Contribution of Reformers Towards Emancipation of Women | Maharashtra State PSC (MPSC): Preparation - MPSC (Maharastra) PDF Download

 Page 1


  
 
11 
CONTRIBUTION OF REFORMERS 
TOWARDS EMANCIPATION OF WOMEN 
Unit Structure 
11.0 Objectives 
11.1 Introduction 
 11.2 Emancipation of Women 
          11.2.1  Female Education 
          11.2.2  Widow Remarriage 
          11.2.3  Child Marriage 
          11.2.4  The Hindu Code Bill 
11.3 Summary 
11.4  Questions 
11.5  Additional Readings  
11.0  OBJECTIVES 
After the study of this unit, the student will be able to: 
1) Realise the issues concerning emancipation of women and efforts 
made towards its realization 
     
 
   
 
        
   
 INTRODUCTION 
The issues connected with emancipation of women are fully discussed here 
as the social reformers who showed moral courage to handle the issues 
found them too formidable for their generation. Men like Ranade who 
could not devote their full time for that work had to establish Social 
Conference to attract more men. We have given details about his work in 
this lesson and the contribution of other reformers is dealt with in the next 
lesson. 
Page 2


  
 
11 
CONTRIBUTION OF REFORMERS 
TOWARDS EMANCIPATION OF WOMEN 
Unit Structure 
11.0 Objectives 
11.1 Introduction 
 11.2 Emancipation of Women 
          11.2.1  Female Education 
          11.2.2  Widow Remarriage 
          11.2.3  Child Marriage 
          11.2.4  The Hindu Code Bill 
11.3 Summary 
11.4  Questions 
11.5  Additional Readings  
11.0  OBJECTIVES 
After the study of this unit, the student will be able to: 
1) Realise the issues concerning emancipation of women and efforts 
made towards its realization 
     
 
   
 
        
   
 INTRODUCTION 
The issues connected with emancipation of women are fully discussed here 
as the social reformers who showed moral courage to handle the issues 
found them too formidable for their generation. Men like Ranade who 
could not devote their full time for that work had to establish Social 
Conference to attract more men. We have given details about his work in 
this lesson and the contribution of other reformers is dealt with in the next 
lesson. 
 
 
 
 
 EMANCIPATION OF WOMEN 
Society in Western India, as already noted, on the eve of the British rule in 
1818, was “hide-bound” and stagnant. A hundred years of Peshwa 
administration had made little significant change in the conditions of the 
people. Economically Maharashtra was poorer than bengal. In Agriculture, 
industry, trade and commerce also it lagged behind though there was 
homogeneity between its rulers and the subjects, the Maharashtrian society, 
like its counter parts elsewhere in India, was caste ridden. People, in 
general, were tradition - bound and superstitious, despite the progressive 
teachings of Saints like Tukaram and Namdeo. There was little movement 
in thought, no progress in beliefs and institutions, including in the 
developing city of Bombay. Not only the orthodox people and priests were 
opposed to any social change, but also the economically rising section of 
each caste and groups, who had prospered in Bombay under the British 
presence. 
The status of women was equally bad. As S. Natarajan has pointed out, the 
social customs and laws relating to marriage, family- property, 
inheritance. position of widows, etc. were loaded against women. Women 
were the most sufferers in the social system because “here as well as in all 
societies the rigorous of the conventional community bore most heavily on 
Women”. 
This plight of women attracted the attention of some European Christian 
missionaries and a handful of Western-educated persons including 
Brahmins and Parsis. Bombay gave the lead to rest of Maharashtra. Great 
social reformers like Mahadeo G. Ranade, B.M.Malabari, S.S.Bengali, 
Karsondas Mulji, Jyotiba Phule, Pandita Ramabai and D. K. Karve 
rendered yeoman service to the cause of the emancipation of women. For 
instance, Ranade and his Indian National Social Conference worked 
steadily (with some success) against such glaring social evils as child 
marriage and the prohibition of widow re- marriage. As it is possible to 
discuss in detail all aspects of the movement for the emancipation of 
women in the 19th Century. it is proposed to concentrate on : female 
education, widow re- marriage and child-marriage in detail as follows :- 
 Female Education 
The establishment of the Prarthana Samaj gave the impetus necessary for 
reform. It is true, as R.C.Majumdar writes, “In Bombay Presidency the 
women led a comparatively freer life as there was no Purdah, among the 
Marathas, yet, like their counter parts in other Presidencies, women in 
Western India were not encouraged to receive education’’. Naturally, 
some English-educated young men Iaunched a determined movement to 
spread ‘femaIe education through schools in Bombay and Poona. In this 
laudable attempt, they were encouraged by their European professors in 
Elphinstone Institution in Bombay (1848). These enthusiastic young men 
established the “Students Literary and Scientific Society.” The Society 
espoused the cause of female education. The lead was taken by the 
members of the Gujarati Dnyan Prasarak, Mandali. Parsi reformers like 
Page 3


