Presentation is about women participation in Indian Freedom Struggle

1. DR. MEHERJYOTI SANGLE,
Department of History,
S. N.D.T. Women’s University, Mumbai
E-mail : drmeher2020@gmail.com

2. Indian freedom struggle
The Indian freedom struggle has been associated
• with the organized counter attacks to the British
imperialistic policy.
• Series of historic memorable events
• Organised and unorganised mass movement.
• It affected Indian people by both internal and external
factors.
• Indian Freedom struggle enhanced Indian Nationalism.

3. Indian Nationalism
• The late nineteenth century saw the emergence of Indian
nationalism.
• Indian nationalism developed as a concept during the
Indian independence movement
• which campaigned for independence from British rule.
• Indian nationalism is an instance of territorial nationalism,
• which is inclusive of all of the people of India,
• despite their diverse ethnic, linguistic and religious
backgrounds.
• Indians felt like one and they tried to overthrow the foreign

4. Nationalist struggle in India
• The Nationalist struggle in India against the British colonial
rule brought about the political mobilisation of each men and
women.
• From liberal homes and conservative families, urban centres
and rural districts, women- single and married, young and old-
came forward and joined the struggle against colonial rule.
• Participation of women within the public life’ made them aware
about the opposite provinces of India.
• Press especially vernacular press played a great tool to make a
public literary movement.

5. Education & Social Reforms
• Education, social reform and women rights appealed to some
progressive ladies.
• but the movement to free the country of its foreign rulers
attracted folks from all classes,
• communities,
• both sexes,
• religions and
• philosophical persuasions.
• Women participated in all levels, all dimensions of the freedom
struggle.

6. Role of Press-
• The press was used as a powerful tool for distributing ideas of
the citizens of India against the British rule.
• Many national list journals published during this period which
spread ideas of Liberty justice and Patriotism among the
people of the country.
• Vernacular press played to awake the pupil.
• Media played a significant role in gathering people together to fight
for the freedom struggle in India.
• The newspapers and journals in the 1800s played a part in educating,
influencing and gathering people in spreading thenationalist ideas.
• In 1824, Raja Rammohan Roy had protested against a resolution

7. Vernacular Press
• Many newspapers emerged during these years under
distinguished and fearless journalists.
• In fact, these newspapers had a wide reach
• and they stimulated the popular library movement.
• The impact of this movement was not limited to cities and
towns; these newspapers also reached remote villages,
• where each news item and editorial would be read and
discussed thoroughly in local libraries.
• Thus libraries enabled not only political education but also
political participation.

8. Joan Kelly& Tagore
• “To restore women to history and to
restore, our history to Women”
• Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore
considered “’women as builders and
moulders of nation’s destiny.”

9. Silent Voices
• When most of the men freedom fighters were in prison the women came forward and took
charge of the struggle.
• The list of great women whose names have gone down in history for their dedication and
undying devotion to the service of India is a long one.
• Voices of women’s contribution to the Indian freedom struggle became silent in the
main stream of historiography.
• Even feminists did not focus on this subject. Their roles and participation are ignored
and their voices are silenced.
• Their roles and participation are ignored, neglected and not recorded.
• Their voices are silenced.
• History of freedom struggle mentioned very few names of women.
• There were thousands and millions participated in all phases of Indian freedom
struggle.
• Their role has not been recorded in the history.
• But their names are beyond memory of the people of nation.

10. Historiography
• Indian nationalist leaders -Speeches and writings
• Some women freedom fighters penned down their experiences and life
stories during freddom struggle
• Chapman, E.F., -Sketches of Some Distinguished Indian Women,1891
• Kamaladevi Chattopadhya -
• “I remember” 1921 Movement Reminiscences, 1971
• The Awakening of Indian Women, 1939.
• Many women freedom fighters wrote their lives struggle after independence.
• Historans focus on their participation such as Judith Brown , Rohini
Gavankar, Y. D. Phadake covered other parts of India by using oral history
projects.

11. Nationalist struggle in India
• The Nationalist struggle in India against the British colonial
rule brought about the political mobilisation of each men and
women.
• From liberal homes and conservative families, urban centres
and rural districts, women- single and married, young and old-
came forward and joined the struggle against colonial rule.
• Participation of women within the public life’ made them
aware
about the opposite provinces of India.

