Vultures

Gujarat, 1964. Under the annual contract system of the village economy, labourers are bound to work full time in the houses and fields of the landlords. Iso, born into a tanner family, grows from a child labourer into an adult serf on the estate of Mavaji. His days are made up of humiliation, hunger and endless toil, and the only relief comes from Diwali, Mavaji's daughter. A physical relationship exists between them, hidden by secrecy, shame and fear.

Iso tries to put distance between them, but a chance encounter ends in violence and tragedy. He then faces the full, brutal force of caste patriarchy.

The novel draws on the 1964 murder of a Dalit boy by Rajput landlords in the village of Kodaram. It portrays a feudal world built on caste hierarchy and enforced separation, where upper-caste predators tear apart Dalit lives and livelihoods. Dalpat Chauhan writes in dialect and does not soften his descriptions. In Hemang Ashwinkumar's clear translation, the book puts a fragmented small-town village in Gujarat in sharp focus, a world that in many ways has changed little since.