This work deals with the familiar story of Dalits with a new perspective. Often social scientists in general and historians in particular interpret Dalit consciousness as ‘false consciousness’ undermining their radical political self-assertion. This work mainly deals with the Dalit’s political self-assertion. This work mainly deals with the Dalit’s political consciousness, their struggle for identity, and the manner in which they rose from a stage when they could develop their own self definition and roles within the dialectics of the nationalist anticolonial struggle. The strength of this work lies in drawing upon vernacular sources and in presenting an insiders’ perspective.