Published Paper Details:

The article attempts to investigate how Bengali Dalit literature reflects the historical journey of the Namahsudra community who were stigmatised as Chandals and their struggle for dignity and recognition. Through the study it also highlighted that how they were doubly displaced, firstly as a low caste which pushed to the margins of the society, and secondly as refugees uprooted during the partition of Bengal. Besides, it also discussed that how the Bengali Dalit literature resist caste-based discrimination and rewrites the overlooked or distorted history of the Namasudra people, particularly through Namasudra authors. The Bengal Namasudra community, earlier referred to as 'Chandals', are a socially, politically and economically marginalized caste from East Bengal who were commonly known as "untouchables." Most of them turned into refugees in India at the time of partition and experiencing double marginalization, initially as Dalits, and subsequently as displaced individuals. Mainstream literature and history have most frequently failed or neglected to project their actual hardships, agony, experience and culture. Authors such as Manohar Mouli Biswas, Manoranjan Byapari, Jatin Bala, Kalyani Thakur Charal, and many more employed the literature as an effective tool to voice their community's words, experiences, and resistances. The research brings to the fore the significance of Dalit literature in the recovery of histories, advancing social justice, and transforming the way we look at caste, identity, and literature in Bengal.