Review of anthology Love in the Time of Caste, translated and edited by Nikhil Pandhi

What does it mean to ‘love’ amidst the constraints and contours of caste? How do we learn to read afresh the Brahmanical scripts of marriage, kinship, desire and gender, through an emphasis on Dalit subjectivity? What is at stake in the radical (re)formulation of Dalits as passionate subjects in the time of caste? Nikhil Pandhi, cultural anthropologist, queer feminist researcher and anti-caste literary translator, asks these questions in the introduction to his excellent new collection of short stories titled Love in the Time of Caste.

It is an unusual but engrossing pick for Valentine’s Day, which often comes across as more of a capitalist scam than a genuine celebration of affection and intimacy between people who choose each other over the norms laid down to police their minds and bodies.

This “Dalit-feminist anthology” features the work of 17 writers, including Kusum Meghwal, Rajni Tilak and Kailash Wankhede. Pandhi is not only the editor of this anthology, but has also translated all the stories from Hindi to English. He has also written a sharp and moving introductory essay that explains his curatorial process, and situates the stories in a social, historical, political and literary context.

Calling out misogyny

“Babasaheb Ambedkar always stood for love marriages, even inter-caste ones. Whether Chamar, Chuhra, Teli, Pasi, or Brahman — if a boy and a girl love each other, what is the problem?” These words, which appear in Poonam Tushamad’s gooseflesh-inducing story ‘The Chronicle of Kali’, are uttered by a Chamar man whose son Sonu is in love with a Chuhra girl named Kali. While Kali wants to marry Sonu, her brother Balwan is vehemently opposed to the match. Balwan slaps his sister’s potential father-in-law, and hurls a stone slab at Sonu’s head. Despite this humiliation, Sonu’s father refuses to respond with violence. All he wants is an unconditional public apology.

What is amply clear through this story is that Ambedkar is a living presence guiding everyday life choices, and not an ideologue fossilised in speeches and inscriptions. Here is a powerful alternative to the tyranny of elders who expect their sons and daughters to marry not for love but to consolidate wealth, uphold warped notions of honour, and continue the bloodline.

Anthropologist and researcher Nikhil Pandhi, who has translated and edited Love in the Time of Caste.

Anita Bharti’s story ‘Blue Mountain, Red Sun’ offers a radical vision of what an anti-caste wedding can look like. Her protagonists, Pragya and Samar, warm up to each other during a protest rally in solidarity with factory workers laid off by a motorcycle manufacturing company. Their wedding at the Union office has “no rituals, no priest, no formal vows” but comrades singing revolutionary verses from poets Pash, Muktibodh and Dhumil.

Those who believe that activists are in the business of destroying the status quo but lack the imagination or tools to build anew will be forced to reconsider their view after engaging with this firecracker of a story. While the author casts their decision to prioritise “ideological kinship” over “biological ties”, she does not pretend that an anti-caste marriage is without complications.

Samar is held accountable for the patriarchal expectations that he begins to pile on Pragya after they get married. Unwilling to be docile and indulgent, she speaks out in defiance: “I was always an activist — you used to admire that about me! What has suddenly changed now?” Misogyny is called out here, even when it is practised by men who are oppressed by the caste system.

Unruly and emancipatory

The critical gaze of this anthology is also vigilant about situations where women become cheerleaders for aggression and revenge. In Raj Valmiki’s story ‘Masculinity’, when Thakur Gajendra Pratap spouts “vulgar innuendos” at Rajni, who is in love with a boy called Rajan from the Bhangi community, Rajan withholds his rage and resolves not to get into a fight. Rajni spits at Rajan, equating his silence with cowardice. She tells him, “A man as spineless as you does not deserve to be my partner!” Terrified of being viewed as a “sissy”, Rajan beats up the Thakur boy.

Each story is worth reading not only for its political import but also its literary merit. As a collection that unravels how emancipatory and unruly love can be, this book deserves to be read widely and not relegated to tokenistic discussions on Dalit writing at literature festivals.

The reviewer is a writer, educator and literary critic. His work has appeared in anthologies, including Fearless Love (2019) and Bent Book (2020).

Love in the Time of Caste

Ed and trs Nikhil Pandhi

Zubaan

₹695

Published – February 13, 2026 06:05 am IST