The Changing Treatment of Disability in Children's Literature in India

In modern India, the attitude towards the vikalanga, pangu, or disabled, is changing, becoming more sensitive and positive. This is getting reflected in literature for children and adults. Traditionally, from epic through medieval times, disability had not been treated sympathetically in Indian literature. The Indian epics Ramayana and Mahabharata represented disability as a curse or an evil. Both contain disabled characters in crucial roles, but in most negative ones. This trend continued in medieval times; it changed only from the late nineteenth century, at least partly because of Western influence, and was strengthened during the independence and modernization of India. Finally, in the twenty-first century, in vernaculars as well as in English, disabled people are being recognized as potentially useful members of society and represented in such a way in novels, short stories, and even picturebooks. This evolution is what this article outlines, with references to the Indian epics, as well as to medieval and recent works. It also points out the still marginal attention that disability is receiving in Indian literature and urges a strengthening of the recent positive trend, without sentimentalizing the actual issues of disability.