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Abstract
Bias against Dalits on account of their caste and social position generally brings forth images
from rural and small town India. Caste is apparently unacknowledged or invisible in a globalized
and modernized urban India. The narratives of “One India” and “New India” claim to have
abolished the antiquated social distinctions in the country and established a climate of
meritocracy which recognizes individual merit on a level playing field. Raghav Chandra, in his
latest novel Kali’s Daughter (2019), attempts to invalidate the claim and breaks the myth of caste
anonymity in urban India by explaining how the vicious hold of caste is manifest in the educated
elite in positions of power. The novel breaks open the flamboyant and velvety veil of
sophistication and exposes the ugly face of the long standing caste and colour consciousness of
the Indian elite. This paper attempts to foreground the relentless persistence of caste in the
postmillennial, globalized India which is still abuzz with grand narratives of equality, justice,
unity in diversity and so on. Kali’s Daughter juxtaposes the narratives with the reality and lays
bare the innards of the Indian Civil Services to unfold the ineradicable nature of casteism that
does not even spare the educated class of the Indian society.