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The activist’s book “A Shudra Life” examines, in his own words, the life he led, the experiences that shaped him and who he became – written with honesty.

 Dr Mahnoor Sahrash|   Published: 14th September 2026 4:28 pm IST

 Kancha Illaiah, in his book “A Shudra Life,” examines, in his own words, the life he led, the experiences that shaped him and who he became. 

“In the school, I became a being with a name that was written on a paper with a future of my own.”

Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd is one of the most prolific writers and activists from Hyderabad, with a style of writing and speaking not just unique, but filled with the kind of courage that is possible only when one has fully understood one’s own roots.

While he is known for being the voice of the marginalised and has written countless articles and books on issues related to the caste system, his book “A Shudra Life” examines, in his own words, the life he led, the experiences that shaped him and who he became – written with an honesty and clarity of thought typical of Ilaiah. 

As someone who grew up reading his op-eds in Deccan Chronicle in the late 90s and the early 2000s, Ilaiah was one those rare writers in my repertoire of reading that spoke about caste and the social-cultural, political and ideological issues surrounding it. For urban readers growing up in that era, unless one was a student activist on the university campus, caste and its issues were news items reported and discussed without the insight and nuance it deserved. It is in such a space that Ilaiah’s writing and activism became so important. 

A Shudra Life traces his childhood, with food and the local customs shaping a young man’s worldview, be it gender roles, the importance of community and most importantly, the importance of an education. Kancha Ilaiah in his study.

The book details the history of his family and the community it built, the role his grandmother and mother played in the family and the larger community, cementing in Ilaiah a lifelong admiration and respect for women. 

His early experiences with school are quite delightful, especially since he went on to do his PhD and his post-doctorate and was a popular professor at the university, as he didn’t particularly take to schooling initially, with its rules and discipline. For a boy used to functioning among his beloved cattle and sheep and following the natural rhythm of nature, school proved to be a prison that expected him to go against his natural grain. 

Over time, however, education became a major part of his life, especially when he realised its significance for the development of his community.Writer and activist Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd.

First encounter with caste

The book details his first tryst with caste supremacy, when at the end of a the funeral rituals for his mother, the priest expected his brother and him to touch his feet. Defiant, Ilaiah refused to do so, cementing his lifelong commitment to upholding his dignity and raising his voice against the perceived supremacy of certain groups over others. Another notable observation during the same time, that of the lack of pay parity in the groups who did the various rituals on the basis of caste, influenced him deeply. 

These experiences cemented his resolve to study harder, since he increasingly understood the role his education was playing in enabling his sense of justice and fairness.

His tryst with Hyderabad, from his early days as a student pursuing MA in Political Science, to his professorship are detailed with interesting anecdotes, replete with caste and gender experiences, alongside his tryst with communist ideology and its after-effects in a constantly evolving political landscape, both in India and abroad. Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd’s mother, Kattamma.

Research on Buddha expanded scope of political scholarship

His doctoral research on the Buddha as an ideologue was unique and became a point of discussion in various groups that Ilaiah was a part of. Some criticised it, some found it intriguing. But what is important to note is that Ilaiah became one of the first humanities scholars to explore beyond standard political thinkers and opened up research possibilities that involved political activists and ideologues across different castes as well as religion. 

As a teacher, he detailed, quite simply, the discrimination he faced, from colleagues criticising his research and activism to students refusing to sit in his class because of his caste. Against this backdrop, it is amazing how Ilaiah was able to rise above it all, keep speaking his mind and keep finding renewed purpose. 

Involvement with feminism

Beyond caste, quite interesting to me, was his involvement with feminism ideology, being labeled “A male sister of the feminist movement in India,” by activist Susie Tharu. Perhaps the role his mother played in ensuring his education, the women scholars who treated him with respect and the women who shared his ideology and purpose, developed in him the kind of warm respect and admiration so rarely seen in men.

While he remains active and in good health and continues to write, his influence goes beyond borders and he continues to remain the voice of courage and reason – in a world where it is becoming increasingly difficult to find one.

