pandita ramabai

1. PANDITA
RAMABAI-
GENDER
MADE BY
AKANKSHA ARORA -
18/1296

2. Contents
 Personal background
 Major events in her life
 Awards and honors
 Conclusion

3. PERSONAL BACKGROUND
 Born in a Brahmana , Marathi speaking family in 1858.
 Social reformer and a pioneer in early Indian feminism
 Her Life was full of tragedies, lost her parents at a very young age , after that her brother died ,Also when
she got married her husband died very soon after it.
 Since a very young age she struggled to earn livelihood, but she was a very bold , radical and a woman
ahead of her time .
 She had a strong aim to do something for women causes and advocated for their liberty in many ways, she is
known for her Ministry among Destitute & Orphan girls.
 Awarded with titles like ‘Pandita’ and ‘Sarasvati’
 NOTABLE WORK- The High-Caste Hindu Woman
 CHILDHOOD- Ramabai was born in a family of learned people her father had deep knowledge of
Sanskrit and Hindu scriptures which he also imparted to his wife, From a very young age she grew up in a
deep academic environment therefore she was well versed in Sanskrit and the scriptures .
 During the time of a famine-1876-78 her parents died which was tragic for young kids –Ramabai and
Srinivas.

4. MAJOR LIFE EVENTS
Stopover at Bengal Marriage
Back home at
Maharashtra
Contact with
Christianity
Voyage to
England and
conversion
Under the
authority of the
Church
Travels to America
Establishment of
Sharda Sadan
Relief Work and
contributions

5. Stopover at Bengal
1878
1880
Visit to Calcutta- Ramabai and her brother met the intellectual elite, including pandits and reformers, and were
welcomed by them. She was asked to lecture on women (among the topics she lectured on was female emancipation,
the education of women and the Rise and Fall of the Aryan Race and was advised by the leading Brahmo
reformer,Keshub Chandra Sen, to study the Vedas.
This was the time that she realized that she had to dedicate her life to women’s cause and suffering
Calcutta University, conferred on her the titles of Pandita and Sarasvati in recognition of
her knowledge of various Sanskrit works.
Marriage
She married Bipin Behari Medhavi who belonged to Shudra caste and was a friend of his brother
,they were married acc to the Civil Marriage Act , but this marriage was subjected to criticism
because of its inter -caste nature. They had a daughter named Manorama. Her husband died after
2 years , again she was left alone .

6. Back home in Maharashtra
PUNE-1882
Her major aim
The moderate reformers in the Prarthana Samaj like Ranade and Bhandarkar had
invited her back and promised to provide support for her.
Setting up Arya Mahila Sabha
Appearing Before Hunter Commission
- the setting-up of a widows' home for high-caste Hindu widows,
whose oppression was the subject of much concern

7. Contact with Christianity
 She was in a personal quest for religious fulfilment , though she was a Hindu, but she had said practices in the
tradition which where derogatory or degrading to women, so she had no back to fall upon as much as she raised
the issues of widowed women their independence in their choices , the more she faced criticism by her own
community .
 Her public visibility and personal quest brought into notice of the missionaries.
 Early 1883 -she left for England. in order to raise money for her passage she wrote and published Stri Dharma
Niti, a book about 'morals' for women." Ramabai's decisive move to Christianity appears to have followed her
introduction to tie 'rescue' work carried on by the sisters in London. She was particularly moved by her meeting
with women who had once been inmates at the 'Rescue Home', an institution for fallen women, who were now
so 'completely changed', and so filled with devote for Christ and compassion for 'suffering humanity', that they
had gone on to devote their lives to the service of the sick and the infirm. Ramabai was drawn to the service
aspect of Christianity. She was also struck by the fact that Christians, regarded as outcastes by Hindus, were
attempting to help those 'unfortunate women who were degraded in the eyes of society.
 It was after this, according to her official account of her move into Christianity. thar she made a decisive break
with the religion of her ancestors and was baptized along with her daughter on 29 September 1883. She
changed her name to Mary Rama.
 Her conversion was highly criticised in India
Voyage to England and Conversion

8. Under the authority of the church
 In September 1884 Ramabai joined the Women’s College, Cheltenham, as a student and as a teacher of Marathi.
The new role envisaged for her as a teacher, and possibly as a public lecturer addressing students and
assemblies of women and men (in order to provide her with an income.
 It is important to point out that Ramabai never at any point in her post-conversion life, became a pliant tool in
the hands of the missionaries. Too independent for the Church, she had a relationship with various segments of
Christianity, in India and in England, marked by considerable tension. Among the missionaries, distrust of her
as a person never quite ended.
 Ramabai’s refusal to allow the missionaries to dictate the nature of her relationship to God, to India and to
Hinduism were at the heart of the reproaches they directed against her.
 1886 -Ramabai went to America to attend the graduation of a distant cousin, Anandibai Joshi.
 She went from Coast to coast and expanded her networks her , to gain funding for her widow home, Ramabai
was apparently the first public figure from India to solicit funds for setting up social institutions back home.
Ramabai appealed to the American women as women, to help the oppressed widows of India.
 She wrote the book The High caste Hindu Woman- which was her most popular and most widely sold work.
 It resulted in the formation bf the American Ramabai Association to provide funds for the opening and
continued maintenance of the Widows Home in India.
Travels in America

9. Setting up of Sharda Sadan
 In 1888 she had completed the initial task of raising funds, but was' clearly nervous about the road
ahead which, she wrote, 'seemed dark, unknown, and so difficult that she felt almost as if she were
going back to strange people.
 she proceeded to set up the home for widows , She called her home Sharda Sadan, the home of learning
 Ramabai continued in her role as a champion of women issues , participated in Annual Congress
Meeting of Dec 1889, spoke before an assembly of 2000 delegates.
 When she saw women in Sharda Sadan , she saw joy on their faces.
 Her opinion on widow remarriage was very different from the other social reformers.
 Ramabai was reconceptualizing widowhood and womanhood in a way that most male reformers could
never think of It was probably this unique social vision.
 Controversy with the board- accusations of conversions, but Ramabai said that Women were given
right to choose their own faith.

10. Awards and titles
 Pandita" 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.
 On 26 October 1989, in recognition of her contribution to the advancement of Indian women, the
Government of India issued a commemorative stamp.
 A road in Mumbai is also named in her honor. The road connecting Hughes Road to Nana
Chowk, in the vicinity of the Gamdevi locality is known as Pandita Ramabai Marg.

11. Contributions
 She was a very good social reformer .she was a liberal feminist with a liberal outlook.
 She expressed her concern for all kinds of women issues like female infanticide, Sati system.
 Her presence in politics encouraged other women to join politics. She used innovative measures for it,
organisations like Arya Mahila Sabha.
 Her contribution towards improving condition of women, and for their education were remarkable.
 Her thinking was quite ahead of her time and it impacted the coming generations.