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The Brahmin priestly forces who, apart from being head priests in every kingdom, occupied the office of the prime minister in all Shudra monarchical states and other bureaucratic networks, have been in control of the State from the days of Kautilya, the author of ‘Arthashastra’ – a book of dangerous statecraft, writes Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd

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In 1882, Jotirao Phule began touring the rural areas outside Pune, getting to know firsthand the plight of the kunbi cultivators, addressing large gatherings and organizing a boycott of Brahmins and moneylenders. The speeches that he wrote for these gatherings later became ‘Cultivator’s Whipcord’

Manglesh Dabral hailed from Kafalpaani village in Tehri Garhwal. No wonder, mountains have a larger-than-life presence in his poems, which talk about local legends, mother, father, grandfather, rains and dreams. Doms also live in the mountains but they never drift into his poetry. How could they have? He had no connection with them. Kanwal Bharti re-reads Manglesh Dabral

Manisha’s family is still living in fear. When, on October 11 afternoon, the police wanted to take them to Lucknow for a court hearing, they refused. They were afraid of travelling with the police, and being away from home, at night. Nawal Kishore Kumar reports

While rereading Premchand’s classic ‘Godan’, Siddharth observes that two works of different genres – ‘The Annihilation of Caste’ and ‘Godan’ – published in the same year, 1936, underlined the fact that the varna-caste system is the pivot of Indian society

On the anniversary of its publication, Omprakash Kashyap treats the text ‘Gulamgiri’ as the culmination of Jotirao Phule’s lifelong mission to educate the Shudras-Atishudras and outlines its content

Here is a historical piece of writing by India’s first female Dalit writer Mukta Salve. At the time of writing this essay, she was merely 14 years old and a student at the school run by Jotirao and Savitribai Phule

‘Yes, we declare that the books, from the Vedas, to the Smritis, the Puranas, which propagate the caste system are false and against humanity. Yes, we are for equality; we declare that all humans, all castes are equal’ – will Brahmins collectively say this? Asks Nagesh Chaudhary

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