The High Caste Hindu Women

by Pundita Ramabai Sarasvati

The High Caste Hindu Woman by Pandita Ramabai Sarasvati

The High Caste Hindu Woman, which, according to her beliefs, "showed" the darkest aspects of the life of Hindu women, including child brides and child widows, sought to expose the oppression of women in Hindu-dominated British India. In 1896, during a severe famine Ramabai toured the villages of Maharashtra with a caravan of bullock carts and rescued thousands of outcast children, child widows, orphans, and other destitute women and brought them to the shelter of Mukti and Sharada Sadan. A learned woman knowing seven languages, she also translated the Bible into her mother tongue - Marathi - from the original Hebrew and Greek.

Genres: Nonfiction, Feminism, India, Asia

50 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1887

About the author

Pundita Ramabai (23 April 1858 – 5 April 1922) was an Indian social reformer, champion for the emancipation of women, and pioneer in education. She acquired a reputation as a Sanskrit scholar.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Rachel B · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm surprised that I'd never heard of this book before, given the kind of reading I do.

Sarasvati writes specifically to women in England and the United States to inform them about the mistreatment of women and girls in India in the late 1800s, due to the caste system and Hindu religious beliefs.

Sarasvati wanted to open a school for high-caste Hindu girls and needed funding, so she set out to educate the rest of the world on the issues facing child brides and widows, specifically, and hoped to earn the money and support she needed simultaneously, by selling the books.

It was super interesting and I learned a lot! I recommend it to anyone interested in Hinduism, India, feminism, or education.

[Oleksandr Fediienko · Rating 4 out of 5]

Згідно з переписом 1881 року в Індії було 78 976 вдів віком 9 років і молодше. Уявіть собі, скількох дівчат одружили в такому віці, а їхні чоловіки померли. Чоловіками були не тільки старигани - померти могли і такі самі хлопчики, яких ніхто на питав, чи хочуть вони шлюбу. Вдови, навіть такі юні, до кінця життя не мали права одружуватися і здебільшого ставали тягарем родині чоловіка. Це та інше авторка намагається пояснити американкам, які і є авдиторією цієї книжки. Книжки, щоб прозріти.

[Sharayu Gangurde · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was written for an American audience but how does it matter? For Pandita Ramabai conveys the misery and dread that caged her country women with as much fervour and angst as it was meant to be understood. Mrs Carpenter and Rachel Bodley who supported Pandita and Anandibai Joshi in their educational pursuits have given a detailed account of Pandita's early life before working for emancipation of women. Having never known about Pandita, I was not surprised to read of her hardships as I was when I came to know that she was invited by W.W.Hunter who drafted the education policy in 1882 to emphasise on need for women's education. Her courage and determination is phenomenal for women even today.

Her erudite manner of writing with regards to using statistics from the Census and quoting and translating Sanskrit phrases since she was a Sanskrit Scholar is commendable. I was also pleasantly surprised to read the refined and polished language in which the book makes history of Indian women known to the world. Pandita truly was an accomplished woman of intellect and thought. It's a pity we don't know of such seminal texts since they are not mentioned in our education system. It would be greatly beneficial if children today learn and read this important book so as to always remember that patriarchy which laid the ground rules for women is not something to be defended against the feminist movement. When people question the significance of feminism today, make them read this book and help get them rid of their ignorance. Those who are trying to defend Manu and the great Indian culture ought to know that the truth will no longer stay put against all the falsities so far propagated by the powerful. A must read for all.

[Madhubrata · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very interesting read. Important to contextualize- in its being addressed to an American audience, and serving both an ideological and an immediate pragmatic need. Ramabai's own position is pertinent and remarkable here too: her upper-casteness, her being an Indian woman in the West, her religion and an Enlightenment education, all serve to influence her rhetoric and her position. Reads sometimes like a very modern exposition of Brahminical patriarchy, but tempered by "nuance" (?), Ramabai being the Sanskrit scholar she is, and one cannot help but suspect, retaining some ties with that which she has seemingly disavowed. On the whole, she reminds me of a later, and a more radical, Indian genteelwomanly version of Mary Wollstonecraft, using similar arguments, showing a similar ideological orientation, but mincing even fewer words so far as the reality of the subject she addresses is concerned.

[Mia Steadman · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5*-4* I can’t decide.

Definitely a very interesting and quick read but very full on (in good and bad ways).

Through her piece she demonstrates the pressures of cultures and customs that stem from the subject of religion, heavily focusing on the ideas of women concerning motherhood, marriage, and education. Ramabai’s blending of fact with opinion creates structure in her feminist argument. It is an intelligent form of writing that calls upon evidence of critics and religious texts, whilst also utilising individual stories and encouraging pathos.

The text can be draining at times as you are overwhelmed by walls of facts and quotations (however this is purposeful in educating the reader) and can lose focus. The volume also benefits from rereading to really extract and absorb all information. These are the only reasons why this isn’t a super high-ranked read for me.

