Pandita Ramabai - The Rebel Reformer

A Sanskrit scholar, social reformer, writer and educator, Pandita Ramabai Saraswati was steadfast in her advocacy of equality for women at a time when these concepts were anathema. Although extreme personal tragedy followed her through her life, she remained a fighter for reform, working fervently for education and the abolishment of child marriage. In 1889 she founded Sharda Sadan, a school for young widows in Mumbai that taught curricular and vocational courses. Even her strongest opponent, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, finally praised her, declaring society could do with more women like Pandita Ramabai. She decided to convert to Christianity because of her personal convictions, a move that drew strong criticism back home. In 1886 she was invited to the Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania for the graduation of her distant cousin Anandibai Joshi, where she was welcomed as an important voice for feminism in India. Her seminal book ‘The High Caste Hindu Woman’, where she describes the plight and exploitation of women, came to be considered internationally as an eye-opening study; an Indian feminist manifesto of sorts.

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