08/02/2025
Glad to announce that the reprint edition of
UNDER MY DARK SKIN FLOWS A RED RIVER: TRANSLATIONS OF DALIT WRITINGS FROM BENGAL (Translated and edited by Devi Chatterjee and Sipra Mukherjee) PRICE Rs 999
are now available at the IKBF at stall nos E24 (Antonym), E 76 (Leftword) and E80 (Sampark)
These words sung by Panchu Shah in the eighteenth century pinpoint the absurdity of the caste system that has always been attacked by the so-called lower castes — Shudras and Atishudras/Dalits — of Bengal. Oral literature and early writings in Bengal have offered their trenchant critique from the Charyapada songs of Vajrayana Buddhists between AD ninth and twelfth centuries. Later numerous sects, allegedly Hindu and/or Muslim, known as fakirs, bauls or auls, Sahebdhanis and Kartabharjas, sang of the falsity of social divisions across the two Bengals. These songs that continue to resonate have been, as Mukherjee says, ‘out there on the battleground, fighting inequity and inequality to which the Dalit identity subjects a human being’.
Chatterjee explains that inspired by the Dalit movement in modern India, Dalits have articulated their interests through a wide range of creativity: short stories, poetry, essays and articles, and autobiographies, challenging the Hindu hegemony of mainstream literature, resenting a counter-culture. Urban growth coupled with the aftermath of partition, which as Chatterjee says, wrenched Dalits from ‘their hearths and livelihoods . . .and seized them with
the haunting fear of impending death, led to an efflorescence of their writings.’ Little magazines and presses provided the space, long denied by mainstream publishing. Some of these writings
are found in this anthology. The contributions are from Namasudras, Malos, Rajbanshis, Poundras, and Bauris. Selections from the earlier and current oral tradition in the form of songs
are presented.
Debi Chatterjee retired as Professor in the Department of International Relations, Jadavpur University. Among her recent books is Up Against Caste: Comparative Study of Ambedkar and
Periyar (Rawat, 2019). She is the Founder-Editor of Contemporary Voice of Dalit.
Sipra Mukherjee is Professor, Department of English, West Bengal State University, India. Her publications include The Languages of Religion (Routledge, 2019) and the translation of
Interrogating My Chandal Life: Autobiography of a Dalit by Manoranjan Byapari (Sage-Samya, 2018), which won The Hindu Non-fiction Award, 2019.
Gender Studies,
