Meena Kandasamy’s The Gypsy Goddess: A Pedagogy of Teaching Dalit Resistance in English Classrooms

Abstract

The research paper focuses on Meena Kandasamy's novel, The Gypsy Goddess (2014), the first English-language novel by a Dalit writer. It explores how the novel addresses Dalit persecution, utilizing Dalit pain, anger, and revolt to restore Dalit dignity, subjectivity, and resistance, thereby providing a unique critique of the Indian English novel. The paper discusses how the novel fulfilling the basic requirements of fiction designed to raise Dalit consciousness is pedagogical. The unity and collectivism of the downtrodden community, the prominent role of the women in inciting and supporting the strike and struggle, and the final scene of Dalit public anger would all mark this novel as a traditional example of the literature of pain and protest. The paper examines how the novel, meeting the fundamental requisites of fiction aimed at heightening Dalit consciousness, holds pedagogical value. The unity and collectivism within the marginalized community, the significant role played by women in instigating and sustaining the strike and struggle, and the concluding scene depicting Dalit public outrage collectively characterize this novel as a paradigmatic example of literature depicting pain and protest.