The most important theory about Dalits’ origin ascribes its cause to the conflicts between the invading Aryans who came migrating from central Asia, and the aboriginal people of the subcontinent – the Dravidians (South Indian people) being part of the aboriginal populace. It traces the origin of Dalits, details on the different nomenclature used to refer to them, and also engages with arguments and counter-arguments regarding the increasingly rich genre of “Dalit literature.” It closes off with comments on Valmiki’s Joothan itself. The introduction turned out to be very informative. Also because it was written by the translator herself and I feel that translators have an intimate relationship with what they translate, at least far more than us readers.įortunately, I was not disappointed. Therefore introductions seem an obstruction to me.īut especially because Joothan’s introduction was lengthy, I thought it might contain some important knowledge, so gave it a try. I generally skip introductions because they are not written by authors of those books, and when I choose to read a book, I am interested in what the author has to say first and foremost. She also wrote a lengthy introduction to the book. It is an autobiography written in Hindi and translated to English by Arun Prabha Mukherjee. Joothan by Omprakash Valmiki is an important contribution to Dalit literature.
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