For a man who has written over a hundred books documenting Dalit struggles, historian N.K.Jose, better known as Dalit Bandhu, received hardly any mainstream attention all through his life. The Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award in 2019 for overall contribution to Malayalam literature was one of the first such recognitions in the public sphere, but for those associated with Dalit struggles, his 145 books over the years have been valuable resources in understanding the past struggles as well as using the lessons in the present context.
The historian, who passed away at the age of 95 at Vechur in Kottayam district on Tuesday, tread a path of his own in history writing, relying on a polemical style, built on the facts that he has gathered through extensive studies on the ground. As many publishers were not keen on books dealing with Dalit history, Jose set up Hobby publishers with money gained from selling the family property.
In the initial years, he was attracted to Gandhi’s ideals, spending even a few weeks at the Gandhi Ashram in Wardha. Later, he took the path of socialism, as a follower of Jayaprakash Narayan. His shifting views finally solidified when he encountered the writings of B.R.Ambedkar, which would inform his writings in the years that followed. Decade after decade, he kept on bringing out titles documenting the lesser known aspects of Dalit history in Kerala.
His book chronicling the Channar Revolt questioned some of the existing viewpoints on the long struggle of Nadar women to cover their upper body, while the book ‘Dalavakulam’ uncovered a lesser known massacre at a pond near the Vaikom temple in the early 1800s. Another controversial book on Pazhassi Raja also went against the popular version of history about the man. His books on Christian history in Kerala were also fairly controversial. The Indian Dalit Federation conferred the title ‘Dalit Bandhu’ on him in 1990 to honour his contributions.
Jose remained an active writer even in his old age, but he passed away before the publication of a book on Arattupuzha Velayudha Panikkar, which he was working on. Minister for Cultural Affairs Saji Cherian condoled his death.
