88. Prachand Narayan Piraji

Abstract 88
Prachand Narayan Piraji         

Voices of the Dissent: A Critical Study of Baburao Bagul’s Maran Swast Hot Aahe (Death Being Cheaper) Abstract

Their inhuman atrocities have carved caves, In the rock of my heart
I must tread this forest with wary steps, Eyes fixed on the changing times.

These lines from the poem Caves by Jyoti Lanjewar  gives the sense of consciousness and the attitude to come out of the bondage of the age long established social system, appropriately represents the aesthetics of Dalit literature. Till the nineteenth century Dalits were denied a place in literature. It may be because of the writer’s commitment towards the aesthetics of established main stream literature, or Dalit’s lives their misery, sorrow, servitude and their misfortunes might have been much beyond their verbal ability.  Mahatma Jyotirao Phule and Dr. B. R. Ambedkar’s social and the political movements influenced the first learned generation of the Dalit community.  The consciousness of human rights made them to choose the medium of writing literature to reach the common people with their ideas and concerns for their community. Baburao Bagul is one of them and one of the pioneers of Dalit literature in Maharashtra.

The present paper is a critical analysis of Baburao Bagul’s collection of short stories in Marathi, entitled Maran Swast Hot Aahe (Death Being Cheaper).  It is a collection of ten stories in which all voice dissent. Each of the stories give voice to the experiences of their community and selves, specially their battle against situations of deprivation, humiliation and displacement, struggle for survival, wretched acquiescence and at times open mutiny.  My paper will be analyzing the theme, language, and characters of  each story which gives vent to his/her feelings to fight against the established social/ economical/ political system.