Why I Am Not a Hindu: A Sudra Critique of Hindutva Philosophy, Culture and Political Economy

‘The most gratifying thing for me [is] that [this book] was listed as a millennium book [by The Pioneer] along with Dr. B. R. Ambedkar’s Annihilation of Caste. Moreover, it has been translated into several Indian languages. In a way it has become a weapon in the hands of Dalitbahujan activists’. 
-from the Afterword to the second edition. 

Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd writes with passionate anger, laced with sarcasm, on the caste system and Indian society. He looks at the socioeconomic and cultural differences between the Dalitbahujans and Hindus in the contexts of childhood, family life, market relations, power relations, Gods and Goddesses, death and, not the least, Hindutva. Synthesizing many of the ideas of Bahujans, he presents their vision of a more just society.

In this second edition, Ilaiah Shepherd presents an Afterword that discusses the history of this book, often seen as the manifesto of the downtrodden Dalitbahujans. He talks of its reviews as well as of the abuse he has received from its detractors. He reminds us of the need for an ongoing dialogue. As he says, he wrote the book ‘for all who have open minds. My request to Brahmin, Baniya and neo-Kshatriyas [upper class Sudras] is this: You learnt only what to teach others—the Dalitbahujans. Now in your own interest and in the interest of this great country, you must learn to listen and to read what we have to say.’


Table of Contents:
Preface to the Second Edition Preface to the First Edition Introduction Childhood Formations Marriage, Market and Social Relations The Emergence of Neo-Kshatriyas and the Reorganization of Power Relations Contemporary Hinduism Hindu Gods and Us: Our Goddesses and Hindus Hindu Death and Our Death Dalitization Not Hinduization Afterword: On Being an Un-Hindu Indian

About the Author :
Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd recently retired as Director, Centre for the Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy, Maulana Azad National Urdu University, Hyderabad. He is Chairman of Telangana Mass and Social Organizations (T-Mass) that works for English-medium education. He has helped to build up Dalit-Bahujan and civil liberties movements in India. He received the Mahatma Jyotirao Phule Award, 2000. His paper ‘Experience as Framework of Debate’, which appeared in the Economic and Political Weekly, set up new terms for the debate on the reservation policy during the anti-Mandal struggle in 1990. His contributions have appeared in Economic and Political Weekly, Frontier and Mainstream, and in major national English dailies like The Hindu, The Times of India, Hindustan Times, The Indian Express, Deccan Herald and Deccan Chronicle. He is also a regular contributor to Telugu magazines and to dailies like Vaartha and Andhra Jyothi. As his books raised a major debate in English and other regional media, he wrote a book in Telugu, Manatatwam (Our Philosophy), which put the Dalit-Bahujan productive philosophy in a new perspective. The book became an ideological weapon among Dalit-Bahujan and Left circles in Andhra Pradesh. Among his books are Turning the Pot, Tilling the Land: Dignity of Labour in Our Times and The Weapon of the Other: Dalit-Bahujan Writings and the Remaking of Indian Nationalist Thought. Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd was a post-doctoral fellow with Dalit Freedom Network, Denver, Colorado, 2004-2005, and as a member of the network, he has deposed before several international committees about the historical role of caste and untouchability in sustaining a modern form of slavery in India. He was a member of the National Campaign for Dalit Human Rights (NCDHR) that took the caste and untouchability issue to the UN Conference on Racism, Racial Discrimination and Xenophobia at Durban in 2001.  

Review :
‘Ilaiah’s trenchant attack on the spiritual fascism that excludes the weak and the poorest, makes him one of the most passionate and philosophical voices of the Ambedkarite movement and its challenge to Brahminical Hindu society. Ilaiah is one of the foremost thinkers of that powerful counterargument.’

"Mr. Ilaiah’s books such as God as Political Philosopher: Buddha′s Challenge to Brahminism, Why I Am Not a Hindu, Post-Hindu India: A Discourse in Dalit-Bahujan Socio-Spiritual and Scientific Revolution explore new ideas and are provocative…challenge conventional thinking, the majority Hindu view and the caste system as an element of Hindu practice."