Author's Preface

There are many congruities between the saw-edged palmyra karukku and my ownlife. Not only did I pick up the scattered palmyra karukku in the days when I wassent out to gather firewood, scratching and tearing my skin as I played with them; butlater they also became the embryo and symbol that grew into this book.

The driving forces that shaped this book are many: events that occurred during manystages of my life, cutting me like karukku and making me bleed; unjust socialstructures that plunged me into ignorance and left me trapped and suffocating; my owndesperate urge to break, throw away and destroy these bonds; and when the chains wereshattered into fragments, the blood that was spilt then; all these, taken together.

There are other Dalit hearts like mine, with a passionate desire to create a newsociety made up of justice, equality and love. They, who have been the oppressed, are nowthemselves like the double-edged karukku, challenging their oppressors.

Although the author of The Epistle to the Hebrews (New Testament) described theWord of God as a two-edged sword, it no longer stirs the hardened hearts of the many whohave sought their happiness by enslaving and disempowering others.

In order to change this state of affairs, all Dalits who have been deprived of theirbasic rights must function as God's word, piercing to the very heart. Instead of beingmore and more beaten down and blunted, they must unite, think about their rights, andbattle for them.

Father Mark understood the nature and sources of this book, and urged me to write it.Not only did he encourage me to give thought to each separate topic, he supported me inthe writing of it, he worked tirelessly to bring it out in the shape of a book, andhonoured it by writing an introduction. I am indebted to him in many ways. Out of manyother friends who encouraged and inspired me, I must mention Father M Jeyaraj inparticular.

BAMA 1992