The thesis deals with dalit literature and its role in the dalit movement. In the preface it summarizes information about indian caste system, untouchability and outlines the history of the dalit movement. It tries to highlight certain important points within the history of dalit movement that were significant for the evolvement and development of the dalit literature. Then it goes onto the dalit literature itself. The brief historical depiction is devided into parts based on geographic and lingual regions (Marathi, Telugu, Tamil, Hindi and Gujarati). Further the author deals with classification of dalit literature and its relation with afro- american literature. She poses and tries to answer the question of who in fact is the dalit writer, how is dalit literature received by literature critics and briefly also mentions its language specificities. In the analysis of dalit literature motives the author describes significant and frequent storylines and shows the connection of literature and dalit movement. Specific examples taken from dalit works point out particular motives and nicely illustrate the character of this literature. Separate chapter deals with recently current theme of women in dalit literature. In conclusion author offers summary of the whole theme, emphasizes its most important points...