Title The weave of my life : a Dalit woman's memoirs / Urmila Pawar ; translated by Maya Pandit

Published New York : Columbia University Press, ©2009

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Description 1 online resource (xxviii, 283 pages, 6 unnumbered pages of plates) : illustrations Contents Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- A Note on Kinship Terms -- One -- Two -- Three -- Four -- Five -- Six -- Seven -- Eight -- Nine -- Ten -- Twelve -- Notes -- Glossary -- Readers' Reactions To Aaydan Summary "My mother used to weave aaydans, the Marathi generic term for all things made from bamboo. I find that her act of weaving and my act of writing are organically linked. The weave is similar. It is the weave of pain, suffering, and agony that links us." Activist and award-winning writer Urmila Pawar recounts three generations of Dalit women who struggled to overcome the burden of their caste. Dalits, or untouchables, make up India's poorest class. Forbidden from performing anything but the most undesirable and unsanitary duties, for years Dalits were believed to be racially inferior and polluted by nature and were therefore forced to live in isolated communities. Pawar grew up on the rugged Konkan coast, near Mumbai, where the Mahar Dalits were housed in the center of the village so the upper castes could summon them at any time. As Pawar writes, "the community grew up with a sense of perpetual insecurity, fearing that they could be attacked from all four sides in times of conflict. That is why there has always been a tendency in our people to shrink within ourselves like a tortoise and proceed at a snail's pace." Pawar eventually left Konkan for Mumbai, where she fought for Dalit rights and became a major figure in the Dalit literary movement. Though she writes in Marathi, she has found fame in all of India. In this frank and intimate memoir, Pawar not only shares her tireless effort to surmount hideous personal tragedy but also conveys the excitement of an awakening consciousness during a time of profound political and social change Bibliography Includes bibliographical references Notes Master and use copy. Digital master created according to Benchmark for Faithful Digital Reproductions of Monographs and Serials, Version 1. Digital Library Federation, December 2002. http://purl.oclc.org/DLF/benchrepro0212 MiAaHDL digitized 2010 HathiTrust Digital Library committed to preserve pda MiAaHDL Print version record Subject Pavāra, Urmilā SUBJECT Pavāra, Urmilā fast Pawar, Urmila. swd Pavāra, Urmilā nli Subject Authors, Marathi -- 20th century -- Biography Dalits -- India -- Maharashtra -- Biography Women -- India -- Maharashtra -- Biography Political activists -- India -- Biography Feminists -- India -- Biography HISTORY -- Asia -- India & South Asia. BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY -- General. Authors, Marathi Dalits Feminists Political activists Women Dalit Frau Authors, Marathi -- 20th century -- Biography Dalits -- India -- Maharashtra -- Biography Women -- India -- Maharashtra -- Biography Political activists -- India -- Biography Feminists -- India -- Biography SUBJECT Maharashtra (India) -- Biography Subject India India -- Maharashtra Indien Maharashtra (India) -- Biography Genre/Form Biographies Form Electronic book ISBN 0231520573 9780231520577

Other Titles Āyadāna. English

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