  
 
11 
CONTRIBUTION OF REFORMERS 
TOWARDS EMANCIPATION OF WOMEN 
Unit Structure 
11.0 Objectives 
11.1 Introduction 
 11.2 Emancipation of Women 
          11.2.1  Female Education 
          11.2.2  Widow Remarriage 
          11.2.3  Child Marriage 
          11.2.4  The Hindu Code Bill 
11.3 Summary 
11.4  Questions 
11.5  Additional Readings  
11.0  OBJECTIVES 
After the study of this unit, the student will be able to: 
1) Realise the issues concerning emancipation of women and efforts 
made towards its realization 
     
 
   
 
        
   
 INTRODUCTION 
The issues connected with emancipation of women are fully discussed here 
as the social reformers who showed moral courage to handle the issues 
found them too formidable for their generation. Men like Ranade who 
could not devote their full time for that work had to establish Social 
Conference to attract more men. We have given details about his work in 
this lesson and the contribution of other reformers is dealt with in the next 
lesson. 
 
 
 
 
 EMANCIPATION OF WOMEN 
Society in Western India, as already noted, on the eve of the British rule in 
1818, was “hide-bound” and stagnant. A hundred years of Peshwa 
administration had made little significant change in the conditions of the 
people. Economically Maharashtra was poorer than bengal. In Agriculture, 
industry, trade and commerce also it lagged behind though there was 
homogeneity between its rulers and the subjects, the Maharashtrian society, 
like its counter parts elsewhere in India, was caste ridden. People, in 
general, were tradition - bound and superstitious, despite the progressive 
teachings of Saints like Tukaram and Namdeo. There was little movement 
in thought, no progress in beliefs and institutions, including in the 
developing city of Bombay. Not only the orthodox people and priests were 
opposed to any social change, but also the economically rising section of 
each caste and groups, who had prospered in Bombay under the British 
presence. 
The status of women was equally bad. As S. Natarajan has pointed out, the 
social customs and laws relating to marriage, family- property, 
inheritance. position of widows, etc. were loaded against women. Women 
were the most sufferers in the social system because “here as well as in all 
societies the rigorous of the conventional community bore most heavily on 
Women”. 
This plight of women attracted the attention of some European Christian 
missionaries and a handful of Western-educated persons including 
Brahmins and Parsis. Bombay gave the lead to rest of Maharashtra. Great 
social reformers like Mahadeo G. Ranade, B.M.Malabari, S.S.Bengali, 
Karsondas Mulji, Jyotiba Phule, Pandita Ramabai and D. K. Karve 
rendered yeoman service to the cause of the emancipation of women. For 
instance, Ranade and his Indian National Social Conference worked 
steadily (with some success) against such glaring social evils as child 
marriage and the prohibition of widow re- marriage. As it is possible to 
discuss in detail all aspects of the movement for the emancipation of 
women in the 19th Century. it is proposed to concentrate on : female 
education, widow re- marriage and child-marriage in detail as follows :- 
 Female Education 
The establishment of the Prarthana Samaj gave the impetus necessary for 
reform. It is true, as R.C.Majumdar writes, “In Bombay Presidency the 
women led a comparatively freer life as there was no Purdah, among the 
Marathas, yet, like their counter parts in other Presidencies, women in 
Western India were not encouraged to receive education’’. Naturally, 
some English-educated young men Iaunched a determined movement to 
spread ‘femaIe education through schools in Bombay and Poona. In this 
laudable attempt, they were encouraged by their European professors in 
Elphinstone Institution in Bombay (1848). These enthusiastic young men 
established the “Students Literary and Scientific Society.” The Society 
espoused the cause of female education. The lead was taken by the 
members of the Gujarati Dnyan Prasarak, Mandali. Parsi reformers like 
  
