Fragrance of the Earth Bahinabai Choudhary... An illiterate rural woman... But still she had a rare gift of genius and her inborn qualities flowed through her poetic ovis. Translating her poems from Ahirani – a dialect of Marathi – into standard English is realy a herculean task. Prof. Madhuri Shanbhag deserves sincere accolades for accomplishing it. All the salient features of Bahinabais poetry - her native wisdom, unique power of observation and unbelievable command over poetic expressions - are brought out here in excellent translation so that the fragrance of her earthly poetry may spread to wider audience.'