Shyamal Kumar Pramanik is one of the most powerful writers of the Bangla Dalit literary movement. His evocative fictional world throws into relief the lives of the downtrodden in in contemporary India. This volume brings his fiction to a new readership by presenting English translations of a selection of his most powerful stories. This book is part of the Voices from the Margins series, which seeks to enhance the visibility of literary texts and traditions from various Indian languages and also to bring Dalit literature to the center stage. Pramanik focuses extensively on lives and lifestyles of the people in the Sundarbans, the largest mangrove forest in the world and an ecologically fragile zone. Drawn from personal experience, many of these stories paint in vivid colors the deprivations that define life in this part of the world. His fiction highlights the workings of caste.. The translations in this anthology are buttressed by an interview with the writer which includes his reflections on his life, society, and his writings, opening up new possibilities of understanding his work in its larger social context. The book also creates an academic framework within which Pramanik’s fiction can be read and critically analyzed. This critical edition will be of interest to students and researchers of comparative literature, South Asian literature and culture, modern Indian literature, Dalit studies, culture, history, and sociology.

"Shyamal Kumar Pramanik is one of the most influential writers of Bangla Dalit literary movement whose evocative and powerful fictional worlds unveil the oppressive structures of caste discrimination in India. This volume brings his writings to a new readership with English translations of a selection of his most influential works. Part of the Voices from the Margins series, this book seeks to make visible literary texts and traditions from various Indian languages and bring Dalit writers and literature to the centre-stage. Pramanik's work focuses on lives and lifestyles of the people in the Sunderbans, one of the largest mangrove forests in the world, and an ecologically vital zone. Drawn from personal experience, many of these stories paint in vivid colours the deprivations that shape life in this part of the world. His fiction throws into sharp relief the workings of caste in Bengal, and elsewhere in India. His poetry, on the other hand, has a more overtly activist tone and makes strident demands for social change. These translations are buttressed by an in-depth interview with the writer which includes his reflections on his life, society and on his writings, opening up new possibilities of understanding his work in its larger social context. The book also creates an academic framework within which Pramanik's fiction and poetry can be read and critically analysed. This critical edition will be of interest to students and researchers of literature, especially those engaged with contemporary Indian/South Asian literary cultures, comparative literature, modern Indian literature, minority studies, and Dalit studies. It will also be useful to students and researchers of social sciences and humanities, literature, culture, history and sociology"--

Shyamal Kumar Pramanik is one of the most influential writers of Bangla Dalit literary movement whose evocative and powerful fictional worlds unveil the oppressive structures of caste discrimination in India. This volume brings his writings to a new readership with English translations of a selection of his most influential works. Part of the Voices from the Margins series, this book seeks to make visible literary texts and traditions from various Indian languages and bring Dalit writers and literature to the centre-stage. Pramanik's work focuses on lives and lifestyles of the people in the Sunderbans, one of the largest mangrove forests in the world, and an ecologically vital zone. Drawn from personal experience, many of these stories paint in vivid colours the deprivations that shape life in this part of the world. His fiction throws into sharp relief the workings of caste in Bengal, and elsewhere in India. His poetry, on the other hand, has a more overtly activist tone and makes strident demands for social change. These translations are buttressed by an in-depth interview with the writer which includes his reflections on his life, society and on his writings, opening up new possibilities of understanding his work in its larger social context. The book also creates an academic framework within which Pramanik's fiction and poetry can be read and critically analysed. This critical edition will be of interest to students and researchers of literature, especially those engaged with contemporary Indian/South Asian literary cultures, comparative literature, modern Indian literature, minority studies, and Dalit studies. It will also be useful to students and researchers of social sciences and humanities, literature, culture, history and sociology.

Anil Gharai is arguably one of the most significant authors of Bangla Dalit literature. His works deal with the stark everyday realities of people on the margins and the complex interplay of domination and subjugation in these spaces. This volume of English translations of some of his most celebrated works seeks to introduce his writings to a new readership in India and abroad. In his works, Gharai explored caste-based and gender-based oppression in the rural areas of coastal Bengal. His protagonists are from remote spaces, from the Dalit community or the indigenous communities—men and women who work and live in extremely exploitative circumstances and whose lives are depicted by Gharai with great care and detail. His novels, short stories and poems, translated in this volume, give voice to the unrepresented and offer a critique of the oppressive caste and class hierarchies and traditions in eastern India. He also focuses on the replication of patriarchal mores within Dalit society and culture. This volume includes critical essays on Anil Gharai and his long interview to reflect on his position in the alternative literary canon of Bangla Dalit literature. Part of the Voices from the Margins series, this critical edition seeks to visibilise the less visible literary texts and traditions. It will be of interest to those scholars engaged in contemporary Indian/South Asian literary cultures, comparative literature, modern Indian literature, minority studies, Dalit studies and gender studies. It will also be useful to students and researchers of social sciences and humanities.

One of the only ethnographic studies of Dalit women, this book gives a rich account of individual Dalit women’s lives and documents a rise in patriarchy in the community. The author argues that as Dalits’ economic and political position improves, ‘honour’ becomes crucial to social status. One of the ways Dalits accrue honour is by altering patterns of women’s work, education and marriage, and by adopting dominant-caste gender practices. But Dalits are not simply becoming like upper castes; they are simultaneously asserting a distinct, politicised Dalit identity, formed in direct opposition to the dominant castes. They are developing their own ‘politics of culture’. Key to both, the author argues, is the ‘respectability’ of women. This has significant effects on gender equality in the Dalit community.

A collection of Dalit women's writings translated into English.

The Grddha Mullick family bursts with marvellous tales of hangmen and hangings in which they figure as eyewitnesses to the momentous events that have shaped the history of the subcontinent. When twenty-two-year-old Chetna Grddha Mullick is appointed the first woman executioner in India, assistant and successor to her father, her life explodes under the harsh lights of television cameras. When the day of the execution arrives, will she bring herself to take a life? Meera’s spectacular imagination turns the story of Chetna’s life into an epic and perverse coming-of-age tale. The lurid pleasures of voyeurism and the punishing ironies of violence are kept in agile balance as the drama hurtles to its inevitable climax.