Pandita Ramabai facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Pandita Ramabai
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Christian social reformer
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| Born | April 23, 1858 Karnataka, India
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| Died | April 5, 1922 Maharastra
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Pandita Ramabai (23 April 1858, Karnataka- 5 April 1922) was an Indian social reformer. A poet and scholar, she tried hard to change the lives of women in India for the better.
Early life and education
Pandita Ramabai Sarasvati was born as Ramabai Dongre on 23 April 1858. Her father, Anant Shastri Dongre, a Sanskrit scholar, taught her Sanskrit at home. This was in stark contrast to the prevalent customs.
Orphaned at the age of 16 during the Great Famine of 1876–78, Ramabai and her brother Srinivas continued the family tradition of traveling the country reciting Sanskrit scriptures. Ramabai was comfortable in addressing all genders but women in those times would not come out in public spaces. Sometimes, she would go inside the female quarters to convince the women to get educated. Ramabai's fame as a woman adept in Sanskrit reached Calcutta, where the pandits invited her to speak. Her address in the senate hall of Calcutta University was well-received and won her great acclaim. In 1878, Calcutta University conferred on her the titles of Pandita and Sarasvati in recognition of her knowledge of various Sanskrit works.
In 1880, Ramabai married Bipin Behari Medhvi, a Bengali lawyer. The couple had a daughter on 16 April 1881 whom they named Manorama (english translation:heart's joy). Around this time Ramabai wrote a poem on the deplorable condition of Sanskrit and sent it to the forthcoming Oriental Congress to be held in Berlin. Its transalation was read with her introduction and deep appreciation by Indologist Monier Monier-Williams. Unfortunately, Bipin Bihari Medhvi succumbed to cholera on 4 February 1882. After Medhvi's death , Ramabai, who was only 23, moved to Pune and founded an organisation to promote women's education.
Social activism
With earnings from the sale of her first book, Stri Dharma Niti ("Morals for Women," 1882), Ramabai went to Britain in 1883 to start medical training. However, she was rejected from medical programs because of her progressive deafness. During her stay she converted to Christianity.
In 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 of her relative and the first female Indian doctor, Anandibai Joshi, staying for two years. During this time she also translated textbooks and gave lectures throughout the United States and Canada. She also published one of her most important books, The High-Caste Hindu Woman. The High-Caste Hindu Woman showed the darkest aspects of the life of Hindu women and sought to expose the oppression of women in Hindu-dominated British India. Through her activism, Ramabai raised the equivalent of 60,000 rupees to launch a school in India for girls and widows.
In 1889, Ramabai returned to India. During the severe famine of 1896, Ramabai toured the villages of Maharashtra with a caravan of bullock carts and rescued thousands of outcast children, orphans, and other destitute women and brought them to the shelter of the Mukti Mission. By 1900 there were 1,500 residents and over a hundred cattle in the Mukti mission. A learned woman knowing seven languages, she also translated the Bible into her mother tongue—Marathi—from the original Hebrew and Greek. The Pandita Ramabai Mukti Mission is still active today, providing housing, education, vocational training, etc. for many needy groups including widows, orphans, and the blind.
Death
Ramabai died on 5 April 1922 from septic bronchitis, a few weeks before her 64th birthday.
Awards and honors
- "Pandit" and "Sarasvati" at Bengal (before going to Britain), recognizing her skills in Sanskrit.
- Kaisari-i-Hind Medal for community service in 1919, awarded by the British Colonial Government of India.
- She is remembered in the Church of England with a commemoration on 30 April.
- On 26 October 1989, in recognition of her contribution to the advancement of Indian women, the Government of India issued a commemorative stamp.
See also
In Spanish: Pandita Ramabai para niños