Dr Mahnoor Sahrash

Dr Mahnoor Sahrash is a professor and researcher, currently heading the Department of Management Studies at St Francis College for Women, Hyderabad. A resident of Hyderabad, she holds a PhD in Business Management. Dr Sahrash has a deep interest in various issues that affect society at large.

https://www.siasat.com/author/mahnoorsahrash/

Ramayana Has No Shudras: Kancha Ilaiah on God’s City of Civilization | From Harappa to Ramappa | M #kanchailaiah #god #harappa #ramappa #ramayan #shudras #life #city #mictvnews

Prof Kancha Ilaiah Podcast: God’s City of Civilization: From Harappa to Ramappa

‘हड़प्पा: गॉड्स सिटी ऑफ़ सिविलाईजेशन’ – कांचा आइलैय्या शेपर्ड का कथा साहित्य के क्षेत्र में प्रवेश एक साहसिक कदम है। यह एक उद्घोषणा है कि दमितों को भी यह अधिकार है कि वे अपनी सभ्यतागत विरासत की पड़ताल कर सकें, उसका बयान कर सकें और उस पर अपना दावा कर सकें। बता रहे हैं सत्य सागर

सत्य सागर August 28, 2026

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प्रो. कांचा आइलैय्या शेपर्ड ने भारतीय इतिहास और समाज की वैचारिक नींव को जिस निरंतरता और निर्ममता से चुनौती दी है, वैसा भारत में सार्वजनिक जीवन में सक्रिय बहुत कम बुद्धिजीवियों ने किया है। वे करीब तीन दशकों से इसी दिशा में काम करते आ रहे हैं। इसकी शुरुआत उनकी युगांतकारी पुस्तक ‘व्हाई आई एम नॉट ए हिंदू’ से हुई थी। इसके बाद उन्होंने ‘बफेलो नेशनलिज्म’ व ‘पोस्ट-हिंदू इंडिया’ जैसी पुस्तकें लिखीं, जो प्रभावी साबित हुई हैं। प्रो. शेपर्ड शुरू से ही यह कहते आ रहे हैं कि देश के बौद्धिक और सभ्यतागत विकास की कहानी से देश के उत्पादक वर्गों – शूद्रों, दलितों एवं आदिवासियों – को बाहर धकेल कर दिया गया है।

हाल ही में प्रकाशित उनकी कृति ‘हड़प्पाः गॉड्स सिटी ऑफ़ सिविलाईजेशन’ उनकी बौद्धिक प्रयास की अगली कड़ी है। मगर उन्होंने इस बार अपनी बात कहने के लिए एक अनपेक्षित विधा को चुना है। यह पुस्तक सभ्यता की विकास यात्रा को चित्रों के साथ कहानी के रूप में सुनाती है।समीक्षित पुस्तक का आवरण व प्रो. कांचा आइलैय्या शेपर्ड

प्रो. शेपर्ड का लेखन वर्चस्ववादी नजरिए को चुनौती देने तक सीमित नहीं रहा है। उन्होंने इन नजरियों को सिर के बल खड़ा कर दिया है। ‘हड़प्पाः गॉड्स सिटी ऑफ़ सिविलाईजेशन’ एक साहसपूर्ण साहित्यिक और बौद्धिक पहल है, जो वैदिक पुराकथाशास्त्र के बरक्स सिंधु घाटी सभ्यता को खड़ा करती  है। प्रो. शेपर्ड कहते हैं कि सिंधु घाटी की सभ्यता का निर्माण बलि और अनुष्ठानों से खुश होने वाले देवों, जो अपने भक्तों को दिव्य पुरस्कारों से नवाजते हैं, ने नहीं, बल्कि साधारण मनुष्यों ने किया था, जिनकी महानता यह थी कि उन्होंने जानवरों को पालतू बनाया, फसलें उगाईं, नई तकनीकों का आविष्कार किया, नगर बसाए और मनुष्य की प्रगति की भौतिक नींव तैयार की।

एकबारगी ऐसा लगता है कि यह किताब बच्चों के लिए लिखी गई है। इसकी शुरुआत में हमारा परिचय कथम्मा नामक एक पात्र से करवाया जाता है जो गांव का किस्सागो और वैद्य है। वह सिंधु घाटी की प्राचीन सभ्यता के अवशेषों के नज़दीक रहने वाले बच्चों के एक जिज्ञासु समूह को हड़प्पा के भुला दिए गए अतीत से परिचित करवाता है। इस आसान से तरीके से प्रो. शेपर्ड एक कठिन लक्ष्य हासिल कर लेते हैं। मिथकों, समाज की सामूहिक स्मृति और किस्सागोई के ज़रिए वे सभ्यता के विकास का एक वैकल्पिक मॉडल प्रस्तुत करते हैं, जिसमें किसान, चरवाहे, शिकारी, महिलाएं, शिल्पकार और पशुपालक इतिहास के असली निर्माता हैं।

