Caste and the Continuing Battle: A Critical Study of Aravind Malagatti’s “Karya” in Contemporary India

Sanjukta Naik¹  & Swayam Prabha Satpathy^{2*  
1}Research Scholar, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences (English), ITER, Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan (Deemed to be University), Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India.
²Associate Professor, Supervisor, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences (English), ITER, Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan (Deemed to be University), Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India. *Corresponding author.

^{Rupkatha Journal, Vol. 17, Issue 3, 2025. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v17n3.03g
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Abstract

This article offers Aravind Malagatti’s perspective on the dominant importance of caste oppression in India. It also aims to highlight the impact of oppressive rules that control Dalit communities, an area still underexplored. The discriminatory practices and resistance they provoke are central to this study. Using citations from academic critiques, reviews, and journalistic commentary, this article calls for the rejection of Brahminical rules and their illogical religious ideologies that uphold caste-based suppression and oppression. Inspired by Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, Michel Foucault, and Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak’s research, the article features Aravind Malagatti’s “Karya” as a voice that challenges the ritualistic foundations of Hinduism that legitimise caste hierarchies. Malagatti’s narrative is thus presented as both a literary intervention and a political act of resistance in the ongoing fight for Dalit liberation. The study also emphasises the importance of Dalit narratives in reshaping discussions on caste, identity, and resistance in modern India. This article seeks to deconstruct caste hierarchies and promote inclusive literary and cultural narratives within the scope of contemporary Indian literature..

Keywords: Caste, Karya, Hinduism, Counter-hegemonic discourse, Liberation, Inclusivity.