Śambūka and the Rāmāyaṇa Tradition

Śambūka and the Rāmāyaṇa Tradition PDF

Author: Aaron Sherraden

Publisher: Anthem Press

Published: 2023-08-01

Total Pages: 187

ISBN-13: 1839984716

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According to Vālmīki’s Sanskrit Rāmāyaṇa (early centuries CE), Śambūka was practicing severe acts of austerity to enter heaven. In engaging in these acts as a Śūdra, Śambūka was in violation of class- and caste-based societal norms prescribed exclusively by the ruling and religious elite. Rāma, the hero of the Rāmāyaṇa epic, is dispatched to kill Śambūka, whose transgression is said to be the cause of a young Brahmin’s death. The gods rejoice upon the Śūdra’s death and restore the life of the Brahmin. Subsequent Rāmāyaṇa poets almost instantly recognized this incident as a blemish on Rāma’s character and they began problematizing this earliest version of the story. They adjusted and updated the story to suit the expectations of their audiences. The works surveyed in this study include numerous works originating in Hindu, Jain, Dalit and non-Brahmin communities while spanning the period from Śambūka’s first appearance in the Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa through to the present day. The book follows the Śambūka episode chronologically across its entire history—approximately two millennia—to illuminate the social, religious, legal, and artistic connections that span the entire range of the Rāmāyaṇa’s influence and its place throughout various phases of Indian history and social revolution.

Ambedkar and Ambedkarism

Ambedkar and Ambedkarism PDF

Author: Pramod Ranjan

Publisher: BFC Publications

Published: 2022-06-18

Total Pages: 208

ISBN-13: 9356320233

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This book brings sheds light on some hitherto unexplored aspects of the life and works of Dr Bhimarao Ambedkar, arguably the greatest influence on Indian society in the modern times. It is a maiden attempt to provide authoritative and comprehensive information on these two topics. Pramod Ranjan, a well-known scholar of Dalit-Bahujan ideology, has taken pains to produce a well rounded volume on Ambedkar. The first section of the book throws light on the factors that shaped Ambedkar's ideology. The second section analyses Ambekar's views on religion and also presents a comparative study of the thoughts of Gandhi and Ambedkar on religious conversions. Four articles compiled in the third section spell out the significance of Ambedkar's contribution as a historian, educationist, jurist and anthropologist. This section also includes two succinct pieces on Ambedkar's concept of nation and his views on feminism. The fourth section is centred on the future of Ambedkarism and also seeks to explain what Ambedkarism is and isn't. The fifth section contains a comprehensive chronology of the life and works of Ambedkar. This book is not only useful for university students and research scholars engaged in the study of social justice movements but is also a must-read for social workers interested in acquiring a deeper understanding of Ambedkar and Ambedkarism.

SUBALTERN DISCOURSES

SUBALTERN DISCOURSES PDF

Author: T. Deivasigamani

Publisher: MJP Publisher

Published: 2019-06-04

Total Pages: 260

ISBN-13:

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UNIT I Introduction, UNIT II Dalit Literature, UNIT III Tribal Literature, UNIT IV African American Literature, UNIT V Aboriginal or Indigenous Literature, UNIT VI Comparison and Similarities of Dalit and African Literatures, UNIT VII Comparison and Similarities of Tribal and Aboriginal Literature.

A History of Telugu Dalit Literature

A History of Telugu Dalit Literature PDF

Author: Thummapudi Bharathi

Publisher: Gyan Publishing House

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 292

ISBN-13: 9788178356884

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This History of Telugu Dalit Literature is the first book of its kind in English. It mainly focuses on the Telugu Dalit Literature produced after 1980s. Dalit writers are earnestly desirous to remove the social exploitation and caste inequalities. They wish to falsify the view that literature leaves the world as it is. They wish to change the world. Through literature they are re-examining and redefining their place in Indian society. Dalit literature primarily focuses on fundamental human rights and human values. Energized by an aggressive expression Dalit Literature protests against the established unjust and graded social order and also rejects the religious and traditional hegemony. In Andhra Pradesh, the powerful Dalit Literature originated mainly from the atrocities on Dalits in Karamchedu (1985) and Tsunduru/ Chunduru (1991). The Dalit movements sprouted when the constitutional remedies failed and social democracy unrealized. This book, it is hoped, is particularly useful for all the non-Telugu scholars and students of literature in India and other countries. The brief biographical sketches of well known as well as lesser known writers are given due space. This work is also useful for comparative studies in subaltern literatures.

