Untouchable Saints: An Indian Phenomenon

This volume brings to light the phenomenon of religious voices from the lowest orders of Indian society: Nandanar and Tiruppan Alvar in the south; Chokhamela and his entire family in Marathi territory; and, most famous of all, Ravidas in the north. Each saint was born untouchable and that fact is essential part of his and her life and song. The essays and the texts allow comparison of the thoughts of the saints and also their reception in their language areas. The southern saints are remembered by just one song, but almost countless legends tell of their lives, and Nandanar is still almost a living symbol of the triumph of piety. There are hundreds of songs by Chokha, his wife Soyrabai and their unhappy son Karmamela, Chokhas sister and her husband, and some have fame far beyond their own stories, but these saint-poets are no longer important in the Dalit movement. Ravidas is famous not only in the northern India Hindu world but is also an important figure in the Sikh religion and, as Rohidas, is the guiding light of devout Chamarkar bhaktas from Maharashtra. Scholars of each language area have contributed their expertise in the essays; in addition, bhakti texts and legends add local flavour. The mixture of bhakti texts and contemporary comment results in an unusual and lively discussion of an important facet of Indian religious life.

Table of Contents:
Introduction; The Life & Lyrics of Tiruppan Alvar; In Love with the Body of God: Eros & the Praise of Icons in South Indian Devotion; The Story of Nandanar: Contesting the Order of Things; Nandanar: Untouchable Saint & Caste Hindu Anomaly; On the Threshold: The Songs of Chokhamela; Banka Mahar & Karmamela; The story of Karmamela's Birth; Soyrabai & Nirmala; The Search for Chokhamela; Representations of Chokhamela in Marathi Film & Drama; God in a Copper Pot; Chokhamela & His Revilers; The Poems of Ravidas Translated; The Saintly Chamar: Perspectives on the Life of Ravidas; The Legends of Raidas in Word & Song: Satire & the Rhetoric of Reform; Stories of Ravidas (Raidas); Rohidas the Shoemaker; Ravidas in the Contemporary World; Bhakti Voices on Untouchability; Glossary; Bibliography; Index.

About the Author :
Eleanor Zelliot is a scholar of the Ambedkar movement in all its historic, social and cultural facets and also works in the field of medieval bhakti as a historian. She has written some eighty articles in these fields, some of which are gathered in From Untouchable to Dalit: Essays on the Ambedkar Movement (Manohar, 1992, 3rd edn. 2001). She has also written introductions for Vasant Moon's Growing Up Untouchable, translated by Gail Omvedt (Rowman and Littlefield, 2001), and Detlef Kantowsky's Buddhists in India Today, translated by Hans-Georg Tuerstig (Manohar, 2003).