PANDITA RAMABAI (1858-1920) & SHARADA SADAN
1-Pandita Ramabai, the youngest daughter of Anant Shastri, was a social reformer, a champion for the emancipation of women, and a pioneer in education.
2-Left totally alone by the time she was 23, Ramabai acquired a great reputation as a Sanskrit scholar.
3-Deeply impressed by her prowers, the Sanskrit scholars of Calcutta University conferred on her the titles of "Saraswati" and "Pandita".
4-She rebelled against the caste system and married a shudra advocate, but was widowed at 23, having a baby girl.
5-In 1882, she establishsed the Arya Mahila Samaj for the cause of women’s education in Pune and different parts of Western India.
6- This led to the formation of the Sharada Sadan in 1889 - which school completes a hundred years this year - a school which blossomed into an umbrella organisation called Pandita Ramabai Mukti Mission, 40 miles outside Pune.
7-In 1896, during a severe famine Ramabai toured the villages of Maharashtra with a caravan of bullock carts and rescued thousands of out-caste children, child widows, orphans and other destitute women and brought them to the shelter of Mukti and Sharada Sadan.
8-A learned woman knowing seven languages, she also translated the Bible into her mother tongue - Marathi - from the original Hebrew and Greek. Her work continues today, a memorial to her life and path.
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