A Gardener in the Wasteland

In 1873, Jotirao Govindrao Phule wrote Gulamgiri (Slavery), a scathing, witty attack on the Vedas as idle fantasies of the brahman mind which enslaved the shudras and atishudras. A hundred and forty years hence, Srividya Natarajan and Aparajita Ninan breathe fresh life into Phule’s graphic imagination, weaving in the story of Savitribai, Jotiba’s partner in his struggles.

In today’s climate of intolerance, here’s a manifesto of resistance—Phule setting the dynamite of thought to the scriptures and ideas Hindus hold dear.

In the Media

‘Not just a book, but a declaration of war… The Indian comics scene, presently submerged in mythologicals, desperately needs more books like A Gardener in the Wasteland’—Indian Express

‘Aparajita Ninan’s visual aesthetic is unforgiving: stark yet detailed, compassionate yet divisive’—Business Standard

‘A powerfully passionate book that brings smack into the foreground something unequivocally evil’—Hindustan Times

‘You should get yourself a copy… before some right-wing militant organisation gets its dander up’—Timeout