EMERGENCE OF SUBALTERN VOICES IN PAUL CHIRAKKARODE’S PULAYATHARA

Abstract

The book,Pulayathara,written by Paul Chirakkarode can be considered to have a great significance in India’s contemporary socio-political space. It is said to be India’s first Dalit Christian novel with Chirakkarode as the first Indian Dalit novelist. Since experiences with Dalit characters are often written by upper class people, this novel actually proved revolutionary. Being a Dalit, Chirakkarode tries to voice the true experience he has had with the Dalit life. Here he tries to echo the actual voice of subalterns. He shows how they are being tortured by so-called upperclass people and how these subalterns try to reflect themselves to the prejudiced society. The paper intends to explore the emergence of subalterns against the burden imposed upon them by the opposing forces of discrimination and shaping an identity of themselves.