![\"Yogesh](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Yogesh-Maitreya_1756062634246.jpg\" "\\"Yogesh")
Yogesh Maitreya <\/p>\nMumbai: Anti-caste publishing house Panther\u2019s Paw, which began its journey in a hostel room in Mumbai around 10 years ago, is struggling for survival despite having published 27 books including titles that have sold over 800 copies. In April, the indie publishing house was asked to vacate the space in Nagpur that served as its warehouse, office, library and community space for hosting book-related events, and efforts to mop up funds by selling books in bulk have not gained the required momentum.<\/p>\n
Yogesh Maitreya <\/p>\n
Yet, 40-year-old Yogesh Maitreya, who started the publication in 2016 while he was pursuing his doctorate and remains the sole person behind it, is unwilling to give up.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen people don\u2019t invest in their intellectual life, it creates ground for social violence down the line,\u201d he said, stressing that Panther\u2019s Paw would continue to lumber on, especially in areas where anti-caste work was much needed, like his hometown Nagpur.<\/p>\n
Early days<\/b><\/p>\n
The name, Panther\u2019s Paw, was inspired from the Dalit Panthers \u2013 a militant organisation founded in the 1970s by firebrand authors like Namdeo Dhasal, Raja Dhale and JV Pawar, which sought to put an end to caste- and class-based exploitation and oppression.<\/p>\n
While the Panthers splintered in the 1980s, mirroring developments in the larger Ambedkarite movement, Panthers\u2019 Paw began its journey in 2016 with the book \u2018Ambedkarite Movement After Ambedkar\u2019 by Pawar.<\/p>\n
Maitreya had just completed his Masters in Philosophy from TISS then and was keen that Pawar\u2019s book, originally published in Marathi, be translated into English. But he was unable to find a publisher who would put out work on Dalits \u201cnot from the lens of victimisation, but from the point of view of Dalits fighting back and having a lot of other aspirations.\u201d<\/p>\n
The book was published with \u201ca lot of help from friends\u201d and funds raised via prebookings, which soon became a key feature of Panthers\u2019 Paw titles.<\/p>\n
\u201cPrebookings have been our fuel, helping us pay advances to printers and bring out books that may not have otherwise seen the light of day,\u201d said Maitreya, himself a prolific writer. \u201cBut even when prebookings are scarce, I go ahead and print books as I believe in their value.\u201d<\/p>\n
Most of the early titles were translations, including by Maitreya himself.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne thing was clear to me from the start \u2013 that I would only publish books I shared an ideological affinity with,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Fresh perspectives<\/b><\/p>\n
Gradually, Panther\u2019s Paw forayed into publishing poetry, short stories, essays and fiction, the books often defying traditional genres. By 2020, when Maitreya was working on his PhD on anti-caste musicians in Maharashtra, it had published nine books.<\/p>\n
The pandemic posed the first major hurdle in the publication\u2019s journey as it lost its space in Mumbai.<\/p>\n
Maitreya sought refuge in his hometown, Nagpur, but had to leave many of the published titles behind in Mumbai. He subsequently managed to sell around 100 books despite pandemic-related restrictions courtesy the social media and interest among readers.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought then that my labour of love, which was part of the larger Dalit literary movement and history, would take care of my survival,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Things took a turn for the better in 2021, when Maitreya managed to raise enough money via crowdfunding to continue publishing books for a good three years. That same year, a welfare trust in Nagpur offered the publishing house some space, which became its sole warehouse, office and bookstore. In 2024, the space was christened \u2018Library of Emancipation\u2019 \u2013 it included a library of nearly 1,500 books and hosted regular discussions, film screenings and talks around books.<\/p>\n
The publication of new books continued apace through this period, and though the titles were varied, they offered fresh perspectives on the lived experience of Dalits. For instance, \u2018Untouchable Goa\u2019 provided a rare account of Goa from the anti-caste perspective; \u2018The Village Without a Science Teacher\u2019 nurtured scientific curiosity among children; and<\/p>\n
\u2018Affairs of Caste: A Young Diary\u2019, was an autobiographical account of rapper Sumeet Samos.<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore I started writing, I had in mind a few personal essays about growing up in Orissa alongside academically-inclined social and political commentary. But I didn\u2019t know how to fit the two together,\u201d Samos told HT. \u201cYogesh told me not to worry and just get to writing, which is what I did from 2020 to 2022.\u201d<\/p>\n
