Karuku

Bama's 'Karuku' delves into the complexities of caste and gender in contemporary society, offering a poignant narrative that challenges societal norms and prejudices. When a Dalit woman wrote her memoirs in 1992 after leaving the convent, the Tamil publishing business didn't like the words she used. Thus, in 1992, Bama Faustina quietly released her seminal work, Karukku—a passionate and significant fusion of sociology, history, and the capacity for memory. Karukku dismantled convention in a number of ways. It is a daring and moving story of living outside of mainstream Indian thinking and function, and the first autobiography by a Dalit woman writer. It is also considered a masterpiece of subaltern writing. Focusing on the central subject of caste oppression in the Catholic Church, it illustrates the conflict between the individual and the community and shows Bama's life as a journey of introspection and healing from institutional and societal rejection.