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Karukku (கருக்கு) is an autobiographical novel written by the Tamil Dalit feminist, teacher and writer, Bama. It chronicles particular episodes in Bama's life, from her childhood to her early adult life as a nun, and beyond. Leaving the convent that she had been a part of for seven years was a moment of personal crisis in Bama's life. The autobiography came out of her effort at that time to make sense of her many identities as a woman, Christian and a Dalit.

Karukku is considered a major milestone in the genre of Dalit feminism and Dalit literature. Originally published in Tamil in 1992, it was later edited by Mini Krishnan and translated into English by Lakshmi Holmström in 2000. It received the Crossword Book Award in 2001.(??)

Publication History
Bama published Karukku privately in 1992 as the Tamil publishing industry found her language unacceptable at that time. The English translation by Lakshmi Holmström was first published by Macmillan Publishers India in 2000 and then by Oxford University Press India in 2013. The second edition includes a special note 'Ten Years Later' by Bama in which she reflects on the journey of Karukku from 1992 to 2000 when the English translation made it accessible to a wider audience to 2011 by when it had become well recognized in many aspects.

Reception
Initially, Karukku faced criticism from the literary establishment for its Tamil not being "beautiful". Lakshmi Holmström notes in her introduction to the book that:
 * Bama is doing something completely new in using the demotic and the colloquial regularly, as her medium for narration and even argument, not simply for reported speech. She uses a Dalit style of language which overturns the decorum and aesthetics of received upper-class, upper-caste Tamil. She breaks the rules of written grammar and spelling throughout, elides words and joins them differently, demanding a new and different pattern of reading.

There was also resistance from Bama's Paraya community in her village who thought her narration had exposed their ugliness and that in doing so, Bama had betrayed them. She was not even allowed into her house by her father initially. In response, youngsters from her village, including a boy who wrote a critique about the book, read the book and then gathered the villagers at night after their day's work to explain to them the significance of Bama's work.

The English translation in 2000 brought Karukku to the attention of a national and international readership. It received the Crossword Book Award in 2001. It was later translated into other languages like Malayalam, Telugu and Kannada. Many colleges and universities have used Karukku as part of their curriculum for different subjects such as Marginal Literature, Literature in Translation, Autobiography, Feminist Literature and Dalit Literature.