Study Guide: Pandita Ramabai

---

2. Ramabai Ranade (1862–1924)

She was the institutional builder. The wife of the famous reformer Justice M.G. Ranade, she carried forward his legacy through organized social service.

• Ideology: Moderate and reformist. She worked within the social fabric of Hindu society rather than breaking away from it.
• Legacy: She dedicated her life to the education of women, focusing on making them self-reliant through vocational skills.
• Key Organizations:
  • Seva Sadan (Poona branch, 1909): This is her most famous contribution. It trained women as nurses, teachers, and midwives.
  • Bharat Mahila Parishad/LADIES SOCIAL CONFERENCE (1904 BOMBAY): The women’s wing of the National Social Conference.

1. Bharat Stree Mahamandal (1910)

• Founder: Sarla Devi Chaudharani in Allahabad.
• Significance: This is considered the first major Indian women’s organization started by a woman. It aimed to bring women of all castes and creeds together to work for their common interests, specifically education.

2. Ladies Social Conference (Bharat Mahila Parishad) (1904)

• Founder: Ramabai Ranade (wife of M.G. Ranade).
• Context: It functioned under the umbrella of the National Social Conference. It served as a platform for women to discuss social issues like child marriage and the education of girls.

3. Arya Mahila Samaj (1882)

• Founder: Pandita Ramabai Saraswati in Pune.
• Refinement on the “Medical” Result: Pandita Ramabai’s testimony before the Hunter Commission (1882) was what really pushed for women’s medical education.
  • Her plea reached Queen Victoria, which directly influenced the creation of the National Association for Supplying Medical Aid by Women to the Women of India (The Dufferin Fund).
• Branch in Bombay: You are correct; Ramabai Ranade established the Bombay branch.

4. National Council of Women in India (NCWI) (1925)

• Context: It was a national branch of the International Council of Women.
• Key Correction on Mehribai Tata: Mehribai Tata was instrumental in its formation and served as its President. She was a vocal advocate against the purdah system and child marriage.
• Cornelia Sorabji: Notable as the first female graduate from Bombay University and the first woman to practice law in India and Britain.

5. All India Women’s Conference (AIWC) (1927)

• Founder: Margaret Cousins.
• Evolution: It started primarily to address women’s education, but by the second meeting, it realized it couldn’t separate education from social reforms (like child marriage), leading to its heavy involvement in the passing of the Sarda Act (1930).
• Founding Leadership: Maharani Chimnabai Gaekwad was the first President.

1. Abolition of Sati

• The Law: The Bengal Sati Regulation (Regulation XVII) was passed in 1829 by Lord William Bentinck.
• Key Figure: Raja Ram Mohan Roy used ancient texts to prove that Sati had no religious sanction, providing the moral ground for the legal ban.
• Status: It initially applied to the Bengal Presidency but was extended to Madras and Bombay in 1830.

2. Preventing Female Infanticide

• Early Regulations: Regulations of 1795 and 1804 declared infanticide as murder, but enforcement was weak.
• The 1870 Act: The Female Infanticide Prevention Act (1870) was a critical step, making it compulsory for parents to register births and allowing for the monitoring of female birth rates in “suspect” areas.

3. Widow Remarriage

• The Legislation: Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar was the primary force behind the Hindu Widows’ Remarriage Act (Act XV of 1856). He personally signed a petition with nearly 1,000 signatures to counter orthodox opposition.Lord Canning, who succeeded Dalhousie, passed the act on July 16, 1856, and it was officially enacted on July 26, 1856
• Key Activists:
  • Vishnu Shastri Pandit: Founded the Widow Remarriage Association(in Marathi as Vidhav Vivah Uttejak Mandali)) in 1861 in bombay.help by mg ranade
  • D.K. Karve: A pioneer who founded the Hindu Widows’ Home in 1896 and later established the SNDT Women’s University (the first in India) in 1916.
  • Karsondas Mulji: Published Satya Prakash in Gujarati to challenge the status quo of the priestly classes regarding women’s rights.
  • Veeresalingam Pantulu: Founded the Rajahmundry Social Reform Association in 1878 to promote widow remarriage in the Telugu-speaking areas of the Madras Presidency.
  • 1. 1850: Widow Remarriage Association
  • Founder: Vishnu Shastri Pandit.
  • Focus: This was the first of its kind in Western India. He was deeply inspired by Vidyasagar and translated his works into Marathi.
  • 2. 1865: Vidhava-Vivaha Uttejak Mandal
  • Founder: Vishnu Shastri Pandit (with support from M.G. Ranade).
  • Note: Many sources cite 1865 or 1866 for this “Society for the Encouragement of Widow Remarriage.” This was the more active, institutionalized version of the 1850 association.
  • 3. 1893: Vidhava-Vivahottejak Mandali
  • Founder: D.K. Karve.
  • Personal Context: Karve founded this in the same year he married a widow (Godubai).
  • Name Change: In 1895, he renamed it to Vidhava-Vivaha-Pratibandh-Nivarak Mandali (Society to Remove Obstacles to Widow Remarriage).

