Kumud Somkuwar Pawde (born 1938) is an Indian Dalit activist. She is the first Ambedkarite scholar of Sanskrit. Her autobiography Antahsphot discusses the issue of exploitation of Dalit Women. [1] She is a founder member of the National Federation of Dalit Women.
She was born in 1938 into a Mahar Dalit family in Maharashtra. Later she became a Buddhist. She was witness to the historic Dhamma Deeksha ceremony (conversion to Buddhism) on October 14, 1956, as her parents were part of Babasaheb Ambedkar’s Dalit Buddhist movement. [2] [3] She studied Sanskrit at the time when untouchability was rife and Dalits faced barriers; she was amongst first Dalits to learn Sanskrit and became Sanskrit Pandita i.e. Sanskrit scholar. [4] [5] She was the Head of Department of Sanskrit from Government College, Amravati, Maharashtra. [6] [7]
References
- ^ "Dalit Lives Matter: 8 Dalit Women Activists You Must Know About". Geetika Sachdev. Yahoo. 14 October 2020. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
- ^ "Peoples Voice » when Nehru helped an Ambedkarite Sanskrit Scholar get a job". Archived from the original on 2021-04-14. Retrieved 2021-01-25.
- ^ "How three generations of Dalit women writers saw their identities and struggle?". 27 December 2017.
- ^ "Meet Dr Kumud Sonkuwar Pawde, Sanskrit Pandita And Dalit Activist". Kalwyna Rathod. Femina. 2 November 2020. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
- ^ "The Dalit girl who became a Sanskrit Pandita: the incredible story of Dr Kumud Sonkuwar Pawde". Sagarika Ghose. The Times of India. 25 March 2019. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
- ^ "EVALUATION OF DALIT LITERATURE IN INDIA" (PDF). YESUPAKU DINESH. Pune Research. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
- ^ "Social, Economic and Political Reverberations of Untouchability: Kumud Pawde's "The Story of My Sanskrit"". Jayasree, K. IUP Journal of English Studies. Retrieved 15 November 2020.