Striking covers<\/b><\/p>\n
The covers of Panther\u2019s Paw\u2019s books are among their most striking features. For instance, \u2018Milk of Equality, Soured\u2019, a collection of Amnedkar\u2019s writings, shows an upturned milk can, similar to the ones used by traditional milkmen, while the cover of \u2018Cinema\u2019, by Maitreya, is almost entirely black barring a thin white strip on the left whose edges resemble a fire.<\/p>\n
Some book covers are striking for their use of stylised fonts. Among them is \u2018Untouchable Goa\u2019, which has Goa typefaced vertically in striking calligraphic font; \u2018Unwinding a Death Spiral\u2019 where the title represents a scattered spiral; and \u2018From Subjugation to Emancipation\u2019, a a collection of Ambedkar\u2019s essays, where stylised letters from the title occupy the entire cover.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have complete freedom when it comes to designing the covers, to be as experimental and radical as the content, which is a rare privilege,\u201d said Shiva Nallaperumal from the design studio November, which has designed the covers of 20 out of Panther\u2019s Paw\u2019s 27 titles.<\/p>\n
Nallaperumal and his co-founder Juhi Vishnani aim for synergy between a book\u2019s content and its cover, said Nallaperumal. \u201cBut we also see design as a springboard to create an aesthetic for the movement.\u201d<\/p>\n
A case in point is the book \u2018Singing\/Thinking Anti-Caste\u2019, which chronicles the history of Dalit musicians in Maharashtra carving out their own space amid raging casteism. Its cover spells out the title using DIY-handmade linocuts, while the cover of another book, comprising 32 portraits of Ambedkar, makes no mention of the title, with the cover showing a naturalistic portrait of Ambedkar.<\/p>\n
Hard times<\/b><\/p>\n
\u201cTo save money, I learnt to handle various aspects of publishing like logistics, layout, couriers, and publicity myself,\u201d said Maiterya. \u201cYet, sales have been low even as new challenges have cropped up.\u201d<\/p>\n
The shift from Mumbai to Nagpur during the pandemic hurt the publication house\u2019s prospects immensely. \u201cNagpur has not nurtured its literary legacy and has been frustratingly slow to respond to the cultural wealth we have offered,\u201d said Maitreya.<\/p>\n
Further challenges cropped up when the welfare trust in Nagpur asked Maitreya to vacate the space that served as its office, library and warehouse.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were asked to move out within two weeks, and I had no option but to store all the books and even some furniture in my and my friends\u2019 homes. Our unsold inventory has almost become a liability,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
In August, Maitreya began a fundraising campaign by offering four of its titles (including two forthcoming) for a little over \u20b92,000, hoping it would help raise funds for the next five years. As per Maitreya\u2019s calculation, a corpus of \u20b950,000 per month would allow him to keep publishing anti-caste books without worrying too much about the budget.<\/p>\n
Yet, support has been slow to come by \u2013 till Saturday, Panther\u2019s Paw had clocked only 85 orders out of a target of 1,200.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I see books on caste published by Savarna publications selling like hot cakes, I feel that caste is the biggest hurdle in my journey,\u201d said Maitreya. \u201cWe, Dalits, have to work many times harder for results.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mumbai: Anti-caste publishing house Panther\u2019s Paw, which began its journey in a hostel room in Mumbai around 10…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":371026,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3938],"tags":[129838,3444,129839,77,73667,129837,3165,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-371025","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-anti-caste","9":"tag-books","10":"tag-dalit-literary-movement","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-nagpur","13":"tag-panthers-paw","14":"tag-struggle","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115086596834139743","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371025","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=371025"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371025\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/371026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=371025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=371025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=371025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}