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18 Essential Books on Dalit History That You Must Read

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“In my opinion, it is only when Hindu society becomes a casteless society that it can hope to have strength enough to defend itself.”

― B.R. Ambedkar, Annihilation of Caste

If you are looking to read more about Dalit culture and lives, here’s an essential Dalit Literature reading list which explores the history and reality of Dalits and exposes caste prejudices in our everyday lives, prevalent even today.

Read these books to know more!

Published by HarperCollins and Navayana.

 

Becoming Babasaheb
by Aakash Singh Rathore

There are many intellectual biographies of Dr B.R. Ambedkar, but until now none has sought to reveal the personality of the man. They will tell you what he thought or what he wrote, but remain silent about who he actually…

₹ 699.0000
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Becoming Babasaheb
The Bandit Queens
by Parini Shroff

A radically feel-good story about the murder of no-good husbands by a cast of unsinkable women." - THE NEW YORK TIMESFive years ago, Geeta lost her no-good husband. As in: She actually lost him-he walked out on her and she…

₹ 499.0000
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The Bandit Queens
Evolution of Pragmatism in India, The
by Scott R. Stroud

The story of how the Indian reformer Bhimrao Ambedkar reimagined John Dewey's pragmatism.In The Evolution of Pragmatism in India, Scott R. Stroud delivers a comprehensive exploration of the influence of John Dewey's pragmatism on Bhimrao Ambedkar, architect of the Republic…

₹ 599.0000
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Evolution of Pragmatism in India, The
The Immortal King Rao
by Vauhini Vara

A fully imagined world: propulsive, prophetic, dizzying" - Jeet Thayil, author of Names of the Women"An astonishing debut. An amazing imagination" - Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, author of The Last Queen"A masterwork-a book that is three great novels in one" -…

₹ 699.0000
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The Immortal King Rao
This Could Have Become Ramayan Chamar's Tale
by Subimal Misra | V. Ramaswamy

Subimal Misra - anarchist, activist, anti-establishment, experimental 'anti-writer' - is a contemporary master, and among India's greatest living authors. This Could Have Become Ramayan Chamar's Tale is a novella about a tea-estate worked turned Naxalite named Ramayan Chamar, who gets…

₹ 450.0000
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This Could Have Become Ramayan Chamar's Tale
Moustache
by S. Hareesh | Jayasree Kalathil

WINNER OF THE JCB PRIZE FOR LITERATURE 2020. 'A novel of epic dimensions ... easily among the most accomplished fictional works in Malayalam.'K. SATCHIDANANDANVavachan is a Pulayan who gets the opportunity to play a policeman with an immense moustache in…

₹ 599.0000
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Moustache
Ants among Elephants
by Sujatha Gidla

Sujatha Gidla was born an untouchable. Her family, belonging to the Mala caste, was educated in Warangal and Madras by Canadian missionaries in the 1930s, making it possible for Gidla to attend elite schools and move to America at the…

₹ 450.0000
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Ants among Elephants
Where India Goes
by Diane Coffey | Dean Spears

Around the world, people live healthier lives than in centuries past, in part because latrines keep faecal germs away from growing babies. India is an exception. Most Indians do not use toilets or latrines, and so infants in India are…

₹ 450.0000
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Where India Goes
Annihilation of Caste
by B.R. Ambedkar

This new annotated, critical edition features a comprehensive introduction by Arundhati Roy, who says ‘to ignore Gandhi while writing about Ambedkar is to do Ambedkar a disservice’. This edition generated inevitable questions regarding political representation, caste, privilege, and power in Indian society.

Publisher: Navayana

₹ 499
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Annihilation of CasteAnnihilation of Caste
Beef, Brahmins & Broken Men
by B. R. Ambedkar

Dr B.R. Ambedkar undertakes a forensic examination of a wide range of Brahmanic literature. He exposes how the cow-loving Brahmin, for whom ‘every day was a beef-steak day’ in the Vedic period becomes a vegetarian, while the Buddhists who remained beef-eaters become Untouchable and are fenced out of society. At once partisan and dispassionate, militant and meticulous, Ambedkar reveals how some histories are brutalised by time and made to disappear.

Publisher: Navayana

₹ 599
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Beef, Brahmins & Broken MenBeef, Brahmins & Broken Men
Bhimayana
by Srividya Natarajan, S. Anand

Throughout his life Ambedkar faced routine discrimination: in school at the age of 10; in Baroda after his return from Columbia University; and while travelling in later life. The discrimination experienced by Ambedkar continues to haunt a majority of India’s 170 million dalits as many are still denied water, shelter and the basic dignities of life.