उनकी कृति का नायक न तो कई पराक्रमी राजा है और न ही कोई दिव्य साधु। वह हड़प्पा नाम का एक युवा पशुपालक है। दूसरे राज्यों पर सैन्य विजय या आध्यात्मिक रहस्योद्घाटन उसकी उपलब्धियां नहीं हैं। वह तो पशुओं के व्यवहार पर ध्यान देता है, वह प्रकृति से सीखता है, बिना हिचकिचाए प्रयोग करता है और भेड़ों, बकरियों, भैंसों और मुर्गियों को पालतू बनाकार अपने समुदाय की अर्थ-व्यवस्था को बदल कर रख देता है।

जंगल में अपनी भेड़ें चराने के दौरान उसे भैंस की एक पाड़ी नज़र आती है। वह उसे घर ले आता है और उसकी मदद से अपने गांव की अर्थ-व्यवस्था को और समृद्ध कर देता है। जब वह कुछ बड़ा होता है तो उसकी मुलाकात मैसम्मा से होती है – जो उसी की तरह जिज्ञासु प्रवृत्ति की लड़की है। वह पानी को संरक्षित करने के उपाय ढूंढ़ रही है, जिसमें उसे सफलता मिल जाती है। यह सभ्यता के विकास में एक महत्वपूर्ण कदम है। पशुओं की खाल से चमड़ा तैयार करने और फिर उससे विभिन्न उत्पाद बनाने को भारत में आज तुच्छ काम माना जाता है। मगर प्रो. शेपर्ड की समझ में यह एक बहुत महत्वपूर्ण काम है। चाहे वह मानव सभ्यता का कांस्य युग में प्रवेश हो या मनुष्यों की आराधना से तौबा – ये सब क्यों हुआ, इसका ठोस कारण वे अपने पाठकों के समक्ष प्रस्तुत करते हैं। लेकिन इसके साथ ही वे पाठक में और जानने-समझने की जिज्ञासा भी उत्पन्न करते हैं। यही एक अच्छी किताब की ताकत होती है।

प्रो. शेपर्ड के हड़प्पा में सभ्यता का विकास दिव्य ज्ञान से नहीं, बल्कि श्रम से होता है। पुरोहितों के अनुष्ठान नहीं, बल्कि आम श्रमजीवियों की खोजें सभ्यता के विकास का आधार बनतीं हैं। यह उलटबांसी इस पुस्तक का सबसे क्रांतिकारी पक्ष है। पीढ़ी-दर-पीढ़ी हमारी पाठ्यपुस्तकें और लोक-संस्कृति राजाओं, साधु-संतों और विजेताओं को महिमामंडित और उत्पादक श्रमिक वर्ग को नज़रअंदाज़ करती आईं हैं। प्रो. शेपर्ड विद्वानों द्वारा निर्धारित इस पदक्रम को पलट देते हैं। पशुपालन विज्ञान बन जाता है और बकरी का दूध निकालना तकनीकी नवोन्मेष। महिलाएं दूध खौला कर तथा उसे फाड़कर दही, मक्खन और घी बनाने के तरीके खोजती हैं, ताकि दूध का इस्तेमाल अधिक से अधिक दिनों तक किया जा सके और भोजन पकाने और मिट्टी के बर्तन बनाने की प्रक्रिया के साथ प्रयोग करती हैं। हर व्यावहारिक सफलता, सभ्यता की इमारत में एक नई ईंट जोड़ती जाती है और इतिहास की परिभाषा बदलती चलती है।

जो पाठक प्रो. शेपर्ड की पुरानी कृतियों से वाकिफ हैं, उन्हें तुरंत यह अहसास हो जाएगा कि हालिया प्रकाशित इस पुस्तक से उनके तार जुड़ते हैं। ‘बफैलो नेशनलिज्म’ में वे भैंस को भारत के उत्पादक वर्ग का प्रतीक बताते हुए उसे पवित्र गाय से उच्च दर्जा देते हैं। उनकी इस पुस्तक में भी भैंस कथानक के केंद्र में है। लेकिन वह केवल अनुष्ठानिक प्रतीक नहीं है। वह आर्थिक और सामाजिक क्रांति की नींव है। भैंस को पालतू बनाने को केवल कृषि के क्षेत्र में बड़ी सफलता नहीं बताया गया है, बल्कि उसे मानवता की अहम् उपलब्धि के रूप में निरुपित किया गया है। प्रो. शेपर्ड की सोच को मुख्यधारा के सांस्कृतिक राष्ट्रवाद से जो अलग करता है, वह यह है कि वे श्रम, उत्पादकता और भौतिक जीवन को उच्च दर्जा देते हैं, उनका उत्सव मनाते हैं।

