Love in the Time of Caste by Nikhil Pandhi

A powerful collection on Dalit lives, love, and struggle, exploring caste, gender, and desire in modern India. These stories portray love as a radical, anti-caste force.

on Apr 16, 2026

Love in the Time of Caste by Nikhil Pandhi

Living in a caste-based and patriarchal society, the young and ambitious Dalit journalist faces heartbreak and restlessness because she finds herself shackled by the restrictions put on her aspirations and freedom. Faced with the dilemma of falling in love with a man of her caste while being married off to a Marxist of her caste, Apurva’s marriage is full of turbulence. The two members of a Dalit family who are deeply involved in the politics of change face difficulty in maintaining harmony in their marriage because the political fire of the streets cannot fuel passion in the bedroom. The young Dalit woman who has succeeded in business finds herself alienated both from the village belonging to her Dalit mother and from her sexual desires in the city.

The memorable characters of these outstanding stories are ordinary Dalit men and women who experience passions, pleasures, powers, and pains through caste, gender, and sexuality in contemporary India. Beautifully and gracefully translated to English, and ethno-anthropologically compiled for the first time ever, Love in the Time of Caste is a pioneering collection of the creations and healing practices of Dalit feminists that depicts love as a radical and anti-caste force and provides an honest depiction of contemporary India as envisioned and created by Dalit-Bahujans.