Leather has long borne the burden of stigma in the Indian caste system. It is not just a substance but an indicator of social order, pollution and isolation. Over the centuries, Dalit communities have had to deal with animal skinning, tanning and sewing as caste society decided that some bodies were allowed to touch what other bodies were never allowed to touch. But abundant forms of creativity, skill and aesthetic knowledge were concentrated in this forced labor. Dalit leather works, therefore, cannot simply be considered as art; It is history on the skin, it is memory restored by hands, and it is resistance carved into material.
Leather as a tool of caste control
According to the Brahmin caste systemLeather is considered dirty because it is the skin of dead animals. This concept of pollution was not limited to the material but was imposed on the people who handled it. Chamars, Madigas, Mochis and Arunthathiyars were pushed to the margins of social life, deprived of their dignity and their social life was reduced to mere work. Caste, sociologist Sharmila Rege reminds us, functions as a body and labor control to determine whose work is honored and whose work is detested.
According to the Brahmin caste systemLeather is considered dirty because it is the skin of dead animals. This concept of pollution was not limited to the material but was imposed on the people who handled it. Chamars, Madigas, Mochis and Arunthathiyars were pushed to the margins of social life, deprived of their dignity and their social life was reduced to mere work.
Nevertheless, Dalit leather artisans developed strong artistic experiences. Leather was formed into useful and beautiful forms such as Kolhapuri chappals, drums such as Parai and Dappu, and belts, bags and other ritual items. However, these objects are hardly accepted as art. They are referred to as folk crafts or traditional work, thereby tacitly eliminating the caste issue. Art historian Yashpal Jogdand posits that Dalit creativity often manifests itself as aesthetic work without authorship, with the objects circulating while the creators remain unknown. The art remains and the artist is lost.
This invisibility is no coincidence. The history of mainstream art in India has been heavily influenced by the views of Savarna, where painting, sculpture and gallery art are highly valued but box works are kept out of the aesthetic circle. Because by labeling Dalit leatherwork as heritage or craft, mainstream culture devours the beauty without addressing the violence that created it. According to Chinnaiah Jangam, Dalit art should be interpreted as a counter-archive containing narratives of oppression, survival and assertion, but not a romanticized tradition.
However, in recent decades, leather has emerged as another powerful Dalit symbol. The parai drum was reclaimed as a caste-driven instrument of pride and protest across southern India. Nowadays it is not only played on the streets, at demonstrations and at cultural festivals, but also beaten, as was the case during death rituals. This reappropriation of leather is very political. Anand Teltumbde believes that a situation is emerging where Dalits reuse the stigmatized labor and materials; They question the very basis of ethical caste principles. Leather, once a means of humiliation, becomes the language of denial.
Erased knowledge about Dalit women
The connection between Dalit women and leather art adds another twist to this story. The least visible is usually their job. Females are engaged in cleaning hides, softening leather, sewing and polishing. These tasks are not mentioned, but require patience and skill. At the same time, Dalit women’s bodies have historically been centers of caste and sexual violence. Scholar Shailaja Paik demonstrates the significance of Dalit women’s erased labor alongside their quiet transfer of knowledge across generations. Women have methods, surfaces and rhythms that rarely make it into written history in leatherworking.
Artisans make Kolhapuri chappals at a workshop of Inga Leathers in Kolhapur. (Image credit: Emmanuel Yogini)
We should also redefine art to perceive Dalit leather craft as art. If art is what is found in galleries, then caste society has a choice in who should become an artist. However, if art is perceived as being made with the experience in which we live, then Dalit leatherwork is itself a powerful aesthetic practice. Here the body is an artistic medium, not an abstract performance in itself, but a repetitive, skilled work informed by caste memory. There are stories of survival associated with every cut, every stitch and every polish.
The connection between Dalit women and leather art adds another twist to this story. The least visible is usually their job.
However, leather is not anesthetized; it remembers the touch. You have to remember who was allowed to touch and who was scolded for it. When Dalit artists and groups reappropriate leather in today’s society through music, fashion, visual art and protest, they confront society with uncomfortable realities of purity, dignity and worth. Dalit leather art does not seek sympathy but recognition. When we listen to leather, we hear stories that were never meant to be heard. And by considering Dalit leather craft as art, we take a small but significant step in the context of reversing the caste blindness that continues to influence the way art is perceived, appreciated and remembered.
Dharanesh Ramesh hails from Coimbatore and is a PhD candidate in Gender and Development Studies at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Hyderabad. Based on the belief that stories shape structures, his studies and work explore the intersections of gender, caste and public policy from an intersectional feminist perspective. He is particularly interested in understanding how power, privilege and politics interact to define inclusion and justice in everyday life. Dharanesh is naturally curious and often turns to drawing, painting, photography and writing as an extension of his reflective practice. His work seeks to bridge thought and experience, analysis and art in the pursuit of justice and representation.