[Pratibha Suku · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shows the situation of high caste hindu women- brahmins- born with silver/ golden spoons, fathered by the most well read man of the society,and hidden behind the veils and big walls of house.

The grim reality is not much has changed since this book is being written.Almost a century. A number of women in various pockets of our country is still subjected to the situations and scenario discribed here.


Small book can be finished in one sitting and totally worth time spent.

[Leaf · Rating 4 out of 5]

People say that this was one of the first Indian Feminist Manifestos. It's excellent in the context of 19th Century India.

[J · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book written over a 100 years ago about the conditions and life of a Hindu woman in India. This especially pertains to high-caste Hindu woman of those times since caste differences played a role in lifestyles and social customs. Ramabai's work was invaluable for social change and led to the widow remarriage and rehabilitation movement of the following decades, notably by Maharishi Karve.

Ramabai writes from her own experience as a Hindu woman of those times and her independent and progressive views are indeed laudable. Her empathy and strong desire to help widows is what inspired this work. Conditions and society was cruel towards widows at the time and their treatment by society was often inhumane.

This is a rare book since it is written by a woman in the 1800s from India in her own words.

[J · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book written over a 100 years ago about the conditions and life of a Hindu woman in India. This especially pertains to high-caste Hindu woman of those times since caste differences played a role in lifestyles and social customs. Ramabai's work was invaluable for social change and led to the widow remarriage and rehabilitation movement of the following decades, notably by Maharishi Karve.

Ramabai writes from her own experience as a Hindu woman of those times and her independent and progressive views are indeed laudable. Her empathy and strong desire to help widows is what inspired this work. Conditions and society was cruel towards widows at the time and their treatment by society was often inhumane.

This is a rare book since it is written by a woman in the 1800s from India in her own words.

[Puru · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not that I learned something new off it, but the account shared by her to the world is highly appreciated. Her attention to detail and keen reading and understanding of the scriptures is evident in the writting.

[Manasa · Rating 3 out of 5]

you cannot put everything through a colonial perspective- that being said women have always borne the brunt of the burden irrespective of how wealthy or poor they might be.

[mimi brown]

academic text

[Kamya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maharashtra has given us many great feminist revolutionaries-- Jyotiba Phule, Savitribai Phule, Fatima Sheikh, Babasaheb Ambedkar, Pandita Ramabai.

Ramabai was a learned Sanskrit Scholar who travelled the country reciting verses from Sanskrit texts (hence the title Pandita and Sarasvati). She was 23 when her husband died (it was an intercaste, inter regional marriage which was unheard of in 1880 and still becomes an issue today). She opened schools for young girls and women and struggled to promote women's education and end the oppression of child marriage.

In this essay she has spelt out in detail the various kinds of restrictions, discrimination and oppression that high caste Hindu women face-- being barred from getting educated, spending the entire life within the boundary of the house, being governed by men at all stages of life (father, husband, son), child marriage, enforced widowhood, sati (women being burnt alive on their husband's funeral pyre), etc. She has linked this subordination to the the very principles of the basic Hindu texts (which she was educated enough to have read)-- which view women as the property of men, being inherently evil and childlike, who one must protect and safeguard and from whom one must protect himself. Alongside, she also detailed how male priests have twisted interpretations of many texts which they propound as per convenience in service of (upper caste) men and against women (from all castes). Her writing is very important to understand the specificities of oppression that upper caste hindu women face.

In light of Jyotiba Phule's work ("Slavery") on the role of education in the suppression of "lower castes" and women and Babasaheb Ambedkar's key contribution towards the conception of "Brahmanical Patriarchy"-- which sought to explain how gender and caste are inherently linked, exploiting and oppressing women from all castes albeit with differing degrees and forms to maintain the caste hierarchy, Ramabai's work clarifies how caste hierarchy is predatory not only for lower caste men and women but also devours the life of upper caste women, who are often also the defenders of the system. Also that to maintain the caste hierarchy, the control of savarna women's bodies and sexualities is naturally the most stringent by the very logic of the system.

Ramabai's work is definitely important and every savarna woman should read it. At the same time, Ambedkar's "Annihilation of Caste" and Phule's "Slavery" should be read to understand how the oppressed savarna women are also instrumental in the subjugation of the so-called lower caste men and women.

[Anushka Navetia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I couldn't finish this book. I read 60% approx, then mostly just skimmed the rest.
Everything she wrote, experienced made me want to gaggle Hinduism and every 'sacred' scripture. Fuck Hinduism!!

I have always been extremely fascinated by Pandita Ramabai. She was the first women to get the honour of Pandita, and then in the later years she converted herself to Christianity. So, when I got to know that she has written a book, I was really excited to read it. It was extremely dark for me to handle, but I applaud Pandita Ramabai to be able to survive this vile religion.

I think she would be proud to see where we have gotten but sad too, because she knows we are so much worth more.


This doesn't mean, that this book is without it's faults. It definitely is, but I still feel that Savitribai Phule and Pandita Ramabai would have been great friends if they could have meet each other.