Untouchable Pasts
Religion, Identity, And Power Among A Central Indian Community, 1780-1950
Saurab Dubey
Vistaar Publications
308 pages/Rs 550
The book is an ethnographic account of the satnamis of Chattisgarh. Satnamis were mostly chamars, a caste of untouchables, who rebelled against the oppressive caste order by forming a sect within the Hindu fold.
In the early 19th century, chamars (traditionally leatherworkers) of Chattisgarh under the leadership of Ghasidas, a farm servant, left the caste order that had assigned them a low position.
They rejected Hindu deities, temples and the authority of Brahmins. Simultaneously, they gave a call to believe only in a formles god