 
                     
 
 
Dadabhai Naoroji, realized that only support from the leading 
businessmen (Shetias) of the community would provide the money and the 
pupils with which they could start schools for girls. F.C.Banaji and the 
Cama family showed the way by giving education to their daughters and 
money to the schools despite opposition from Orthodox Parsis. By 1852 
there were four schools with 371 pupils. In 1857, S.S.Bengali and his 
friends started the magazine ‘Stri Bodh’. 
The initial success of the Parsi schools led to the establishment of similar 
schools by the Marathi and Gujarathi Hindus in 1849 with the financial 
support of businessmen such as Jagannath Shankarset. The Parsi and 
Gujarati girls’ schools were able to get financial support from the 
businessmen (shetias) of their communities. However the Marathi Schools 
were starved of funds because of Maharashtrian Hindu Community 
possessed no really affluent Shetias, apart from Jagannath Shankarset. 
Hence, their schools were supported by monthly contributions from 
EIphinistonians like Bhau Daji, Thus, a beginning though creacky had 
been made in female education. 
In 1848, Jyotiba Phule established a private school for girls education at 
Poona. An Association of India Young men also started girls Schools in 
Bombay and in some other parts of the Deccan Division of the Bombay 
Presidency. The Prejudices against female education were fast 
disappearing and “there will be no more difficulty found in establishing 
female schools than there is in those for boys”, wrote Capt. Lester, then 
Acting Educational Inspector of the Deccan Division. 
In the second half of the 19th century female education received 
considerable attention of the Government of India. The Education 
Commission of 1882-83 made a number of recommendation regarding the 
education of girls. 
As for higher education for women, there was no separate institution either 
in Bombay or at Poona. Nevertheless, premier Colleges like the 
Elphinstone College, Wilson College and St.Xavier’s College in Bombay, 
the Fergusson College at Poona and the Wellingdon College at Sangli 
always kept their doors open for female education. Reformers like 
M.G.Ranade, D.K.Karve and Pandita Ramabai also made significant 
contribution to female education in Maharashtra. G.K.Gokhale’s ‘Servants 
of India Society’ generated very powerful forces for the advancement of 
female education. 
Before we conclude, it is necessary to note the remarks of Bipin Chandra 
Pal, made in 1881 : “Bombay was socially far ahead of Bengal ... Female 
education and the freedom of social intercourse and movement of 
respectable Maharatha ladies was a new and inspiring experience which I 
had in Bombay.” But as S.D.Javdekar has pointed out, in Poona and other 
interior places among even educated persons, belonging to the Sardar and 
Brahmin castes, one could find nothing but orthodoxy and ‘‘darkness’’. 
This is evident from articles published in ‘Prabhakar’. Social reformers 
like Ranade, Agarkar and Phule, and institutions like the Sarvajanik Sabha 
Page 4


  
 
11 
CONTRIBUTION OF REFORMERS 
TOWARDS EMANCIPATION OF WOMEN 
Unit Structure 
11.0 Objectives 
11.1 Introduction 
 11.2 Emancipation of Women 
          11.2.1  Female Education 
          11.2.2  Widow Remarriage 
          11.2.3  Child Marriage 
          11.2.4  The Hindu Code Bill 
11.3 Summary 
11.4  Questions 
11.5  Additional Readings  
11.0  OBJECTIVES 
After the study of this unit, the student will be able to: 
1) Realise the issues concerning emancipation of women and efforts 
made towards its realization 
     
 
   
 
        
   
 INTRODUCTION 
The issues connected with emancipation of women are fully discussed here 
as the social reformers who showed moral courage to handle the issues 
found them too formidable for their generation. Men like Ranade who 
could not devote their full time for that work had to establish Social 
Conference to attract more men. We have given details about his work in 
this lesson and the contribution of other reformers is dealt with in the next 
lesson. 
 
