and Growth of Dalit Writing
Even though Dalit writing has been traced back to the 11th-12th centuries, its modern impetus has come from thinkers such as Mahatma Phule and Babasahib Ambedkar. In the modern context, Dalit writing grew out of a movement called Little Magazine started by educated youth, modelled on the Black Panther movement and Black writing in the US. The unique contribution of Dalit literature is its interrogation of Brahmanic hegemony, consciousness-raising among Dalits, and crystallising of an intellectual platform (Kishore). The Dalit literary movement started in Marathi and has now travelled to other languages such as Gujarati, Kannada, Telugu, Hindi and Punjabi (Duggal). In comparison to writings in other languages, contemporary Dalit writing in Tamil is of recent origin even though the first reference dates back to the 13th century legend of Nandanar. In her article, "A Brief Introduction to Dalit Literature," Meena Kandasamy dates the emergence of contemporary Tamil Dalit literature to the birth centenary celebrations of Dr. Ambedkar (Kandasamy). However, it has accelerated so much over the last two decades that it now has a rich corpus of works, written in a wide variety of styles by writers such as Poomani, Daniel, Sivakami, Edayavendan, Unjai Rajan Abimani, Bama, Anbadavan, Gunasekaram, Cho. Darman, Sukhirtharani and Imaiyam. Thus, the range offered by Dalit writing in Tamil encompasses articulation of identity, experiential reality, self-reflexivity, self-articulation, caste-gender...