Academics
Who discovered the first detergent soap in India? Who created scripts as they crafted pots? Who selected and standardised most of the food items we eat today? How did cotton come to be spun into cloth? Who originated the science of making leather out of animal skin? In this book, Kancha Ilaiah throws light on the science, art and skill of adivasi, cattle-rearers, leatherworkers, potters, farmers, weavers, dhobis and barbers. The book documents the contributions to the betterment of human life by castes and communities despised as ‘lowly’ and ‘backward’. this book—with stunning illustrations by Durgabai vyam—is the first ever attempt to inculcate a sense of dignity of labour among India’s children. \n
Kancha Ilaiah is Professor of Political Science at Osmania University, Hyderabad.He is the author of Why I am Not a Hindu, and God as a Political Philosopher: Buddha?s Challenge to Brahmanism. Durgabai Vyam is a Pardhan Gond artist who lives in Bhopal. She started making dignas, colourful clay patterns drawn on walls, at the age of six. She is the co-author of The Night Life of Trees and co-illustrator of Bhimayana (published by Navayana).
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