Kunbi is a generic term applied to several castes of traditional farmers in Western India. These include the Dhonoje, Ghatole, Masaram, Hindre, Jadav, Jhare, Khaire, Lewa, Lonare and Tirole communities of Vidarbha. The communities are largely found in the state of Maharashtra but also exist in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala and Goa. Kunbis are included among the Other Backward Classes (OBC) in Maharashtra.
Mahar is one of the dominant caste found in Maharashtra. They were considered as untouchables or low caste. Majority of this community is found in Vidharbha region and neighbouring areas.
Haldi Kumkum, or the Haldi Kumkum ceremony, is a social gathering in India in which married women exchange haldi (turmeric) and kumkum, as a symbol of their married status and wishing for their husbands' long lives.
The Bhandari community is a caste that inhabits the western coast of India. Their traditional occupation was "toddy tapping". They form the largest caste group in the state of Goa, reportedly being over 30% of that state's Hindu population, and play a major role in deciding the future of any political party there. Bhandaris are included in the list of Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in Goa and Maharashtra.
Vitthal Ramji Shinde was a revered social reformer, researcher, writer, and proponent of anti-untouchability activism and religious unity in Maharashtra, India. He played a prominent role among liberal thinkers and reformists before India gained independence. Shinde is recognized for his tireless efforts in fighting against the practice of ‘untouchability’ and advocating for support and education for ‘untouchables,’ including Dalits.
Daya Pawar or Dagdu Maruti Pawar was an Indian Marathi language author and poet known for his contributions to Dalit literature that dealt with the atrocities experienced by the dalits or untouchables under the Hindu caste system. He was a Buddhist by religion.
Majya Jalmachi Chittarkatha is an autobiography of Shantabai Kamble published in 1983. This is considered the first autobiographical narrative by a Dalit woman writer. The work has been translated into various languages and is required reading for Marathi literary students at the University of Mumbai.
The Satyashodhak Communist Party is a political party in the state of Maharashtra, India. The party was founded by Comrade Sharad Patil, who as of 2009 still serves as its General Secretary. The party bases its political philosophy on the thinking of Karl Marx, B. R. Ambedkar and Jyotirao Phule.
The Dalit Panthers is a social organisation that seeks to combat caste discrimination. It was led by a group of Mahar writers and poets, including Raja Dhale, Namdeo Dhasal, and J. V. Pawar in some time between the second and the third semester of 1972. It was founded as a response to the growing discontent among the Dalit youth during the 25th Independence Day celebrations. Inspired by the Black Panther movement in the United States, poet-writers J V Pawar and Namdeo Dhasal founded the Dalit Panthers, urging a boycott of the Independence Day revelry, terming it a 'Black Independence Day'. The movement's heyday lasted from the 1970s through the 1980s, and it was later joined by many Dalit-Buddhist activists.
Namantar Andolan was a Dalit and Navayana Buddhist movement to change the name of Marathwada University, in Aurangabad, Maharashtra, India, to Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar University. It achieved a measure of success in 1994, when the compromise name of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University was accepted. The movement was notable for the violence against Dalits and Navayana Buddhists.
Dalit literature is a genre of Indian writing that focuses on the lives, experiences, and struggles of the Dalit community, who have faced caste-based oppression and discrimination for centuries. This literature encompasses various Indian languages such as Marathi, Bangla, Hindi, Kannada, Punjabi, Sindhi, Odia and Tamil and includes diverse narratives like poems, short stories, and autobiographies. The movement originated in response to the caste-based social injustices in mid-twentieth-century independent India and has since spread across various Indian languages, critiquing caste practices and experimenting with different literary forms.
Sharmila Rege was an Indian sociologist, feminist scholar and author of Writing Caste, Writing Gender. She led the Krantijyoti Savitribai Phule Women's Studies Centre, at University of Pune which position she occupied since 1991. She received the Malcolm Adiseshiah award for distinguished contribution to development studies from the Madras Institute of Development Studies (MIDS) in 2006.
Baluta is an autobiography by the Indian writer Daya Pawar, written in the Marathi language. According to Kalita, Baluta "introduced autobiographical writing" to Dalit literature. Baluta is seen by the Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature as an attempt by the writer to be personal yet "objective and representative", the title generalising the status of rural untouchables. It records the writer's struggle for peace, a struggle with no chance of retaliation in "word or deed". An English translation by Jerry Pinto was published in 2015.
Eleanor Zelliot was an American writer, professor of Carleton College and specialist on the India, Southeast Asia, Vietnam, women of Asia, Untouchables, and social movements.
Writing Caste/Writing Gender: Narrating Dalit Women's Testimonios is a 2006 book written by Sharmila Rege and published by Zubaan India. This book is a theoretical analysis of Dalit Literature in India through the lens of gender. It is important for students of caste and gender studies.
We Also Made History: Women in the Ambedkarite Movement is the very first book detailing the history of women’s qualified participation in the Dalit movement in India, led by B. R. Ambedkar. Originally written and edited in Marathi by Urmila Pawar and Meenakshi Moon, and published in 1989, the 2008 English translation is by Wandana Sonalkar.
Baby Kamble, commonly known as Babytai Kamble, was an Indian activist and writer. She was born into an untouchable caste, Mahar, the largest untouchable community in Maharashtra. She was a well-known Dalit activist and writer who was inspired by B. R. Ambedkar, prominent dalit leader. Kamble and her family converted to Buddhism and remained lifelong practicing Buddhists. In her community, she came to be admired as a writer and was fondly called as Tai. She is widely remembered and loved by the Dalit community for her contributions of powerful literary and activist work. She is one of the earliest women writers from the untouchable communities whose distinctive reflexive style of feminist writing setting her apart from other Dalit writers and upper caste women writers who gaze was limited and reflexivity incarcerated in caste and masculinity.
Shantabai Dhanaji Dani (1919–2001) was an Indian Dalit writer, politician, and social worker. She wrote primarily in the Marathi language.
Wandana Sonalkar is an Indian economist, and an author and translator. She retired as Professor teaches at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai in 2017, and previously taught at the Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, Aurangabad. Her research focuses on gender and caste in India. She has published translations of several books from Marathi to English, including the autobiographies of Urmila Pawar and R.B. More, and in 2021, she published Why I am Not a Hindu Woman, an autobiography and critique of misogyny, caste and violence in the context of the Hindu religion.
