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DALIT: THE BLACK
UNTOUCHABLES OF INDIA
THIRD EDITION
by V.T. Rajshekar
ISBN: 0-932863-05-1, 124 pp., illus.,
1995, $9.95
REVIEWS, SYNOPSIS, AUTHOR BIO
AND TABLE OF CONTENTS BELOW
UNTOUCHABLES OF INDIA
THIRD EDITION
by V.T. Rajshekar
ISBN: 0-932863-05-1, 124 pp., illus.,
1995, $9.95
REVIEWS, SYNOPSIS, AUTHOR BIO
AND TABLE OF CONTENTS BELOW
two Dalit houses are burnt"
--Human Rights Education Movement in India
"The Dalit is not only forbidden to enter the home of a Brahmin but he must also not
draw water from the same well, nor eat from the same pot or plate. He must not
'pure' Brahmin. The Dalit 'is not only Untouchable, but also Unseeable,
Unapproachable, Unshadowable and even Unthinkable'... This book should be
compulsory reading for those who wish to understand the true nature of the caste
system and the suffering it causes to millions." Crescent International
Originally published in India under the title Apartheid in India, V.T. Rajshekar's
passionate work on the plight of the Indian Dalits was first introduced to North
American readers through the publication of DALIT: The Black Untouchables of
India in 1987. This book is the first to provide a Dalit view of the roots and continuing
factors of the gross oppression of the world's largest minority (over 150 million
people) through a 3,000 year history of conquest, slavery, apartheid and worse.
Rajshekar offers a penetrating, often startling overview of the role of Brahminism
and the Indian caste system in embedding the notion of "untouchability" in Hindu
culture, tracing the origins of the caste system to an elaborate system of political
control in the guise of religion, imposed by Aryan invaders from the north on a
conquered aboriginal/Dravidian civilization of African descent. He exposes the
almost unimaginable social indignities which continue to be imposed upon
so-called untouchables to this very day, with the complicity of the political, criminal
justice, media and education systems. Under Rajshekar's incisive critique, the
much-vaunted image of Indian nonviolence shatters. Even India's world-celebrated
apostle of pacificsm emerges in less saintly guise; in seeking to ensure Hindu
numerical domination in India's new political democracy, Mahatma Gandhi
advocated assimilating those whom Hindu scriptures defined as outcastes
(untouchables) into the lowest Hindu caste, rather than accede to their demand for
a separate electorate. Rajshekar further questions whether the Brahminist
socio-political concepts so developed in turn influenced the formation of the modern
Nazi doctrine of Aryan supremacy, placing the roots of Nazism deep in Indian history.
This new updated and illustrated Third Edition includes: Y.N. Kly on the Dalit plight
as a warning to African-Americans; Runoko Rashidi on "Blacks as a Global
Community"; the 1995 intervention at the UN on behalf of Dalits by Dr. Laxmi Berwa,
and the recent US Congressional Bill 4215 on human rights in India, which marks
the first US Congressional recognition of the Dalit plight.
V.T. RAJSHEKAR is recognized worldwide as one of India's foremost human rights
V.T. RAJSHEKARMarxism and the philosophy of the late Dr. B.R. Ambedkar into a
new indigenous political philosophy, his writings clarify the caste-class struggle in
is recognized worldwide as one of India's foremost human rights India. He is editor
India. He is editor of the internationally distributed English-language Indian
bi-weekly, Dalit Voice, and Director of the Dalit Sahitya Akademy, 109/7th Cross,
Palace Lower Orchards, Bangalore 560 003, India.
--Human Rights Education Movement in India
"The Dalit is not only forbidden to enter the home of a Brahmin but he must also not
draw water from the same well, nor eat from the same pot or plate. He must not
'pure' Brahmin. The Dalit 'is not only Untouchable, but also Unseeable,
Unapproachable, Unshadowable and even Unthinkable'... This book should be
compulsory reading for those who wish to understand the true nature of the caste
system and the suffering it causes to millions." Crescent International
Originally published in India under the title Apartheid in India, V.T. Rajshekar's
passionate work on the plight of the Indian Dalits was first introduced to North
American readers through the publication of DALIT: The Black Untouchables of
India in 1987. This book is the first to provide a Dalit view of the roots and continuing
factors of the gross oppression of the world's largest minority (over 150 million
people) through a 3,000 year history of conquest, slavery, apartheid and worse.
Rajshekar offers a penetrating, often startling overview of the role of Brahminism
and the Indian caste system in embedding the notion of "untouchability" in Hindu
culture, tracing the origins of the caste system to an elaborate system of political
control in the guise of religion, imposed by Aryan invaders from the north on a
conquered aboriginal/Dravidian civilization of African descent. He exposes the
almost unimaginable social indignities which continue to be imposed upon
so-called untouchables to this very day, with the complicity of the political, criminal
justice, media and education systems. Under Rajshekar's incisive critique, the
much-vaunted image of Indian nonviolence shatters. Even India's world-celebrated
apostle of pacificsm emerges in less saintly guise; in seeking to ensure Hindu
numerical domination in India's new political democracy, Mahatma Gandhi
advocated assimilating those whom Hindu scriptures defined as outcastes
(untouchables) into the lowest Hindu caste, rather than accede to their demand for
a separate electorate. Rajshekar further questions whether the Brahminist
socio-political concepts so developed in turn influenced the formation of the modern
Nazi doctrine of Aryan supremacy, placing the roots of Nazism deep in Indian history.
This new updated and illustrated Third Edition includes: Y.N. Kly on the Dalit plight
as a warning to African-Americans; Runoko Rashidi on "Blacks as a Global
Community"; the 1995 intervention at the UN on behalf of Dalits by Dr. Laxmi Berwa,
and the recent US Congressional Bill 4215 on human rights in India, which marks
the first US Congressional recognition of the Dalit plight.
V.T. RAJSHEKAR is recognized worldwide as one of India's foremost human rights
V.T. RAJSHEKARMarxism and the philosophy of the late Dr. B.R. Ambedkar into a
new indigenous political philosophy, his writings clarify the caste-class struggle in
is recognized worldwide as one of India's foremost human rights India. He is editor
India. He is editor of the internationally distributed English-language Indian
bi-weekly, Dalit Voice, and Director of the Dalit Sahitya Akademy, 109/7th Cross,
Palace Lower Orchards, Bangalore 560 003, India.
