A Gardener in the Wasteland by Srividya Natarajan

Graphic novelist, Sarnath Banerjee’s latest, All Quiet in Vikaspuri, sees “class as the new caste”. For me, as a non-Dalit, the challenge was to make non-Dalits, who are otherwise disengaged with the Phule-Ambedkar thought, to get interested in these issues,” says Anand. “Bhimayana, has been in the Delhi University general English syllabus for some years now. The publishing house also brought out Bhimayana: Incidents in the Life of Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, a graphic biography made by Gond artists Durgabai Vyam and Subhash Vyam that wove historical events with contemporary incidents. “At a time like this, reading Phule makes more sense than ever before,” says S Anand of, Navayana. A startling reminder of how the caste system continues to maim and kill, in modern India. Caste is not discussed unless it is a matter of life and death, as proven by Rohith Vemula’s suicide on January 17. The impact of these exhibits however was not long lasting. There was also an installation of a “menstruating” Brahma handling sanitary napkins (Phule had wondered if Brahma, believed to have given birth to the Brahmins, had menstruated). When the book was released four years ago, it made a statement with its unconventional book launch -a kababchi from Jama Masjid served buff (a euphemism for beef) delicacies. A Gardener…is published by Navayana, India’s first and only publishing house to focus exclusively on the issue of caste from an anti-caste perspective.

“Phule wrote very visually, and we picked up his work to plant a seed via a graphic novel, where the youth can pick up a copy and understand what being a Dalit is all about,” says Ninan of the book set to be published in regional languages. More than a century later, writer Srividya Natarajan and illustrator Aparajita Ninan’s put together the graphic novel, A Gardener in the Wasteland: Jotiba Phule’s Fight for Liberty, drawing inspiration from his richly imaginative work.

That was the year Maharashtra’s legendary social reformer Jyotirao Govindrao Phule wrote Gulamgiri (slavery), a blistering attack on the vedas and Brahmanism. If you think this is today’s news, the same made headlines in 1873.

A Gardener in the Wasteland by Srividya Natarajan