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Arjun Hari Bhalerao Arjun Hari Bhalerao. The story of his jalsa, which features the ‘Ambedkari Jalsa Tadwalkarancha’ created by him, is a prominent example of how, in the wake of Ambedkar's anti-caste movement, music by Dalits imagined a humanitarian world for us — an idea which was missing in a world where the gruesome practice of untouchability was (and still is) prevalent. Born on  1 December 1904,  Arjun Hari Bhalerao grew up in a family of shahirs. During the 1920s, his uncle Laxman Bhalerao helmed a tamasha troupe which was famous in the region of Usmanabad, Beed and Latur. Wherever this troupe would go, Laxman Bhalerao used to take Arjun with him. Having been exposed to the life of tamasha artists, and subsequently to music, Arjun developed a keen sense of the music that was being produce by Dalits, as well as their lives and struggle. Such was the impact of the powerful narratives of anti-caste jalsas, like the Satyashodhak Jalsa, that he would not pay heed to the dang...