Ep 332: The Life and Times of Uma Chakravarti
The Seen and the Unseen - hosted by Amit Varma
The Importance of Caste in Hinduism
The original sin in Hinduism is caste and when you have severe caste endogamy what follows from there is a worsening of the patriarchy. I don't think caste is an open question anymore in Hinduism and in our society it is still very deep. The Constitution is not as liberal as I would like but it's more than society itself and we imposed it upon an illiberal population, says Ambedkar.
She's been a historian and a filmmaker. She's worked on feminism and caste and Buddhism. She's collected oral histories of India's traumas. She's mentored generations. The legendary Uma Chakravarti joins Amit Varma in episode 332 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about her life, her times and her invaluable work towards the pursuit of truth. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Uma Chakkravarti on Wikipedia and Amazon. 2. The Social Dimensions of Early Buddhism -- Uma Chakravarti. 3. Rewriting History: The Life and Times of Pandita Ramabai -- Uma Chakravarti. 4. Gendering Caste Through a Feminist Lens -- Uma Chakravarti. 5. Delhi Riots: Three Days in the Life of a Nation -- Uma Chakravarti and Nandita Haksar. 6. Thinking Gender, Doing Gender -- Edited by Uma Chakravarti. 7. A Quiet Little Entry -- Uma Chakravarti. 8. Fragments of a Past -- Uma Chakravarti. 9. Ek Inquilab Aur Aaya: Lucknow 1920-1949 -- Uma Chakravarti. 10. Prison Diaries -- Uma Chakravarti. 11. Sexual Violence in Indian Society -- Uma Chakravarti. 12. Restructuring the Path: Inserting Women into History (2000) -- Uma Chakravarti. 13. Select episodes on The Seen and the Unseen that touched on feminism & gender with Paromita Vohra, Kavita Krishnan, Mrinal Pande, Kavitha Rao, Namita Bhandare, Shrayana Bhattacharya, Mukulika Banerjee, Manjima Bhattacharjya, Nilanjana Roy, Urvashi Butalia, Mahima Vashisht, Alice Evans, Ashwini Deshpande, Natasha Badhwar, Shanta Gokhale, Arshia Sattar, Rohini Nilekani and Shaili Chopra. 14. Memories and Things — Episode 195 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aanchal Malhotra). 15. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life — Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen. 16. Whatever happened To Ehsan Jafri on February 28, 2002? — Harsh Mander. 17. A Life in Indian Politics — Episode 149 of The Seen and the Unseen (w JP Narayan). 18. Kiran Ahluwalia Finds Our Aam Zameen -- Episode 328 of The Seen and the Unseen. 19. Yogendra Yadav on why he was named Salim. 20. The Intellectual Foundations of Hindutva — Episode 115 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aakar Patel). 21. Aakar Patel Is Full of Hope — Episode 270 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aakar Patel). 22. The Ferment of Our Founders — Episode 272 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Kapila). 23. Early Indians — Episode 112 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tony Joseph). 24. Early Indians — Tony Joseph. 25. Who We Are and How We Got Here — David Reich. 26. A Venture Capitalist Looks at the World — Episode 213 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Sajith Pai). 27. Therīgāthā on Wikipedia and Amazon. 28. Arshia Sattar and the Complex Search for Dharma — Episode 315 of The Seen and the Unseen. 29. Deedar -- Nitin Bose. 30. Diya Jalao Jagmag Jagmag -- Song from Tansen. 31. Do Bigha Zameen -- Bimal Roy. 32. The Life and Times of Shanta Gokhale — Episode 311 of The Seen and the Unseen. 33. The Loneliness of the Indian Man — Episode 303 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nikhil Taneja). 34. A Vindication of the Rights of Woman — Mary Wollstonecraft. 35. Frankenstein -- Mary Shelley. 36. Amit Varma’s episode of The Book Club on Wollstonecraft’s book. 37. Amit Varma's episode of The Book Club on Shelley's book. 38. The Life and Times of Urvashi Butalia — Episode 287 of The Seen and the Unseen. 39. Manjima Bhattacharjya: The Making of a Feminist — Episode 280 of The Seen and the Unseen. 40. A Cricket Tragic Celebrates the Game — Episode 201 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha). 41. India = Migration — Episode 128 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Chinmay Tumbe). 42. India Moving — Chinmay Tumbe. 43. Fixing Indian Education — Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 44. Education in India — Episode 77 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Amit Chandra). 45. Understanding Indian Healthcare — Episode 225 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 46. The Great Redistribution — Amit Varma. 47. The Beautiful Tree — James Tooley. 48. Hum Dekhenge -- Iqbal Bano. 49. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar and the Question of Socialism in India -- V Geetha. 50. Let's Read Ambedkar -- Lecture series by V Geetha. 51. Dust on the Throne: The Search for Buddhism in Modern India -- Douglas Ober. 52. The Conversion of the Untouchables -- BR Ambedkar. 53. The Gregorian Chant. 54. Deva Bandha Namma -- Bhimsen Joshi. 55. Jo Bhaje Hari Ko Sada So Hi Param Pada Pavega -- Bhimsen Joshi. 56. Vaishnav Jan To -- Riyaaz Qawwali. This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Carrying the Torch’ by Simahina.
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