List of Dalit works

Dalit literature refers to a body of writing across Indian languages that centers the lived experiences of Dalit communities, confronting caste-based discrimination and social exclusion. It spans genres ranging from autobiography and poetry to short stories and novels. Its modern articulation gained momentum in the mid-20th century, drawing on earlier anti-caste thought such as Jyotirao Phule’s Gulamgiri (1873) and the writings of B. R. Ambedkar, and was galvanized by the Dalit Panthers movement in the 1970s.

This list collects notable works that have defined and advanced Dalit literature’s themes, aesthetics, and public impact. +Title (including translated titles)AuthorBecoming Babasaheb: The Life and Times of Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (Volume 1)Aakash Singh RathoreFakiraAnnabhau SatheUnclaimed TerrainAjay NavariaDalit Kitchens of MarathwadaShahu PatoleBhedaAkhila NaikRepublic of Caste: Thinking Equality in the Time of Neoliberal HindutvaAnand TeltumbdeThe Persistence of Caste: The Khairlanji Murders and India's Hidden ApartheidKhairlanji: A Strange And Bitter CropKaryaAravind MalagattiPoisoned Bread: Translations from Modern Marathi Dalit LiteratureArjun DangleHomeless in my Land: Translations from Modern Marathi Dalit Short StoriesNo entry for the new Sun: Translations from modern Marathi Dalit poetryAnnihilation of CasteB.R. AmbedkarCastes in India: Their Mechanism, Genesis and DevelopmentWho were the Shudras?Buddha or Karl MarxWhen I Hid My Caste: Stories (जेव्हा मी जात चोरली होती)Baburao BagulThe Prisons We BrokeBaby KambleKanshiram: Leader of the DalitsBadri NarayanKarukkuBamaHarum-Scarum Saar & Other StoriesSangati: EventsVANMAM: VendettaJust One Word: Short StoriesThe Ichi Tree Monkey: New and Selected StoriesTranslating CasteBasu TapanOne Hundred Poems of Chokha MelaChokhamela, Chandrakant Kaluram MhatreLetters to Namdeo DhasalChandramohan SVulturesDalpat ChauhanFear and Other StoriesBalutaDaya PawarUnder My Dark Skin Flows A Red RiverDebi ChatterjeeKusumabaleDevanura MahadevaDefying the Odds: The Rise of Dalit EntrepreneursDevesh KapurAmbedkar's World: The Making of Babasaheb and the Dalit MovementEleanor ZelliotUntouchable SpringG. Kalyana RaoUnderstanding Caste: From Buddha To Ambedkar And BeyondGail OmvedtSeeking BegumpuraDalit Visions (Tracts for the Times)Ambedkar: Towards an Enlightened IndiaFather May Be an Elephant and Mother Only a Small Basket, But...Gogu ShyamalaGabbilam: A Dalit EpicGurram JashuvaThe Adivasi Will Not DanceHansda Sowvendra ShekharPethavan: The BegetterImaiyamIf There is a God and Other Stories: Short StoriesAn Order from the Sky and Other StoriesStories of Social Awakening: Reflections of Dalit Refugee Lives of BengalJatin BalaGulamgiriJyotirao PhuleHow Are You Veg? Dalit Stories from TeluguJoopaka SubhadraDalit Literatures in IndiaJoshil K. AbrahamDalit Text: Aesthetics and Politics Re-imaginedJudith Misrahi-barakConcealing Caste: Narratives of Passing and Personhood in Dalit LiteratureK. SatyanarayanaAn Introduction to Tamil Dalit LiteratureK.A. GeethaThe ScarK.A. GunasekaranMurder in Mudukulathur: Caste and Electoral Politics in Tamil NaduK.A. ManikumarDalit Lekhika: Women's Writings from BengalKalyani Thakur CharalDays Will Come BackKamal Dev PallWhy I Am Not a HinduKancha IlaiahWriting Resistance: The Rhetorical Imagination of Hindi