 
 
 
 EMANCIPATION OF WOMEN 
Society in Western India, as already noted, on the eve of the British rule in 
1818, was “hide-bound” and stagnant. A hundred years of Peshwa 
administration had made little significant change in the conditions of the 
people. Economically Maharashtra was poorer than bengal. In Agriculture, 
industry, trade and commerce also it lagged behind though there was 
homogeneity between its rulers and the subjects, the Maharashtrian society, 
like its counter parts elsewhere in India, was caste ridden. People, in 
general, were tradition - bound and superstitious, despite the progressive 
teachings of Saints like Tukaram and Namdeo. There was little movement 
in thought, no progress in beliefs and institutions, including in the 
developing city of Bombay. Not only the orthodox people and priests were 
opposed to any social change, but also the economically rising section of 
each caste and groups, who had prospered in Bombay under the British 
presence. 
The status of women was equally bad. As S. Natarajan has pointed out, the 
social customs and laws relating to marriage, family- property, 
inheritance. position of widows, etc. were loaded against women. Women 
were the most sufferers in the social system because “here as well as in all 
societies the rigorous of the conventional community bore most heavily on 
Women”. 
This plight of women attracted the attention of some European Christian 
missionaries and a handful of Western-educated persons including 
Brahmins and Parsis. Bombay gave the lead to rest of Maharashtra. Great 
social reformers like Mahadeo G. Ranade, B.M.Malabari, S.S.Bengali, 
Karsondas Mulji, Jyotiba Phule, Pandita Ramabai and D. K. Karve 
rendered yeoman service to the cause of the emancipation of women. For 
instance, Ranade and his Indian National Social Conference worked 
steadily (with some success) against such glaring social evils as child 
marriage and the prohibition of widow re- marriage. As it is possible to 
discuss in detail all aspects of the movement for the emancipation of 
women in the 19th Century. it is proposed to concentrate on : female 
education, widow re- marriage and child-marriage in detail as follows :- 
 Female Education 
The establishment of the Prarthana Samaj gave the impetus necessary for 
reform. It is true, as R.C.Majumdar writes, “In Bombay Presidency the 
women led a comparatively freer life as there was no Purdah, among the 
Marathas, yet, like their counter parts in other Presidencies, women in 
Western India were not encouraged to receive education’’. Naturally, 
some English-educated young men Iaunched a determined movement to 
spread ‘femaIe education through schools in Bombay and Poona. In this 
laudable attempt, they were encouraged by their European professors in 
Elphinstone Institution in Bombay (1848). These enthusiastic young men 
established the “Students Literary and Scientific Society.” The Society 
espoused the cause of female education. The lead was taken by the 
members of the Gujarati Dnyan Prasarak, Mandali. Parsi reformers like 
  
 
                     
 
 
