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This is a work of fiction. The names and characters come from the author's imagination and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. Similarly, the locations and incidents in this book, which might resemble real locations and events, are being used fictitiously and are not to be considered as real.
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Untouchable friends
Tan Dan about Bhangi sweepers in feudal Rajasthan
The neglected life of an ageold caste in a desert region with strong feudal attitudes and ritual barriers. As narrated to his friend Son Lal around 1980.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 Tan Dan
Chapter 2 The Bhangi caste at Chelana
Chapter 3 Baya and the other sweepers at Chelana
Chapter 4 Toilets cleaned by sweepers
Chapter 5 The sweeper families at Chelana
Chapter 6 Bhangis and village politics
Chapter 7 The Bhangi baskets
Chapter 8 Badri, the Bhangi boy at Jodhpur
Chapter 9 Various aspects of the Bhangi caste
Chapter 10 Discrimination in between untouchable castes
Chapter 11 Bhangi religious thoughts
Chapter 12 The Lal Guru worship
Chapter 13 Cremation and burial
Chapter 14 Ganga water rites
Chapter 15 The prestigious death meal
Chapter 16 The Chandals
Chapter 17 Tan Dan about outcasting Hindus
Supplements
Indian words used in this book are explained here.
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Chapter 1 Tan Dan
In Rajasthan, a dry part of northwestern India, women and young girls of the Bhangi caste have worked as sweepers for generations. Also in Tan Dan's home village. Tan Dan has followed Bhangi life with keen interest since his childhood, and in this book he gives his version of a life very little known to many Indians, although sweepers are seen everywhere. For him they are friends, not untouchables. Many narrations are based on his experience in the 1970s.
Who is Tan Dan?
Tan Dan Detha was born in a farmer family of the Charan caste in 1943. His native village is Chelana in Jodhpur District of Rajasthan in northwestern India. Tan Dan has lived in the midst of his strongly traditional environment all his life. He is a critical observer rather than a follower of that tradition.
Who is Son Lal?
Son Lal is my pen name. I was born in a Scandinavian country of northern Europe in the early 1940s. I have lived in India off and on for fifty years, since I first arrived to the Gateway of India at Bombay by ship in 1963. In the 1970s I met Tan Dan. We soon found we shared many views on the world, and had the same curiosity of village life. I saw a chance to learn how he experienced his rural environment. He did his best to explain, and I am grateful to him for having shared his knowledge and thoughts with me.
How this narration was done
Tan Dan told in English and I typed, while we sat together in long sessions. His many photos became a starting point for our discussions. We formulated the sentences together. Sentence after sentence, day after day. Most of it we wrote around 1980, but some additions were made in later decades. Afterwards I have edited the material and supplemented some sections with information from elsewhere. Still, it is Tan Dan's voice that is heard on these pages. It is a personal narration by a village farmer, and has no connection to any university.