The Kiplings and India: A Collection of Writings from British India, 1870-1900

Pandita Ramabai

Pandita Ramabai (1858-1922) was a social worker, reformer, who is known widely today in India as a feminist pioneer. She lost her father, mother, and sister in the Madras Famine of 1876-1878. She and her brother found their way to Calcutta in 1878, where she was briefly married to a Bengali lawyer who subsequently passed away.

In 1887, Ramabai traveled to England to study and teach; she also converted to Christianity at this time. She subsequently traveled around the U.S. and Canada, giving lectures throughout North America raising attention to the situation of Indian women. Her most influential book was a critique of the status of women in Hinduism, called The High-Caste Hindu Woman. 

An extract of Ramabai's "Famine Experiences" (1897) can be found here.

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