12. Phases of women’s contribution till 1947
• Phases
• 1. Before Revolt of 1857
• 2. Revolt of 1857
• 3. Age of Gandhian Satyagrahas
• 4. Revolutionary Movements
• 5. Indian National Army

13. Royal Women
• Before 1857, women from royal families
• Woman's participation in India's freedom struggle began as
early as in 1817 .
• Bhima Bai Holkar: The first woman to wield a sword against the
British.
• She fought bravely against the British colonel Malcolm and
defeated him in guerilla warfare.
• She was named Bhima due to her indomitable boldness. She
was well versed in all warfares but excelled in Guerrilla warfare
• Many women including Rani Channama of Kittur, Rani Begam
Hazrat Mahal of Avadh fought against British East India
company in the 19th century;
• 30 years before the “First War of Independence 1857”

14. Bhima Bai Holkar
Bhima Bai Holkar: The first woman to
wield a sword against the British.
She was a daughter of Yashwant Rao
Holkar, Maharaja of Indore.
She was the grand-daughter of queen
Ahilya Bai Holkar and the elder sister of
Malhar Rao Holkar III.
She fought bravely against the British
colonel Malcolm and defeated him in
guerilla warfare.
She was named Bhima due to her
indomitable boldness. She was well
versed in all warfares but excelled in
Guerrilla warfare.

15. • Rani Channama of Kittur was the Indian Queen (Rani) of Kittur, one
of the first female rulers to rebel against British rule,
• a princely state in Karnataka.
• She led an armed resistance against the British East India Company
(BEIC) in 1824
• in defiance of the doctrine of lapse in an attempt to maintain Indian
control over the region, in which she defeated them,
• but she was dead in the imprisonment of second rebellion by
the British East India Company on 13 july 1830.
• She became a folk hero in Karnataka and symbol of the
independence movement in India.

16. • Major causes of revolt of 1857 Doctrine of Lapse, Ill-treatment with Bahadur Shah
Zafar,
• Annexation of Oudh, Biased Police and Judiciary
• The role played by women in the War of Independence (the Great Revolt) of 1857
was creditable
• and invited the admiration even leaders of the Revolt.
• Rani of Ramgarh, Rani Jindan Kaur, Rani Tace Bai, Begam Jhalkaribai, Begam
Hazarat Mahal, Maina Peshve, ajijan Begam, Zinat Mahal,
• Baiza Bai, Chauhan Rani, Tapasvini Maharani daringly led their troops into the
battlefield.
• Even though spread over a vast territory
• and widely popular among the people,

17. Lakshmi Bai Hazrat Mahal Jhalkar
Bai

18. Kittur Rani Chennama Durga Bai Deshmukh-
Rani Gaidinly

19. On Her bravely Work.....
• V. D. Savarkar mentioned
• “ The Queen of Jhansi is a radiant flame created by the
eruption of 1857.”
• Sir Hugh Rose, “Although a lady, she was the bravest and best
military leader of the rebels, a man among the mutinitiees.”
• Twenty years after her death Colonel Malleson wrote in the
History of the Indian Mutiny; vol. 3; London, 1878-”Whatever
her faults in British eyes may have been, her countrymen will
ever remember that she was driven by ill-treatment into
rebellion, and that she lived and died for her country, We
cannot forget her contribution for India.”

20. • Weak leadership.
• Not planned and organized.
• Lack of unity among the rebels
• and there was no common purpose among them during the
revolt of 1857.
• The revolt did not spread to all the parts of India instead it was
confined to the Northern and Central India.
• the Revolt of 1857 could not embrace the entire country or all
the groups and classes of Indian society.
• Most rulers of the Indian states and the big zamindars, selfish
to the core and fearful of British might, refused to join in.
• Mostly women surprised the work and role played by royal
women and their women army.

21. Women in Freedom Struggle

22. Phase -V Age of Gandhian Satyagrahas
• Gandhi started Satyagraha- a new outlook to protest
British.
• This age was mass movement.
• Mahatma Gandhi’s Satyagarha movements inspired
more masses of women to break the linkages
• and orthodoxy of the patriarchal norms of society
• and come out of their domestic duties anf homes for
contribution to freedom struggles.
• Indian women who joined the national movement
belonged to educated and liberal families, rich and poor,
urban and rural, elite and ordinary women as well as
those from the rural areas and from all walk of life, all

23. Gandhian Satyagrahas
• Women played a multidimensional roles
• as in active agitation, picketeers, volunteers,
• nurses, processionists, planners,
• organisers in Gandhi’s Satyagraha movement.
• It is imperative that we remember these women with
extraordinary courage and commitment to bring a change.
• Mahatma Gandhiji had once said that the part played by
women is indiscernible.

