‘Did You Make Us Join the Church to Make Us Slaves’?: Delineating Submission, Conversion, Resistance and Assertion of Dalit Identity

The article explores the critical issues put forward in the novel Pulayathara written by Paul Chirakkarode, published in the year 1962. It focuses on the Dalit experiences with Christianity and the futility of conversion in eroding their ‘low’ caste status. It also gives a historical overview of Christianity in Kerala by tracing the inroads that Christianity made into the erstwhile untouchable castes. This historical narrative is juxtaposed and tailored with the textual analysis of Pulayathara by carving out four themes - Submission, Conversion, Resistance and Assertion of Dalit identity. It highlights how conversion to Christianity leads to a division among the Dalits whereby the Christian converted Dalits view themselves as superior and the unconverted Dalits are viewed as uncivilised. The article points to a paradoxical situation where the Dalit Christians replicate the othering that they face inside the Church towards the Hindu Dalits. It concludes that caste is a deep-rooted system and the conversion from one religion to another has zero impact on the birth-based identity due to which people continue to remain ‘low’ and ‘high’.