• N. Nancy Poornima

Dalit women are repeatedly entombed in extremely patriarchal social order. Dalit women in India undergo various struggles physically and mentally in all facets of life. Even though they try to arise with their will power and determination they fail in the end. The relentless discrimination, they face from being, both as a Dalit and a woman, makes them a key target of violence and systematically denies them choices and freedoms in all spheres of life. The poor and the illiterate Dalit women are forced to do the most menial and underpaid jobs for the betterment of their family. Imayam, a prominent writer in his first novel, ‘Beast of Burden’ portrays the difficulties of a Dalit woman, Arokkyam, in the washerman community. Arokkyam, a Dalit woman was not only oppressed by the upper caste people but also by her own community. She is subjected to caste oppression, gender repression in the society. Sacrifice, hard work, tolerance were the strengths of these woman but the lack of freedom and suppression makes them victims in the patriarchal society. Like the mules, the vannaan and vannaatti (in Tamil) community carries tons and tons of burdens like oppression, starvation, insult, sexual assault, poverty with pathos. This paper highlights the Dalit women’s struggle and oppressions faced in their day to day life and their fighting spirit to survive in the cruel patriarchal society. The paper aims to bring to lime light the plight of women from relegated sections of the society who are dispossessed of socio economic prospects for their sustenance.

Dalit, Oppression, struggle, caste, community, patriarchy, repression.

"THE UNHEARD SCREAMS OF DALIT WOMAN IN IMAYAM’S ‘BEAST OF BURDEN’", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.6, Issue 3, page no.953-957, March-2019, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIRAG06197.pdf

"THE UNHEARD SCREAMS OF DALIT WOMAN IN IMAYAM’S ‘BEAST OF BURDEN’", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.6, Issue 3, page no. pp953-957, March-2019, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIRAG06197.pdf