Shantabai Krushnaji Kamble (1 March 1923 – 25 January 2023) was an Indian Marathi writer and Dalit activist.
She was awarded a three rupees scholarship for paper, ink, notebooks, and more school supplies,[1] but she wasn't allowed to sit inside the classroom and had to learn from outside.
[2] Shantabai Kamble's autobiography Majya Janmachi Chittarkatha translated as The Kaleidoscope Story of My Life was published as a complete book in 1986.
In the dedication to her book she writes, "To my Aaye-Appa [mother and father] who worked the entire day in the hot glaring sun, hungry and without water, and through the drudgery of labor, with hunger pinching their stomach, educated me and brought me from darkness into light.
"[citation needed] Shantabai Kamble died at her daughter's home in Pune, on 25 January 2023, at the age of 99.