Dalits in India : Past and Present, Vols. I to III

Contents: Vol. I: Introduction. 1. Institution of caste: origin and growth. 2. The Buddhism: towards social transformation. 3. Social transformation: impact of Bhakti Movement. 4. The untouchables and Shudras in Medieval India. 5. Sikh religion and Bhakti Cult: impact on removal of Casteism. 6. Sufism: influence on low castes. Index.

Vol. II: 1. Social Reform Movement during colonial rule. 2. Shudra - Dalit Movement in British India. 3. First generation Dalit activists and prominent leaders. 4. Dr. B.B. Ambedkar : pioneer of Dalit Identity. 5. Dalit Movement in various states. Appendices. Index.

Vol. III: 1. Introduction: Dalit in independent India. 2. Dalit renaissance and Dr. B.R. Ambedkar. 3. Dalit Nationalism and Jagjjvan Ram. 4. 20th century Dalit organisations in India. 5. Neo-Buddhism -- a religious revolution. 6. Dalit-leadership and Dalit leaders in post-independence India. Appendices. Index.

“The present comprehensive study of Dalits in India in three volumes highlights and discusses the past and present conditions of India’s millions of oppressed and marginalized sections of society who for five thousand years or more remained neglected and ignored in the Hindu social fabric. It is simultaneously a saga of Dalit Renaissance.

The Dalits known as Shukra Untouchables till India got her independence have various degraded nomenclatures since the time of Rig Veda.

In the Rig Vedic Varna system, the idea of caste struck its deep roots into Hindu social life and became a forceful weapon of socio economic domination for the Trivarnic society and a curse, a license of slavery and serfdom for the Dalits and Untouchables.

After the Aryan hegemony over the natives or Non-Aryan races many barbaric races and tribes also invaded India and the due course of time socio cultural synthesis began between Aryans and Non-Aryans and the invaders. As a result many a new races, tribes and mixed castes came into existence.

From Vedic to the beginning of the Buddhist era the defeated race of Non-Aryans, marginalized, ignored and suppressed lived as slaves, serfs and servile class. The emergence of the Buddha and Buddhism during the sixth century B.C. was certainly an era of social transformation when the untouchables, the Shudras, the womenfolk, the fallen men and women got equal treatment in the society. By this time the rigid cast system has taken shape. The Buddha himself initiated many Shudra-Dalits in his order.

In the Sultanate and Mughal era nothing was done for the welfare and uplift of the Shudras and Untouchables. And low caste people lived in constant fear. Even conversions were encouraged. However, the Bhakti Cult, Sikhism and Sufism greatly influenced the untouchables and the castes of low origin to rise in revolt against social odds and oppressive features of the dominating society. Bhakti poets and Sufi saints became source of equality and humanity and even abolition of caste rigidities.

During Colonial Era the British did not care much for the untouchables and the Shudras except censuses, ethnological and anthropological studies and missionaries concentrated on conversions.

However, the era of reforms -- social, cultural, religious which began in eighteenth century flourished in nineteenth century India when social reformers concentrated on reforming the religious and social life but hardly attacked Chaturvarnya and the prevailing caste system. Only Phule emphasized the need of education among depressed classes. In the first quarter of twentieth century Dr. Ambedkar emerged as a pioneer of Dalit identity and Dalit Liberation.

Dalits in post independence era have roots in the rising Indian nationalism and freedom struggle and have also witness social transformation in India, when the nation adopted the India Constitution in 1950, securing equality of status and opportunity, reservation provisions as well as abolition of age old practice of untouchability.

In fact, the twentieth century Dalit organizations and Dalit leaders, prominent being Dr. Ambedkar and Babu Jagjivan Ram and few others revolutionized, influenced and changed the entire course of Dalit Liberation Movement as a multifaceted silent social revolution. For some Ambedkarism and Neo-Buddhism have become synonyms.

It is rightly said that India is at the threshold of a Dalit Revolution. This three volume study will be a very useful historical document in understanding the past and present of the Dalits in India.” (jacket)