Comments on Oxford India Anthology of Tamil Dalit Writing (Part I) P. Dayanandan (Paper presented on 10th April, 2012 on the occasion of the release of the Oxford India Anthology of Tamil Dalit Writing) • I congratulate Ravikumar, Azhagarsan and Mini for bringing Dalit thoughts to English language readers at large. A quick look at Ravi’s …
The open eyed Buddha and Dr. Ambedkar
(Excerpt from a recent article by Dr. Yashwant Manohar in the Marathi daily ‘Sakal’. Thanks, Gouri Patwardhan, for the translation– Round Table India) Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar had a special interest in painting. He loved seeing paintings and really wanted to be able to draw well. He learned to draw from B R Madilagekar. He bought …
The caste cauldron of Maharashtra (Part II)
(Report first published in November 2003) Continued from here. Violence against Dalits in Marathwada A Report by the Fact Finding Team comprising Dr. Anand Teltumbde, Akram Siddiqui, Subodh More, Hashim Mohamma November 2003 Committee for Protection of Democratic Rights (CPDR), Mumbai 2. Murti incident Murti is a relatively bigger village with a population of about …
Dr Ambedkar and Engaged Buddhism
Dr. Bhalchandra Mungekar Introduction It must be mentioned in the beginning that, though Dr Ambedkar took oath in Yeola (in District Nasik of Maharashtra) in 1935 that, though ‘he was born a Hindu, he would not die a Hindu’, and he fulfilled his mission after nearly 21 years, by formally embracing Buddhism on 14th October, …
The caste cauldron of Maharashtra (Part I)
(Report first published in November 2003) Violence against Dalits in Marathwada A Report by the Fact Finding Team comprising Dr. Anand Teltumbde Akram Siddiqui Subodh More Hashim Mohamma November 2003 Committee for Protection of Democratic Rights (CPDR), Mumbai ~~~ Introduction In recent months a series of incidents of killings and violence against Dalits in Marathwada …
Mayawati: Caste Anxieties and Patriarchal Fears
Continued from here. Her roofless abode gives her a clear view of the fields and the village she guards over. She is my paternal family’s deity, revered as a force of nature as are the scores of female gods of the Shudra, Atishudra and Adivasi cultures. Her free spirited nature echoes the attitude …
Women played a major role in Dr. Ambedkar’s movement: Baby Kamble
[This is the second part of excerpts from an interview with Baby Kamble conducted by Maya Pandit, originally published as part of the English version of her autobiography (‘The Prisons We Broke’)] Continued from here. How did you think of writing your autobiography? (Laughs.) It so happened that I used to sit in the …
Release Alex Paul Menon unconditionally
Alex Paul Menon introduces himself as ‘Simple, humble, happy go lucky individual with lots of love for humankind, Somebody who can make his surroundings lively with his sense of humour’. Alex Paul Menon, a young dalit IAS officer from Tamil Nadu, chose to become a collector in the ‘red belt’ of Chattisgarh risking his life, so …
There will never be another man like him
Karthik Navayan (We thank Karthik for this moving tribute to the great Telugu poet, Marxist-Leninist and Maoist ideologue, Dalit leader and social revolutionary K.G. Satyamurthy, who passed away on April 17, 2012– Round Table India) You have to decide on your own how you wish to understand Satyamurthy, but he was a man who everyone …