“The Roots of the Caste System are Getting Deeper...”

Huchangi Prasad, a poet and journalism student from Davangere in central Karnataka, was attacked last year by right-wing goons following the publication of his first book of poems, Odala Kicchu (The Fire Within). In this recent lecture, delivered at a seminar on “Caste, Religion and Lived Culture” at Ambedkar University, he speaks about his life and his poetry. Introducing himself as the son of a devadasi, he describes how caste discrimination plays out in his village. He is clear that the Hindu Right, which is trying to appropriate Ambedkar, has only deepened caste discrimination on the ground. However, he is determined to expose caste discrimination in day-to-day life, and to demand change. Vijoo Krishnan, academic and political activist, translates Prasad’s Kannada into English.