Dalit And Social Justice

The word Dalit does not appear in any sacred scriptures or historical texts of India. It is actually a word based on 17th-century European notions about the Indian caste system. The word is derived from Sanskrit, and means ground, suppressed, crushed, or broken to pieces. It was first used by Jyotirao Phule in the nineteenth century, in the context of the oppression faced by the erstwhile untouchable castes of the twice-born Hindus. According to Victor Premasagar, the term expresses their weakness, poverty and humiliation at the hands of the upper castes in the Indian society. Currently many Dalits use the term to move away from the more derogatory terms of their caste names or even the term Untouchable. The contemporary use of Dalit is centred on the idea that as a people they may have been broken by oppression but they survive even thrive by finding meaning in the struggle of their existence towards human dignity. Aim of the book is to make available some aspects of this profoundly important malice of the Indian social order. How Dalits a major portion of Indian society has been kept in slavery through the ages.