The Top 10 Daring Dalit Books for Dalit History Month

Dr. Ambedkar was born on the 14th of April in 1891. Dr. Ambedkar was the chief influencer in creating a dent in the Indian caste system. His radical thinking shook leaders nationwide and even influenced the British government. In his memory, the Ambedkarites celebrate Dalit History Month every year in April 2015. It is also observed as a way to remember other influential leaders, writers, people, and events important to the history of the Dalits.

In this post, I share with you some radical fiction and non-fiction literature either written by Dalits or about their lives, and struggles that may give you a glimpse of their hardships to gain even basic needs of living. 

Non-fiction books for Dalit History Month

Annihilation of Caste by Babasaheb Ambedkar

If there was one man in India that everyone knows worked for the upliftment of the Dalits, it cannot be anyone other than Dr. B.R. Ambedkar. A prolific writer, this man also drafted the constitution of India. Born a Hindu into an ‘Untouchable’ family, he gave up his religion and embraced Buddhism. His views were radical and futuristic and transformed the lives of lakhs of oppressed people.

This particular book is the fruit of his efforts. The Jat Pat Todak Mandal of Lahore invited Dr. Ambedkar for a lecture. But before the lecture they wanted to peruse his speech in advance. When his speech was received they termed its contents unbearable. They felt that Ambedkar was not only criticizing the caste system but was also denouncing the Hindu religion. They withdrew the invitation.

Ambedkar printed his speech himself and distributed 1500 copies of it. The text became a Bible for Dalits, and it was reprinted and translated into numerous other languages by Dalit-owned presses. The text is radical, revolutionary, and dynamiting and questions the very basis of our society and community.  

Karukku by Bama

A classic subaltern writing and the first autobiography by a Dalit woman writer, Karukku is a bold and poignant tale of life outside mainstream Indian thought and function.

Revolving around the main theme of caste oppression within the Catholic Church, it portrays the tension between the self and the community, and present Bama's life as a process of introspection and rehabilitation from social and institutional deceit.

Karukku the word means Palmyra leaves, that, with their jagged edges on both sides, are like doubled edged swords.

This is an unusual autobiography, grown out of a particular moment: a personal crisis and watershed in the author's life which drives her to make sense of her life as a woman, a Christian, and a Dalit.

Coming Out as a Dalit by Yashica Dutt

75 years of Indian Independence and yet Dalits lack basic and rudimentary rights and privileges. This book is an enlightener. For so many years we have considered or taken for granted that Dalits are people who clean toilets, and sewage and perform other unskilled tasks. Because that is what has been represented to us for years.

So reading a book written in fluent English by a Dalit in a profession like journalism and who is based in New York and with so many facts and figures packed into this burning, heroic and impressionable memoir came as a pleasant surprise for me.

This personal story of why a Dalit woman had to sham she was an upper-caste woman all her life is more like a potent social commentary against uncontrolled casteism in our country today which is often ignored and overlooked.

Baluta by Daya Pawar

Baluta published in 1978 is the first Dalit autobiography written in Marathi. Back then the book caused an upheaval because it brought forth very distinctly the savagery of the Indian Caste system.

What touches you about this particular writing is the frank and open way in which Daya has written about not only caste system but also the people in his community and even about himself and his family. Although he exposes himself as a coward again and again throughout the book, I think it took a bucket load of courage for him to write this personal account that too way back in the 1970s.

It takes us back to the villages that had a large Maharwada on the outskirts of the village and to a Mumbai full of chawls, brothels, and slums. His admission that he could not give back anything significant to his mother before she died, although she brought up him and his sister single-handedly, twists the reader’s hearts into a knot.

Baluta is an unmissable piece of Marathi literature that portrays perfect story-telling and talks about the self in a way that deserves to be heard.

The Ballad of Bant Singh by Nirupama Dutt

Bant Singh is a Dalit laborer residing in the remote village of Jhabbar, in Punjab. A night in January transformed Bant Singh physically but it couldn't dampen his soul. Boys from the upper-class Jats pulped Bant so severely that he lost his two legs and one arm but kept his consciousness despite the monstrosity of the violence administered to his body.

