In our latest instalment of Writer’s Reads, Suraj Milind Yengde shares his top literary picks for you to peruse…
Suraj Milind Yengde is a leading scholar of caste and race whose new book, Caste: A Global Story, explores how caste-based discrimination extends far beyond India, revealing its global reach and ongoing impact on inequality today. Discover his favourite reads below…
Alchemist by Paolo Coehlo (1988)
The power of wisdom shared in the genre of magical realism. I read it like a treasure during my commute in Geneva.
Great Disciples of the Buddha by Bhikku Bodhi (2003)
An amazing collection of biographies of the disciples of the Buddha, who were great in their virtue and practice. Written by the very able contemporary Buddhist writer, Bodhi, who is a Buddhist monk. He fine tunes scholarship as a religious service.
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Who Were the Untouchables by BR Ambedkar (2017)
A tour de force with an equally compelling scholarship by one of the most deserving but neglected scholars of the 20th century, Dr B R Ambedkar.
A World Without You, World (Ooru Keri) by Siddalingaiah (2016)
A memoir by one of Kannada sphere’s most enchanting poets and writers. Siddalingaiah was a Dalit writer who made me chuckle and then lose it during the intense days of the Covid pandemic.
Textual Lives of Caste Across the Ages by Prathama Banerjee (2024)
As the title suggests, it’s a beautiful coverage of caste and its span across the ages. One learns how various traditions and liturgical interpretations over the epochs have dealt with the hierarchies pertaining to caste and its various formations.
Ashoka: The Search of India’s Last Emperor by Charles Allen (2013)
True to its heading, this book is an intimate portrait of one of the last great emperors of India.
Southern Theory: The Global Dynamics of Knowledge in Social Science by Raewyn Connell (2007)
A fantastic coverage of the new theorising taking place in cartography.
