A pithy and momentous collection of essays on caste–equality struggles in Tamil Nadu by scholar and social activist Na. Vanamamalai Offering a meticulous exploration of Tamil Nadu's intricate caste dynamics, Na. Vanamamalai's pivotal work unveils the endeavours of lower–caste communities in challenging established hierarchies. It spans the Chola dynasty to the early part of the twentieth century. Through extensive research and insightful analysis, the renowned scholar elucidates how certain communities strategically appropriated the varna system, elevating their social status. Drawing on various source texts – historical documents, verses by socially committed ascetics, court judgments – the work demonstrates how the Chola kings tactically offered concessions to different caste clusters, thereby navigating a delicate balance between benefits and exploitation. Caste Away compellingly argues that caste–based conflicts were fundamentally manifestations of class antagonisms and challenges conventional interpretations, showing how the pursuit of caste equality was aimed not at creating an egalitarian society but at elevating the social standing of specific castes.

About the Book: This Book attempts to address the prevailing Caste System or the Jāti parampara in the Indian society. With the passage of time several misgivings have crept in the collective (mis)understanding of our society on this sensitive topic. All in the name of correcting social injustice of the past. This book retells some stories from the Puranas and Itihaas as interesting narratives with bold, thought-provoking counter arguments to provide course correction to the perspective. The Book appeals to the ordinary, informed, inquisitive, thinking, sensible, common man who finds this divide as a scar on the society. Caste has become an elephant in the room and not many are willing to talk about it despite the fact that it is tearing the society and nation apart. This is an attempt to honestly present facts in a simple language. The Book does not claim to be some literary research work or discourses on spirituality and morality though the scriptural reference is unavoidable in such a Context. About the Author: Rajeev Venkat holds a post-graduate Degree in Management in addition to his Degrees in Engineering and Law. Yet, he considers himself as a perennial student on the path of Advaita Vedanta, his foremost introduction. Being born and having spent his growing up years all over India allowed Rajeev to closely look at and observe the prevalent local social systems, the varied culture and traditions. However, something always intrigued him which he saw as 'the invisible firewalls' in the society referred as Caste or Jāti. In this Book, the Author attempts to address the prevalent misconceptions about the Caste system that plagues the society.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB PICK • “An instant American classic and almost certainly the keynote nonfiction book of the American century thus far.”—Dwight Garner, The New York Times The Pulitzer Prize–winning, bestselling author of The Warmth of Other Suns examines the unspoken caste system that has shaped America and shows how our lives today are still defined by a hierarchy of human divisions—now with a new Afterword by the author. #1 NONFICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR: Time ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The Washington Post, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, O: The Oprah Magazine, NPR, Bloomberg, The Christian Science Monitor, New York Post, The New York Public Library, Fortune, Smithsonian Magazine, Marie Claire, Slate, Library Journal, Kirkus Reviews Winner of the Carl Sandberg Literary Award • Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize • National Book Award Longlist • National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist • Dayton Literary Peace Prize Finalist • PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction Finalist • PEN/Jean Stein Book Award Longlist • Kirkus Prize Finalist “As we go about our daily lives, caste is the wordless usher in a darkened theater, flashlight cast down in the aisles, guiding us to our assigned seats for a performance. The hierarchy of caste is not about feelings or morality. It is about power—which groups have it and which do not.” In this brilliant book, Isabel Wilkerson gives us a masterful portrait of an unseen phenomenon in America as she explores, through an immersive, deeply researched, and beautifully written narrative and stories about real people, how America today and throughout its history has been shaped by a hidden caste system, a rigid hierarchy of human rankings. Beyond race, class, or other factors, there is a powerful caste system that influences people’s lives and behavior and the nation’s fate. Linking the caste systems of America, India, and Nazi Germany, Wilkerson explores eight pillars that underlie caste systems across civilizations, including divine will, bloodlines, stigma, and more. Using riveting stories about people—including Martin Luther King, Jr., baseball’s Satchel Paige, a single father and his toddler son, Wilkerson herself, and many others—she shows the ways that the insidious undertow of caste is experienced every day. She documents how the Nazis studied the racial systems in America to plan their outcasting of the Jews; she discusses why the cruel logic of caste requires that there be a bottom rung for those in the middle to measure themselves against; she writes about the surprising health costs of caste, in depression and life expectancy, and the effects of this hierarchy on our culture and politics. Finally, she points forward to ways America can move beyond the artificial and destructive separations of human divisions, toward hope in our common humanity. Original and revealing, Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents is an eye-opening story of people and history, and a reexamination of what lies under the surface of ordinary lives and of American life today.