Bant was only fighting for his daughter Baljit, who had been violated in a neighbor’s bungalow by similar upper-class bullies. Baljit admiring Bant’s teachings resolved to follow up with the culprits in the court of law and got justice served.

The book also discusses Sikh history where Dalits were also tramped by the upper classes but idols rose in every generation and brought justice to these unlucky people residing in ceaseless dread.

I applaud the unbeatable spirit of Bant that sang revolutionary songs written by a Dalit poet even while recovering in a medical center. Until the present day he continues to sing these songs and encourage his fellow comrades.

Fiction books for Dalit History Month

Pyre by Perumal Murugan

Pyre is the story of a love-struck couple – Saroja and Kumarasen, living in the villages of India. After their secret marriage, they come to the Kumarasen's village to settle down. But they are hiding a perilous truth – that their marriage is an inter-caste marriage in a community where casteism is uncompromising.

Kumarasen trusts that his mother and their extended family will understand their love for each other and let the couple be. He also believes that after some rumor-mongering, and resistance the villagers will also accept them into their community.

Alas, all is not well and life doesn’t always end up how we imagine it to.

The book paints a very disheartening and painful truth about life in small-town India. Casteism - the cruelty, violence, and helplessness of the people involved could not have been shown any better through any other fictional story.

When I Hid My Caste by Baburao Bagul

This anthology of short stories by Baburao Bagul translated from Marathi by Jerry Pinto talks about Dalit lives. The truth and the inhumanness are more than some readers will be able to bare. Imagine inhabiting these lives.

Bagul has always been famous for his crude and uncensored writing and he continues to do so in this excruciating book. It talks about prostitution, illicit affairs, the killing of animals for sacrifice and themes that may act as triggers for some readers.

But we need to face the truth behind these fictional stories. We have to stop analysing and grouping people based on their caste/religion. After reading this book I agree with the author when he says that it is a curse to be born a Dalit in India.

Untouchable by Mulk Raj Anand

Imagine this day in your life.

On a day you wanted to sleep a little more, you were rudely woken up for work by your parents. When you got to work and were at your work religiously and sincerely, you got abused by your superiors for no fault of yours. Then you had to redo the work several more times.

Then while you were on to your next work, you accidentally made a mistake and were physically abused in a public square due to your profession, by people who believe themselves to be better than you. Then your sister was molested by one of these men, but you could not retaliate, owing to your profession.

Then dispirited when you went back home, your father kicked you out of the house for not completing the given work. Angry and sad you walked out to join your friends, your only place of peace, and there you were accused of killing a child you dearly cared for, once again only owing to your profession.

Meanwhile, you fill the hollow in your stomach with stale/leftover food donated by other people. You wear hand-me-downs from the so-called better people. Your house in the filthiest part of the city is surrounded by gutters, an area meant for people in your profession.

This was every day for Bakha, an Untouchable /Harijan /sweeper /latrine cleaner.

The book raises some very fundamental questions and I think every one of us needs to read this book for self-introspection.

The Sickle by Anita Agnihotri

Anita Agnihotri through her penmanship throws light with a sharp focus on a series of related themes: sex-selective abortion, sexual assault, caste-related violence and brutality, feudal labor relations, farmers’ homicides, and Climate change in all its incarnations. She does this through the lives of farmers, migrant laborers, and activists in Marathi and Western Maharashtra. Fully fundamental, corrosive, and deeply caring, this novel tells the dark truths about contemporary India.

Suits by Samartha

A graphic novel addition to this list. The suit offers a glimpse into the caste-based atrocities and the abuse blatantly imposed in the lives of safai karmacharis or cleaners and sweepers in our cities. Samarth, the author envisions a futuristic Mumbai where these workers have been given a life-saving suit before entering the hazardous filth of this society.

The author’s monochrome discussion and illustrations record the endless repetition of grief, indignity, and disaster in the lives of these sanitation workers.  His illustrations are filled with equal parts empathy and equal parts rage that holds a mirror to our society which has become mentally deadly and needs a thorough and urgent disinfection and clean-up.

Dalits have rights, as every human being has rights, but Suit makes us realize how this society does not accept these rights for Dalits.