Wandana Sonalkar is an Indian economist, and an author and translator. She retired as Professor teaches at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai in 2017, and previously taught at the Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, Aurangabad. Her research focuses on gender and caste in India. She has published translations of several books from Marathi to English, including the autobiographies of Urmila Pawar and R.B. More, and in 2021, she published Why I am Not a Hindu Woman, an autobiography and critique of misogyny, caste and violence in the context of the Hindu religion.
Sonalkar studied mathematics and economics at the University of Cambridge, and earned a Ph.D. in economics from the Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, in India. [1] She taught economics at the Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, and played a key role in establishing an institute there for women's studies. [2] She also taught at Aurangabad University. [3] She went on to teach economics and development at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in India, in their Advanced Centre for Women's Studies and School of Development Studies. She later became the Director of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences' Tarabai Shinde Women's Studies Center. [1] She is one of the founders of the Aalochana Centre for Documentation and Research on Women, a non-profit organization dedicated to research on caste and gender in India. [4]
Sonalkar's research has been published in Economic and Political Weekly , [5] the Asian Journal of Women's Studies, [6] and Social Scientist . [7] She has also worked on developing curricula that teach social sciences in India through bilingual communication. [2]
Sonalkar has translated several books by Dalit authors from Marathi to English. These include We Also Made History: Women in the Ambedkarite Movement in Maharashtra by Urmila Pawar and Meenakshi Moon, [8] Urmila Pawar's autobiography, The Weave of My Life, and the autobiography of Dalit activist R.B. More. [2] [9] Sonalkar's translation of R.B. More's autobiography was reviewed in The Hindu, and The Wire . [9] [10] She has also published shorter translated works of stories by Priya Tendulkar, Shyam Manohar, and others, in Indian Literature. [11] [12]
In 2021, Sonalkar published Why I am Not a Hindu Woman (Women Unlimited), a autobiographical work that is also a critique of misogyny, caste and violence in the context of the Hindu religion. The book was reviewed in The Hindu , [13] The Tribune [14] and Business Standard . [15]
Books
Translations (from Marathi to English)
Mahar, meaning "original inhabitants of Maharashtra", is an Indian caste found largely in the state of Maharashtra and neighbouring areas. Most of the Mahar community followed B. R. Ambedkar in converting to Buddhism in the middle of the 20th century. As of 2017 the Mahar caste was designated as a Scheduled Caste in 16 Indian states.
Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University (BAMU), formerly Marathwada University, is located in Aurangabad, Maharashtra, India. It is named after B. R. Ambedkar, an Indian jurist, political leader, academic and the father of the Indian Constitution. The university was established on 23 August 1958. This university has contributed to the progress of adjoining regions and people in innumerable ways. Since its inception, the university has around 456 colleges affiliated to it, which come under four districts of Maharashtra State.
Arun Krushnaji Kamble was an Indian Marathi language writer, professor, Politician, and Dalit activist. Arun Kamble, President and one of the founding members of Dalit Panther of India, worked as a Head of Marathi department at University of Mumbai. He was the National General Secretary of Janata Dal. He took many major decisions in favour of Dalit, Backward Class and Minorities.
Jai Bhim is a slogan and greeting used by followers of B. R. Ambedkar, an Indian scholar, social reformer and the chief architect of the Constitution of India. It refers to Ambedkar's given name Bhimrao. In 1935, Jai Bhim conceived and developed by Babu L. N. Hardas (1904–1939), a staunch follower of Babasaheb Ambedkar, and the secretary of Samata Sainik Dal. However, its origin is obscure and may date as far back as 1818, well before Ambedkar's birth.
The Dalit Panthers are an Ambedkarite social organisation that seeks to combat caste discrimination. The organisation was founded by Namdeo Dhasal, Arjun Dangle, Raja Dhale and J. V. Pawar on 29 May 1972 in the Indian state of Maharashtra. The movement's heyday lasted from the 1970s through the 1980s, and it was later joined by many Dalit-Buddhist activists.
Namantar Andolan was a Dalit and Navayana Buddhist movement to change the name of Marathwada University, in Aurangabad, Maharashtra, India, to Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar University. It achieved a measure of success in 1994, when the compromise name of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University was accepted. The movement was notable for the violence against Dalits and Navayana Buddhists.
Dalit literature is literature written by Dalits about their lives. Dalit literature emerged in the 1960s in the Marathi language, and it soon appeared in Bangla, Hindi, Kannada, Punjabi, sindhi, and Tamil languages, through narratives such as poems, short stories, and autobiographies, which stood out due to their stark portrayal of reality and the Dalit political scene.
