Radical Thought

Early Radical Thought

  1. Ravidas, Begumpura  (circa 16th Century) (see also Gail Omvedt’s Seeking Begumpura, and the blog of the same name).

Radical Thought During the Colonial Times

A. Gender

  1. Tarabai Shinde, Stri-Purush Tulna  (1882).
  2. Doctor Rakhmabai, ‘Letters to the Times of India under the pseudonym, ‘A Hindu Lady’ (1885) (extracted in this book).
  3. Pandita Ramabi, The High Caste Hindu Woman (1888).
    1. Uma Chakravarti, Rewriting History: The Life and Times of Pandita Ramabai (2013).
  4. Indian National Congress Report, ‘Women’s Role in the Planned Economy’ (1938).
    1. Maitrayee Chaudhary, ‘Citizens, Workers, and Emblems of Culture‘ (1995).
  5. Periyar, Why Were Women Enslaved? (1942)
    1. V. Geetha, ‘Periyar, Women and an Ethic of Citizenship‘, EPW (1998).
    2. S. Anandhi, ‘Women’s Question in the Dravidian Movement‘, Social Scientist (1991).

Secondary Sources:

  1. Tanika Sarkar & Sumit Sarkar (eds.), Women and Social Reform in Modern India.
  2. Kumkum Sangari & Sudesh Vaid (eds.), Recasting Women: Essays in Colonial History.

B. Caste and Social Equality

  1. Savitribai Phule, Poems (1854)
  2. Mukta Salve, ‘About the Grief of the Mangs and the Mahars‘ (1855).
  3. Jyotirao Phule, Ghulamgiri (“Slavery“) (1873) [Preface available online]
  4. Jyotirao Phule, Shetkaryaka Asud (“The Cultivator’s Whipcord”) (1881)
    1. Gail Omvedt, ‘The Struggle for Social Justice and the Expansion of the Public Sphere’, in this book.
  5. Mangoo Ram and the Ad-Dharm Movement (1920s)
    1. Mark Juergensmeyer, Religious Rebels in Punjab: The Ad Dharm Challenge to Caste. 
  6. B.R. Ambedkar, The Annihilation of Caste (1935)

Secondary Sources

  1. Gail Omvedt, Cultural Revolt in a Colonial Society.
  2. Rosalind O’Hanlon, Caste, Conflict, and Ideology.

C. Constitutional and Civil Rights

  1. Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, Samya [“Equality”].
  2. Motilal Nehru, ‘Presidential Address‘ (Amritsar Session of the Indian National Congress, 1919).
  3. C.R. Das, ‘Freedom through Disobedience‘ (Presidential Address at the Gaya Session of the Indian National Congress, 1922).
  4. Srinivasa Sastri, ‘The Rights and Duties of the Indian Citizen‘ (1926).
  5. B.R. Ambedkar, What Congress and Gandhi have Done to the Untouchables, Ch. III (1945).

D. Citizenship, Suffrage, and Voting

  1. B.R. Ambedkar, ‘Written Statement to the Southborough Committee on the Franchise‘ (1919).
  2. Herabai Tata, ‘A Short Sketch of Indian Women’s Franchise Work’ [excerpt].

E. Social Rights

  1. Jyotirao Phule, Memorial to the Hunter Commission on Education (1881).