Contribution of Christian Missionaries in India
By Camil Parkhe
16. Social worker Manorama Medhavi
Towards
the end of 19th century, a storm reached the western Indian state of
Maharashtra. It was in the person of scholar-activist Pandita Ramabai
who caused several upheavals in the social, political, cultural and
literary fields of Maharashtra for next several years.
Ramabai
Dongre's Konkanastha Chitpavan Brahmin family had settled in
Karnataka. The young Ramabai traveled to Chennai with her parents and
after the death of her parents, sister and elder brother, during
their pilgrimage; she arrived in Maharashtra en route Bengal and
Orissa. Ramabai brought along her small daughter, Manorama. When
Ramabai decided to settle in Pune, she was a widow and her daughter
was just one year old. Manorama accompanied her mother wherever she
went within the country and also abroad.
It
is said that Ramabai's rebellious nature and her equally strong
attitude mellowed during her later years after she settled in village
Kedgaon near Pune. Thereafter, the Pandita focused all her energies
on the rehabilitation of child widows and abandoned women, besides
the translation of the Holy Bible from the original texts in Hebrew
and Greek to Marathi. It was during this period that Manorama who had
lived in the shadows of Ramabai for several years established her own
identity as a social worker even while helping her mother at the
mission.
Some
events in the personal life of Pandita Ramabai and her progressive
views had created long lasting controversies in Maharashtra. However
nothing of that kind happened with her daughter Manorama Medhavi.
Manorama's life and missionary work was indeed much different from
her mother. Right from her birth, Manorama had to face many storms as
she lived with her mother throughout, braving the controversies due
to the latter’s progressive views and work in social, educational,
political and religious fields. Young Manorama must have watched her
mother face many challenges and sometimes, she too may have borne the
brunt of the critics’ attacks.
There
are many European and American Christian missionary women who settled
in India and educated the local masses, offered them medical help and
improved their lot. Manorama Medhavi occupies an important place
among Indian missionary women like Pandita Ramabai, Sundarabai Pawar,
and Laxmibai Tilak. They are the pioneer Indian women missionaries in
Maharashtra and perhaps also in India.
Marathi
writer Mrinalini Joglekar has described Pandita Ramabai as 'The
pioneer of women's emancipation in India'. Ramabai was among the
first few women who attended the session of the Indian National
Congress in Mumbai soon after the formation of the political
organisation. She was a social worker who argued in favour of women's
education before the Hunter commission. She was a social reformer who
ran Sharda -Sadan and Mukti- Sadan for child widows and orphan women.
She was also a scholar who gave lectures in Europe and America. We
come to know about this well-known, multi-faceted lady as a mother
through Manorama Medhavi's personality. Ramabai's biography, however
brief, cannot be complete without a mention of Manorama and vice
versa. Pandita Ramabai's public life begins soon after the birth of
Manorama. The mother and daughter left this world within a few months
of each other.
Young
Ramabai along with her brother Shrinivas Shastri visited Kolkata in
1878. Her mastery over Sanskrit impressed scholars there and they
felicitated Ramabai with the title 'Pandita' (scholar). Ramabai's
brother expired some months after and lonely Ramabai married a
gentleman, named Bipin Biharidas Medhavi. On April 16, 1881, a day
prior to Easter, Manorama was born in Silchar in Assam. Bipinbabu
made a note of her birth in his diary as - 'Saturday, April 16th,
Easter eve, child born at 10 minutes to 8 p m.'
Manorama
much treasured that page from her father's diary all her life. The
reason was Bipinbabu’s sudden death within nine months of her
birth. Two months after her husband's death, Ramabai along with her
daughter came to Maharashtra from Assam. She settled in Pune and
started participating actively in social and political fields. During
those days, Pune was a major centre of social and political movement
not only in Maharashtra but also in the entire country.
Ramabai
Ranade - wife of Justice Mahadeo Govind Ranade- and Pandita Ramabai
became thick friends. Pandita Ramabai used to travel to Solapur,
Ahmednagar, Mumbai and other parts of Maharashtra, for social work.
Manorama was just an infant. It was indeed commendable that in spite
of being a single parent, Ramabai continued her work while looking
after her daughter at the same time.
Ramabai
went to England in 1883. Her infant daughter accompanied her there
too. Ana alias Annapurna Tarkhadkar, Dr. Anandibai Joshi, and Pandita
Ramabai are mentioned in a list of Indian women who first went abroad
at the turn of the 19th century. But the two-year-old Manorama must
have been the first infant girl to get an opportunity to go abroad.
The
only means of traveling to Europe and America those days was by sea.
Mother Ramabai definitely must have been worried about the small girl
during the long and tedious ship journey. But where was the
alternative? Ramabai wrote about her decision to take her daughter to
England,
"I
have not brought up my daughter so delicately- harvesting doubts
like, an ant would bite her if I left her on the floor or a crow
would lift her if she is left in the open ground. No! Her mother has
traveled from one corner of India to the other in hot summer, when
the girl was not even eight months old. I have understood a lot about
her health during this journey."
We
can learn about Ramabai's tough nature through various incidents from
her life and various decisions taken by her about her beloved
daughter. Pandita Ramabai had faced rough weather several times in
her life. It appears that keeping her daughter's welfare in mind,
Ramabai took many hard decisions with a heavy heart.
After
reaching England, Ramabai stayed in a convent run by the Sisters of
the Community of Saint Mary the Virgin at Wantage in Oxford district.
Pandita Ramabai, along with Manorama, embraced Christianity at
Wantage on September 29, 1883. During the stay at the convent, a bond
of affection developed between Manorama and the nuns. Ramabai’s pet
name for Manorama was 'Bobby' while the nuns at the Wantage convent
used to call her ‘Mano’. The sisters also used to call her
'Daughter of the East'.
