Introduction 1. Early Life 2. Entry into Maharashtra 3. England and Conversion to Christianity 4. American Sojourn 5. Return to Maharashtra: Sharada Sadan 6. Kedgaon and Mukti Mission 7. Kedgaon: Religious Preoccupations 8. Epitaphs and Legacies References. Index
Biography
Meera Kosambi was a sociologist and retired as Professor and Director, Research Centre for Women’s Studies, SNDT University, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. She was trained in India, Sweden and the USA, and specialized in urban studies and women’s studies. She has contributed research-based writings and delivered lectures in many countries. Her publications include Gender, Culture and Performance: Marathi Theatre and Cinema before Independence (2015, Routledge); Crossing Thresholds (2007); Women Writing Gender (2012); and Mahatma Gandhi and Prema Kantak (2013).
"This study of the remarkable life of Pandita Ramabai (1858–1922) was penned by sociologist Kosambi (d. 2015; SNDT Women's Univ., Mumbai). Ramabai was born in Karnataka, India. With her brother, Shrinavas, with whom she was educated on an equal basis, she continued the work of their father, Anant Dongre (c. 1796–1874), who had founded a residential ashram that educated Brahmin boys in Sanskrit studies. The siblings traveled around India giving lectures, and in Calcutta, she received the title Pandita (learned master) for her Sanskrit learning. Her brother died in 1880, but she continued the work, establishing an international reputation as a social reformer, feminist, and Sanskrit scholar; her studies had begun when she was nine. She married a Bengali in 1880 in a controversial intercaste marriage, but he died two years later, leaving her with a daughter, Manorama. Her international fame came about with her travels to England and the US, her conversion to Christianity, and the publication of her warmly received feminist tract, The High-Caste Hindu Woman (1887). An excellent analysis and record of Ramabai with a selection of seven of her writings." Summing Up: Essential. -- R. D. Long, Eastern Michigan University, in CHOICE
