The Rippling of Dalit Consciousness in Contemporary Odiā Poetry

Dalit literature has been influential in the rising awareness for protest or creating literature of social consciousness. The broad domain of Dalit writings includes the depravation and trauma of certain category of people for some socio-cultural, traditional biases. Maybe one of the tenets of it could be the so-called social stratification or formation of social class. Thus, like writings in many languages in India, in Odia, lots of writing account for the evidences and experiences associated with Dalit consciousness. It also envisages feminine perspectives giving the account of the autobiographies and plights and traumatic evidences of Dalit authors underlining the issues of caste, class, and gender in the backdrop of social exclusion. Dalit Literature in Odia has a rich history that can be traced back to the fifteenth century. In Odia literary creations such as Bouddhagāna, and Dohā, Charyāgeetikā, the anecdotes of social discrimination and casteism are noticed. There is potentiality in contemporary Odia poetry in reflecting on various themes of Dalit consciousness.  As it is evident, it starts with saint poet Bhimbhoi who is said to be the first Dalit poet of Odishā in the mid-19th century. Along with glorification of humanitarian attributes, he has outlined the plights of the depraved community. The motifs of Ekalavya, Sanatan, Kalia, Ghinua, Jara Shabara; musical instruments such as baja; the untouchables; Sriya Chandaluni in Laxmi Purana; fingertip print are common in reflecting Dalit issues variously. In this context, this paper focuses on the critical dimensions of Dalit poetry in Odia by including some of the well-known authors such as Gopinath Bag, P.K. Mishra, Nilamani Parida, Ashutosh Parida, Jayadrath Suna, Basudev Sunani, Pitambar Tarai, Akhil Nayak, and Hrushikesh Mallik. Such poets have applied the skills varieties of versification to focus comprehensively on the sensitivity of the traumatic issues of oppression; racial discrimination; socio-cultural taboos; loss of indigenous culture; evil effects of urbanization and politics; existential crisis; victimization of the poor and innocents; loss of ecological harmony; nostalgia and effects of displacement.