प्रो. शेपर्ड के दृष्टिकोण में महिलाएं भी बदलाव की अगुआ हैं। सिंध और मैसम्मा जैसे पात्र केवल पुरुषों की सहचरी नहीं हैं। वे भी अन्वेषक और अविष्कारक हैं। वे नए भोज्य पदार्थ खोजती हैं, दुग्ध उत्पादों के साथ प्रयोग करती हैं, पानी का प्रबंधन करती हैं और इस प्रकार समाज को ज़रूरी तकनीकी ज्ञान उपलब्ध करवाती हैं। प्रो. शेपर्ड की कहानी की महिला किरदार, सभ्यता के विकास की पारंपरिक कहानियों के पितृसत्तात्मक आधार को ध्वस्त करती हैं और उसकी जगह यह स्थापित करने का प्रयास करती हैं कि सभ्यता का निर्माण सामूहिक रचनात्मकता से हुआ।

कुछ पाठक निश्चित रूप से कह सकते हैं कि पुस्तक में जो बताया गया है वह इतिहास के तथ्यों से मेल नहीं खाता। इतिहासविदों की तरह पुरातत्वविद भी प्रमाण और अनुमान के बीच अंतर करते हैं और यह समझ में आने वाली बात है। लेकिन प्रो. शेपर्ड इतिहास की पुस्तक तो नहीं लिख रहे, बल्कि सभ्यता के विकास की कहानी के साथ अपनी कल्पना जोड़ रहे हैं। वे कथा-साहित्य लिख रहे हैं, पुरातात्विक रिपोर्ट नहीं। इस अंतर को हमें समझना होगा।

यह पुस्तक सिर्फ इसलिए अनूठी नहीं है, क्योंकि वह हड़प्पा की सभ्यता का उत्सव मनाती है। यह इसलिए लिए भी अनूठी है क्योंकि यह स्वीकार नहीं करती कि मिथक गढ़ने का हक केवल शक्तिशाली को है। प्रो. शेपर्ड जानते-बूझते एक प्रति-मिथक गढ़ते हैं। इसलिए नहीं कि उनके लिए इतिहास अप्रासंगिक है, बल्कि इसलिए कि लंबे समय से इतिहास पर उस वर्ग का कब्ज़ा रहा है जो यह दावा करता आया है कि भारत के अतीत का निर्माण उसने ही किया था। प्रभुत्वशाली परंपरा महाकाव्यों, पुराणों और तथाकथित पवित्र विमर्शों का इस्तेमाल सामाजिक ऊंच-नीच को सही ठहराने के लिए करती रही है। इसके जवाब में प्रो. शेपर्ड भी उतना ही मज़बूत प्रति-विमर्श प्रस्तुत करते हैं, जो श्रम की गरिमा और मनुष्यों के सामूहिक प्रयासों को सबसे आगे रखता है। पुस्तक का नायक हड़प्पा चीज़ें को ध्यान से देखता-समझता है और स्वभाव से जिज्ञासु है। वह किसी भी बात पर आंख मूंद कर भरोसा नहीं करता और न ही किसी दैवीय ताकत के आगे सिर झुकाता है। वह तार्किकता में विश्वास रखता है।

प्रो. शेपर्ड की इस रणनीति पर तीखी प्रतिक्रियाएं हो सकती हैं। प्रशंसक कहेंगे कि यह बौद्धिक वि-औपनिवेशीकरण है, जिसका इंतज़ार लंबे समय से था। आलोचक उसे यह कर ख़ारिज करेंगे कि यह एक विशिष्ट विचारधारा की दृष्टि से लिखा गया इतिहास है, जिसमें अनेक तथ्यात्मक गलतियां हैं। लेकिन दोनों ही असली मुद्दे को समझ नहीं पा रहे होंगे। किताब का उद्देश्य किसी पुरातात्विक वाद-विवाद पर फैसला सुनाना नहीं है। पुस्तक का उद्देश्य कल्पना के उस कैनवास को विस्तार देना है, जिसके ज़रिए भारत स्वयं को समझता-पहचानता है।

प्रीती गुलाटी कॉक्स के बनाए चित्र, पुस्तक के कथानक को सजीवता प्रदान करते हैं। वे बहुत सहजता से उस दुनिया से हमारा परिचय करवाते हैं, जिसमें मनुष्य, पशु और प्रकृति एक-दूसरे के संगी-साथी हैं। वे केवल किताब के पृष्ठों को सजाते-संवारते नहीं हैं। वे पुस्तक के इस केंद्रीय संदेश को मजबूती देते हैं कि सभ्यता का विकास प्रकृति के साथ सहभागिता से होता है, उस पर वर्चस्व स्थापित कर नहीं।

