‘Sanatan’ – the Unsaid History of Deep Exclusion, Inequality, Injustice and Isolation

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B. N. Gaikwad, Sujata R. Tiwale

Abstract

 In human history many human groups experienced and witnessed discrimination on the name of divinity. These human groups become victim of man-made inhuman legal institutionalized social order. They become the subject of social exclusion, exploitation and violence. Sharankumar Limbale, the prominent Marathi writer, poet, critic and Dalit movement activist has contributed eight significant novels and books including short stories and an autobiography in Marathi Dalit Literature. The author of the novel 'Sanatan' has recently been honoured for his work by Saraswati Samman 2020, which is one of the most prestigious awards in Indian literature. The book was published in Marathi in 2018 and later translated into many Indian regional languages as well. Sanatan is a historical and social unsung saga of oppressed castes and tribes. It covers the vast period of Indian history, from the Bahamani Sultanate's fourteenth century to the establishment of British colonies and the British Empire. It takes the reader on a voyage from India to the South American continent as well. “The author has written this novel using many imaginative characters and space. He brilliantly weaved the story of a novel with history.”[1] Sanatan is a socio-historical documentation of the misery of invisible human souls who were kept unnoticed and isolated for centuries in the name of social hierarchal order.  Sharankumar Limbale unmasks every authority of the hierarchical order of Indian society which refused the existence to lower castes to sustain their superiority, power & position in society. The present research paper, using post-colonial lens endeavours to unmask the authority and order reflected in ‘Sanatan’. Sharankumar Limbale’s ‘Sanatan’ experiments with time, space and history. This paper also explores Sharankumar Limbale’s use of history in chronological order to portray the epic story of graded inequality and exclusion including religious conversion, migration and the Diaspora of Mahar and Adivasi communities with the help of mythology and imaginary incidents and characters. The paper observes the potential of Sanatan in uncovering and uprooting the faces of exclusion and inequality.

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B. N. Gaikwad, Sujata R. Tiwale. (2023). ‘Sanatan’ – the Unsaid History of Deep Exclusion, Inequality, Injustice and Isolation. European Economic Letters (EEL), 13(4), 693–699. Retrieved from https://www.eelet.org.uk/index.php/journal/article/view/649
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