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This engaging historiography of Dalit identity in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in northern India is a significant contribution to understanding the situation of the "untouchables" in Indian society as a whole. The author reconstructs the historical role of the Chamars - often identified as leather workers, characterized as a criminal caste and stigmatized as "untouchables". Rawat argues that the major historical presentations of the Chamars are incorrect and have led to the social segregation of and even violence against this significant Dalit group.
For readers unfamiliar with India it is crucial to understand the religious and societal meaning associated with the identification of Chamars with leatherwork. The leather industry in India depends primarily on fallen cattle and hides are sold for a nominal price via brokers to leather factories. The Chamars have often been accused of poisoning cattle in order to sell their hides. The author shows that almost all colonial and postcolonial writing presents the Chamars solely as leather workers and landless labourers. But the Chamars are in their majority to be seen as peasants and agricultural tenants, who have only partially earned their living through working leather. Most of the studies...