New Delhi: In Pandharpur, a Dalit poet-saint ... Listening to Chokhamela, I felt Kabir must have heard him too,” said Anand, Indian author, anti-caste publisher and now a Dhrupad singer.

His grandfather and father did that too—invoke Kabir and propagate the secular saint poet’s teachings at gatherings big and small, in their village Kanheriya, in Madhya Pradesh. But only at ...