The Meeting Under The Banyan Tree: A Short Memoir
As a ‘first generation’ Dalit, I tried to share my confusion about my ‘Dalit-hood’ with fellow ‘assertive’ anti-caste people but it was counterintuitive. They could not process why a person born in a Dalit family should be asking if she is ‘Dalit-enough’
Dalit Queer people in Non Profit: Decoding Posturing and Praxis
This is an opportunity for nonprofit organizations, specially organsations that are urban, led by dominant caste and/or cis-het leaders, to trust what we say, listen to us with compassion, and strengthen the commitments that they have.
If the Princess Had Lived
There had been rumours spreading through the village in the last couple of days, and finally, there it was—an actual television set.
Love
Had I known love only in its form of making four walls and eight corners of the world, I would have felt a warmth instead of tasting so much gutter in that song.
The Story of Maveli
Maveli is an important symbol of the rejection of brahmanism by the avarna peoples, and is a marker of the dissonance that underlies Hindu myths. Illustration by Shrujana N Shridhar Maveli or Mahabali or Bali is a mythical figure and a folk hero across Maharashtra and Kerala. He is mentioned as the “King of Asuras” […]
Who Were Our Deities?
Bahujan deities around the subcontinent did not concern themselves with the ideas of sacredness, nor with notions of purity. Nature was central to Bahujan spirituality. Illustration by Ajinkya Dekhane Bahujan deities around the subcontinent did not concern themselves with the ideas of sacredness. Subaltern oral traditions are filled with stories of natural elements deified. Often elements […]
Who Were The Asuras
In so many ways, the history of asuras and rakshasas is a history of marginalised castes and tribes, one that was grotesquely misrepresented by brahmins. Illustration by Ajinkya Dekhane Asuras, rakshasas and rakshasis find repeated mention in Hindu scriptures as ugly, villainous creatures that are the embodiment of evil. These scriptures have served as a […]