683 www.researchscholar.co.in Impact Factor 0.793 (IIFS) ISSN 2320 – 6101 Research Scholar An International Refereed e-Journal of Literary Explorations May, 2014 Vol. 2 Issue II ARTICULATING THE VOICELESS: A STUDY OF P. SIVAKAMI’S THE GRIP OF CHANGE Ginni Rani Assistant Professor Govt. College Meham Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, Haryana 124001 Writings of minorities and the other marginal voices have found a perfect platform at literary scenario - be it feministic writing, queer theories, displaced writings of Diaspora or Dalit writings. But despite social, economical, political and developmental endeavors, Dalits still are at periphery in the mainstream society. Popping up of queer theories in the contemporary scenario has already pushed aside the feminist writings in academic area of gender studies. And this already marginalized movement has further sidelined the issues of Dalit women. Although Dalit movement started in mid nineteenth century for upliftment of these marginalized communities, but issues of Dalit women are still neglected not only by mainstream feminist literary movement but also by patriarchal Dalit movement. The plight of a Dalit becomes all the more pathetic when a Dalit is a woman and poor too. Then she has to face not only the caste discrimination but the gender inequalities and economic disparities too. A Dalit woman is thrice victimized by hegemonic elite class, male chauvinism and the rich, that too, simultaneously. This paper aims at foregrounding the plight of a Dalit at three contexts- gender, caste and class with reference to P.Sivakami’s novel The Grip of Change (2006).Thus this paper is an attempt to articulate and foreground the silenced and subjugated Dalit in an oppressive society along with its consequential voices of protests. The word ‘Dalit’ comes from the Sanskrit root ‘dal’ which means broken, downtrodden, or oppressed. It has also its origin in Sanskrit and Hindi word ‘Dalita’ which literally means oppressed. Regarding the origin of the word ‘Dalit’, there are variations, but it unanimously symbolizes the dilemma of oppressed, downtrodden and other exploited minorities. Singha and Acharya define, “The term ‘Dalit’ literally means crushed or grounded and it describes the living conditions for centuries of a large group of socially oppressed people in India” (xxi).Generally, ‘Dalit’ refers to all the exploited and disadvantaged people but in its particular sense, it is used as synonymous only to those socially oppressed people who being excluded from the mainstream of the society have been living under the stigma of untouchability since centuries. Dalits are socially oppressed, culturally neglected and economically exploited. Even after many years of Dalit movement, still they are being disregarded by diverse social opportunities. Still the hegemonic ideologies are oppressive and authoritative, keeping a Dalit’s ‘being’ at constant threat. Pariah of society, a Dalit is maltreated to the extremity. This deplorable status has led them to paucity, exploitation, subjugation and dehumanization, culminating them into cultural silence. The situation becomes all the more poignant when a Dalit is a poor woman. Thus insurgence of Dalit feminism is the need of the hour and fortunately there are women writers like Bama Faustina, Urmila Panwar, Baby kamble, Meena Kandasamy and P. Sivakami who have become a milestone in the arena of Dalit feminism by projecting Dalit women in their writings.