The books brings out survey of Hindu festivals, explanation on birth of Hindu Festivals, relevance to Hindu practice of Untouchability. The belief and Reality between the two are highlighted. For Astrology enthusiasts the book explains the different terminologies and signs that are often committed to subterfuge in the course of writing.

In this explosive book, Suraj Yengde, a first-generation Dalit scholar educated across continents, challenges deep-seated beliefs about caste and unpacks its many layers. He describes his gut-wrenching experiences of growing up in a Dalit basti, the multiple humiliations suffered by Dalits on a daily basis, and their incredible resilience enabled by love and humour. As he brings to light the immovable glass ceiling that exists for Dalits even in politics, bureaucracy and judiciary, Yengde provides an unflinchingly honest account of divisions within the Dalit community itself-from their internal caste divisions to the conduct of elite Dalits and their tokenized forms of modern-day untouchability-all operating under the inescapable influences of Brahminical doctrines. This path-breaking book reveals how caste crushes human creativity and is disturbingly similar to other forms of oppression, such as race, class and gender. At once a reflection on inequality and a call to arms, Caste Matters argues that until Dalits lay claim to power and Brahmins join hands against Brahminism to effect real transformation, caste will continue to matter.

In India, caste groups ensure their durability in an era of multiculturalism by officially representing caste as cultural difference or ethnicity rather than as unequal descent-based relations. Challenging dominant social theories of caste, this book addresses questions of how caste survives the system that gave rise to it and adapts to new demands of capitalism and democracy. Based on original fieldwork, the book shows how the terrain of culture captured by a new grammar of caste revitalizes castes as cultural communities so that the culture of a caste is produced, organized and naturalized in the process of transforming jati (fetishized blood and kinship) into samaj (fetishized culture). Castes are shown to not be homogenous cultural wholes but sites of hegemony where class, gender and hierarchy over-determine the meanings and materiality of caste. Arguing that there exists a new casteism in India akin to a new racism in the USA, built less on biology and descent and more on purported cultural differences and their rights to exist, the book presents an extended critique and a search for an alternative view of caste and anti-casteist politics. It is of interest to students and scholars of South Asian culture and society.

INTRODUCTION DALITS IN INDIA: THE SCENARIO SOCIAL STRUCTURE AND ISSUES IN EMPOWERMENT OF DALITS SOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUS OF DALITS MAJOR ANALYSIS—DALIT UPLIFTMENT – SUGGESTIONS STEPS AND MEASURES FOR DALIT UPLIFMENT Index

This book offers a detailed narrative of Dalit migrants' everyday experience in urban areas with regard to the availability and accessibility of welfare services and state institutions. It discusses caste, specifically the identity of integration for Dalit migrants and the social work profession to integrate a marginalized community. Further, the book also highlights social, political, cultural, and economic changes among Dalit migrants in cities. The book traces the trajectory of Dalit migrants and captures their mobility from rural to urban areas, which is a complex economic and social phenomenon. In consideration of this complexity, the author explores the process of migration in its finer details through a focus on lived experiences of Dalit migrants in cities. Dalits often migrate to cities in search of better employment and livelihood opportunities because their occupations are invariably associated with their caste in villages. This book investigates the role of caste-based identity in Dalit migrants’ emancipation and integration in cities. In addition, the book examines the role of caste in the exclusion of Dalit migrants in cities and explains the dynamic nature of the 'state' and Dalit migrants' assertion. Among the topics covered in the book's seven chapters: Mumbai/Bombay: Migration, Caste, and Dalits Caste and Migration: The City—A Site for ‘Inclusion’ and Emancipation Entitlement, Deprivation, and Basic Services: Everyday Experience of Dalit Migrants with the State Dalit Migrants: Assertion, Emancipation, and Social Change is intended for students, academicians, and researchers in social work, migration studies, labour studies, development studies, population science, and economics. Developmental professionals also will be keen to read the book.

Is revenge an expression of rage, pain, strength, frailty, justice, or sadism? A complex emotion, revenge defies simple definitions since it is infused with different social codes and ethics. It is this intricate connection between the idea of revenge and its connections with history, aesthetics, socio-political constructs, racism, and religion that this volume attempts to explore. Moving across continents and cultures, the book examine a wide range of emotional and geographical terrains like the law of karma, gender violence, epic narratives, caste system, and cinema in India; the horror of the Holocaust and metaphysical revenge; witchcraft in Ghana, South Africa, and Namibia; Greek mythology; and sexual and emotional abuse of women by a Portuguese Brazilian slave holder.

This landmark volume, edited and introduced by Anand Teltumbde and Suraj Yengde, establishes B.R. Ambedkar as the most powerful advocate of equality and fraternity in modern India. While the vibrant Dalit movement recognizes Ambedkar as an agent for social change, the intellectual class has celebrated him as the key architect of the Indian Constitution and the political establishment has sought to limit his concerns to the question of reservations. This remarkable volume seeks to unpack the radical in Ambedkar's legacy by examining his life work from hitherto unexplored perspectives. Although revered by millions today primarily as a Dalit icon, Ambedkar was a serious scholar of India's history, society and foreign policy. He was also among the first dedicated human rights lawyers, as well as a journalist and a statesman. Critically evaluating his thought and work, the essays in this book-by Jean Drèze, Partha Chatterjee, Sukhadeo Thorat, Manu Bhagavan, Anupama Rao and other internationally renowned names-discuss Ambedkar's theory on minority rights, the consequences of the mass conversion of Dalits to Buddhism, Dalit oppression in the context of racism and anti-Semitism, and the value of his thought for Marxism and feminism, among other global concerns. An extraordinary collection of immense breadth and scholarship that challenges the popular understanding of Ambedkar, The Radical in Ambedkar is essential reading for all those who wish to imagine a new future.