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Pandita Ramabai Sarasvati

opinionPandita Ramabai Sarasvati

Pandita Ramabai Sarasvati (1858-1922), a follower of Jesus Christ, was a social reformer, a pioneer in the field of education and emancipation of women, who confronted nearly every rule and tradition that restricted the flourishing of life for every person, especially of women. Ramabai was accorded the title of Pandita as a Sanskrit scholar because her father, Anant Shastri Dongre, kept her at home and taught her Sanskrit. The University of Calcutta accorded her the title of Sarasvati. Since she believed in the equality of all human beings, she married what people called an outcast and, as an exceptional widow remained in public view, defying customs. As a 29-year-old passionate about women’s liberation, she called widowhood “the worst and most dreaded period of a high-caste woman’s life.” In 1896, during a severe famine, Ramabai toured the villages of Maharashtra with a caravan of bullock carts, rescued thousands of outcast children, child widows, orphans, and other needy women and brought them to the shelter of Mukti and Sharada Sadan. Ramabai faced opposition but found allies in Mahatma Jyotiba Phule and his wife, Savitri, the two reformers. She learned that the heart of true religion was the love of God and the love of one’s neighbour as oneself, just as Jesus taught. She believed Jesus spoke to ordinary people in their mother tongue; thus, she was eager to translate the Bible into her mother tongue, Marathi, from the original Hebrew and Greek. In the late 1890s, she founded Mukti Mission at Kedgaon village, later named Pandita Ramabai Mukti Mission, a service for destitute and orphan girls. In 1919, she was given Kaiser-i-Hind award by the King of England, the highest award that an Indian could get during the colonial regime. Ramabai was a scholar saint who communicated the love of God and worked for the common good of humanity. Her life of self-giving love continues to inspire.

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