The Voice of Protest in B. Rangrao’s Farewell

Abstract

The present paper discusses how B. RangRao’s short story, “Farewell” offers a social commentary on the wretched condition of the Dalit lives in rural India, where despite grant of political rights to them, social change is yet to happen. The Dalits continue to be subjected to constant abuse by the powerful upper castes as exemplified by the village Chief in the story. The story captures a moment in India’s social history, where the author Rangarao depicts the stirring of Dalit consciousness in a remote Indian vil- lage, when the protagonist, Lakhan attempts to stand up for himself and resist his op- pressors, the upper caste villagers, in insisting that his father’s funeral procession should be allowed to pass through the village square. The study highlights the baneful and deeply entrenched caste-based prejudices and rigid social laws of the Indian soci- ety, breaching which leads to the ostracism and eventual deracination of a Dalit family.