Pandita Ramabai

Pandita Ramabai Sarasvati was born on 23 April 1858 in Maharashtra. Her father, Anant Shastri Dongre, was a Sanskrit scholar who believed that women should receive education. He and Ramabai's mother educated her in Sanskrit despite opposition from orthodox sections of society. Ramabai's early life was marked by extensive travel with her family, and by her teenage years she had lost both her parents and later her elder brother.

Ramabai and her brother eventually traveled to Calcutta, where her knowledge of Sanskrit attracted considerable attention. In 1878, scholars in Calcutta publicly recognized her learning and gave her the titles “Pandita” and “Sarasvati.” She subsequently became increasingly involved in discussions about women's education, social restrictions, child marriage, and the difficult conditions faced by Hindu widows.

In 1880, Ramabai married Bipin Behari Das Medhavi, a Bengali lawyer and social reformer. Their daughter, Manorama, was born in 1881. Her husband died of cholera in 1882, leaving Ramabai a young widow with an infant daughter. After returning to western India, she devoted herself increasingly to the education and advancement of women.

Ramabai later traveled to England and the United States, where she studied, taught, and raised support for educational work in India. During her time in England, she converted to Christianity. She returned to India with plans to establish educational institutions for women and girls.

In 1889, she founded Sharada Sadan in Bombay as a school for girls, including child widows. Her educational work combined academic instruction with practical and vocational training. She also advocated greater access to education and medical care for Indian women and gave evidence before the Hunter Commission on women's education.

During the famine of the late 1890s, Ramabai expanded her work to provide shelter and assistance to vulnerable women and children. She established the Mukti Mission at Kedgaon near Pune, which became a major center for education, shelter, and vocational training. The institution later became known as the Pandita Ramabai Mukti Mission.

Ramabai also wrote extensively. Her best-known English-language work, The High-Caste Hindu Woman, examined the social conditions experienced by women in contemporary India, particularly child widows. Her writings and educational activities made her an important figure in the history of women's reform and education in India. She died on 5 April 1922 at Kedgaon, Maharashtra.