In a village in the early twentieth century, a low-caste community of farm labourers earned money from a new trade. Its members began to wear the sacred thread, gave up meat and invited a priest to their weddings, as the landowning upper caste of the village did. The elders of the landowning caste then called a meeting about these changes. Many years later, a woman from a Dalit family in the same region chose to study Sanskrit at school and went on to a university degree. Along the way she met with mixed reactions from teachers and fellow students.
The woman in the passage resembles Kumud Pawade, whose autobiography the book quotes. Which of the following does Pawade write about her caste?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → Although she tries to forget her caste, it is impossible to forget.
Option (1) Although she tries to forget her caste, it is impossible to forget. — Correct. Pawade writes that although she tries to forget her caste, it is impossible to forget. She links this to the saying that caste comes by birth and cannot be cast off by dying.
Option (2) Once she earned her degree, her caste ceased to matter to others. — Incorrect. Her caste stayed with her through her studies. She met reactions ranging from surprise to hostility, and she writes that her caste is impossible to forget.
Option (3) Learning Sanskrit gave her a higher place in the caste order. — Incorrect. Sanskrit was a way into a field closed to her by gender and caste. Studying it did not lift her place in the caste order, and many met her with hostility or rejection.
Option (4) Her teachers' support helped her set her caste aside at university. — Incorrect. Her school teacher encouraged her, but at university the Head of the Department taunted her. Her own words show she could never set her caste aside.
NCERT (2026-27): “Sanskritisation … “The result is that although I try to forget my caste, it is impossible to forget. And then I remember an expression I heard somewhere: “What comes by birth, but can’t be cast off by dying - that is caste.”” |