Hindi Dalit Literature and the Politics of Representation

Hindi Dalit Literature and the Politics of Representation PDF

Author: Sarah Beth Hunt

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2014-08-07

Total Pages: 273

ISBN-13: 1317559525

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This study explores how Dalits in north India have used literature as a means of protest against caste oppression. Including fresh ethnographic research and interviews, it traces the trajectory of modern Dalit writing in Hindi and its pivotal role in the creation, rise and reinforcement of a distinctive Dalit identity. The book challenges the existing impression of Hindi Dalit literature as stemming from the Dalit political assertion of the 1980s and as being chiefly imitative of the Marathi Dalit literature model. Arguing that Hindi Dalit literature has a much longer history in north India, it examines two differing strands that have taken root in Dalit expression — the early ‘popular’ production of smaller literary pamphlets and journals at the beginning of the 20th century and more contemporary modes such as autobiographies, short stories and literary criticism. The author highlights the ways in which such various forms of literary works have supported the proliferation of an all-encompassing identity for the so-called ‘untouchable’ castes. She also underscores how these have contributed to their evolving political consciousness and consolidation of newer heterogeneous identities, making a departure from their long-perceived image. The work will be important for those in Dalit studies, subaltern history, Hindi literature, postcolonial studies, political science and sociology as well as the informed general reader.

Dalit Feminist Theory

Dalit Feminist Theory PDF

Author: Sunaina Arya

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2019-09-09

Total Pages: 266

ISBN-13: 1000651487

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Dalit Feminist Theory: A Reader radically redefines feminism by introducing the category of Dalit into the core of feminist thought. It supplements feminism by adding caste to its study and praxis; it also re-examines and rethinks Indian feminism by replacing it with a new paradigm, namely, that caste-based feminist inquiry offers the only theoretical vantage point for comprehensively addressing gender-based injustices. Drawing on a variety of disciplines, the chapters in the volume discuss key themes such as Indian feminism versus Dalit feminism; the emerging concept of Dalit patriarchy; the predecessors of Dalit feminism, such as Phule and Ambedkar; the meaning and value of lived experience; the concept of Difference; the analogical relationship between Black feminism and Dalit feminism; the intersectionality debate; and the theory-versus-experience debate. They also provide a conceptual, historical, empirical and philosophical understanding of feminism in India today. Accessible, essential and ingenious in its approach, this book is for students, teachers and specialist scholars, as well as activists and the interested general reader. It will be indispensable for those engaged in gender studies, women’s studies, sociology of caste, political science and political theory, philosophy and feminism, Ambedkar studies, and for anyone working in the areas of caste, class or gender-based discrimination, exclusion and inequality.

Why Ethnic Parties Succeed

Why Ethnic Parties Succeed PDF

Author: Kanchan Chandra

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2007-02-15

Total Pages: 372

ISBN-13: 9780521891417

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Why do some ethnic parties succeed in attracting the support of their target ethnic group while others fail? In a world in which ethnic parties flourish in both established and emerging democracies alike, understanding the conditions under which such parties rise and fall is of critical importance to both political scientists and policy makers. Drawing on a study of variation in the performance of ethnic parties in India, this book builds a theory of ethnic party performance in 'patronage democracies'. Chandra shows why individual voters and political entrepreneurs in such democracies condition their strategies not on party ideologies or policy platforms, but on a headcount of co-ethnics and others across party personnel and among the electorate.