Abstract
Dalits are being assaulted for claiming justice in South Asia. From the history of Gujarat, Joseph Macwan's Stepchild (1930) gives us protagonists with a mission of social justice and their consequences. It also brings out bonded‐love, heroism, humiliation. revenge and death of Dalits. Teeha (a Dalit youth) represents the first of the enlightened Vankars who has the courage to stand up against the unprincipled Patels. The fraternal bond between Valji and Teeha is not an ordinary friendship; in different ways, each sacrifices his life and joys for the others. Macwan presents other major and minor Vankars ‐ the philosophical Bhavaankaka, the tender Kanku, the gentle Dano, the noble Gokal and so on ‐ as if to show that with their integrity and high ethics, the so‐called untouchables are far superior to their oppressors and exploiters. What had Teeha done? Just he saved his fellow Methi from upper caste youths' sexual exploitation at the Patel's village. Teeha wanted justice, but he was killed by upper caste people.
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