DeScriPtion

It is the early 1900s in Mumbai. Educated and financially independent, Kalindi Dagge

dreams of living in a casteless and equitable society as a single mother-a life far removed

from the one she had in the stifling world she left behind. A world where she was the

daughter of a brahmin lawyer, Appasaheb Dagge, and the casteless Shanta; and the

granddaughter of another brahmin and his schoolteacher mistress who rejected the idea

of marriage. A world in which she was an outcast; the daughter of a man who rejected his

caste but not his caste pride. A world where she had reclaimed her grandmother's legacy

and chosen, in defiance of family and society, to live as the mistress of Shivsharanappa, a

Lingayat tobacco merchant, who later abandoned her and left her on the verge of suicide.

As she rebuilds her identity now in the big city, she wonders what it would be like to start

a new life based on love and respect with Ramrao, a trade union leader who shares her

ideologies and dreams.

Shridhar Vyankatesh Ketkar's masterpiece, originally published as Brahmankanya in 1930,

has been hailed as brave and ahead of its times. This magnificent translation by celebrated

author and translator Shanta Gokhale brings the classic alive for the contemporary reader,

and we see how relevant it remains almost a century later.