Dalit Feminism and Political Resistance in Meena Kandasamy's Writing

This paper examines the intersection of Dalit feminism and political resistance in the literary oeuvre of Meena Kandasamy,one of the most radical voices in contemporary Indian English literature. Her writings—including poetry collections such as Touch andMs. Militancy, the novel The Gypsy Goddess, and her prose work When I Hit You: Or, A Portrait of the Writer as a Young Wife—serve as enduring tests of resistance against systemic caste oppression and patriarchal domination. While mainstream feministdiscourse often overlooks caste hierarchies, Kandasamy‘s work foregrounds the lived experiences of Dalit women, critiquing not onlycaste-based violence but also the limitations of savarna feminist practice and the structural inequities embedded within Indian society.Through a close textual and contextual analysis, this paper argues that Kandasamy‘s writing transforms literature into a site of politicalagency, reconfiguring language itself to challenge hegemonic narratives and to assert the subjectivity and dissent of Dalit women. Thisstudy situates Kandasamy‘s works within broader frameworks of Dalit feminist theory, Ambedkarite political thought, andintersectional literary resistance to illustrate how her literature transcends mere representation to act as a catalyst for collective socialcritique and transformative engagement.