Pandita Ramabai laid the foundation of women`s liberation in India. She could not tolerate the injustice shown to women by men. Right from childhood, she could not stand injustice shown to women. Once she tried to save a little girl of nine from being burnt with the dead body of her husband. She rudely asked the girls mother: "If a woman has to burn and become sati, does man become sata after his wife`s death?" The girl`s mother simply said, "It is man`s world. They make laws: women have to obey." She was of the view that these laws are the brain of evil-minded men to make women inferior.

She made a firm resolve then that when she grow up she would fight against the injustice shown towards women. She said that it was an injustice to deny women the right to learn. According to her half of the expenditure of the temples is met by the generosity of women, as they never go empty handed without offering something to the deity while the men just ring the bell. Even then the priests and scholars consider women as obstacles in pur-suit of knowledge. She was against this male chauvinism. Pandita Ramabai was the symbol of the true spirit of Indian womanhood.

Ramabai was born on 1858 to Pt. Anantshastri Dongre and Laxmibai Dongre. Anantshastri was a great scholar. He defied society and taught Sanskrit to his wife and two daughters. He said, "There is nothing in the Shastras which prohibits women from learning Sanskrit". He proved his contention by giving more than 300 references but the orthodox scholars were not convinced and they ostracized him. He established his Ashram in the wilderness of Gangamul in Andhra Pradesh. He could not lead a happy life as the unscrupulous behaviour of his elder son-in-law deprived him of all his assets. He was forced to live the life of a nomad, reciting and interpreting Puranas, Bhagwat Gita and other holy books to people. The family survived on the meager cash or grain offered by the audience. The family traveled around for sixteen years.

Her father died when she was sixteen. They were then traveling through the famine-affected area of Venkatgiri and they could not give sugar and water, which he asked for on his deathbed. Nobody helped them in his burial. The dead body was wrapped in a sheet and was buried. Hardly had they recovered from the tragedy when Laxmibai became seriously ill. Again carrying the body of Laxmibai for cremation became a problem. With great difficulty Srinivas man-aged to get two men to help and he was the third. Ramabai came forward as the fourth pallbearer. Men objected. "Our shastras do not allow women to carry a dead body. Ramabai retorted "Daughters are also children of their parents. Just like sons. They have equal rights`. And she lifted the fourth corner of the arthi. Thus, Ramabai became the first Hindu woman to be a pallbearer.

Tragedies followed the family one after the other. Ramabai`s elder sister died soon after. Ramabai and Srinivas decided to leave the South which held too many sad memories. They thought that North India was rich and there they would get food and work. `They visited many holy places and followed all rituals. They recited and read religious scriptures but God did not help, nor motivated people to help. These bad experiences destroyed her faith in God. To satisfy their hunger they ate seeds of tamarind and drank water. They had no spare set of clothes. In the cold nights of Rajasthan with no woolen clothes they buried their bodies in sand and covered their faces with cloth. Perhaps this made her strong enough for her future mission to go through one disaster after another.

When they reached Calcutta they saw rays of hope and recognition, as Calcutta was full of scholars of different disciplines. There were enlightened leaders like Shri Dwarkanath Ganguli, Sashipad Banerjee, Keshab Chandra Sen and William Keri who preached equality of sexes. Ramabai and Srinivas performed Harikatha in one of the temples. The news of her knowledge of Sanskrit scriptures and oratory spread far and wide. Scholars, social workers, government officials and even European officers attended her speeches and discourses. Great scholars like Prof. Tone and Shri Maheshahandra Nyayrathna were present at the meeting.

Prof. Tone welcomed Ramabai by equating her to `Saraswati,` the goddess of learning` to which she humbly replied, "I am grateful for appreciating my knowledge, but I am no Saraswati. I am a humble devotee of that goddess of learning." After her speech she was given the titles of Pandita and Saraswati. People started calling her Pandita Ramabai Saraswati. Prestigious newspapers, like The Statesman, reported her speeches. She was honored at many special functions including one at the house of Maharaja Jyotindra Mohan Tagore. She felt elated when she met the great scholar Keshab Chandra Sen and he became her `Guru`.

Ramabai and her brother traveled to Guwahati and Sylhet. At Sylhet, Ramabai described the status of women in puranic times and the present and her description of women`s exploitation opened the eyes of many. Among them was the well-known advocate and scholar Bipin Bihari Das. They became good friends. Ramabai knew that he desired to marry her. But she did not want to leave her brother alone. After his death she married Bipin Bihari who was from a lower caste. Ramabai believed that in marriage both husband and wife were equal partners and should take place with the consent of both. Ramabai settled down to domestic life and gave birth to a daughter. Her married life did not last long as Bipin Chandra suddenly died of cholera. After which she went to Pune as per the invitation of enlightened people. Sanskrit scholars tested her eloquence and knowledge through Samasya Purti by asking her to complete couplets by giving only one line. Ramabai not only inter-preted and completed the given couplets but also pointed to the narrow-minded implications. Ramabai thus won not only the competition but also the respect and love of people.

Ramabai put forward her views on women`s education before the Hunter Commission. She explained the difficulties of women teachers and suggested that proper accommodation and security must be given to them and that government must act as their guardian and must not discriminate between male and. female teachers. She emphasized `the need of giving medical and para-medical training to women. Hunter was so impressed by her forceful and realistic approach that he translated here views into English and delivered a speech in England on Ramabai and her work. The English people were impressed by the modern thought, spirit and work of Rambai. Queen Victoria read her views and appreciated her.

She decided to go to London and she wrote a travelogue on her visit in which she answered many of her critics. At London she visited the rescue homes for women, called Sisters Homes. These rescue homes showed her the way to help Indian women. During this period Ramabai was going through a `spiritual battle`. Her faith in Hinduism had gone. Her study of Christianity and the concrete work done by Christian missionaries like setting up of Rescue Homes attracted her to Christianity. Jesus Christ`s teachings of love, compassion and equality appealed to her. The com-mitment of Christian nuns impressed her. She converted to Christianity. Even then she had differences with Christian priests and had courage to express them.

Ramabai went to the United States to attend the convocation of her cousin Anandibai Joshi who received a degree in medicine, and became the first Indian woman physician. Ramabai travelled all over USA. By this time her book The High Caste Hindu Women had been published in 1888. It became very popular and more than ten thousand copies were sold. People were impressed by her speeches and writings. Ramabai wrote a manual Balodyan in Marathi. Ramabai was the pioneer in advocating that Hindi should be the national language of multilingual India, She expressed this view in her book Lok Stithi. She suggested that Hindi should be devel-oped and enriched by incorporating words from other languages, whereever necessary, to express modern and scientific thoughts.

One of her great achievements was the establishment of Sharda Sadan, a home for widows and destitute women. Ramabai wanted the women of Sharda Sadan to become self-confident and independent. More and more women and girls joined the institu-tion and they enjoyed living in a free and friendly atmos-phere. Ramabai continued to address public meetings. She spoke against gambling, drinking and other evil habits that destroyed families. She encouraged widow remarriage The Orthodox Brah-mins criticized and accused her of spreading rebellion among women. They even accused her of converting helpless widows into Christians. They did not understand her spirit of love, compassion and service.

In fact, society never understood Ramabai and her thought. They did not appreciate her missionary zeal for making women independent and liberal in their thinking. She was ahead of her times. Men tried to suppress Rama-bai. But she was like the proverbial `phoenix` bird. After each tragedy she rose higher and higher. She wanted women to be independent and share equal rights with men. Her dream had come true. Today, we see that women had climbed high up the social ladder and they are no longer the slaves of men.