Grants for Dalits to study Sanskrit in Columbia Univ
Seema Chishti
Posted online: Thursday , Nov 12, 2009 at 0353 hrs
New Delhi : In 1913, Dalit icon B R Ambedkar travelled to the US to
enroll as a graduate student at the University of Columbia — on a
scholarship offered by the Gaekwad of Baroda. He received a doctorate
in Political Science there.
Nearly a century later, in an effort to invert traditional notions
about Dalits and Sanskrit (regarded as the preserve of upper castes)
Prof. Sheldon Pollock, a doyen among Sanskrit scholars, is instituting
three fellowships each year in Sanskrit for Columbia — only for
Dalits. The process of choosing the first set of scholars begins
December 1.
Prof. Pollock, recipient of the Government of India's President's
Award in Sanskrit, 2009, specializes in Sanskrit philology and Indian
intellectual and literary history and, increasingly, comparative
intellectual history. He is among the best known voices emphasizing
the importance of studying literary culture, "both for aspects of
civilization and barbarism". He is presently William B. Ransford
Professor of Sanskrit and Indian Studies at Columbia.
In an email interview with The Indian Express, Prof. Pollock said the
fellowships will be initially funded out of the Distinguished
Achievement Award he has received from the Andrew W Mellon Foundation
of New York City. But he intends to transform the Dalit Sanskrit
Fellowship Initiative into a permanent endowment.
A Columbia graduate fellowship amounts to $250,000: $30,000 tuition
and $20,000 stipend, granted annually for five years. He will need
$150,000 per year for three fellows.
The initiative will be named after Ambedkar.
The move has received mixed response in India. Prof. Pran Nath Singh,
Head of the Department of Sanskrit in Banaras Hindu University, said,
"It's a good thing if young scholars are being encouraged to take up
Sanskrit, but to limit it to Dalits is pure politics."
But Sanskrit scholar Prof. Saroja Bhate of the Bhandarkar Oriental
Research Insititue, Pune, hailed the initiative. "I congratulate Prof
Pollock for doing this. This is exactly what I would have done, and
would do in future if I have the resources," Prof. Bhate said.
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