24. Women crossed Domestic Roles
• During freedom movement, innumerable women entered the public domain
to fight against obscurantists. .
• Role models such as Dr. Subbhalaxmi, Dr. Durgabai Deshmukh, Smt.
Mrudula Sarabhai, Smt. Pushpaben Mehta, Smt. Kamaladevi
Chattopadhyaya, nightingale of India, Sarijini Naidu, Smt. Rukaiya Sakhavat
Hussain, Dr. Ushaben Mehta, Sarojini Naidu, Kasturba Gandhi, Vijayalakmi
Pundit and Annie Bezant made glorious contributions by institution building
also so that future generation of girls and women could get enablement and
empowerment.

25. Gandhiji’s Envcouragement & support
• “A nation that can not protect it’s Women’s honour and the
interest of it children doesn’t deserve to be called by that name.
Such people are not a nation but mere brutes.” Gandhiji on the
Declaration of the Supreme Court of South Africa.
• “Woman is more fitted than man to make exploration and take
bolder action in nonviolence.”
• He was reached, rrespondenced with many satyagrahi women.
• Women shared their experiences with him boldly.
• Though they didnot understand ahimsa or non-violence.
• Gangaben, one women wrote letter to Gandhiji and narrated
incidence how police attacked by lathis on many women.

26. Kasturba Gandhi Sarojini Naidu Kamala Nehru

27. Non-cooperation movement
• Gandhiji started Non-Cooeration mobvement for self-rule
and non-cooperation movement.
• Sarla Devi, Muthulaxmi Reddy, Susheela Nair, Rajkumari
Amrit Kaur, Sucheta Kripalani and Aruna Asaf Ali are
some the women who participated in the non-violent
movement.
• Kasturba Gandhi and the women of the Nehru family,
Kamla Nehru, Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit and Swarup Rani,
also participated in the National Movement.
• Lado Rani Zutshi and her daughters Manmohini, Shyama
and Janak led the movement in Lahore.

28. Civil Disobedience the Dandi Salt March
• The Civil Disobedience Movement was an important milestone in the history of
Indian Independence.
• The aim of this movement was a complete disobedience of the orders of the
British Government.
• It was decided that India would celebrate 26th January as Independence Day all
over the country.
• The British Government tried to repress the movement and resorted to brutal
firing, killing hundreds of people. Thousands were arrested along with Gandhiji
and Jawaharlal Nehru.
• But the movement spread to all the four corners of the country.British government
agreed that total 75 thousand people were arrested. Out of 75 thousands people
3630 women were arrested during Civil Disobedience movement.

29. The Quit India Movement (1942)
• In August 1942, the Quit India movement was launched.
• Mahatam Gandhiji declared
• "I want freedom immediately, this very night before dawn if
it can be had. We shall free India or die in the attempt, we
shall not live to see the perpetuation of our slavery".
• British arrested all national leaders.
• British attcked brutal repression against non-violent
satyagrahis.
• The Quit India resolution directly addressed women "as
disciplined soldiers of Indian freedom", required to sustain
the flame of war.

30. The Quit India Movement (1942)
• Usha Mehta, a committed patriot set up a radio transmitter,
called The "Voice of Freedom" to disseminate the
"mantra" of freedom-war.
• Many of us don’t know that there were hundreds of
women
• who fought side by side with their male counterparts.
• They fought with true spirits and undismayed courage.

31. Concluding remarks...
• The Indian women broke away from various restrictions
• and got out of their traditional home-oriented roles and
responsibilities.
• Mothers left their children to friends, neighbours and
relatives but they participated and imprisoned many
months in jails.
• So the participation of women in the freedom struggle
• and National awakening is simply incredible and praise
worthy.

32. Conclusion
• When most of the men freedom fighters were in the
prison ,
• the women came forward and took charge of the struggle.
• Many families both parents were imprisoned.
• They fought with true spirit
• and unafraid courage and faced various tortures
• and explorations and hardships to earn us freedom.
• Hundreds and thousands of Indian women dedicated their
lives for obtaining freedom of their motherland.