Facts for D.K. Karve

• Personal Life: He indeed practiced what he preached. In 1893, he married a widow named Godubai (later known as Anandibai), which was a revolutionary act at the time.
• The Widows’ Home: He founded the Anath Balikashram (Widows’ Home) in 1896 in Poona (specifically in Hingne). The goal was to provide shelter and vocational training to widows so they could become self-reliant.
• Secretary Role: He served as the Secretary of the Widow Remarriage Association (Vidhavavivaha Pratibandhak Nivarak Mandali), which he helped revitalize in 1893.
• Educational Milestone: A major point to add to your notes is that he founded the SNDT (Shreemati Nathibai Damodar Thackersey) Indian Women’s University in 1916 in Bombay—the first women’s university in India.

4. Controlling Child Marriage

• Native Marriage Act (1872): Also known as the Civil Marriage Act, it prohibited child marriage but applied only to those who declared they were not Hindus, Muslims, or Christians (limited impact).
• Age of Consent Act (1891): Sparked by the efforts of Behramji M. Malabari, this raised the age of consent for girls from 10 to 12 years.
• The Sarda Act (1930): (Named after Harbilas Sarda)
  • To be precise, the Child Marriage Restraint Act (1929), which came into effect in 1930, set the minimum age of marriage at 14 for girls and 18 for boys.
  • Note: These ages were later raised to 18 and 21 respectively in 1978.

1. Calcutta Female Juvenile Society (1819)

• Context: This was the first organized effort for female education in Bengal.
• Refinement: While founded by the Baptist Missionary Society, it was later renamed the Bengal Christian School Society (1821). Its primary focus was on establishing “free schools” for girls in Calcutta.

2. Bethune School (1849)

• Founder: John Elliot Drinkwater Bethune (President of the Council of Education).
• Significance: It was the first fruit of a powerful movement for women’s education in the 1840s and 50s. Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar served as its Secretary and was instrumental in its success.

3. I.C. Vidyasagar’s Contribution

• Correction/Refinement: As the Special Inspector of Schools, Vidyasagar was responsible for establishing 35 girls’ schools in the districts of Bengal, often at his own expense. He believed that education was the only way to break the shackles of social degradation.

4. Charles Wood’s Despatch (1854)

• The “Magna Carta” of Indian Education: It was the first official document to clearly state that the government should support female education. It recommended grants-in-aid to private girls’ schools.

5. Health and Medicine (1880s–1916)

• Dufferin Hospital (1885): This was part of the “National Association for Supplying Medical Aid by Women to the Women of India” (The Countess of Dufferin’s Fund). It was revolutionary because it aimed to provide medical care to Indian women by female doctors, respecting the purdah system of the time.
• Lady Hardinge Medical College (1916): Established in Delhi to train Indian women as doctors, ensuring that “women treat women.”

---

Maharashtra Reformers: The West India Context

• Jagannath Shankar Seth & Bhau Daji Lad: They were the pioneers in Bombay. They founded the Students’ Literary and Scientific Society, which opened the first girls’ schools in the city in 1849 (the same year as Bethune in Calcutta).
• Jyotiba Phule & Savitribai Phule: You should definitely add them to your notes. They opened a school for girls in Poona (1848), which predates many of the official government efforts.