ABSTRACT
Indian society has a unique stratification that is based on ritual purity, a fallout of the caste system which places the Brahmin on top, and the shudras at the bottom of the four-tiered caste structure.1 To this structure is added one more category after the shudras – the ati-shudras or the Dalits, who are looked down upon by all the other castes and, as a consequence, end up occupying the lowest position on the social ladder. From this low subservient position, Dalits further acquired the additional status of ‘pollutants’ and ‘untouchables’ which, once again, relegated them to the margins of society. In this complex and convoluted scenario, Dalit women also found themselves marginalized in double ways: as a Dalit and as a woman. This double marginal status was accorded to them in literature too, which eventually propelled Dalit women to write about their experiences.
