Growing up Untouchable in India: A Dalit Autobiography

by Vasant Moon, Gail Omvedt (Translator), Eleanor Zelliot (Contributor)

There is much in Vasant Moon's extraordinary story of his vasti, his childhood neighbourhood in India, that would probably be true of any urban ghetto anywhere in the world. But there is much that is peculiarly and vividly Indian.

In this first autobiography of a so-called Untouchable, we learn about the inescapable hierarchy imposed by caste, based on ancient principles of heriditary pollution. We see the unmatched importance of the heroic Dr. B. R. Ambedkar for India's awakened and newly ambitious Dalits. We feel, viscerally, Nagpur's heat and the joy brought by the monsoon.

Vasant Moon's Vasti, the first Dalit autobiography to be published in English, is a moving and eloquent testament to a uniquely Indian life as well as to the universal human spirit.

Genres: India, Biography, Biography Memoir, Nonfiction, Politics, Memoir

224 pages, Paperback

First published December 20, 2000

About the author

Vasant Moon is a retired civil servant and Dalit activist. He is the editor of 17 volumes of Dr. Ambedkar’s writings and speeches in English.

Reviews

[Conrad Barwa]

Not as powerful as Valmiki's 'Joothan' or as caustic as Murli's 'Untouchable'. Moon's Mahar background is relatively more priveleged and less deprived than that of paraiyars or bhangis but it offers nonetheless an insight into the Ambedkarite tradition of Dalit thought and experience common in Western India, along with the Buddhist influence that isn't found as strongly elsewhere.

[Ajeng Puspitasari]

wanna learn more about caste system in india? it's a good one to read

[Ke]

Though the pacing of this book is a bit uneven, it is about a topic which I knew very little about. I tried to read this and not to be too upset at the caste system.

[Casey Hugelfink]

I didn't finish the book, it's too hard to understand for me. Too many Indian terms and too many old fashioned English words I've never heard before. I think it's a good book for learning about the history of Dalit uprising. And yes, education is a way out. But I was searching for the trauma left by labelled "Untouchable", the psychologic consequences, for this it's the wrong book.

[Ram]

The book doesn't do justice with the title, There is no pain or suffering of an untouchable in this book

[Bethany]

pretty good, alittle confusing at times, but overall really interesting