Books to read: How Hindutva hurts women | Books and Literature News

Hindutva and Violence Against Women by Brinda Karat

(Speaking Tiger, Rs 450)

Activist Brinda Karat explores how Hindutva’s dominance on the national stage after 2014 has changed the language of political leaders, police departments and courts in tackling cases of violence against women belonging to religious minorities and oppressed castes. Referring to incidents like the cremation of the Hathras rape victim without her family’s knowledge, the lionisation of Bilkis Bano’s rapists and the murder of Kuki women in Manipur, she sheds light on the language of violence in New India.

Activist Brinda Karat explores how Hindutva’s dominance on the national stage after 2014 has changed the language of political leaders (Source: Amazon.in)

Dreaming a Paradise by Chitvan Gill

(Seagull, Rs 599)

In this book, journalist Chitvan Gill tells the story of Buland Masjid, an unauthorised colony on the banks of the Yamuna that has been abandoned by Delhi in its mad rush for industry and expansion. The residents recycle scrap, repair machines, run schools and sell food – all in an attempt to keep hope alive for the have-nots while the haves speed overhead along highways.

The Earth Quakes: Late Anti-Stories by Subimal Misra

(HarperCollins, Rs 599)

This is a collection of fiction written by Subimal Misra in the last two decades of his life, the 1990s and early 2000s, translated from Bengali by V Ramaswamy. In a style that defies institutions, forms and even the act of writing, these stories are iconoclastic to the core, about everyone from a musician who’s devoted to his muse to politicians who don’t know how to politick.

Sanatan by Sharankumar Limbale

(Penguin, Rs 599)

First published in 2018, this work has been translated from Marathi by Paromita Sengupta and tells a multi-generational story of Bhimnak Mahar, a man battling caste prejudice. The narrative starts in his youth before Independence and ends with his grandson decades later. For this novel, the critically acclaimed Dalit writer from Maharashtra received the literary award Saraswati Samman in 2021, leading to some Dalit writers challenging his acceptance of the award for its association with Hinduism.

First published in 2018, this work has been translated from Marathi by Paromita Sengupta (Source: Amazon.in)

Ponniyin Selvan Book 3 by Kalki

(Westland, Rs 399)

Translated from Tamil by Nandini Krishnan, this is the third in a new series of translations of the iconic novel. Now split into several instalments to accommodate the mammoth text, the epic about the Chola empire was first published in the 1950s and transformed the critical status of its writer and the magazine it was serialised in.