Dalit Consciousness of Marginality in Selected Short Stories

This research conceptualizes Dalit consciousness of marginality through selected Marathi Dalit short stories (‘The Poisoned Bread’ and ‘Explosion’). This article aims to understand Dalit issues through textual analysis of these short stories. Dalit’s poverty, power politics, caste-based discrimination, unemployment and marginality are challenging issues to understand Dalit consciousness from the Dalits’ eyes. This research seeks the answers to the following queries: (a) What is Dalit consciousness? and (b) What Dalit issues are presented in short stories? To seek answers, this article engages with Ambedkar’s philosophy and the model of an ‘ideal society’. Other scholars’ ideas are also studied to conceptualize Dalit consciousness of marginality. This article finds that characters are conscious of being marginal and depicts caste-based inequality in employment and social spheres.