I came across a small note in the mainstream "Outlook" magazine about seven years back about a publishing house based in Pondicherry, "Navayana", Publishing for Social Change. The note was by S. Anand, a journalist who wrote for Outlook. At that time, they were going to send all books to be published in 5 years for an advance sum of Rs.5000/-.
The first book I received was "India Stinking", Manual Scavengers in Andhra Pradesh and Their Work, by Gita Ramaswamy.
I was shocked and ashamed that I did not know or ever think about manual scavenging though I had travelled a lot in India. I read the book in bits and pieces as it was too disturbing.
Recently read an excellently researched and compiled book, "Seeking Begumpura, The Social Vision of Anticaste Intellectuals", by Gail Omvedt.
There are chapters on Kabir, Ravidas, Tukaram, Phule, Ramabai, Periyar, Ambedkar and others. It is startling to discover that Kabir's writings in the 14th century are atheistic.
Dalit writing in India through the centuries even without the support of science, is the closest thing to atheistic writing.
Check out the mission statement and titles available at Navayana:
http://navayana.org/
The first book I received was "India Stinking", Manual Scavengers in Andhra Pradesh and Their Work, by Gita Ramaswamy.
I was shocked and ashamed that I did not know or ever think about manual scavenging though I had travelled a lot in India. I read the book in bits and pieces as it was too disturbing.
Recently read an excellently researched and compiled book, "Seeking Begumpura, The Social Vision of Anticaste Intellectuals", by Gail Omvedt.
There are chapters on Kabir, Ravidas, Tukaram, Phule, Ramabai, Periyar, Ambedkar and others. It is startling to discover that Kabir's writings in the 14th century are atheistic.
Dalit writing in India through the centuries even without the support of science, is the closest thing to atheistic writing.
Check out the mission statement and titles available at Navayana:
http://navayana.org/