पुस्तक का कथ्य आसान भाषा में लिखा गया है – मानो कोई आपसे बातचीत कर रहा हो। यह शैली किस्सागोई की ग्रामीण परंपरा से मेल खाती है। पुस्तक में गीत हैं, लोगों के बीच संवाद हैं और वह अपने केंद्रीय संदेश की हमें बार-बार याद दिलाती है। ऐसा लगता है कि वह सर्दियों के मौसम में अलाव के आसपास बैठकर हुई चर्चाओं का पाठ है, न कि किसी विश्वविद्यालय की कक्षा में दिया गया व्याख्यान। इससे यह पुस्तक बाल साहित्य भी कही जा सकती है और राजनीतिक रूपक भी। वह एक नए सामाजिक दर्शन का प्रतिपादन भी करती है और भारतीय के रूप में हमारी पहचान से जुड़े समकालीन विमर्श में एक सशक्त हस्तक्षेप भी है।

‘हड़प्पाः गॉड्स सिटी ऑफ़ सिविलाईजेशन’ को पढ़ा जाना चाहिए। पुरातत्व पर एक पाठ्यपुस्तक के रूप में नहीं, बल्कि भारत की सामूहिक स्मृति, पहचान और इतिहास में एक साहसिक हस्तक्षेप के रूप में। यह प्रशंसा अर्जित कर सकती है, आपको असहज कर सकती है और तीखी बहस को जन्म दे सकती है। और ठीक यही उसकी उपलब्धि है। यह पुस्तक एक उद्घोषणा है कि दमितों को भी यह अधिकार है कि वे अपनी सभ्यतागत विरासत की पड़ताल कर सकें, उसका बयान कर सकें और उस पर अपना दावा कर सकें।

पुस्तक के बारे में

शीर्षक : हड़प्पाः गॉड्स सिटी ऑफ़ सिविलाईजेशन 

लेखक : प्रो. कांचा आइलैय्या शेपर्ड

रेखांकन : प्रीती गुलाटी कॉक्स

प्रकाशक : अनबाउंड स्क्रिप्ट

स्वरूप : सजिल्द

पृष्ठ : 80

मूल्य : 349 रुपए/ 18 अमरीकी डॉलर

(मूल अंग्रेजी से अनुवाद : अमरीश हरदेनिया, संपादन : नवल/अनिल)

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फारवर्ड प्रेस वेब पोर्टल के अतिरिक्‍त बहुजन मुद्दों की पुस्‍तकों का प्रकाशक भी है। एफपी बुक्‍स के नाम से जारी होने वाली ये किताबें बहुजन (दलित, ओबीसी, आदिवासी, घुमंतु, पसमांदा समुदाय) तबकों के साहित्‍य, संस्‍क‍ृति व सामाजिक-राजनीति की व्‍यापक समस्‍याओं के साथ-साथ इसके सूक्ष्म पहलुओं को भी गहराई से उजागर करती हैं। एफपी बुक्‍स की सूची जानने अथवा किताबें मंगवाने के लिए संपर्क करें। मोबाइल : +917827427311, ईमेल : info@forwardmagazine.in

लेखक के बारे में

सत्य सागर

सत्य सागर को प्रिंट और ब्रॉडकास्ट पत्रकार व स्वास्थ्य संप्रेषक के रूप में विश्व के विभिन्न देशों, मुख्यतः दक्षिण व दक्षिण-पूर्व एशिया, में 30 वर्ष से अधिक से काम करने का अनुभव है। उन्होंने अपने पत्रकारीय जीवन की शुरुआत द इंडियन एक्सप्रेस व इकनोमिक टाइम्स से की थी.. वे सन 1992 से लेकर 2004 तक थाईलैंड में रहे, जहाँ उन्होंने न्यू डेल्ही टेलीविज़न (द वर्ल्ड दिस वीक कार्यक्रम) के विशेष संवाददाता व एशिया टाइम्स के बैंकाक ब्यूरो चीफ, इंटर प्रेस सर्विस के थाईलैंड संवाददाता व यूनाइटेड नेशनस इकोनोमिक एंड सोशल कमीशन फॉर एशिया एंड द पेसिफिक के कम्युनिकेशन्स व सोशल डेवलपमेंट ऑफिसर बतौर काम किया।

https://www.forwardpress.in/2026/08/review-kancha-ilaiah-shepherds-harappa-gods-city-of-civilisation-hindi/

Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd’s first foray into fiction is a courageous declaration that the oppressed, too, have the right to imagine, narrate and reclaim their own civilizational inheritance, writes Satya Sagar

Satya Sagar August 24, 2026

Few Indian public intellectuals have challenged the ideological foundations of Indian history and society as relentlessly as Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd. For more than three decades, beginning with his landmark book Why I Am Not a Hindu, followed by influential works such as Buffalo Nationalism and Post-Hindu India, Prof Ilaiah has consistently argued that India’s productive castes, the Shudras, Dalits and Adivasis, have been written out of the nation’s intellectual and civilizational story. 

