Omprakash Valmiki saw dalit literature as a vital part of the struggle for social justice. A pioneer in dalit writing in Hindi, his autobiography, Joothan, was translated into English for the first time from the original Hindi in 2003. As Sumit Guha, Frances Higginbotham Nalle Centennial Professorship in History, University of Texas, describes, A searing memoir of the life of a sensitive and intelligent Dalit youth in independent India. It tells us how he overcame contempt, humiliation and violence to gain an education and join the slowly growing ranks of Dalit intellectuals in India Valmikis story is one of terrible grief and oppression, of survival and achievement, of his emergence as a freer human being in a society that remains compassionless towards Dalits. As he states bleakly, Dalit life is excruciatingly painful, charred by experiences, only he or she who has suffered this anguish knows its sting. He talks of growing up in a village near Muzzafarnagar in Uttar Pradesh, in an untouchable caste, Chuhra, well before the defiant term Dalit was coined. His forceful writing continues to inspire after his death on 17 November 2013.
The translator has written a new note about working with him, revisiting his work and the past and understanding his writings from a fresh perspective.