MEENU SUSAN JOSE , DR. S. FLORENCE
DOI: https://doi.org/This paper examines the representation of Dalit women in Mahasweta Devi‟s short story Rudali, with particular focus on their silenced voices and resilient spirit. Through the life of Sanichari, the narrative portrays how caste discrimination and patriarchal oppression work together to confine Dalit women to roles marked by suffering and invisibility. The figure of the rudali, or professional mourner, becomes a symbol of this enforced silence, as women are compelled to express grief on behalf of others while their own pain remains unacknowledged. Yet, within these constraints, Devi also highlights the quiet strength and survival strategies that allow Sanichari to endure and eventually carve out a space of agency. The story underscores how resilience emerges not in the absence of suffering, but through the act of enduring and reimagining one‟s role in society. By centering the lived realities of Dalit women, this study reveals Rudali as both a critique of systemic oppression and a testament to the unyielding spirit of women who resist erasure through their capacity to survive and adapt.
