Pandita Ramabai 101st Death Anniversary: Pandita Ramabai Sarasvati was the first woman in India to receive the titles of ‘Pandita’ and ‘Sarasvati’ after being examined by the University of Calcutta’s faculty. Today is the birthday of this social reformer who fought for women’s liberation in Indian society. She advocated for the expansion of female education in India and fought vigorously against the scourge of child marriage. Her tireless efforts to improve the condition of women in a pre-modern India have left her with an enduring legacy that will endure the test of time.
Early Pandita Ramabai Sarasvati’s life
Ramabai Dongre was born on April 23, 1858, and received her Sanskrit education at home from her father, a Sanskrit scholar. Ramabai was exposed to public speaking by participating in her family’s public recitation of the Purana at pilgrimage sites, as her family travelled extensively across India. During the Great Famine of 1876–78, she lost both of her parents at age 16. She continued the family tradition of travelling the country and reciting Sanskrit scriptures alongside her brother Srinivas.
Ramabai’s proficiency in Sanskrit became widely known in Calcutta (now Kolkata), the capital of British India at the time. In 1878, the Calcutta University awarded her the titles ‘Pandita’ and ‘Sarasvati’ for her knowledge of numerous Sanskrit texts. In 1880, Ramabai married Bipin Behari Medhvi, a Bengali lawyer. Manorama was the couple’s daughter’s name. Ramabai, who was only 23 at the time of Medhvi’s death in 1882, relocated to Pune and founded an organisation to promote women’s education.
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The social contributions made by Pandita Ramabai Sarasvati
Ramabai established the ‘Arya Mahila Samaj’ (Arya Women’s Society) with the intention of advancing the cause of women’s education and eradicating the degrading practise of child marriage. In 1882, when the colonial Government of India appointed the Hunter Commission to investigate the field of education in India, Ramabai testified and stated, “In ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, the educated men of this country are opposed to female education and the proper position of women. If they observe the tiniest flaw, they magnify it to the size of a mountain and attempt to destroy a woman’s reputation.”
She advocated for the training of teachers and the appointment of female school inspectors. Her evidence caused an uproar in Indian society, and even Queen Victoria became aware of her concern. She compelled the British government to pay attention to the plight of women in our country and to take appropriate action.
Ramabai’s first book, “Stri Dharma Niti” (Morals for Women), was published in 1882 and earned her enough money to enable her to begin medical training in Britain in 1883. There, she converted to Christianity, and her relationship with her Anglican “mentors” was contentious. She maintained her independence by adhering to her vegetarian diet, rejecting irrational aspects of Anglican doctrine, and questioning whether the crucifix she was required to wear had to have a Latin inscription rather than the Sanskrit inscription she desired.
She travelled to the United States in 1886, where she translated textbooks and delivered lectures across the United States and Canada. There, she also published “The High-Caste Hindu Woman,” one of her most important works. She was able to raise approximately Rs 60,000 in order to open a school in India for the child widows whose difficult lives were detailed in her book.
In 1889, she returned to India and founded the Sharada Sadan school for child widows in Pune, which was supported by MG Ranade and other Hindu reformers. Later, she renamed the organisation the Mukti Mission. Ramabai toured the villages of Maharashtra during a severe famine in 1896 and rescued thousands of outcast children, child widows, orphans, and other destitute women, bringing them to the shelter of the Mukti Mission. In 1900, the Mukti mission had 1,500 inhabitants and over a hundred cattle. The Pandita Ramabai Mukti Mission continues to operate, providing housing, education, vocational training, etc. for numerous needy groups, such as widows, orphans, and the blind.
Pandita Ramabai ensured her daughter Manorama Bai received a college education, and Manorama Bai later assisted her mother in her work. In 1912, the pair founded Christian High School in Gulbarga, Karnataka. She desired for her daughter to lead Mukti Mission, but Manorama passed away in 1921. Ramabai could never recover from the traumatic loss of her daughter. She died of septic bronchitis on April 5, 1922, nine months later, a few weeks before her 64th birthday.
