ABSTRACT

One prevalent socio-cultural structure that is peculiar to South Asia is caste, which is broadly understood in socio-anthropological terms as an institution of ranked, hereditary and occupational groups.

This book discusses the enigmatic persistence of caste in the lives of South Asians as they step into the twenty-first century. It investigates the limits of sociological and secular historical analysis of the caste system in South Asia and argues for ways of describing life-forms generated by caste on the subcontinent that supplement the accounts of caste in the social sciences. By focusing on the literary, oral, visual and spiritual practices of one particular group of ex-untouchables in western India called ‘Mahars’, the author suggests that one can understand caste not as an essence that is responsible for South Asia’s backwardness, but as a constellation of variegated practices that are in a constant state of flux and cannot be completely encapsulated within a narrative of nation-building, modernization and development.

chapter 1|30 pages

MODERNITY, POSTCOLONIALITY AND THE NEW HUMANITIES

Towards a non-holistic reading of caste

part I|96 pages

CASTE AND THEORETICAL HORIZONS

chapter 2|30 pages

THE DARK ROCK OF INDIAN TRADITION

Caste and Orientalism

chapter 3|22 pages

THE ANOMALOUS INSIDER

Caste and nationalism

chapter 4|21 pages

AN INTRACTABLE DUALISM

Caste and Marxism

chapter 5|21 pages

ON THE OTHER SIDE OF REVENGE

Caste and post-Orientalism

part II|110 pages

CASTE, LIFE-WORLD, NARRATIVE AND THE AESTHETIC

chapter 6|26 pages

DALIT MYTHOGRAPHIES

Ambedkar as modernity's interlocutor

chapter 7|21 pages

BUDDHA, BHAKTI AND 'SUPERSTITION'

A post-secular reading of dalit conversion

chapter 8|26 pages

OF URBAN DYSTOPIAS AND NEW GODS

Readings from Marathi dalit literature

chapter 9|36 pages

CHANDRA, VELUTHA, AMMU, DEATH

The aporia of the aesthetic

chapter |4 pages

EPILOGUE