Indian social reformer Pandita Ramabai biography

An Indian social reformer and the first woman to receive the titles of Pandita and Saraswati. She became one of the ten women representatives of the Congress session of 1889.

She converted to Christianity while living in England in the early 1880s. She then visited America to raise funds to educate Indian illiterate women. With the money collected, she established Sharda Sadan for child widows.

In the late 1890s, she established a Christian charity, the Mukti Mission, in Kedgaon, 40 miles east of Pune city. It was later named Pandita Ramabai Mukti Mission.

Pandita Ramabai was knowledgeable in seven languages. She translated the Bible from its original Hebrew and Greek languages into her mother tongue Marathi.

The Pandita Ramabai Mukti Mission is still active today, providing housing, education, and vocational training to the needy, including widows, orphans, and the blind.

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Early Life

Pandita Ramabai was born on 23 April 1858 in a Marathi-speaking Chitpavan Brahmin family in Canara, Madras Presidency, British India. Her father, Anant Shastri Dongre, was a Sanskrit scholar. Her mother's name was Lakshmi Dongre.

Her mother Lakshmi got married at the age of nine to Anant Shastri Dongre, who was much older than her. Anant Shastri was in favor of women's education, so after marriage, he taught Sanskrit to his wife Lakshmi. Which was completely contrary to the prevailing customs of that time.

Anant Shastri Dongre and Lakshmi named their daughter Ramabai Dongre. As she grew older, her father trained her in Sanskrit at home. She also had a younger brother join the family, named Srinivas Dongre.

Her father was a devout man, due to which she traveled extensively across India with the family. She would participate in Purana recitations at pilgrimage sites in India with her family, which would help her earn a small living.

In this way, Ramabai Dongre gained experience in public speaking by participating in pilgrimage sites. She became so adept that she even taught some young boys, which was strongly opposed by the orthodox Brahmins. Due to this her father Anant Shastri was forced to go to a deserted place along with his entire family.

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Title of Pandita and Saraswati

Her parents died during the severe famine of 1876–78, and 16-year-old Ramabai Dongre was orphaned. Ramabai Dongre and her brother Srinivas continued their family tradition of traveling across the country reciting Sanskrit texts.

That was a period of time when women did not often come to public places. She would sometimes visit women at their residences and inspire them to get educated.

Ramabai Dongre's fame as a woman adept in Sanskrit reached Calcutta and she was invited by pundits. Her address in the Senate Hall of Calcutta University was greatly appreciated.

In the year 1878, the University of Calcutta, in recognition of her various Sanskrit works and knowledge, honored her with the titles of Pandita and Saraswati.

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First introduction to the aristocracy and Christianity

Pandita Ramabai and her brothers were meeting many Sanskrit scholars. Meanwhile, after attending a meeting of Christians, she was extremely surprised. She was influenced by the Christian worship system.

Religious reformer Keshav Chandra Sen gave Pandita Ramabai a copy of the Vedas, the most sacred of Hindu literatures, and encouraged her to read them.

This was an upheaval in her life and she began to question her old beliefs.

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Marriage

In the year 1880 she also lost her brother, the last member of her family.

After the death of her brother, Pandita Ramabai married a Bengali lawyer, Bipin Bihari Medhvi, in a mass ceremony on 13 November 1880.

Her husband was a Bengali Kayastha and she was a Brahmin, it was an inter-caste and inter-regional marriage of those times. On 16 April 1881, she gave birth to a daughter, who was named Manorama.

Meanwhile, Pandita Ramabai wrote a poem on the pathetic condition of Sanskrit and sent it to the upcoming Oriental Congress to be held in Berlin. The translation of which was read by the Indologist Monier William with her introduction and deep appreciation.

There was still time left, on 4 February 1882 her husband fell ill with cholera. During that time, apart from her cousin's sister Anandibai Joshi (the first Indian woman doctor), no one took care of her.

Her husband died of illness. 23-year-old Pandita Ramabai moved to Pune with her daughter and founded an organization to promote women's education.

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Address before the Hunter Commission

In the year 1882, Hunter Commission was appointed by the colonial government for the education department. Giving evidence at that time, Pandita Ramabai, while addressing the Hunter Commission, said, “In 99 cases out of 100, the educated men of India are found opposing women's education and their proper status. Even a small mistake on the part of women turns into a mountain out of a molehill and the character of the woman is defamed.”

