Merā bacpan mere kandhoṁ par, by Sheoraj Singh Bechain

Childhood wounds and collective struggle

Abstract

The present paper focuses on Merā bacpan mere kandhoṁ par (2009), the autobiography of the Hindi Dalit writer Sheoraj Singh “Bechain,” with the aim of elucidating the traumas experienced by the author during his childhood and the associated images of “wound” and “burden,” while underscoring the role of the body as a site of autobiographical knowledge. It will demonstrate how Dalit writing is both individual and collective in nature and show how Bechain’s autobiography, as an academic memoir, seeks to substantiate and reinforce the writer’s current social and professional position on the basis of a complex and often challenging life journey.