Dalit LiteratureLaura R. BrueckThe BrandedLaxman GaikwadBroken Man: In Search Of HomelandLoknath YashwantThe Oxford India Anthology of Malayalam Dalit WritingM. DasanDon’t Want CasteM.R. RenukumarCity, Slum and the Marginalised: Dalits and Muslims in Delhi SlumsM.V. BijulalInterrogating My Chandal Life: An Autobiography of a DalitManoranjan ByapariThe Runaway BoyA Dalit HistoryMeena KandasamyMs MilitancyThe Gypsy GoddessBefore It Rains AgainMudnakudu ChinnaswamyUntouchableMulk Raj AnandAn Anthology Of Dalit LiteratureCritical Essays on Dalit LiteratureMurali ManoharGive Us This Day A Feast Of FleshN.D. Rajkumarउन्हाच्या कटाविरुद्धNagraj ManjuleA Current of BloodNamdeo DhasalNamdeo Dhasal: Poet of the Underground Poems 1972-2006Untouchables: My Family’s Triumphant Journey Out of the Caste System in Modern IndiaDr. Narendra JadhavTo Be Cared For: The Power of Conversion and Foreignness of Belonging in an Indian SlumNathaniel RobertsJoothan: An Untouchable's LifeOmprakash ValmikiSalaamGhuspaithiyeThe Grip of ChangeP. SivakamiThe Taming of WomenP. Sivakami & Pritham K. Chakravarthy (Tr.)Black Coffee in a Coconut Shell: Caste as Lived ExperiencePerumal MuruganLet The Rumours Be TruePradnya Daya PawarThe Dalit Brahmin And Other StoriesPriya Adarkar (tr.) Sharankumar LimbaleAnthology of Telugu Dalit WritingPurushothamDalit Personal Narratives: Reading Caste, Nation and IdentityRaj KumarDalit Literature and CriticismThunderstorm: Dalit StoriesRatan Kumar SambhariaAnthology of Tamil Dalit WritingRavikumarOn the Threshold: Songs of Chokhamela (Sacred Literature Series)Rohini Mokashi-PunekarTouchable Tales: Publishing And Reading Dalit LiteratureS. AnandDalit Voices in Indian Poetry: A Study of Malayalam and Marathi PoemsSakunthala A.I.Collected Plays of Sanjay Jiwane: a saga of dalit-ismSanjay JiwaneDalit Kitchens of MarathwadaShahu Patole (tr.) Bhushan KorgaonkarMajya Jalmachi ChittarkathaShantabai KambleSurvival and Other Stories: Bangla Dalit Fiction in TranslationSankar Prasad SinghaThe Outcaste (Akkarmashi)Sharankumar LimbaleHindu: A NovelTowards An Aesthetic Of Dalit Literature: History, Controversies And ConsiderationsWriting Caste/Writing Gender: Reading Dalit Women's TestimonialsSharmila RegeOoru KeriSiddalingaiahA Word With You, World: The Autobiography of a PoetAnts Among Elephants: An Untouchable Family and the Making of Modern IndiaSujatha GidlaAffairs of Caste: a Young DiarySumeet SamosDalit Feminist Theory: A ReaderSunaina AryaCaste MattersSuraj YengdeNo Alphabet in Sight: New Dalit Writing from South IndiaSusie J. TharuSteel Nibs are Sprouting: New Dalit Writing from South India Dossier 2The Exercise of Freedom: An Introduction to Dalit WritingHindi Dalit Literature in the United Provinces: Swami Acchutanand and Chandrika Prasad Jigyasu, 1900-1930Tapan BasuListen to the Flames: Texts and Readings from the MarginsUntouchable Fictions: Literary Realism and the Crisis of CasteToral Jatin GajarawalaManikarnikaTulsiramMotherwitUrmila PawarThe Weave of My Life: A Dalit Woman's Memoirs (Aaydan)Growing Up Untouchable in India: A Dalit AutobiographyVasant MoonKakka: a Dalit NovelVemula YellaiahComing Out as Dalit: A MemoirYashica DuttWater in a Broken PotYogesh MaitreyaSinging/Thinking Anti Caste: Essays on Anti Caste Music and TextThe Bridge of MigrationBlues from Bhimnagar

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