Dadabhai Naoroji, realized that only support from the leading 
businessmen (Shetias) of the community would provide the money and the 
pupils with which they could start schools for girls. F.C.Banaji and the 
Cama family showed the way by giving education to their daughters and 
money to the schools despite opposition from Orthodox Parsis. By 1852 
there were four schools with 371 pupils. In 1857, S.S.Bengali and his 
friends started the magazine ‘Stri Bodh’. 
The initial success of the Parsi schools led to the establishment of similar 
schools by the Marathi and Gujarathi Hindus in 1849 with the financial 
support of businessmen such as Jagannath Shankarset. The Parsi and 
Gujarati girls’ schools were able to get financial support from the 
businessmen (shetias) of their communities. However the Marathi Schools 
were starved of funds because of Maharashtrian Hindu Community 
possessed no really affluent Shetias, apart from Jagannath Shankarset. 
Hence, their schools were supported by monthly contributions from 
EIphinistonians like Bhau Daji, Thus, a beginning though creacky had 
been made in female education. 
In 1848, Jyotiba Phule established a private school for girls education at 
Poona. An Association of India Young men also started girls Schools in 
Bombay and in some other parts of the Deccan Division of the Bombay 
Presidency. The Prejudices against female education were fast 
disappearing and “there will be no more difficulty found in establishing 
female schools than there is in those for boys”, wrote Capt. Lester, then 
Acting Educational Inspector of the Deccan Division. 
In the second half of the 19th century female education received 
considerable attention of the Government of India. The Education 
Commission of 1882-83 made a number of recommendation regarding the 
education of girls. 
As for higher education for women, there was no separate institution either 
in Bombay or at Poona. Nevertheless, premier Colleges like the 
Elphinstone College, Wilson College and St.Xavier’s College in Bombay, 
the Fergusson College at Poona and the Wellingdon College at Sangli 
always kept their doors open for female education. Reformers like 
M.G.Ranade, D.K.Karve and Pandita Ramabai also made significant 
contribution to female education in Maharashtra. G.K.Gokhale’s ‘Servants 
of India Society’ generated very powerful forces for the advancement of 
female education. 
Before we conclude, it is necessary to note the remarks of Bipin Chandra 
Pal, made in 1881 : “Bombay was socially far ahead of Bengal ... Female 
education and the freedom of social intercourse and movement of 
respectable Maharatha ladies was a new and inspiring experience which I 
had in Bombay.” But as S.D.Javdekar has pointed out, in Poona and other 
interior places among even educated persons, belonging to the Sardar and 
Brahmin castes, one could find nothing but orthodoxy and ‘‘darkness’’. 
This is evident from articles published in ‘Prabhakar’. Social reformers 
like Ranade, Agarkar and Phule, and institutions like the Sarvajanik Sabha 
 
 
 
 
had to carry a relentless struggle to clear the cobwebs of antiquated, 
anachronistic social customs and traditions, relating especially to women, 
though in those days poona was considered itself the real intellectual and 
political capital of the Bombay Presidency. 
  Widow Re-marriage 
Tne Hindu Joint family was accompanied by property laws which were 
devised to emphasize the family, rather than the individuals as a unit. 
Inheritance was either withheld from women or greatly modified against 
their interest. The Hindu system of marriage ensured that property 
remained within the family. The worst affected were the Hindu widows. 
Among Hindus marriage was considered as a Sacrament and therefore 
could not be dissolved by divorce or death, especially of the husband. 
Though the system was applied rigidly only to the higher caste, there 
existed a tendency among the lower castes to imitate the higher castes; 
prohibition of widow re-marriage was one such imitation. The British Law 
Courts, during their early days, applied the Hindu Civil Code, as 
interpreted by Hindu Pandits indiscriminately to Hindus of all castes. 
According to Hindu 
Shastras, men were authorised to take more than one wife if they could not 
get a male progeny from the existing marriage. However, in the course of 
time, a Hindu male was permitted to take a second or more wives, even if 
he had male children. 
But there was no legal protection for women against the arbitrary action of 
their husbands in marrying other women. Moreover, they could not re-
marry, even when a woman’s husband was dead. Any man who married a 
widow or an already married woman was held of bigamy, and it was 
punishable offence. The only way to escape from this arbitrary and cruel 
custom was through conversion to Islam or Christianity. It was against this 
evil that enlightened Western-educated social reformers raised their banner 
of revolt as was being done by the Brahmo Samaj in Bengal. 
In Bombay, young Elphinistonians, including Dadabhai Naoroji, Dadoba 
Pandurang, Jambhekar, Karsondas Mulji, Baba Padamji and the militant, 
Hindu, Vishnubuva Brahmachari advocated widow re- marriage. In 
Poona, reformers like “Lokhitawadi” Gopal Hari Deshmukh, Vishnu 
Shastri Pandit and M.G. Ranade intensified the movement. The reformers 
cited the authority on the Vedas for widow re-marriage. 
Journals like the ‘Indu Prakash’ were wedded to the advocacy of widow 
remarriage. The reformers founded, in 1866, the Hindu Widow Marriage 
Association (Vidhwa Vivahottejak Mandal). The object of the Association 
was limited i.e. re-marriage of widows of the high caste according to the 
authority of the Hindu Dharma Shastras. 
Opposition to widow re-marriage also increased. A number of inhabitants 
of Poona submitted two petitions to the Government opposing the Widow 
Marriage Legislation of 1856. A Society for the Protection of the Hindu 
Page 5


