History of Dalit Literature

This letter is with reference to the Postscript article titled “‘English-ing’ Anti-caste Literature in Maharashtra” by Yogesh Maitreya (EPW, 14 September 2019), sketching the history of publishers of Dalit literature in Maharashtra. The author states, and rightly so, that, “predominantly upper-caste publishing houses, vernacular as well as English, became interested in publishing Dalit writers’ narratives, especially autobiographies, after recognising their economic value.” But even before we can address the Englishing of anti-caste literature, we need a more fine-grained outline of how it emerged in the vernacular.

The author refers to publishers of Dalit literature such as Sugava, Samata and Kausalya Prakashan, whose contributions are indeed invaluable. However, a more worthwhile case to study would be that of Abhinav Prakashan, a publishing house based in erstwhile Bombay, with a long history of publishing Dalit literature in Maharashtra right from the 1950s.