Silent Cries of Dalit Women in Mulk Raj Anand and Eleanor Zelliot’s An Anthology of Dalit Literature

Abstract

This research casts light on how thenexus of both patriarchy and caste compounded with poverty makes the situation of a Dalit womansubaltern.Moreover, there are layers of hegemony imposed on the women who exist at the edge of the society. Female characters in An Anthology of Dalit Literatureedited by Muluk Raj Anand and Eleanor Zelliot particularly Sita, Draupadi and Ahilya are subordinated interms of gender. Most of the poems address women as daughter and mother living a life that has been dominated not only in term of class –as they are economically poor–but also subordinated on the basis of caste and gender under the rigid Hindu patriarchal norms and values where Dalit women exist at the bottom of the socio-cultural hierarchy. They live a vulnerable life as an "untouchable" or "Dalit". Either as a daughter or mother, Dalit women are compelled to live an unsafe life in each step as a subaltern whose voice is not heard at the mainstream. The literary writers document their silent cries as the poets in this anthology do to represent the silent segment of the society.