[Reader-list] THE SOCIAL VISION OF ANTICASTE INTELLECTUALS

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Seeking Begumpura
THE SOCIAL VISION OF ANTICASTE INTELLECTUALS
Author/Editor : Gail Omvedt


The bhakti radical Ravidas (c 1450–1520), calling
himself a 'tanner now set free', was the first to
envision an  Indian utopia in his song "Begumpura"—a
modern casteless, classless, tax-free city without
sorrow. This was in  contrast to the dystopia of the
brahmanical
kaliyuga. Anticaste intellectuals in India posited
utopias much before  Thomas More, in 1516, articulated
a Renaissance humanist version.


Gail Omvedt, in this study, focuses on the  worldviews
of subaltern visionaries spanning five
centuries—Chokhamela , Janabai, Kabir, Ravidas,
Tukaram, the Kartabhajas, Phule, Iyothee Thass,
Pandita Ramabai, Periyar and Ambedkar. She charts the
development of their  utopian visions and the
socioeconomic characteristics of the societies
conceived through this long period.

Reason and ecstasy – dnyan and bhakti/bhav – are the
underlying themes in this book. They constitute the
two  main strands of the utopian vision: the joy taken
in the consciousness of a promised land and the
analytical power that defines the contours of that
land. Together, they make the road that leads to the
promised land.  Rejecting Orientalist,
nationalist and hindutva impulses to 'reinvent' India,
Omvedt says all we need to do is take  up the India
envisioned by its dalit-bahujan intellectuals and
leaders—the Begumpura of Ravidas, the Bali Rajya  of
Phule, the Dravidastan of Periyar, the Buddhist
commonwealth of the Sakya Buddhists and Ambedkar's 
Prabuddha Bharat. These are contrasted
with Gandhi's village utopia of Ram Rajya, Nehru's
hindutva-laced socialism and Savarkar's territorialist
Hindu Rashtra. Finally, Omvedt emphasizes the
continued relevance of the  vision of the anticaste
intellectuals in the era of globalization.

Price Rs. 450


Product Details
Hardback : 304 pages
Author/Editor : Gail Omvedt
Year of Publication : 2008
Publisher : Navayana, Pondicherry
Language : English
Product Dimension : Demy
Shipping Weight : 550
ISBN Number : 978-81-89059- 11-8
Table of Contents :

Reviews and Author details:

Gail Omvedt is the author of Dalits and the Democratic
Revolution
(1994), Buddhism in India: Challenging Brahmanism and
Caste (2003) and
Ambedkar: Towards an Enlightened India (2004) among
other books.
Seeking Begumpura is the product of five years of
research and writing
as Senior Fellow at the Nehru Memorial Museum and
Library, New Delhi.
She lives in Kasegaon, Maharashtra.
 


 


Unfortunately, the balance of nature decrees that a super-abundance of dreams is paid for by a growing potential for nightmares.   
      
Love is an act of endless forgiveness, a tender look which becomes a habit. 

Peter Ustinov