We have a very delusional relationship with caste in this country, where we only see the "injustice" of reservations, for example, but not why it's needed. Truly understanding how pervasive caste is, then, takes a lot of proactive effort, to step out of the Savarna perspective and actually engage with the stories, histories, and experiences of people who live with its realities every day. 

A home for the same, Panther’s Paw Publication was founded by writer and translator Yogesh Maitreya in 2016, starting out of his hostel room while he was pursuing his PhD at TISS. The name comes from the Dalit Panthers, the radical anti-caste movement founded in Maharashtra in 1972 by writers and poets including Namdeo Dhasal and J.V. Pawar, which took inspiration from the Black Panther Party in the US and fought caste and class-based exploitation and oppression. Maitreya had met J.V. Pawar while looking for work that brought Dalit writing into English, eventually translating Pawar’s writing on Ambedkar and making it the publication’s first book. Today, the anti-caste publisher is based in Nagpur and releases Dalit and Bahujan literature, including poetry, fiction, essays, history and translations from Indian languages into English. The publication is rooted in the idea that Dalit literature is part of a larger movement, with writers and publishers playing a role in making narratives that have been historically erased from public imagination more accessible.

Here are five books from Panther’s Paw that you can buy right now:

'Ambedkar: Sonic Imagination of Casteless Utopia' by Yogesh Maitreya explores B.R. Ambedkar’s radical thought and vision through sound and music, looking at how anti-caste movements in Maharashtra used music as a vehicle of resistance. The book traces this history through the lives and work of fifteen selected musicians across seven decades, showing how their songs and sound carried Ambedkarite philosophy and voiced Dalit struggles for dignity. It looks at music as a powerful tool of protest and follows how the work of these regional artists nourished and shaped the anti-caste movement. The book also reimagines Dr. B.R. Ambedkar as a living philosophy of sound and radical imagination, connected to the idea of a just, post-colonial society and a casteless utopia.

'Stop All the Clocks' by Marathi writer Jaywant Hire is a collection of anti-caste short stories, originally published in 1989 under the title 'Manoos' and later translated into English by Nikhil Baisane. The collection depicts the socio-cultural transformation of Dalit communities in Maharashtra in the wake of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar’s movement. Hire’s stories offer a fresh, bold and unapologetic anti-caste narrative, capturing the changes taking place within Dalit communities as Ambedkar’s movement reshaped their social and cultural lives. The book also pushes beyond the traditional frameworks associated with Dalit literature in Marathi writing.

'Blues by Thames' by Suraj Telange is described as “A Poetic Ethnography of Class, Caste, Capital and Love in the 21st Century.” If Namdeo Dhasal’s 'Golpitha' in 1972 was a radical articulation of social angst in an inventive and unapologetic language, Telange’s Blues by Thames in 2026 makes a disruptive departure from the social to the personal. The book carries the power of poetry into questions of class, caste, capital and love, asking what it means to be destroyed and then recreated by poems. It is a collection to read and experience as Telange turns these larger social questions into something deeply personal.

'From Subjugation to Emancipation: Four Groundbreaking Essays' by Dr. B.R. Ambedkar brings together four key writings by Ambedkar that critique the Hindu caste system and chart a course towards the social, political and moral liberation of India’s oppressed communities. The essays examine the religious and structural foundations of caste inequality, including the seminal 'Annihilation of Caste', and make human dignity, liberty, equality and fraternity essential pillars of a fair society. The book also lays out practical ways for marginalised communities to overcome historical oppression through self-respect, education and systemic reform, bringing together Ambedkar’s critique of caste with his ideas for social justice and emancipation.

'Kumar Sanu - Caste, Catharsis, Enigma of Melody' by Yogesh Maitreya looks at the 1990s melody and voice of Kumar Sanu through an anti-caste lens, examining how his music resonated across different castes and classes in India. The book looks at popular music from the interiority of lived experiences outside the gaze of cultural gatekeepers, moving away from standard elite frameworks and asking how popular culture is understood through caste and class. It explores how Kumar Sanu’s voice captured hearts across different social strata and became a shared sonic memory for many. At the same time, it questions how society consumed the era’s popular music while failing to notice how its music reflected a deep alienation from harsh social realities.

Follow Panther's Paw here.

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