  
 
11 
CONTRIBUTION OF REFORMERS 
TOWARDS EMANCIPATION OF WOMEN 
Unit Structure 
11.0 Objectives 
11.1 Introduction 
 11.2 Emancipation of Women 
          11.2.1  Female Education 
          11.2.2  Widow Remarriage 
          11.2.3  Child Marriage 
          11.2.4  The Hindu Code Bill 
11.3 Summary 
11.4  Questions 
11.5  Additional Readings  
11.0  OBJECTIVES 
After the study of this unit, the student will be able to: 
1) Realise the issues concerning emancipation of women and efforts 
made towards its realization 
     
 
   
 
        
   
 INTRODUCTION 
The issues connected with emancipation of women are fully discussed here 
as the social reformers who showed moral courage to handle the issues 
found them too formidable for their generation. Men like Ranade who 
could not devote their full time for that work had to establish Social 
Conference to attract more men. We have given details about his work in 
this lesson and the contribution of other reformers is dealt with in the next 
lesson. 
 
 
 
 
 EMANCIPATION OF WOMEN 
Society in Western India, as already noted, on the eve of the British rule in 
1818, was “hide-bound” and stagnant. A hundred years of Peshwa 
administration had made little significant change in the conditions of the 
people. Economically Maharashtra was poorer than bengal. In Agriculture, 
industry, trade and commerce also it lagged behind though there was 
homogeneity between its rulers and the subjects, the Maharashtrian society, 
like its counter parts elsewhere in India, was caste ridden. People, in 
general, were tradition - bound and superstitious, despite the progressive 
teachings of Saints like Tukaram and Namdeo. There was little movement 
in thought, no progress in beliefs and institutions, including in the 
developing city of Bombay. Not only the orthodox people and priests were 
opposed to any social change, but also the economically rising section of 
each caste and groups, who had prospered in Bombay under the British 
presence. 
The status of women was equally bad. As S. Natarajan has pointed out, the 
social customs and laws relating to marriage, family- property, 
inheritance. position of widows, etc. were loaded against women. Women 
were the most sufferers in the social system because “here as well as in all 
societies the rigorous of the conventional community bore most heavily on 
Women”. 
This plight of women attracted the attention of some European Christian 
missionaries and a handful of Western-educated persons including 
Brahmins and Parsis. Bombay gave the lead to rest of Maharashtra. Great 
social reformers like Mahadeo G. Ranade, B.M.Malabari, S.S.Bengali, 
Karsondas Mulji, Jyotiba Phule, Pandita Ramabai and D. K. Karve 
rendered yeoman service to the cause of the emancipation of women. For 
instance, Ranade and his Indian National Social Conference worked 
steadily (with some success) against such glaring social evils as child 
marriage and the prohibition of widow re- marriage. As it is possible to 
discuss in detail all aspects of the movement for the emancipation of 
women in the 19th Century. it is proposed to concentrate on : female 
education, widow re- marriage and child-marriage in detail as follows :- 
 Female Education 
The establishment of the Prarthana Samaj gave the impetus necessary for 
reform. It is true, as R.C.Majumdar writes, “In Bombay Presidency the 
women led a comparatively freer life as there was no Purdah, among the 
Marathas, yet, like their counter parts in other Presidencies, women in 
Western India were not encouraged to receive education’’. Naturally, 
some English-educated young men Iaunched a determined movement to 
spread ‘femaIe education through schools in Bombay and Poona. In this 
laudable attempt, they were encouraged by their European professors in 
Elphinstone Institution in Bombay (1848). These enthusiastic young men 
established the “Students Literary and Scientific Society.” The Society 
espoused the cause of female education. The lead was taken by the 
members of the Gujarati Dnyan Prasarak, Mandali. Parsi reformers like 
  
 
                     
 
 
