Saraswativijayam by Potheri Kunhambu (a dalit writer of the 19th century). Translated from the Malayalam by Dilip Menon, pp. 128,

An arrogant Brahmin landlord causes the "death" of his slave for the crime of singing a song in his presence. However, in the time of colonial law, traditional society cannot cover up its excesses. What is remarkable about Saraswativijayam is that though the novel is written by a lower caste, the protagonist is a Brahmin who undergoes a change of heart. Moreover, Kunhambu conceives of the Brahmin and untouchable as a dyad, neither can find salvation without moving out of the master-slave relation that traps them in an unequal and unending combat. This is a profound vision of the human condition.

Kanyasulkam by Gurajada Venkata Appa Rao, a 19th century play. Translated from the Telugu by C. Vijayasree and T. Vijay Kumar, pp. 288,
Gurajada Appa Rao's Telugu play Kanyasulkam was first staged in Vizianagaram on August 13, 1892, and even now, after more than a century, it continues to be performed occasionally in different towns and cities of Andhra Pradesh.

Kanyasulkam deals not only with the evil practice of bride-price, but also with several other, and perhaps inter-related, social issues of the time child marriage, widow marriage, and the 'nautch question'. The playwright's intent is serious, but his essential dramatic mode is comedy. In creating both situational and verbal humour, the writer traverses the whole gamut - farce, slapstick, burlesque, parody and employs a range of comic devices-disguises, mimicry, charade. Through humour and levity Gurajada foregrounds an encounter between tradition and modernity that has not lost its relevance.

On The Threshold: Songs of Chokhamela, a collection of 54 songs of the 14th century dalit poet. Translated from the Marathi by Rohini Mokashi-Punekar, pp. 96,

Chokhamela was a fourteenth century untouchable saint poet who belonged to the varkari tradition of Maharashtra. This tradition was one of the many sects that questioned orthodox Hinduism in the grat wave of bhakti that swept over medieval India. The varkaris worship the god Vitthal, another form of Krishna who himself is an avatar of Vishnu in Hindu mythology. The temple for Vitthal is built on the banks of the river Chandrabhaga in Pandharpur. The varkari tradition is a tradition of belief and worship that is still a living part of the Marathi speaking culture. Chokhamela's importance lies not only in the fact that he is one of the first, if not the very first, dalit writers of India. It is because his poetry records a peculiar dichotomy: his poignant awareness and questioning of his outcaste marginality, simultaneously coupled with a realization of vitthal's need and love for him, an untouchable, that it assumes significance.