Dalit Childhood as a Cultural Testimony: Trauma and Resistance in Balbir Madhopuri’s Changiya Rukh (Against the Night)

Abstract

Dalit autobiography in India has emerged as one of the most radical literary forms, raising its voice against the historical suppression of marginalised groups. Balbir Madhopuri’s "Changiya Rukh" (Against the Night) is a significant Punjabi Dalit autobiography that explores childhood trauma, social conditioning, and political awakening. The present paper is to analyse the portrayal of Dalit childhood in Changiya Rukh as a cultural testimonial, converting individual anguish into shared historical documentation. Utilising trauma theory and Ambedkarite political philosophy, the paper contends that Madhopuri’s narrative reconceptualises trauma not alone as a psychological disruption but as a structural phenomenon engendered by the caste system. The research further examines the influences of labour, schooling, gendered pain, memory, silence, and ideological reform on the subjectivity of the Dalit child. The paper contends that Madhopuri’s story transmutes Dalit infancy into a formidable repository of social injustice and a cornerstone for emancipatory consciousness.