• ISBN13: 9780199491438
• Binding: Paperback
• Subject: English Literature
• Publisher: Oxford UP
• Publisher Imprint: Oxford UP
• Publication Date: May 13, 2019
• Pages: 212
• Original Price: INR 595.0
• Language: English
• Edition: N/A
• Item Weight: 200 grams
• BISAC Subject(s): General

The idea of a home is at the heart of pulayathara, which is not only the first Dalit novel on record (1963) but also one of the founding texts of the Dalit Christian movement in Kerala. It opens with a near vision of thevan pulayan’s intense attachment to land; it then leads on to his displacement after decades of devoted service to his upper-caste landlord who, overnight, deprived him of both home and livelihood. Beginning with pulayathara, the Theme that runs through all of chirakkarode’s works is casteism in Christianity: the role of the church in the continued enslavement of the pulayar and the psychological effect it has on a people who abandon their ancestral gods to embrace the new faith. Without a doubt, the Dalit converts for physical and emotional security as well as survival. However, inevitably, disenchantment follows and the search for ‘home’ continues. Is the Dalit Christian any better off than he was before conversion.

Paul Chirakkarode, Malayalam Author and Human Rights Activist, -, Catherine Thankamma, Writer and translator, -

PAUL CHIRAKKARODE (1938-2008) was a noted Malayalam and English-language novelist, short story writer, biographer, essayist, thinker, social critic, orator and human rights activist. It was through his literary interventions that the miserable and subhuman life of the downtrodden people of Kerala was exposed before the world of letters in an aesthetic manner. The celebrated author has been considered as one of the pioneer's of Dalit Literary Movement in India.

CATHERINE THANKAMMA is a writer and translator. She translated Narayan's 'Kocharethi' (2011) that received the Crossword Book Award. She has also translated Sethu's 'Aliyah' (2016).