Translation involves a change, be it in the form of language or in the form of the subject itself. It brings along with it various intricacies. The concern begins with the language into which it is translated. This becomes even more complex when the translated text is a Dalit text, which is being translated into English—the colonizer's language. Literature with a capital `L', representing mainstream literature, is very different from Dalit literature. Yet again, Dalit literature written by Dalit women writers differs from both the mainstream and the `malestream' Dalit literature. It is interesting to note how Dalit women writers use the colonizer's language to articulate the internal colonization. This paper examines this problem by focusing on two specific works of Bama and Sivakami, providing further scope for discussion in this area. The questions that are raised through this paper remain open-ended, as ongoing debates can never have defined or fixed conclusions.

Every discourse emerges from a difference of readings. This paper presents views about translation and transformation in a different vein from what is generally argued. `Transformation' need not happen only during the process of `translation'. It also happens when a translated text reaches a researcher who has no knowledge of the `source' language, which is Tamil in this case. This paper does not focus on the techniques or stylistics of translation, but concentrates on the act of `writing' itself, and on the transformation that has come about in the English literary scenario through the introduction of marginalized voices. The paper is, therefore, titled "Translation as Transformation of Writing". It attempts to analyze the equation between the three cardinal terms, that of `translation', `transformation' and `writing'; translation being what was received for study, writing as the crux of the analysis, and transformation as the attempted outcome.

The two texts chosen for the analysis are Bama's Sangati: Events and P Sivakami's The Grip of Change. Sivakami's The Grip of Change was first written in 1997 in Tamil and later translated into English in 2006 by herself, but with an addition of "The Author's Note", whereas Bama's Sangati: Events was first written in 1994 in Tamil and later translated into English in 2005 by Lakshmi Holmström.

English Studies Journal, Translation, Dalit Literature, Transformation of Writing, Bama, Sivakami, Fictionality, Gowri Ramnarayan, Mainstream Literature, Dalit Women Writers, Inter-Caste Marriage, Dalit Language, English Translation.