Recovering the Dalit Public Sphere: Vernacular Liberalism in Late Colonial North India
Date
2024-04-01
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Comparative Studies in Society and History
Abstract
Drawing from publications by Swami Achutanand and the Adi-Hindu Mahasabha press between 1916 and 1940, this article examines the role of this north Indian Dalit organization in creating language and categories of liberalism in the Hindi vernacular. The Mahasabha poet-activists published numerous song-booklets in a variety of Hindi song genres to intervene in ongoing discussions on the subjects of representation and equality which they characterized as mulki-haq and unch-niche. Histories of liberties in late colonial India have typically examined its emergence within dominant Hindu and Muslim middle-class groups. This article uncovers the unique contributions of Dalit poet-activists who recognized the value of liberal ideas and institutions in challenging caste and abolishing “Manu’s Kanun” (lawgiver Manu’s Hindu law codes). It highlights the methodological importance of mohalla (neighborhood) sources usually located in Dalit activists’ houses in untouchable quarters. The chapbooks found in mohalla collections have enabled the writing of a new history of the Mahasabha’s activism and of the initiatives taken by poet-activists in founding a new Dalit politics in northern India. I explore the emergence of a Dalit literate public which sustained the activities of the Mahasabha and which responded with enthusiasm to its articulation of the new social identity of Achut (untouched) and a new political identity of Adi-Hindus—original inhabitants of Hindustan (India). Offering a new methodological approach in using mohalla sources and song-booklets composed in praise of liberal institutions, this essay makes a significant contribution to the recovery of a forgotten Dalit public sphere in early twentieth-century India.
Description
This article was originally published in Comparative Studies in Society and History. The version of record is available at: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0010417524000021. © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Society for the Comparative Study of Society and History
Keywords
Dalits, liberalism, nationalism, equality, caste, representation, public sphere, archives, mohalla, Adi-Hindu Mahasabha
Citation
Rawat, Ramnarayan S. “Recovering the Dalit Public Sphere: Vernacular Liberalism in Late Colonial North India.” Comparative Studies in Society and History, 2024, 1–26. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0010417524000021.