bhimayana by durgabai vyam and subhash vyam

This article argues that the graphic novel of BR Ambedkar’s life, Bhimayana, generates a postcolonial critical literacy. Keywords: Graphic Narrative, Gond Art, Koiture, Digna, Caste, Untouchable, Dalit Finally, the paper would examine the role of the graphic narrative as a global format of Dalit expression while shedding light on the ways of registering history through its multiple spatio-temporal levels. The paper also explores the approaches used to decode the panels engraved by Gond artists and how the story-telling method through tribal paintings correspond with Ambedkar’s life. The artists’ use of the river as a form of gutter and the frequent use of animal imageries liberate the characters from the hackneyed use of rectangular and square boxes and from the subjugation to pervasive caste slurs. Ambedkar’s life, the paper primarily critiques racism and caste-based oppression by offering a visual dimension of class struggle, injustice, humiliation, and large-scale abuse of Dalits as ‘untouchables.’ Interestingly, the book adopts an indigenous method being inspired by Gond artists or “Koiture” to resist the conventional grammar of comic books in favor of dignas. Anand’s Bhimayana: Experiences of Untouchability (2011). This paper seeks to examine the amalgamation of Dalit writing and the graphic narrative format in Durgabai Vyam, Subhash Vyam, Srividya Natarajan, and S. In recent years, the advent of graphic narrative as a potent medium to represent history by capturing real-life events and portraying the body of society is remarkable.

Bhimayana by durgabai vyam and subhash vyam