Eleanor Zelliot (1926–2016) in the 1960s pioneered the study of the dalit movement in India. She was Laird Bell Professor of History (1969–97) at Carleton College Minnesota. She has written over eighty articles and edited three books on the dalit movement on saintpoets of the medieval period on dalit literature and on the Ambedkarinspired Buddhist movement. She is the author of Ambedkar’s World From Untouchable to Dalit: Essays on the Ambedkar Movement and Untouchable Saints: An Indian Phenomenon.
<p>This is a classic monograph on the Mahar movement in western India. It documents the social and political forces that shaped Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (1891–56) the greatest leader of Dalits and the manner in which Ambedkar shaped the destiny of the Dalits of Maharashtra and India. Zelliot chronicles the movement from its origins with the first Mahar petition in 1890 till its culmination in the mass conversion to Buddhism in 1956. She describes the defining influences of the preAmbedkar leadership the Mahar army tradition the cult of Cokhamela the Mahad satyagraha the templeentry movements the various newspapers Ambedkar edited the Round Table Conferences and the political parties Ambedkar founded. Using a wide array of primary sources she offers a rich history of one of modern India’s most defining movements.</p>
