International Journal of Development in Social Sciences and Humanities

Dalit literature forms an important and distinct part of Indian literature. It is the writing about Dalit by Dalit with Dalit consciousness. It artistically portrays the trials and tribulations, humiliations, sorrows and sufferings experienced by Dalits for an age old time. Dalit’s subaltern status is inherited from birth and it is sanctioned by sacred authority, and, hence, it is eternal and unalterable. Omprakash Valmiki being the iconic doyen of Dalit literature, by writing his autobiography Joothan, gives voice to the age old humiliation, oppression, exploitation and discrimination meted out to him and to his society in general. He narrates his agony and anguish in the most pathetic and poignant words, and, consequently, his harrowing and grievous tale brings to the fore the oppression and persecution as hurtful as slavery and as demeaning as apartheid. He says that Dalit life is excruciatingly painful and it is seared by experiences that managed to find a literary shape and form. This short paper endeavours to study how Joothan sketches a tormenting and agonizing but truthful account of Valmiki’s sorrows and sufferings in an extremely hostile and prejudiced social order. It will also take into account how after getting education Valmiki learns to embrace his identity and becomes a spokesman for his community