From Roots to Routes: Migration and Identity in Indian Diaspora Literature

Migration has been one of the defining experiences of the Indian diaspora, reshaping notions of identity, belonging, and cultural memory. Indian diaspora literature captures the complex transition from ‘roots', symbolizing origin and homeland, to ‘routes', representing movement, displacement, and transnational existence. In Indian diasporic literature, the act of crossing borders is rarely just a physical journey; it is a psychological transformation. For writers of the Indian diaspora, "identity" is not a fixed label but a fluid process of negotiation between the desh (homeland) and the videsh (host land). This paper examines how Indian diasporic writers negotiate identity in the context of migration, cultural hybridity, and alienation. Drawing on theoretical insights from diaspora studies and postcolonial criticism, and analyzing selected works by writers such as Jhumpa Lahiri, V.S. Naipaul, Salman Rushdie, and Bharati Mukherjee, the paper argues that Indian diaspora literature reflects identity as fluid, hybrid, and continually reconstructed across spaces.