‘Sanatan’: A shameful history of caste violence in Sharankumar Limbale’s novel about the Mahars

The story of Sanatan, written by Sharankumar Limbale and translated from the Marathi by Paromita Sengupta, starts with Holi and moves to Diwali, but the events in between couldn’t be further away from the joy these festivals bring. There is no main character to whom a reader can attach themselves – except Sidnak and Bhimnak, who come and go as the story progresses.

The long days of Mahars

Sanatan tells the story of Mahars, the “untouchable” community of Maharwada: a repugnant peripheral area designated at one end of the village for them to live. The story jumps from one Mahar to another, tying them in vicious shackles of caste-based discrimination. According to Mahars, “The world is going to drown in a deluge. But how does it matter to us? Let the landowners worry. What have we to lose?”

To give a brief idea of the deplorable crimes committed against the untouchables, here’s how they lived their lives: Mahars spent days doing menial jobs for the upper castes in the village and during the night they patrolled the village as watchmen. They were not given any monetary compensation for the work they did but had to beg for stale food, going from home to home and sometimes having to...

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