Indian Dalit Activist Kumud Somkuwar Pawde was born in Maharashtra in 1938
She wrote about the exploitation of Dalit women.
She was the founder member of National Federation of Dalit Women.
She became a Buddhist as a result of her parents participation in Babasaheb Ambedkar's Dalit Buddhist Movement
She was one of the first Dalits to learn Sanskrit and became HOD of Sanskrit at Govt College in Amaravati, Maharashtra.
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About the text
"The Story of My Sanskrit" is an extract from Pawde's autobiography Antasphot.
This essay follows a Dalit woman's progression through the state education and employment systems.
It also emphasises how untouchability affects India's social, economic, and political landscape even twenty years after independence.
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Analysis
Pawde is often praised for her knowledge of Sanskrit which she dislikes as she believes that Sanskrit and the social group she comes from do not go together in the Indian mind.
Her caste-fellows admire her for an impossible achievement, which they regard as their victory too.
For Pawde, the words of praise by others are like hot spears. When they praise her for teaching Sanskrit at the Government College, she feels their scorn.
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Pawde refuses to accept admiration as she thinks that it could become a habit.
The hostility and disgust she experienced since her childhood helped her remain undisturbed at the later stage.
Her friends were not permitted by their mothers to touch or play with her though she looked clean.
Pawde's mother smeared the floor with cowdung, and drew rangoli designs in the courtyard and their house was cleaner than other houses.
Analysis
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Analysis
Her father encouraged her to learn Sanskrit, and was a constant source of support to her. She learned Sanskrit by ignoring the oppositions.
Her teachers Hatekar and Gokhale Guruji encouraged and helped her to learn the language.
Pawde went through mixed experiences while studying in the college but she ignored those who taunted her and pretended to be deaf.
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Her hopes and expectations of a high-paid job from the government were shattered and she attended interviews in private colleges but was refused a job.
People disliked the teaching of Sanskrit by a girl from the Mahar caste.
After completing an M. A. in English Literature, she got married to Pawde which was an intercaste marriage. Two months after her marriage, she was appointed as an Assistant Lecturer in a government college.
Analysis
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Conclusion:
Pawde felt that even after twenty years of independence, the caste system in India still persists. She was capable of getting a job only after changing her surname from 'Somkuwar' to 'Pawde'
The one thought that pricks her is "the credit for Kumud Somkuwar's job is not hers, but that of the name Kumud Pawde".
According to Pawde, even the most prominent politicians act as they don't care.