PROTEST AGAINST RELIGIOUS DISCOURSE AS EXPRESSED IN THE SELECT GUJARATI DALIT POETRY

Since the birth of Hindu Varnra or caste system, Dalits have been segregated from the rest of community through the inhuman and arbitrary practice of untouchability. The ancient Hindu religious scriptures have been responsible for the ageless and endless pain and sufferings of Dalits. The theological world view justified the desirability and utility of this kind of social structure as it sought legitimacy from religion and its ancient scriptures. All those scriptures and their interpreters recommended absolute faith in them and in the interpretation that Varna or the caste system was willed by God or it was one of divine creations. The state power and organized religion imposed on them social, cultural and mental restrictions through superstitions, myths and punishments. The literature produced by Dalits revolt against the religious discourse of their respective countries. Therefore, the Dalit literary figures have lost faith in the religious ideologies and struggled hard for carving out some breathing space for their brethren. Some writers have made their poetry as a vehicle of propaganda against the hypocritical Hindu value system. The present research paper studies some selected Gujarati Dalit poetry where such protest against religious discourse is observed.