His latest work, Harappa: God’s City of Civilisation, extends that lifelong intellectual project into an unexpected genre: the illustrated civilizational fable.

Prof Shepherd has never been content merely to challenge dominant narratives, he overturns them. Harappa: God’s City of Civilisation is an audacious act of literary and intellectual imagination that reclaims the Indus Valley Civilization from the long shadow of Vedic mythology. Instead of gods obsessed with sacrifice, ritual and heavenly rewards, Prof Ilaiah presents a civilization built by ordinary people whose greatness lay in domesticating animals, cultivating crops, discovering new technologies, building towns and creating the material foundations of human progress.

At first glance, the book appears to be a children’s story. It begins with Kathamma, a village storyteller and healer, who narrates the forgotten history of Harappa to an eager group of children living near the ruins of the ancient civilization. But this deceptively simple narrative device allows Prof Ilaiah to accomplish something far more ambitious. Through myth, memory and storytelling, he reconstructs an alternative civilizational imagination. One in which shepherds, hunters, women, artisans and animal keepers become the true makers of history.

The hero of the story is not a warrior king or divine sage but a young pastoralist named Harappa. His greatest achievements are neither military conquest nor spiritual revelation. Instead, he observes animals patiently, learns from nature, experiments fearlessly and transforms the economy of his community through the domestication of sheep, goats, buffaloes and chickens. 

When the young Harappa goes to graze his sheep in the forest, he encounters a baby buffalo and manages to bring it home, turning around the village economy. As he comes of age, he meets a curious girl, Maisamma, who is experimenting with ways to conserve water and even succeeds – an important step in the development of a civilization. The so-called lowly works of leathercrafting and tanning in present India are given their due placein Prof Ilaiah’s imagination. Be it the stepping into the Bronze Age or the shunning of human-worship, the reader is given sound reasoning, while still being left to inquire further. That is the power of a well-written book. 

In Harappa’s world, civilization emerges not from revelation but from labour; not from rituals performed by priests but from discoveries made by ordinary working people. This inversion is the book’s most radical intervention. For generations, school textbooks and popular culture have celebrated kings, sages and conquerors while treating productive labour as socially invisible. Prof Ilaiah reverses that hierarchy. Herding animals becomes scientific inquiry. Milking goats becomes technological innovation. Women discover fermentation, develop methods of preserving milk, and experiment with cooking and pottery. Each practical breakthrough adds another brick to the edifice of civilization. The cumulative effect is to redefine what counts as history itself.

Readers familiar with Prof Ilaiah’s earlier writings will immediately recognize recurring themes. In Buffalo Nationalism, he famously elevated the buffalo over the sacred cow as a symbol of India’s productive classes. Here too, the buffalo occupies centre stage. Rather than being reduced to a ritual symbol, it becomes the foundation of an entire economic and social revolution. Domestication of the buffalo is portrayed not merely as an agricultural breakthrough but as one of humanity’s defining achievements. This celebration of labour, productivity and material life has always distinguished Prof Ilaiah’s scholarship from mainstream cultural nationalism.

Women occupy an equally transformative place in the narrative. Characters like Sindh and Maisamma are innovators rather than passive companions. They discover new food practices, experiment with milk products, manage water, and contribute essential technological knowledge to society. In doing so, Prof Ilaiah quietly dismantles patriarchal assumptions embedded within many traditional origin stories, replacing them with a vision of civilization built through collective creativity.

Some readers may question the historical liberties the book takes. Archaeologists understandably distinguish carefully between evidence and speculation. Prof Ilaiah, however, is not writing conventional history. He openly inhabits the territory of civilizational imagination. His Harappa is a literary reconstruction rather than an archaeological report. That distinction is crucial.

What makes this book remarkable is not simply its celebration of Harappan civilization, but its refusal to accept that only the powerful have the privilege of myth-making. Ilaiah deliberately fashions a counter-myth. Not because history is irrelevant, but because history itself has long been colonized by those who claimed exclusive ownership of India’s past. If dominant traditions have employed epics, Puranas and sacred narratives to legitimize social hierarchy, Prof Ilaiah responds by creating an equally compelling narrative rooted in the dignity of labour and collective human endeavour. Harappa, an ardent observer and a keen inquirer, does not instantly believe in or bow down to any mystical deity, but displays a rational temperament instead.