Pandita Ramabai also suggested that teachers should be trained and women school inspectors should be appointed. Continuing her point further, she said that the condition of women in India is such that they can undergo medical treatment, hence Indian women should be given admission in medical colleges.

Her words caused quite a sensation and this news even reached the ears of Queen Victoria.

As a result, the Women's Medical Movement was started by Lord Dufferin.

In Maharashtra Pandita Ramabai contacted Christian organizations involved in women's education and medical missionary work. Particularly associated with the Anglican nuns of the Community of St. Mary the Virgin (CSMV).

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Adopted Christianity

In the year 1883, with earnings from the sale of her first book Stree Dharma Neeti and through contacts with the CSMV, Pandita Ramabai went to Britain to pursue medical training. But due to her progressive deafness she was not allowed to enter medical practice.

While living in England she converted to Christianity. Due to growing views on conservative Hindu religious policies and impracticality towards women, she accepted to convert her religion.

In England, Pandita Ramabai had a contentious relationship with her Anglican teachers, especially Geraldine. She did not compromise her personal freedom. She completely rejected those aspects of Anglican doctrine that she considered irrational.

Pandita Ramabai continued to follow a vegetarian diet. She never believed in the Trinity doctrine of Christianity.

In the year 1886, she traveled from Britain to the United States at the invitation of Dr. Rachel Bodley, Dean of the Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania, to attend the graduation ceremony of Anandi Bai Joshi, India's first female doctor.

Pandita Ramabai remained in the United States for two years, translating several textbooks as well as lecturing throughout the United States and Canada.

While living there, she published the book “The High Caste Hindu Woman”. She dedicated her first book written in English to her cousin Anandibai Joshi.

The book was her attempt to highlight the oppression women faced in Hindu dominated British India along with the dark aspects of what happened to Hindu women such as child marriage and child widowhood.

Through her oratory skills and large network of supporters she raised approximately Rs 60,000 for the purpose of opening a school for child widows in India.

While giving presentations in America, seeking support for her work in India, she met American suffragette and women's rights activist Frances Willard.

Pandita Ramabai was invited by Francis Willard to speak at the National Woman's Christian Temperance Union convention in November 1887. Where she got the support of that big women's organization.

She came to India in June 1888 as the national speaker of the WCTU. The first evangelist of the WCTU was Mary Greenleaf Clement Leavitt. Pandita Ramabai was officially associated with the WCTU in 1893.

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Establishment of Mukti Mission

In the year 1889, Pandita Ramabai returned to India. After coming to India, she established a school named Sharda Sadan for child widows in Pune. The school founded by her received support from many Hindu reformers including MG Ranade.

Although Pandita Ramabai was not a religious preacher, she also did not keep her Christian religion a secret. Many students converted to Islam, due to which they lost the support of the Hindu reform circles of Pune.

She then shifted her school to Kedgaon, a quiet village 60 km from Pune. And the school was renamed Mukti Mission.

In the year 1889, Pandita Ramabai visited Maharashtra with a caravan of bullock carts during a severe famine. There thousands of tribal children, orphans, child widows and other destitute women were rescued and given shelter in the Mukti Mission.

By the year 1900 the Emancipation Mission had 1,500 inhabitants and over 100 head of cattle.

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Daughter Supported

Pandita Ramabai was an independent-minded woman. After the death of her husband, she raised her daughter alone.

She sent daughter Manorama to be educated by the sisters of the CSMV in Wantage and later to the University of Bombay, from where Manorama obtained a BA degree. Then Manorama went to the United States for her higher education.

On returning to India, Manorama worked side by side with her mother Pandita Ramabai. Manorama served as the headmistress of Sharda Sadan.

During the year 1912, she fully supported her mother in establishing a Christian High School in Gulbarga, a backward district of South India, now in Karnataka.

In the year 1920, when Pandita Ramabai's health started deteriorating, she handed over the charge of the Liberation Mission to Manorama. But don't know what to call it, Manorama died in the year 1921.

Pandita Ramabai was deeply shocked by her daughter's death. And nine months after Manorama's death, on 5 April 1922, at the age of 63, Pandita Ramabai also left her life.

Pandita Ramabai died while battling septic bronchitis.

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Awards and Honors

The title of 'Pandita' and 'Saraswati' for her skill in Sanskrit

In the year 1919, she was awarded the Kaisari-i-Hind Medal for community service by the British colonial government of India.

On 26 October 1989, the Government of India issued a commemorative postage stamp in recognition of her contribution to the advancement of Indian women.

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