From Dependence to Independence: A Critical Study of the Search for Identity and Dignity in Balbir Madhopuri's Changiya Rukh

The present article aims at conceptualizing the relation between the caste and experience in Balbir Madhopuri’s Changiya Rukh (Against the Night), the first Dalit autobiography of Punjabi language as well as the region. This narrative, consisting twenty chapters, deals with different aspects of Punjabi region. From the first chapter ‘My Birthplace Madhopur’ to the twentieth chapter ‘Being a Tenant’ of the work make their own presentation with reference to multiple aspects of Dalits in India. He writes, this autobiography as an exclusive record of ‘Ad Dharmi’, a sub-caste of ‘Chamar’ in Punjab, and it also delineates his success through thorny paths. The metaphorical usage of the title denotes the deliberate stunt of the untouchable people of India in the hands of upper castes. This book, being a seminal work in the recent Dalit literature, offers an honest and powerful portrayal of suffering and social exclusion of Dalits in the rural Punjab. Soon after its translation into English, there had been a wide response for this work across the world for conveying the message of struggle against darkness of caste oppression, and realistic portrayal of Dalits.