Pandita Ramabai

Pandita Ramabai
Born	23 April 1858 Gangamoola,Karkala,Karnataka,India
Died	5 April 1922 Maharashtra, India

Pandita Ramabai (Kannada: ಪಂಡಿತಾ ರಮಾಬಾಯಿ)(Marathi: पंिडता रामाबाई) (23 April 1858 – 5 April 1922) was a social reformer and activist in India. She was born as Brahmin Hindu, started Arya Mahila Samaj and later converted to Christianity to serve widows and helpless women of India.

Ramabai was a poet, a scholar, and a champion of improvement in the plight of Indian women and their emancipation. She visited most parts of India, and even went to Britain (1883) and the United States of America (1886–88). She wrote many books including The High Caste Hindu Woman, which showed the darkest aspects of the life of Hindu women, including child brides and child widows, and their treatment by government and society. She had a strong view of what should be accomplished so that women would be able to have more freedom, including the protection of widows and child brides, many of whom were made destitute by in-laws.

Early life

Ramabai was born into an intellectual Hindu Marathi-speaking Chitpavan Brahmin family at Karnataka (Karkala Taluk, Mangalore District). Her father, Anant Shastri Dongre,who stayed at a place in western ghats called Gangamoola,(Mala village,Karkala,Karnataka) was a Sanskrit scholar and believed that women should have education. Against the prevailing traditional Hindu social structure, he taught Puranas and Sanskrit shlokas to Ramabai as well as his second wife, Ramambai’s mother Laxmibai and how to read and write Sanskrit as well as how to interpret vedic texts. She was raised by her father. Her father faced hardships as he was against the tradition and he advocated education to girl children. He proved in front of Hindu scholars at Soday,(Karnataka) that teaching women Sanskrit was not banned in any shastra or purana.

Her father, mother and sister died during 1874–76; and her brother and she traveled all over India and eventually ended up in Calcutta in Bengal. Their travel included 2,000 miles by foot! Ramabai's Sanskrit knowledge surprised the educated people of Kolkata. She was awarded with the title of Pandita by Calcutta University, and was also awarded with the title of Sarasvati in recognition of her ability to interpret various Sanskrit works.

After her brother's death in 1880, even though it was considered inappropriate for a Hindu to marry into a lower caste, she married, on 13 November 1880, Babu Bipin Behari Medhavi, a Bengali lawyer at Bankipore, who was not a Brahmin but a Shudra. Six months after the birth of their daughter Manorama, Babu died in 1882, and Pandita was once again left with just one family member, her daughter, Ramabai received a scholarship to study in Britain. During her time there she converted to Christianity. When she returned to India, she started homes for the destitute and Christian churches which had Sanskrit script rather than the Roman script which was used for English and other European languages. Ramabai combined her new Christian ideals with her old Indian culture and used this mix to promote change in India. She also lectured across America for three years on the plight of women and child widows in India; and when the Ramabai Foundation was formed in America to collect funds for her projects in India, more than $30,000 was collected. More than 10,000 copies of her book, High Caste Hindu Women were sold in America, the profits from which were used give shelter to destitute women in India!

She wrote a book about her travels to the United States [She wrote about her American experience in a book titled United States Chi Lokasthiti Ani Pravasvrutta (Status of Society of United States and a travelogue)]and it has been published in English translation as Pandita Ramabai's American Encounter. The book is a traveler's account of the people and culture of the United States. It contains a pointed comparison of the status of women in the U.S.A. and India, and suggests that India should follow the path of reform, but is not without criticisms of American society, particularly its race problem.

Social service

In addition to her writing Ramabai founded the Arya Mahila Sabha in 1881, in Pune, the very first Indian feminist organization. She studied and taught about issues which surround Indian women especially those involved in the Hindu traditions. She spoke against the practice of child marriage and the terrible constraints on the lives of child widows.

In 1889 Ramabai established the Mukti Mission in Pune, as a refuge and a Gospel witness for young widows deserted and abused by their families; she also established Krupa Sadan, a home for destitute women. In Sanskrit and most Indian languages MUKTI means liberation. She was also involved in establishing a Church at Mukti. The Pandita Ramabai Mukti Mission is still active today, providing housing, education, vocational training, and medical services, for many needy groups including widows, orphans, and the blind. Ramabai also started SHARDA SADAN, which also provided housing, education, vocational training and medical services for many needy groups including widows, orphans and the blind.

Family life

As Pandita Ramabai involved herself in social service, there was little family life for her. Her childhood was full of hardships, she lost her parents early and her husband expired within two years of marriage. She had also to educate her only daughter Manorama bai. She did this well: Manorama completed her BA at Bombay University, went to America for higher studies, returned to India and worked as Principal of Sharada Sadan, Mumbai. With her help, Pandita Ramabai established Christian High school at Gulbarga (now in Karnataka), a backward district of south India, during 1912, and her daughter was Principal of the school. But Manorama's untimely death was a shock to Ramabai, and within two years of daughter's death, on 5 April 1922 she herself took her last breath. Her contribution to Christianity in India is much appreciated.

Awards and honors

"Pandita" and "Saraswati" at Bengal (before going to Britain), recognising her skills in Sanskrit. Kaisar-i-Hind medal for community service in 1919, awarded by the British Government. She is honored with a feast day on the liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church (USA) on April 5.

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

External links

• Life Testimony of Pandita Ramabai
• Panditha Ramabai,Saraswathi: Making of a social entrepreneur [1]