Rabindranath Tagore’s Chandalika: An Ascetic Outlook of Subalternity

Since time immemorial, Indian society has been neglecting and detaching the marginalized section of society, labeling them as subhuman untouchables. Spivak in her lecture “The Trajectory of the Subaltern in My Work” describes Subalternity as “the position without identity”. Although, representation of subaltern studies was little-known in Tagore‟s time, but his plays like Chandalika, Natir Puja and Milan narrate the evidence of subaltern remonstration against upper class hegemony. The paper will aim to retrospect Tagore‟s Chandalika from Subaltern standpoint. It will investigate Tagore‟s ideal of humanitarianism and Universalism, the way he unties a more optimistic dimension, exploring the techniques of redemption and giving a strong espousal to Buddhism which is known for its liberal religious gamut. With reference to the notion of „subaltern‟, the paper will further explore post-colonial issues of subjectivity and identity-formation.