Grants for Dalits to study Sanskrit in Columbia Univ

November 12, 2009

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Nov 12 05:23 AM

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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