Tukaram Bhaurao Sathe, popularly known as Anna Bhau Sathe, was a social reformer, folk poet, and writer from Maharashtra, India. Sathe was a Dalit born into the untouchable community, and his upbringing and identity were central to his writing and political activism. Sathe was a Marxist-Ambedkarite mosaic, initially influenced by the communists but he later became an Ambedkarite. He is credited as a founding father of 'Dalit Literature' and played vital role in Samyukta Maharashtra Movement.
Urmila Pawar is an Indian writer and activist in the dalit and feminist movements in India and her works, all of which are written in Marathi language, have often been hailed as a critique of social discrimination and the savarna exploitation by commentators and media outlets.
Eleanor Zelliot was an American writer, professor of Carleton College and specialist on the history of India, Southeast Asia, Vietnam, women of Asia, Untouchables, and social movements.
We Also Made History: Women in the Ambedkarite Movement is the very first book detailing the history of women’s qualified participation in the Dalit movement in India, led by B. R. Ambedkar. Originally written and edited in Marathi by Urmila Pawar and Meenakshi Moon, and published in 1989, the 2008 English translation is by Wandana Sonalkar.
Savita Bhimrao Ambedkar, was an Indian social activist, doctor and the second wife of Babasaheb Ambedkar. Ambedkarites and Buddhists refer to her as Mai or Maisaheb, which stands for 'Mother' in Marathi language.
Gangadhar Vithoba Pantawane was an Indian Marathi language writer, reviewer and Ambedkarite thinker from the state of Maharashtra. He was the follower of B. R. Ambedkar, polymath and the father of the Indian Constitution. He is one of the pioneers of the dalit literary movement" in Maharashtra. In 2008, he was elected president of the first Marathi Vishwa Sahitya Sammelan that was held in the United States. His pioneering journal, Asmitadarsh, galvanised generations of Dalit writers and thinkers. In 2018, he was honored with the Padma Shri by the Government of India.
Ambedkarism is called as the teaching, ideology or philosophy of B.R. Ambedkar, an Indian econonist, polymath, barrister, social reformer, human-rights advocate, and the architect of Indian Constitution. Ambedkarism includes the principles of Navayana and liberty, equality and fraternity along with democratic socialism and constitutionalism. An Ambedkarite is one who follows the philosophy of Ambedkar.
Baudhacharya Shanti Swaroop Baudh was an Indian writer, Buddhist scholar, painter, publisher and Pali language expert. He was an Ambedkarite-Buddhist activist. He was born in 1949 at Old Delhi in a Jatav Dalit family. In 1975, he set up Samyak Prakashan, a publishing house dedicated to Ambedkarite, Bahujan, Navayana Buddhist, Pali literature and Dalit literature. Samyak Prakashan has published over 2000 books many of which have been translated into some 14 different languages including English, Sinhalese, Nepalese, Burmese. He was a board of editors member of Dhamma Darpan and Dalit Dastak magazines. He was Delhi state president of Buddhist Society of India.
Yashwant Bhimrao Ambedkar, also known as Bhaiyasaheb Ambedkar, was an Indian socio-religious activist, newspaper editor, politician, and activist of Ambedkarite Buddhist movement. He was the first and only surviving child of Ramabai Ambedkar and B. R. Ambedkar, Indian polymath, human rights activist, and the father of the Constitution of India. Yashwant devoted his life to Buddhism after the demise of his father and kept pace his father's struggle for social equality. He tried to keep the Ambedkarite community united and also took an active part in the Dalit Buddhist movement.
Damodar Tatyaba Rupwate, commonly known as Dadasaheb Rupwate was an Indian politician, Ambedkarite social activist and newspaper editor from Maharashtra. Initially he was a member of the Scheduled Caste Federation and the Republican Party of India, and later the Indian National Congress. Dadasaheb Rupwate was a colleague and follower of B. R. Ambedkar, human rights leader.
The Twenty-two vows or twenty-two pledges are the 22 Buddhist vows administered by B. R. Ambedkar, the revivalist of Buddhism in India, to his followers. On converting to Buddhism, Ambedkar made 22 vows, and asked his 600,000 supporters to do the same. After receiving lay ordination, Ambedkar gave dhamma diksha to his followers. The ceremony included 22 vows administered to all new converts after Three Jewels and Five Precepts. On 14 October 1956 at Nagpur, Ambedkar performed another mass religious conversion ceremony at Chandrapur.
J.V. Pawar J.V. Pawar is a Poet and Novelist who co-founded the Dalit Panther and served as its general secretary.