Mahishi, a multilingual scholar and educationist

Sarojini Mahishi was not only a politician but also a scholar and educationalist who had command over Kannada, English, Marathi, Sanskrit and Hindi.

Born on March 3, 1927 in Dharwad, Ms. Mahishi was the second among the eight children of Bindurao Mahishi, a leading advocate and Sanskrit scholar of Dharwad, and Kamalabai.

She studied in Dharwad initially and later at Sangli and Mumbai. She completed her postgraduation in Sanskrit with distinction and held a degree in LLB.

Ms. Mahishi began her career as a teacher and taught Sanskrit and law for a few years at Janata Shikshana Samiti’s (JSS) College in Dharwad and then worked with the State Social Welfare Board.

It was during her stint with the Board that Congress leader Sindhur Siddappa invited her to join politics and subsequently offered ticket to contest the parliament election from Dharwad North Lok Sabha constituency in 1962. Ms. Mahishi did her research on the poetesses of Karnataka. She translated Kuvempu’s Jnanpith award winning work Ramayana Darshanam into Hindi.

Another noted translation by her was D.V. Gundappa’s

Manku Timmana Kagga from Kannada to Hindi. For her works, she was honoured with ‘Hindi Ratna Samman’ by Hindi Bhavan of Delhi and conferred the D.Litt by Karnatak University, Dharwad.

Mahishi translated Kuvempu’s Jnanpith Award winning work Ramayana Darshanam into Hindi