Asprushyaru

Asprushyaru offers new insights into the practice of untouchability. Who is touchable? Who is untouchable? Such a meaningless separatist system is further complicated by educated Dalits who set up their own hierarchies segregating themselves from people of their own caste. The novel depicts the conditions of untouchables and focuses on the eradication of oppressive systems of discriminatory practices perpetuating untouchability. But Vaidehi''s delineation of the caste consciousness in this novel is more complex and steers clear of any oversimplifications. The novel is about the politics of purity and pollution that works together with the politics of compassion each bouncing off the other. To break such a system the daughter of the Brahmin should be prepared to climb down the ladder and wash the glass from which the educated low-caste officer has drunk coffee with her father. Vaidehi is one of the few writers in Kannada who could as far back as in 1982 see that the caste system was loosening its hold allowing people to become humane in their interactions with one another. The transformation is not easy in Vasudevaraya''s household but nevertheless it rears a new generation of children who think for themselves and question traditional beliefs and practices.