Investigation of the Caste and Gender-Based Subjugation of the Dalit Community

Mamona Yasmin Khan, Urwa Naeem

Abstract

The present study focuses on the Dalit community in general and its women in particular as a muted group. The Dalit community is one of these marginalized communities who have been muted, deliberately, by society even in this era, the 21^st century. Using a Muted Group Theory (MGT) as a conceptual standpoint, the study has attempted to problematize the caste system in today’s India and to prove the Dalit community as a muted group, which has been strategically muted for centuries and it goes on. The primary texts for analysis are Ants among Elephants (2017) by Sujatha Gilda, and The Weave of My Life (2008) by Urmila Pawar. The Weave of My Life, a memoir, recounts three generations of Dalit women who struggled to overcome the burden of their caste; the untouchables, the poorest class of Dalits, and Ants Among Elephants also deals with the fighting of Dalits with the issues of caste system in India. Both of these texts unearth the subjugation of Dalits, particularly, Dalit women, due to caste, gender, and language barriers.  This study answers the questions of how the Dalit community is a muted group; and what ways are used to subjugate them in modern-day India. The study concludes with a need to write &study Dalit literature and to boost Dalit women in either possible way.