![]() 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. ![]() It is the weave of pain, suffering, and agony that links us." I find that her act of weaving and my act of writing are organically linked. "My mother used to weave aaydans, the Marathi generic term for all things made from bamboo. In this frank and intimate memoir, she 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. Though she writes in Marathi, Pawar has found fame in all of India. She eventually left Konkan for Mumbai, where she fought for Dalit rights and became a major figure in the Dalit literary movement. ![]() 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. ![]() Dalits, or untouchables, make up India's poorest class. Activist and award-winning writer Urmila Pawar recounts three generations of Dalit women who struggled to overcome the burden of their caste. ![]()
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