Dare to Read: A Dalit Reads in Daya Pawar’s Baluta

Abstract

For a Dalit doing something, unless ordered to do so, is always an offence in upper caste society. In this situation Daya Pawar’s Baluta presents a world where a Dalit uses his reading and reason to oppose social injunctions on Dalits. This article puts under probe a Dalit’s venture into the world of reading to analyse critically the social norms. It invites not only a study of the society but also a review of his own self. The text contains various attitudes the Dalit self exploits in his reading. This paper shows how the act of reading gives birth to a critical bent of mind. His complex attachment to the process of reading minutely unfolds the systematic despotism of the upper caste. Reading by a Dalit creates a new perception of looking at society. This article explores how reading becomes a method to claim his assertion making a demand of his right to knowledge.