Dadabhai Naoroji, realized that only support from the leading 
businessmen (Shetias) of the community would provide the money and the 
pupils with which they could start schools for girls. F.C.Banaji and the 
Cama family showed the way by giving education to their daughters and 
money to the schools despite opposition from Orthodox Parsis. By 1852 
there were four schools with 371 pupils. In 1857, S.S.Bengali and his 
friends started the magazine ‘Stri Bodh’. 
The initial success of the Parsi schools led to the establishment of similar 
schools by the Marathi and Gujarathi Hindus in 1849 with the financial 
support of businessmen such as Jagannath Shankarset. The Parsi and 
Gujarati girls’ schools were able to get financial support from the 
businessmen (shetias) of their communities. However the Marathi Schools 
were starved of funds because of Maharashtrian Hindu Community 
possessed no really affluent Shetias, apart from Jagannath Shankarset. 
Hence, their schools were supported by monthly contributions from 
EIphinistonians like Bhau Daji, Thus, a beginning though creacky had 
been made in female education. 
In 1848, Jyotiba Phule established a private school for girls education at 
Poona. An Association of India Young men also started girls Schools in 
Bombay and in some other parts of the Deccan Division of the Bombay 
Presidency. The Prejudices against female education were fast 
disappearing and “there will be no more difficulty found in establishing 
female schools than there is in those for boys”, wrote Capt. Lester, then 
Acting Educational Inspector of the Deccan Division. 
In the second half of the 19th century female education received 
considerable attention of the Government of India. The Education 
Commission of 1882-83 made a number of recommendation regarding the 
education of girls. 
As for higher education for women, there was no separate institution either 
in Bombay or at Poona. Nevertheless, premier Colleges like the 
Elphinstone College, Wilson College and St.Xavier’s College in Bombay, 
the Fergusson College at Poona and the Wellingdon College at Sangli 
always kept their doors open for female education. Reformers like 
M.G.Ranade, D.K.Karve and Pandita Ramabai also made significant 
contribution to female education in Maharashtra. G.K.Gokhale’s ‘Servants 
of India Society’ generated very powerful forces for the advancement of 
female education. 
Before we conclude, it is necessary to note the remarks of Bipin Chandra 
Pal, made in 1881 : “Bombay was socially far ahead of Bengal ... Female 
education and the freedom of social intercourse and movement of 
respectable Maharatha ladies was a new and inspiring experience which I 
had in Bombay.” But as S.D.Javdekar has pointed out, in Poona and other 
interior places among even educated persons, belonging to the Sardar and 
Brahmin castes, one could find nothing but orthodoxy and ‘‘darkness’’. 
This is evident from articles published in ‘Prabhakar’. Social reformers 
like Ranade, Agarkar and Phule, and institutions like the Sarvajanik Sabha 
 
 
 
 
had to carry a relentless struggle to clear the cobwebs of antiquated, 
anachronistic social customs and traditions, relating especially to women, 
though in those days poona was considered itself the real intellectual and 
political capital of the Bombay Presidency. 
  Widow Re-marriage 
Tne Hindu Joint family was accompanied by property laws which were 
devised to emphasize the family, rather than the individuals as a unit. 
Inheritance was either withheld from women or greatly modified against 
their interest. The Hindu system of marriage ensured that property 
remained within the family. The worst affected were the Hindu widows. 
Among Hindus marriage was considered as a Sacrament and therefore 
could not be dissolved by divorce or death, especially of the husband. 
Though the system was applied rigidly only to the higher caste, there 
existed a tendency among the lower castes to imitate the higher castes; 
prohibition of widow re-marriage was one such imitation. The British Law 
Courts, during their early days, applied the Hindu Civil Code, as 
interpreted by Hindu Pandits indiscriminately to Hindus of all castes. 
According to Hindu 
Shastras, men were authorised to take more than one wife if they could not 
get a male progeny from the existing marriage. However, in the course of 
time, a Hindu male was permitted to take a second or more wives, even if 
he had male children. 
But there was no legal protection for women against the arbitrary action of 
their husbands in marrying other women. Moreover, they could not re-
marry, even when a woman’s husband was dead. Any man who married a 
widow or an already married woman was held of bigamy, and it was 
punishable offence. The only way to escape from this arbitrary and cruel 
custom was through conversion to Islam or Christianity. It was against this 
evil that enlightened Western-educated social reformers raised their banner 
of revolt as was being done by the Brahmo Samaj in Bengal. 
In Bombay, young Elphinistonians, including Dadabhai Naoroji, Dadoba 
Pandurang, Jambhekar, Karsondas Mulji, Baba Padamji and the militant, 
Hindu, Vishnubuva Brahmachari advocated widow re- marriage. In 
Poona, reformers like “Lokhitawadi” Gopal Hari Deshmukh, Vishnu 
Shastri Pandit and M.G. Ranade intensified the movement. The reformers 
cited the authority on the Vedas for widow re-marriage. 
Journals like the ‘Indu Prakash’ were wedded to the advocacy of widow 
remarriage. The reformers founded, in 1866, the Hindu Widow Marriage 
Association (Vidhwa Vivahottejak Mandal). The object of the Association 
was limited i.e. re-marriage of widows of the high caste according to the 
authority of the Hindu Dharma Shastras. 
Opposition to widow re-marriage also increased. A number of inhabitants 
of Poona submitted two petitions to the Government opposing the Widow 
Marriage Legislation of 1856. A Society for the Protection of the Hindu 
  
