Standing tall
Rohan Swamy
Posted online: Mon Jul 12 2010, 00:04 hrs
For 84-year-old Prabhakar Joshi, it was Dr Ambedkar's will to work
against all odds that inspired him to pen the leader's biography in
Sanskrit
His unassuming modest appearance and a constant smile on his face are
an instant ice breaker. And when the octogenarian begins to talk about
his tryst with writing a book on Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, one cannot
help but admire the sheer grit of a man who would give youngsters less
than half his age plenty of things to think about. For 84-year-old
Prabhakar Joshi, a Sanskrit scholar, the entire ordeal of losing his
eye-sight is nothing compared to the feat he achieved-of completing
the 160-page biography of Dr Ambedkar — the first one ever to be
written in Sanskrit.
Titled Bhimyanam, the book comprises 21 Sargas (chapters) and deals
with all important aspects of Dr Ambedkar's life. "It would be
incorrect to call this book just a biography," says Joshi, adding,
"The book is written in the form of a Maha-kavya, or as we call them
in English, an epic, on the lines of the Ramayana or the Mahabharata.
It is written in Sanskrit to pay tribute to Dr Ambedkar, whose love
for the language virtually knew no bounds."
Joshi, who began working on the book in 2005, says that he was
partially able to read back then when he started his research. "I
began by reading biographies that were penned down by other authors to
get an idea of the person that Dr Ambedkar was, and as I began reading
more and more about him, I realised he was one of the few leaders in
the country who never ever got what was rightfully due to him all his
life. And despite enormous odds he continued to do what was right.
That was something that kept me going even when I lost my eyesight and
began writing my book in 2006," he says.
About writing the book Joshi says it was something that he couldn't
have achieved without the help of his wife Aruna and his student
Madhusudhan Joshi. He says, "There were times when I would just write
down what I had to on sheets of paper, not knowing that I was
overlapping lines or even that there was no ink in the pen. And when I
would discover the same later on, it would be a tough task to
recompose the entire passages for the story but then with their aid I
eventually did it."
He also says that not many people knew that it was Dr Ambedkar's
father Ramji's desire to see him learn Sanskrit. And that it was
against insurmountable odds that Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar actually managed
to do so. "He did it even when he was refused the right to learn the
subject at the Elphinstone High School as he was a Dalit. Back then,
Sanskrit was strictly the privilege of the higher castes," he adds.
Joshi, who was a teacher at Fergusson College and also a guide at the
Pune University for Sanskrit students, says that Dr Ambedkar was a
staunch believer that Sanskrit should be the national language of the
country. He says, "Once when the issue came up for debate in the
parliament, one of the members asked him a question in Sanskrit to
question his love for the language but Dr Ambedkar promptly replied
back in the same language. It just goes to show how good his command
over the language was and how humble he was."
Giving a further glimpse of the literary genius of Dr Ambedkar, Joshi
says, " When Dr Ambedkar went to America to pursue his higher studies
he would study for long hours in the library. His efforts can be
gauged from the fact that while he studied for three years in the US,
he managed to work on four PhD level papers, of which three were
published. And this was something that most PhD level students would
usually do in seven to eight years. It just shows how deep his love
for accumulating knowledge was, and also gives us an insight into his
analytical mind."
Bhimayanam, as Joshi says, contains many such little insights about
the personality that Dr Ambedkar was. "More importantly, the book is a
source of inspiration for even students as after reading the book they
can actually see for themselves, how when someone has an unquenchable
thirst for knowledge they can go on to achieve even the impossible,"
he elaborates. The book has been published under the 'Sharada Gaurav
Granthamala' series by Pandit Vasant Gadgil after six years of
dedicated work by Joshi, who is also a recipient of Maharashtra
government's Mahakavi Kalidas award. While the state governor is
expected to formally launch the book soon, Joshi says his work is far
from being over. "On the anvil are two projects — the first being a
Marathi translation of this book with the original Sanskrit chapters
retained in it so that people can relate to it better, and the second
is a biographical sketch of Swami Vivekananda, which will be written
in Sanskrit," he says.
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