INTRODUCTION Few stories in Indian literature have captured the suffocating reality of caste oppression as vividly as Bandhu Madhav’s The Poisoned Bread. Bandhu Madhav wrote this Marathi short story in the mid-20th century, and it is not just a narrative—it holds up a mirror to the deep-seated injustices faced by Dalits in rural Maharashtra. The story’s title, The Poisoned Bread, is more than a metaphor; it’s a haunting symbol of how the caste system has poisoned the very means...