This strategy is likely to provoke strong reactions. Admirers will celebrate it as an overdue act of intellectual decolonization. Critics may dismiss it as ideological counter-history, marred by factual inaccuracies. Yet both responses miss the point. The book’s purpose is less to settle archaeological debates than to expand the imaginative possibilities through which India understands itself.

The illustrations by Priti Gulati Cox strengthen this vision spectacularly. Rendered with warmth and simplicity, they evoke a world where humans, animals and landscapes exist in intimate relationship. Rather than merely decorating the pages, the illustrations reinforce the text’s central philosophical message that civilization grows from cooperation with nature rather than domination over it.

The prose itself is accessible, almost oral in rhythm, reflecting the traditions of village storytelling. Songs, conversations and repeated motifs give the narrative the feel of an epic told around evening fires rather than inside university classrooms. This accessibility allows the book to function on multiple levels: as children’s literature, political allegory, social philosophy and intervention in contemporary debates about Indian identity.

Harappa: God’s City of Civilisationdeserves to be read not as an archaeological textbook but as a bold intervention in India’s ongoing struggle over memory, identity and history. It invites praise, discomfort and fierce debate in equal measure, and that is precisely its achievement. It is a courageous declaration that the oppressed, too, have the right to imagine, narrate and reclaim their own civilizational inheritance. 

Details of the Book

Title: Harappa: God’s City of Civilisation
Author: Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd
Illustrator: Priti Gulati Cox
Publisher: Unbound Script
Format: Hardcover
Book Length: 80 pages
Price: Rs 349 or $18

https://www.forwardpress.in/2026/08/review-kancha-ilaiah-shepherds-harappa-gods-city-of-civilisation/

Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd’s new book portrays the Indus Valley Civilization as cooperative and egalitarian—and challenges nationalist myths about India’s origins.

STAN COX AUG 19, 2026

Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd has a way of getting under Hindu supremacists’ skin. And the latest book by this political theorist, social activist, and former Osmania University professor—titled Harappa: God’s City of Civilization—is almost certain to elicit frenzied howls of outrage. This 90-page work of fiction, illustrated by Priti Gulati Cox (full disclosure: I’m married to the artist), is set about 4,500 years ago in a small village along a tributary of the Indus River. Over generations, its residents, working with people from neighboring villages, create in their home territory the city of Harappa, the likes of which have never been seen in South Asia—one that will become a nucleus for their region’s first (possibly the world’s first) great civilization.

There is much that we do not know about the lives of the people who were there at the dawn of Harappa. However, thanks to extensive archeological, anthropological, ecological, and genetic research, there is much we do know. 

We know that the people living in Prof. Ilaiah’s fictional village would have been descended from the mixing of two populations: First Indians—that is, modern humans who traveled out of Africa into Asia tens of thousands of years ago, with some of them eventually making their way to the Indus Valley—and an agricultural people who migrated to the Indus Valley from the Zagros region of present-day Iran. 

We also know that, at the time Prof. Ilaiah’s story begins, the Indus Valley people were farming and had learned how to domesticate animals, including sheep, goats, chickens, and water buffalo. And we know they would go on to create a written language and striking art, while developing highly effective structures for water management, sanitation, land and water transportation, urban housing, and public services. 

Harappan cities came to be scattered across a vast region one-third the size of present-day India. Archaeologists and historians have marveled at the highly functional and attractive layout of Harappan cities and their high-quality construction. They clearly were the product of well-thought-out urban planning; even the height-width-length ratio of the bricks used in construction throughout the region was standardized (at 1:2:4), as were weights and measures. But, in contrast to the ruins of other ancient civilizations, Harappa’s ruins contain no remains of grand, monumental structures. Their cities, full of home foundations that do not vary greatly in size, modest public buildings, and other utilitarian features, do not suggest wide class disparities. Accordingly, the book Harappaportrays a relatively egalitarian, cooperative, hard-working society.

Evidence points to a civilization built on the collective labor of its own people. That would stand in stark contrast to most other “great civilizations” of ancient and modern times, which usually achieved that status through conquest, territorial expansion, imposition of power over other peoples, grandiose architecture, and amassment of great wealth, with some intellectual and artistic accomplishments thrown in. Most importantly, in achieving all those things, those other civilizations depended heavily on labor provided by underclasses of their own people, or by those they conquered, or both. No such exploitation is evident in Harappa—neither in the village of Prof. Ilaiah’s book nor in the archeological remains of Harappan cities. 

