Inter dependence between Dalit Aesthetics and Dalit Autobiographies for Social Transformation

Abstract

Dalit aesthetics and Dalit literature are deeply interconnected, each influencing and
shaping the other in profound ways. Understanding their interdependence requires a
look into both concepts and their socio-cultural and historical contexts. The
interdependence between Dalit aesthetics and Dalit literature is evident in the way they
mutually inform and sustain each other. Dalit aesthetics provide the framework and
principles that guide the creation and interpretation of Dalit literature, ensuring it
remains true to the lived experiences and aspirations of the Dalit community. In turn,
Dalit literature embodies and perpetuates these aesthetics, creating a powerful
medium for expression, resistance, and social change. This aspect gets exemplified
through first Gujarati Dalit autobiography B. Kesharshivam's The Whole Truth and
Nothing but the Truth and the first autobiography by a Dalit woman - Baby Kamble's
The Prisons We Broke. The first one begins with the description of the life of the
narrator as a child. He plays in the dust of the bone meal factory, where he later works,
going on to labour with his parents in the 'cotter mill', the book presents a nonsentimental
account of a childhood where friendships exist, sometimes across castes,
and discrimination and abuse are constants. The second one sketches the portrait of the
actual life of the Mahars from the woman's keen eyes. She reveals the suffered
indignities while highlighting the internal trauma being faced by her people on the
threshold of a fundamental transformation.