The Weapon Of the Other: Dalitbahujan Writings and the Remaking of Indian Nationalist Thought

In The Weapon of the Other: Dalitbahujan Writings and the Remaking of Indian Nationalist Thought, the author Kancha Ilaiah contends that since colonial times, Hindu religious texts, which were read only by a small minority of upper-caste leaders, have been projected as sources of Indian nationalist thought while the Buddhist scriptures, the Bible and the Quran, whose readers were far more numerous, are relegated to the periphery of discussions about nationalism. He explores the possibility of examining Indian nationalism from an altogether different perspective, i.e., from the point of view of the Dalitbahujans of India and examines in detail the political core of liberatory ideas expounded by Gautam Buddha as well as modern thinker-activists like Ambedkar, Phule and Periyar. Interrogating popular notions about nation, nationalist thought and nation-building, this book will inspire a new generation of scholars, activists and public intellectuals.