This book examines Dalit mobilization and the transformation of rural power relations in the context of intense agrarian violence involving Maoist guerrillas and upper caste militias backed by state forces in Bihar in the 1980s. The book investigates why thousands of Dalits took up arms and highlights the specificities of Dalit participation in the Maoist Movement and develops an anthropology of the Maoist Revolution in India.
1. Introduction: Maoist Revolution in Perspective 2. Submerged Violences: Dalits, Landlessness and Subordination in Bihar 3. From the Mud Houses of Magadh: Revolutionary Murmurings and Dalit Militancy 4. Bonded Labourer to Maoist Guerrilla: Life Story of a Dalit Revolutionary 5. Negotiating Powers: Dalits and Shifting Mobilizations 6. Production and Reproduction of Violence: State, Senas and Maoists 7. Conclusion: An Anthropology of Revolution