The Role of Education in Dalits’ Empowerment in the Novel ‘My Father Baliah’

Abstract

Totaling Literature in general mirrors the life of humans. Dalit literature glasses social justice which has not been attainable for Dalits for ages. It is an art by the heart not to entertain, it is to empower them. To empower, education is the only tool to access everything they lost for many centuries. As per the constitution, India is a democratic country but there is no equality in the practical society. In the twenty-first century caste inequalities prevail in so many both politically and socially. Generation changes but caste does not. Reformers and revolutionaries would come, and caste would act as a dead snake. The novel expresses the importance of education scrupulously. Author and protagonist Sathyanarayana fruitfully pinioned the painful story that centralized the theme on education, and how that makes the oppressed into the national builders. Education is the only tool to empower and that makes a rationalist protest against inequalities. First, it changes the person and then the society would change when educators contribute their knowledge to break the inhumanity followed by caste. That is the only aim leaders always insist on getting an education not to make violence. This paper focuses on, Dalit Education which primarily moulds a person as a self-determined individual who can easily acquire everything, they lost in the name of Sadhana dharma. During the colonial period; Dalits got a prospect for education and a good living. This paper has concentrated on real-life facts and contemporary issues that happened in society. Education is an ocean, to reach the destination, Indian leaders functioned as the river and navigated Dalits to reach the ocean.