The Namasudras and Their Alternative History A Study of Selected Dalit Translated Texts from Bengal

Abstract

The topic of my research aims at a critical study of the translated works of Manohar Mouli Biswas, Jatin Bala and Manoranjan Byapari who are Namasudra Dalit writers from West Bengal. The study will include autobiographies and stories by these authors namely Surviving in My World: Growing up Dalit in Bengal, Interrogating My Cahandal life: An Autobiography of a Dalit, The Man Called Ratan , Story of Social Consciousness , The Two Ends of a Broken Bridge , Seeds of Consciousness , Reminiscence of Life at Refugee Camp and so on. By using textual and analytical method I will show how in these writings exists an alternative history of the Namasudras who are a non-Aryan caste of eastern Bengal considered to be Dalits or untouchable engaged for the most part in cultivation and other menial work, and whose real history is not recorded truthfully by the main stream historians nor whose life of penury, hardships, exploitation is reflected in the main stream literature. newline