Dear reader,
This is Tejas Harad, editor of the Satyashodhak. This month onwards, I will be writing to you directly: I hope this will be an enduring relationship.
The month of October was a little quiet at the Satyashodhak; we published only three articles. However, the two of them were fantastic translations of some important movement writings which compensate for the lack of volume. We also have changed the website design and layout. Do let us know what you think about it, and if you want to tell us how we can improve, please write to us at thesatyashodhak@gmail.com.
You don’t wanna miss
Bandhu Madhav, a name that has almost been forgotten now, published his first story collection Aamhihi Manasa Aahot in 1981; more than three decades after he started writing stories for various Ambedkarite journals. Sirus J Libeiro has translated Arun Kamble’s introduction to this book that gives an account of Bandhu Madhav’s writing career and also contextualises his contribution to Marathi Dalit literary movement. Click here to read the article.
We published Madhura Damle’s translation of three akhandas of Jotirao Phule on November 28—Phule’s 130th death anniversary. (Phule died in 1890.) Damle has selected the akhandas that truly highlight the core themes of Phule’s writings—attack on Brahminism, description of hardships of Shudra life, and Phule’s stident advocacy to remain faithful to Truth. Click here to read the akhandas.
Do also read
NCBC conducts public hearing on OBC issues in University of Hyderabad
In case you missed
Since October was the death anniversary month of Jotirao Phule, I feel you should definitely read the following two articles to remember him.
The first article is a translation of an essay written by Govind Kale in late 1920s for a special collection called Amhi Pahilele Phule. Kale had lived with Phule in the last decade of Phule’s life, first as a student and then as his personal clerk. Kale was with Phule when Phule died on 28 November 1890 in his house in Pune. The essay was translated by Sonali Kale, a dear friend of mine and also the great granddaughter of Govind Kale, and me. Click here to read this essay.
Jotirao Phule is best known for his work in the field of education. Karthik Venkatesh explores his various initiatives and also analyses the philosophy that underpinned his work. Click here to read the article.
What we read in November
Vijeta Kumar wrote a superb personal essay for HuffPost India about plants, birds, kites and a father, while beautifully showing the resilience of a Dalit family living in the neighbourhood surrounded by Brahmins. Unfortunately when BuzzFeed bought HuffPost a few days ago, the India website was taken off the web. Thankfully, an archived version survives. Click here to read the archived version.
Shraddha Chickerur spoke to three generations of Marathi Brahmin women to understand intergenerational changes and how caste has underpinned those changes. Click here to read her thought-provoking paper.
Dilip Mandal had hoped that social media would democratize the public sphere and could finally undermine traditional media’s power to shape public opinion. However, a decade down the line, Mandal observes the old hierarchies reproducing themselves on social media as well. Click here to read his research paper in the EPW.
That’s it for this month’s edition. Thank you for reading. If you have any thoughts, comments or ideas, please write to us on thesatyashodhak@gmail.com. Do follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Mastodon and please subscribe to our Telegram channel. See you next month!