Religious Xenophobia and Casteism in India’s Futures in Dystopian Fiction

Abstract

The caste system is an ancient structure of society which still has its roots spread in the Indian social sphere. However, its ancient foundation based on profession, or what Dr B. R. Ambedkar called the ‘division of labour,’ has been shifted to the rigidity of bloodline, thereby a destiny one cannot escape. Therefore, contemporary India consists of a rigid caste division of people based on hereditary. Indian authors have been addressing such issues of severe discrimination based on caste and religion in their writings for a long time, such as in Untouchable (1935) by Mulk Raj Anand, The God of Small Things (1997) by Arundhati Roy, and The White Tiger (2008) by Aravind Adiga. The recent genre of Indian science fiction also depicts religion, caste, and class systems in a different array and concretises them in a technologically advanced India. This article explores religion, caste, and class consciousness in Leila (2017) by Prayaag Akbar and Chosen Spirits (2020) by Samit Basu. It delineates how the contours of casteism are resilient and adapt to the dynamic attitude of Indian society in different times and places.