 
                         
 
 
Dharma was established. The Shastris, Pandits and other orthodox views 
ganged up against the movement for widow re-marriage. But the initiative 
rested with the reformers. Vishnu Shastri not only translated 
Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar’s writings on the subject into Marathi and 
published in the ‘Indu Prakash’ but also brain stormed the principal towns 
of the Deccan on the lecturing tour and initiated a heated discussion in the 
Marathi press and meetings. Vishnu Shastri also challenged the orthodox to 
a public debate on the question of widow re-marriage. In the debate that 
followed in March 1870 in Poona, Presided over by the ‘Shankaracharya of 
Karvir and Shankeshwar, the reformers alleged that the Shankaracharya 
had tampered with one of the arbitrators and persuaded him to lie since 
religion was at stake. 
Nevertheless,the Widows Marriage Association claimed a moral victory – 
a victory based on the Vedic Authorities for “widow Re-marriage” and by 
avoiding any significant reference to Western ideas. 
Ironically, the movement witnessed in 1870, an anti-climax. Gopal Hari 
Deshmukh performed penance (“prayschitta”) in Ahmedabad and was re- 
admitted to his caste. This action by the President of the Window 
Marriage Association caused the movement a set back. The movement 
suffered a further blow in the death of Vishnu Shastri Pandit in 1876. 
Thereafter, for more than a decade the movement remained dormant 
although in Bombay, the movement was continued by the Gujarathi 
reformers, led by Madhavdas Raghunathdas, and by the Prarthana Samaj. 
Maharshi Dondo Keshav Karve also rendered great service to the cause of 
widow re-marriage. He himself set the example by marrying Godubai, a 
widow sister of his friend, in 1883, braving hostile criticism of orthodox 
Hindus and their journals. With the co- operation of some friends, 
including R.G.Bhandarkar, he revived the Widow Marriage Association. He 
utilised his vacations for lectures on behalf of the Association in order to 
educate the public on widow re-marriage. In 1896, he started the Widow 
Home Association, inspired by Pandita Ramabai’s Sharada Sadan. Justice 
Ranade and Dr.Bhandarkar were also associated with it. Earlier, he had 
established the Hindu Widows Home which was aimed at making the 
widows self-supporting by giving them training as teachers, midwives or 
nurses. Since its establishment in 1889 until 1915, the Hindu Widows’ 
Home got 25 Maharashtrian Widows married. 
Thus the untiring efforts of reformers of Bombay and Poona, journals like 
Indu Prakash, and the activities of Widow Remarriage Association of 
Vishnu Shastri and of Social Conference of Karve began to fruit. By the 
turn of the 20th Century they had succeeded in focusing attention of the 
Hindu community on irrational attitude towards the question of Widow re- 
marriage, based on wrong interpretation of the Vedic literature. 
  Child Marriage 
Child marriage was one of the cruel customs prevalent in India among 
different communities since ancient times. It became a social practice after 
the medieval period due to the alleged fear that unmarried Hindu girls