Contours of Dalit Movement in South India: A Search for Egalitarian Social Order

Abstract

This chapter maps the contours of a century of history of Dalit movement in south India in general and Telugu-speaking regions in particular, and argues that the Dalit movement in India is an ideological movement for establishing an egalitarian social order, rejecting existing hierarchical Hindu social order that sanctions and glorifies inequalities – oppression epitomized in the most inhuman practice of untouchability, and it is a radical movement that aims at reconstruction of ‘self’ by destroying pejorative and community identities imposed by the non-Dalits. The first part of the chapter explains the manner and sources of history writings in India with reference to Dalits and their movement; the second part describes some of the major events that represented some shifts in the history of the Dalit movements during the colonial period; and the last section analyses Dalit movement during the post–independence period as constructed through. I Dalits and Historiography The mainstream history has shown apathy to Dalit consciousness. To begin with the ‘nationalist’ historiography, in the narratives of the ‘struggle’ for freedom does not recognize non-elite and non- Brahmin contributions towards the national movement. Likewise, the Cambridge historiography, though it contests the ideological basis of the nationalist narrative, does not initiate a dialogue with the social periphery and projects the ‘lower’ castes as mere passive followers of elite leaders. Marxist historians have shown reluctance to address the issues of caste, as they essentially adopt a class framework.