In this ground-breaking work, Pardhan-Gond artists Durgabai Vyam and Subhash Vyam interweave historical events with contemporary incidents, infusing fresh energy into the graphic idiom through their magical art.

Publisher: Navayana

₹ 400
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BhimayanaBhimayana
A Stake in the Nation
by B.R. Ambedkar

Who is an Indian? Who is a nationalist? Who is antinational? This selection of speeches, from 1930 to 1956, shows Dr B.R. Ambedkar as the most original among the architects of modern India as he asks and answers such difficult questions. Whether he was dealing with the British or the Congress, his commitment to equality and justice for minorities remained steadfast.

Publisher: Navayana

₹ 399
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A Stake in the NationA Stake in the Nation
Land, Guns, Caste, Woman
by Gita Ramaswamy

In her teens, Gita had escaped the brahminical clutches of her family that tried to cure her of Naxalism with shock treatment and sedation. She has endured the horrors of the Emergency. She is disillusioned. But not without hope. Gita starts living with the agricultural labourers. They are in bondage, cheated out of land and all rights. They are in the mood to fight. Together, they take on the tyrannical landlords who brutalized the villages for generations. A revolution without a gun is in the making.

Publisher: Navayana

Gita writes with relentless self-reflexivity. This is as much a story of struggles and victories as it is a testimony of personal failings and regrets.

₹ 599
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Land, Guns, Caste, WomanLand, Guns, Caste, Woman
The Strength of Our Wrists
by Premanand Gajvee

The three plays translated from Marathi in this collection—each representing a distinct style in Gajvee’s oeuvre—probe contentious questions of contemporary relevance, often evoking widespread debate. The one-act Ghotbhar Pani (A Sip of Water), performed over 3,000 times, fuses a folk idiom with absurdist, nameless characters; the Greek tragedy-like Kirwant explores the plight of a sub-caste of ‘untouchable’ brahmins who are despised for performing death rites; and Gandhi–Ambedkar stages the clash between two titans mediated by an irreverential, imaginary, interstitial clown.

Publisher: Navayana

₹ 250
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The Strength of Our WristsThe Strength of Our Wrists
A Part Apart
by Ashok Gopal

A Part Apart is a rigorous effort at both asking questions and answering as many as one can about B.R. Ambedkar. Ashok Gopal undertakes a mission without parallel: reading the bulk of Ambedkar’s writings, speeches and letters in Marathi and English, and what Ambedkar himself would have read. This is the story of the unrelenting toil and struggle that went into the making of Ambedkar legend.

Publisher: Navayana

₹ 899
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A Part ApartA Part Apart
Against the Madness of Manu
by Sharmila Rege

While Ambedkar’s original insights have been neglected by sociologists, political theorists and even feminists, they have been kept alive, celebrated and memorialised by Dalit musical troupes and booklets in Maharashtra. Sharmila Rege, in this compelling selection of Ambedkar’s writings on the theme of Brahmanical patriarchy, illuminates for us his unprecedented sociological observations. Rege demonstrates how and why Ambedkar laid the base for what was, properly speaking, a feminist take on caste.

Publisher: Navayana

₹ 399
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Against the Madness of ManuAgainst the Madness of Manu
Republic of Caste
by Anand Teltumbde

Commanding in its scope, revelatory and unsparing in argument, Republic of Caste amounts to a new map of post-Independence India. Anand Teltumbde identifies the watershed moments of its journey: from the adoption of a flawed Constitution to the Green Revolution, the OBC upsurge and rise of regional parties, up to the nexus of neoliberalism and hindutva in the present day. As a politics of symbolism exploits the fissile nature of caste to devitalise India’s poorest, Teltumbde’s damning analysis shows progressive politics a way out of the present impasse.

Publisher: Navayana

₹ 695
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Republic of CasteRepublic of Caste
The Vulgarity of Caste
by Shailaja Paik

The Vulgarity of Caste offers the first social and intellectual history of Tamasha. Drawing on untapped archival materials, ethnographies, popular writings and films, Shailaja Paik uncovers how Dalit performers, activists, and leaders negotiated the violence, brutality, exploitation and stigma in Tamasha. She puts these women at the center, as they reclaim manuski (human dignity) and transform themselves from ashlil (vulgar) to assli (authentic) and manus (human).

Publisher: Navayana

₹ 599
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The Vulgarity of CasteThe Vulgarity of Caste

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