PANDITA RAMABAI THROUGH HER OWN WORDS: SELECTED WORKS Edited By Meera Kosambi, Oxford, Rs 575
'The Maharashtrian psyche still grapples with the dilemma of understanding, and slotting, Pandita Ramabai,' writes Meera Kosambi in her introduction to Pandita Ramabai: Through Her Own Words.
Readers have scarcely had access to the writings of Ramabai. A social reformer born in Karnataka in 1858, Ramabai's progressive thoughts on women's emancipation and religious faith marginalized her in the wider social spectrum. As translator and editor, Kosambi's aim has been to present a coherent body of Ramabai's works, in Marathi and English, and to trace in her the concurrent forces of a feminist consciousness and religio-cultural transition from Hinduism to Christianity.
In an era in which women's education was greatly discouraged, Ramabai skipped an early marriage and learned Sanskrit scriptures under her parents' tutelage. Her adolescence was spent in penury and her parents died of starvation. Later, she married a Bengali Brahmo and was ostracized by her in-laws (Ramabai being a Brahmin and her husband a Sudra). After two years of marital life in Assam, Ramabai was widowed with an infant daughter at the age of 24. By then, her erudition and oratorical skills had earned her the title of 'Pandita'.
Ramabai shifted to Maharashtra and founded the Arya Mahila Samaj with the intention of freeing upper-caste widows from oppressive customs. This also marked her career as a reformer and her growing feminist consciousness. In Stri Dharma Niti, published at about the same time, she berates women in a sermon-like tone for lacking the will to break free from the shackles of ignorance. A code of conduct is formulated with Sita and Savitri as role models. Although the ulterior motive for improving the women's lot seems to be meant for producing a stronger male Indian populace, she pinpoints the need for mutual consent in marriage and the futility of religious rituals. This stance is a bold defiance of the rigid caste set-up.
In 1882, Ramabai left for England to study medicine. There she wrote The Cry of Indian Women - a radically different piece from Stri Dharma Niti - as a fund-raiser for the Arya Mahila Samaj. The dichotomy of the former work is erased in this moving tale of the plight of Indian widows, whose rehabilitation and uplift would be her consistent goal. The Cry also endorses Ramabai's nationalist feelings. She boldly accuses the British government of amassing Indian wealth but doing nothing for the country in return. Indian Religion, written in 1883, reveals the seeds of a Christian influence on her mindset.
From 1886, Ramabai travelled extensively in the United States to generate awareness for her reform projects back home. The wide network that she had developed during a two-and-a-half-year stay financially aided her schemes later. The High-Caste Hindu Woman, written and published in America, became instantly popular. It analysed the caste and religion-based suppression of women and the anti-female orientation of Hindu scriptures.
On her return to India she opened Sharada Sadan, a shelter home for widows, in Pune. Later, Mukti Sadan and Kripa Sadan were also founded to rehabilitate famine victims. Her agenda also included their proselytization. Written around this period, A Testimony of Our Inexhaustible Treasure and The Word-Seed, record her reinforced belief in Christianity.
Ramabai's contemporaries mistrusted and questioned her nationalism as they saw in her a British agency of expanding colonial rule. But for Ramabai, the Christian worldview reflected the egalitarian society that she had always dreamt of.
The book will, at the very least, stimulate a growing interest among researchers in the life and times of this dynamic personality who continues to defy categorization. For the uninitiated too, it can be quite engrossing.
Tuesday, 21 October 2025