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First published in Tamil in 1992, Karukku broke barriers of tradition in ways more than one. The first autobiography of a Dalit woman writer, the book is a classic of subaltern writing, and a bold and poignant tale of life outside mainstream Indian thought and function. Revolving around themain theme of caste oppression within the Catholic Church, Karukku portrays the tension between the self and the community, and presents Bama's life as a process of self-reflection and recovery from social and institutional betrayal.Marking ten years of the first English translation of Karukku, this edition includes a Postscript, where Bama relives the dramatic moment of her leave-taking from her chosen vocation that she had not described in the first edition and a special note "Ten Years Later". This volume also carries theeditor's note, the author's preface, the author's afterword to the first edition and an updated Introduction by the translator Lakshmi Holmstrom.