Author: Bibhuti Yadav
Publisher: Anmol Publications
Year: 2002
Language: English
Pages: 592
ISBN/UPC (if available): 8126111135
Description
Dalit is basically a Sanskrit word which means broken and downtrodden. There has been narrow definition, based on the caste alone, and a broader one to encompass all those considered to be either similarly placed or natural allies.All these issues have been discussed in the present work in detail..
Since the early 1970s, the world has come into increasingly wider usage in the press and in common parlance where it is normally used in the original, narrower, Caste-based sense. However, scholars have written about Dalits in different ways.
The pioneers who worked for the liberation of the Dalits and other backward classes, like Phule, Periyar and Ambedkar, propagated the idea of the need for cultural revolution or a total transformation of Indian society. They rejected the vision of the upper castes which identified the Indian nation as basically Hindu, deriving from Vedic times, and fundamentally a creation of the Aryan people.
While rejecting the ideas of the upper caste notion of Indian society based on the ideas and values of Manu and Varnavyavastha, they propagated the principles of equality, justice, liberty and rationality. This broad-based standpoint is widely accepted among the Dalits.
There is, however, much discussion and dispute on the means of attaining these ideals of social justice. This problem is worsened by the multiple divisions existing in the Dalit ranks. But every step ahead encourage the Dalits to move forward towards final victory.