Autobiographical writings constitute a significant subgenre of Dalit literature, conveying the firsthand, raw experience of the writers who were, themselves, subjected to the scorn and contempt of the people who had no other qualities or distinctions in life except that they were born into upper-caste families. In recent years, a vibrant field of Dalit literature has appeared in India, and some works are beginning to be translated into English.
“Dalit” is the term used to describe the nearly 180 million Indians who were placed at the bottom of the traditional caste system. In that Country the laws of religion, the laws of the land, and the laws of honour, are all united and consolidated in one, and bind a man eternally to the rules of what is called his caste.-Edmund Burke New York: Columbia University Press, 2008.
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