Today in Dalit history, we fondly remember Dr. C. Parvathamma, the first Dalit woman sociologist in India who won multiple prestigious awards such as the Rajyothsava Award (1990), Gargi Award (1999) and Nadoja Award (2005) for her contributions to sociological research. She was awarded a doctorate at the Victoria University in Manchester (now known as University of Manchester) under the supervision of Max Gluckman, a pioneer in social anthropology. Dr. Parvathamma’s scholarship includes 70 research articles and 11 books which had policy level impact. Besides, she occupied several leadership positions in academia, including the Chair of the Department of Sociology in Mangalore University when a Postgraduate Degree in Social Work was introduced in 1977–78, the Dean of the Faculty of Arts, University of Mysore where she played a central role in building the Department of Sociology and a member of the first governing body of ICSSR besides her membership in several other committees (Kumar, 2007). She retired from Mysore University in 1988 but continued her work by establishing the Centre for Research in Rural and Tribal Development in Mysore (Kumar, 2007).

Dr. Parvathamma made several valuable contributions to the study of the status of scheduled castes and tribes, of the anti-caste movement, Veerasaivism, while also critiquing Brahminical scholarship that misrepresented caste. She was a contemporary of M.N.Srinivas, a Brahmin sociologist, whose writings she thoroughly critiqued. She points out, “Srinivas’s point of view is that of a south Indian Brahmin and it is important to understand how it influences his work. One senses that the theoretical ideal of Brahmin superiority is basic to his subjectivism.” Talking about his lack of critique of Brahminism, she says, “The brotherhood of mankind and compassion upheld by the major religions of the world may have gone wrong in practice, but the sense of brotherhood does not find a place in Brahminical Hinduism.” (Parvathamma, 1978). Yet, the Brahminical writings on caste by M.N.Srinivas are cited several times more than C. Parvathamma’s writings in the academia, showing how Brahminism operates in the academia.

In Prof. Vivek Kumar’s memoir of Dr. Parvathamma giving a speech at a conference, he quotes her as saying, “If this nation needs one Gandhi then it needs thousands of Ambedkar to break free from the age-old tyrannical Hindu social order.” Prof. Vivek Kumar also talks about the discrimination Dr. Parvathamma faced in spite of the education she attained and the positions she occupied that “she could not find rented accommodation in Mysore after completing her PhD and becoming a lecturer at Mysore University.”

We are proud of her academic achievements and want to applaud her valuable contributions to sociology and policy on caste. We celebrate her resistance and success in the academia that was never a space meant for Dalit women. We dedicate this post to all the Dalit-Bahujan women who fight for space in violence academic departments around India. Jai bhim and Jai savitri to Dr. Parvathamma and all women who demand the right to build knowledge for our people!

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