Authors: Lakshminarasimhaiah N, Associate Professor Dr. Mohan Prakash
Abstract: Devanur Mahadeva’s Kusumabale stands as a powerful literary articulation of the Dalit experience in postcolonial India, foregrounding the silenced narratives of the marginalized. The novel challenges dominant socio-cultural structures by centering the lived realities, mythic retellings, and spiritual resilience of Dalit communities. Through its non-linear narration, subaltern idiom, and symbolic reimagining of folk traditions, Kusumabale transcends mere social protest to become an act of cultural reclamation. This paper explores how Mahadeva’s narrative redefines the politics of representation by giving voice to those historically rendered voiceless, thereby transforming literature into a space of resistance and identity assertion. It also interrogates the intersections of caste, language, and gender in the text, examining how these shape both the content and the form of Dalit writing. Through detailed thematic analysis and three key narrative instances — inter-caste romance and honour killing, oral traditions and collective voice, and the assertion of Dalit identity — this study investigates how Kusumabale narrates the marginalised experience and reconstructs social reality. The article also examines its impact on modern readers, the continuing challenges of Dalit representation, possible solutions for equitable visibility, and its broader message to contemporary society. The findings affirm that Kusumabale is not only a literary masterpiece but also a moral and political statement on the human condition.
