''Baluta'' (

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people *Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece See also * * ...

बलुतं) is an autobiography by the

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

n writer

Daya Pawar Daya Pawar or Dagdu Maruti Pawar (1935–20 September 1996) was an Indian Marathi people, Marathi language author and poet known for his contributions to Dalit literature that dealt with the atrocities experienced by the dalits or untouchable ...

, written in the

Marathi language Marathi (; ''Marāṭhī'', ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language predominantly spoken by Marathi people in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the official language of Maharashtra, and additional official language in the state o ...

. Dangale considers it a remarkable representative of the autobiography genre of Marathi Dalit literature. According to Kalita, ''Baluta'' "introduced autobiographical writing" to Dalit literature. ''Baluta'' is seen by the ''Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature'' as an attempt by the writer to be personal yet "objective and representative", the title generalising the status of rural untouchables. It records the writer's struggle for peace, a struggle with no chance of retaliation in "word or deed". An English translation by

Jerry Pinto Jerry Pinto (born 1966) is a Mumbai-based Indian English poet, novelist, short story writer, translator, as well as journalist. Pinto's works include '' Helen: The Life and Times of an H-Bomb'' (2006), which won the Best Book on Cinema Award at ...

was published in 2015.

Reactions

Rao considers that ''Baluta'', as a representative of Dalit literature, was not just a faithful narration of the Dalit experience but also an "ethical challenge" to the "caste Hindu" whom it "implicated".

Sharmila Rege Sharmila Rege (7 October 1964 – 13 July 2013) was an Indian sociologist, feminist scholar and author of '' Writing Caste, Writing Gender''. She led the Krantijyoti Savitribai Phule Women's Studies Centre, (the department of Gender Studies) at ...

quotes

Urmila Pawar Urmila Pawar is an Indian writer and activist in the dalit and feminist movements in India and her works, all of which are written in Marathi language, have often been hailed as a critique of social discrimination and the ''savarna'' exploitat ...

, who mentions the criticism of Dalit scholars that ''Baluta'' was shameful; Urmila rejects this criticism as based on lack of understanding. According to ''The Encyclopaedia...'', it created the first anti-hero in

Marathi literature Marathi literature is the body of literature of Marathi, an Indo-Aryan language spoken mainly in the Indian state of Maharashtra and written in the Devanagari and Modi script. History Ancient Era Maharashtri Prakrit was the southern Prakrit tha ...

. ''Link'' mentions that ''Baluta'' "created a sensation in the Marathi world for its frank and unique description of a life that the author lived in the ghettos of prostitutes, criminals, pimps and uprooted Dalit people, within and around the red light areas of the city of

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

References

{{reflist Indian autobiographies Dalit literature 1978 books Speaking Tiger books