That first Indian civilization had quite a good run, from about 4,600 to 3,700 years ago. Its demise is attributed primarily to the drying-up of the rainfed rivers on which it depended. That drought brought down other Bronze Age civilizations as well. But research based on ancient DNA samples shows that Harappa’s people didn’t just die off; they emigrated, some venturing east to the Ganges basin, others to southern regions of the subcontinent. In both the north and the south, over centuries, they blended with local First Indian populations and kept on contributing to India’s development and culture.

Unfortunately, the next civilization to arise in northwestern India would, over the centuries, evolve in the opposite direction, toward inequality and injustice.

The Aryan Immigrants

A century of research and scholarship has established beyond all doubt that the Harappan Civilization was the Indian subcontinent’s first. But Hindu supremacists, whose political and cultural power has been increasing steadily over the past three decades, continue to insist that India’s first civilization was launched by a people who composed the Vedas, India’s oldest religious texts. In the first of these works, they identified themselves as the Arya. (Millennia, later, Western scholars would dub them the “Aryans”.)

There are big holes, though, in the claim that the Arya were the fount of Indian civilization. First is the timing. They didn’t start composing the first of their foundational works, a set of prose and poetry known as the Rigveda (which was originally transmitted orally and eventually written down in Sanskrit) until less than 4,000 years ago—at a time when India had already been hosting one of the world’s great ancient civilizations—Harappa—for centuries. On top of that, the Arya weren’t even ancestral Indians. In fact, at the time they composed the Rigveda, they were newcomers to the subcontinent—or may not have even arrived yet.

Nomadic cattle herders known as Arya migrated out of the steppes of present-day Kazakhstan around 4,000 years ago. They spread south through Central Asia and present-day Afghanistan, to finally end up, about 3,500 years ago, in a part or northern India that would become the Hindu homeland.

Hindu fundamentalists have long insisted on a wholly different history: that the Arya had always lived in what is now northern India and had founded a Vedic civilization more than 5,000 or even 10,000 years ago. At least one claim has them in India, working on the Rigveda, as early as 25,000 years ago (which might have had them mingling with the original immigrants who’d come from Africa). Still others claim that the Arya have been living in India since the beginning of time! Much of the “evidence” supporting these wild “estimates” is gleaned from tortured “analysis” of the Vedic texts themselves—a circular argument if there ever was one. 

Meanwhile, Hindu supremacist claims regarding their origin are easily disproven. DNA samples collected from ancient human remains at archeological sites, from Africa to India to Iran to the steppes of Eurasia—particularly samples analyzed in the past decade or so—show 

• that the Vedic Arya were recent immigrants from the Central Asian steppe who settled in northern India in the second millennium B.C.E. and 
• the people who built the Harappa civilization, India’s first, carried DNA from First Indians and Iranian farmers and none from Central Asian populations.

The Downgrading of Labor

In contrast to Harappa, Arya-dominated civilization evolved in a severely hierarchical direction. They didn’t bring caste with them to India, and they mentioned no caste-like hierarchies in the early Vedas. Centuries later, as they were consolidating their power through imposition of the caste system, their rationale was based on economics much more than ethnic origin. By then, there were few or no “pure” Arya or “pure” Harappans or “pure” local First Indians living in the newly adopted Arya “homeland.” Each person’s genome most likely carried DNA from either two or all three of those populations, in various proportions. India had become a genetic melting pot of sorts. The evolving caste system was a socioeconomic hierarchy.

The caste system was designed by those claiming membership in the Vedic Arya elite, their goal being to consolidate their power over society. The system downgraded the types of labor that had created and sustained the Harappan Civilization while elevating the kind of abstract thinking and pursuit of conquest and power that had characterized most other ancient civilizations. (To be sure, most societies around the world have done likewise ever since; caste isn’t the only means to exploitation and oppression.) 

To the extent that the word civilizationhas positive connotations for us, I expect that many of us who read Harappa: God’s City of Civilization’s text, view its images, and ponder the way of life, labor, and leisure portrayed, will close the book and think to ourselves, “That wasn’t just a village that would one day launch a civilization. That was a civilization! And a damn good one, too.”

Stan Cox is the author of seven books, including The Green New Deal and Beyond: Ending the Climate Emergency While We Still Can and Losing Our Cool: Uncomfortable Truths About Our Air-Conditioned World. His latest book is Anthropause: The Beauty of Degrowth. He writes from Dearborn, Michigan.

https://www.laprogressive.com/foreign-policy/harappa