Race, Caste, and Class Interface in Achintya Biswas's Dalit Play Encircling Pressure

Abstract The article, through an analysis of the play Encircling Pressure by Indian Dalit playwright Achintya Biswas, aims to demonstrate how caste and race are similar to some extent and have nearly equal roles in terms of discrimination within a transnational context. It examines how a person's agonizing destiny is determined by their birth into a particular caste or race. The pathetic state of people worldwide, according to Marxists, is caused by class conflict resulting from economic inequality. However, the playwright, influenced by Ambedkarite thought, hypothesizes that this economic inequality ensues because of inequity based on caste or racial identities, which essentially contributes to the formation of two groups—the haves and the have-nots. Therefore, the article examines how binaries like lower caste and upper caste in the caste system and Black people and white people in the racial framework are fundamentally comparable and result in the creation of two groups: the proletariat and bourgeoisie.