Untouchables: My Family's Triumphant Escape from India's Caste System

narendra jadhav

Every sixth human being in the world today is an Indian, and every sixth Indian is an untouchable. For thousands of years the untouchables, or Dalits, the people at the bottom of the Hindu caste system, have been treated as subhuman. In this remarkable book, at last giving voice to India’s voiceless, Narendra Jadhav tells the awe-inspiring story of his family’s struggle for equality and justice in India. Based on his father’s diaries and family stories, Jadhav has written the triumphant story of his parents―their great love, unwavering courage, and eventual victory in the struggle to free themselves and their children from the caste system. He vividly brings his parents’ world to light and unflinchingly documents the lives of untouchables―the hunger, the cruel humiliations, the perpetual fear, and the brutal abuse. Untouchables is an eye-opening work that gives readers insight into the lives of India’s 165 million Dalits, whose struggle for equality continues even today.

Genres nonfictionindiabiography memoirmemoirbiographyhistoryautobiographyhistoricalanthropologysociology

316 pages, Paperback

First published January 1,1993

This edition

Format: 316 pages, Paperback
Published: March 29, 2007 by University of California Press
ISBN: 9780520252639
ASIN: 0520252632
Language: English

About the author

narendra jadhav

Narendra Damodar Jadhav is an Indian economist, educationist, public policy expert, professor and writer in English, Marathi and Hindi. He is an expert on Babasaheb Ambedkar.
Jadhav has been a Member of the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of Indian Parliament. He previously served as member of the Planning Commission of India and the National Advisory Council. Prior to this, he worked as Vice Chancellor of Savitribai Phule Pune University, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and headed economic research at the Reserve Bank of India.