Young
Manorama developed a special relationship with Sister Geraldine, who
looked after her very well. Manorama used to call her granny. The
relationship was sustained for several years even after Manorama
returned to India. The two kept in touch with each other through
regular exchange of letters.
While
Manorama was settling well amidst the newly formed bond of affection,
her mother got ready to leave England for America. She was planning
to attend the medical convocation ceremony of Anandibai Joshi, a
resident of Pune, at Philadelphia in America. In February 1886,
Ramabai and Manorama sailed for America.
Anandibai
and her husband Gopalrao Joshi waited at the berth for two days to
welcome Pandita Ramabai to America. Dr Anandibai has written about
this meeting. She says, "Pandita Ramabai arrived here safe and
sound. She was delayed due to storms. I waited for her at the port
for two days. Her daughter who is very pretty accompanies her. She
looks like a beautiful, freshly blooming, tender rose bud. Her mother
who has suffered a lot till date must be feeling happy because of
her."
While
in America, young Manorama got sick. Dr Anandibai, who had recently
acquired a degree in medicine, treated her. Before returning to her
motherland, Anandibai helped a pregnant woman who was in pain. These
two find mention as the first two patients of Dr Anandibai who had
the distinction of becoming the first Indian woman to acquire a
degree in medicine abroad. Unfortunately, Anandibai's wish to serve
patients in India was not fulfilled. Just three months after
returning to India, she expired on February 26, 1887 after a brief
illness. The Maharashtra government has instituted an award in health
sector in memory of this pioneer woman.
When
Ramabai's stay in America got prolonged, she sent Manorama from
America to England by ship, as she did not want Manorama's education
to suffer. For this journey full of hardships, she entrusted the
responsibility of her daughter to the lady manager of the ship. Even
today, one has to admire Ramabai's courage, because little Manorama
who made the ship journey was only six-years-old.
After
completing the tour of America, Ramabai went around the world and
returned to India via Japan and once again little Manorama journeyed
all alone by a ship from England and reached India. In Mumbai,
Ramabai had started 'Sharda Sadan', an ashram for child widows.
Manorama started living with her mother there.
After
Sharda Sadan was shifted to Pune, Manorama started studying at
Epiphany School near Panchhaud Mission. During this time, she had
learnt her mother tongue, Marathi, once again. Manorama thereafter
shifted to England and later to America for pursuing her studies.
In
the year 1900, while studying for her higher education, Manorama
returned to India when her mother got sick. Thereafter she started
helping her mother in her work. In the meanwhile, Ramabai had shifted
Sharda Sadan to village Kedgaon near Pune. A new era began in
Ramabai's life after she settled in Kedgaon. Now she had her daughter
to help her in her work. The girls from the Sharda Sadan used to
address Pandita Ramabai as 'Aai'
(mother); therefore Manorama who was just 20-years-old was naturally
addressed as 'Taai'
(sister).
Later
Manorama went on a tour of Australia and New Zealand. The main
purpose of the tour seemed to be religious. During this tour, she
addressed several religious assemblies. She was only 22-years-old
then. Devdatta Tilak, biographer of Pandita Ramabai, has noted - 'at
this age, her mother had stormed Calcutta and whole India and now her
daughter stormed Australia and New Zealand.
While
in Australia, Manorama wrote a book on her mother. In 1887, during
her stay in America, Pandita Ramabai had authored a book titled 'High
caste Hindu woman'. Fourteen years later, her daughter wrote the
sequel to the book, comprising 95 pages, when she was abroad. A
daughter who was dedicated to social and religious work has written
about the life and work of her great mother in this book. This book
should be considered as an exceptional one in which a daughter has
dealt on her living mother's work. This book describes the expansion
of Pandita Ramabai's social work since her return to India from her
first tour of America.
Manorama
took up administrative responsibilities at Sharda Sadan, Mukti Sadan
and other ashrams in Kedgaon. Manorama who was educated in England
and America joined the Deccan College in Pune to obtain an
educational degree, which was needed for teaching in India. Every
day, she would drive down in a car from Kedgaon to Pune and after the
college lectures, drive back home and look into the work and accounts
of the school every day. She completed her BA in 1917. During this
period, her health had started deteriorating.
Manorama
was looking after the administration of the ashram and once she
complained against a girl to her mother. Manorama who was much
agitated by the girl's behaviour asked her mother to expel the girl
from the ashram. She also threatened her mother that if the girl was
not expelled, she herself would walk out of the Sharda Sadan. The
threat however did not have any effect on her mother. Pandita Ramabai
used to look after several orphan girls with love and affection and
she would not give up any of them. She replied to her daughter, "
You may leave the ashram if you wish! I will not expel the girl. She
is an orphan. She has no one else but me. I won't let her be
expelled." Manorama was trained under such a loving lady who
also turned into an iron lady when required.
Manorama
established a school for the blind at Kedgaon. This was one of the
first schools for the visually impaired in India. Manorama had learnt
the Braille script while staying abroad. The school was named as
'Bartamay Sadan'. Blind people were taught to read Braille at
'Bartamay Sadan' and were rehabilitated. Manorama gave lessons in
Braille at the blind school. She also used to teach in this school.
Blind girls and women were trained to make various articles there. It
was indeed a difficult task to offer training and rehabilitate the
visually impaired persons but Manorama took up this challenge in the
beginning of the 20th century.
Manorama's
yet another unique mission was the establishment of a girls' school
at Gulbarga in Karnataka. She started the school 'Shanti Sadan' there
in 1913. By this time, her mother, Ramabai, had concentrated all her
attention on the Marathi translation of Bible. Therefore, the
responsibility of looking after the administration of all the
institutions came to Manorama.
After
1918, Manorama's health started deteriorating more and more. She was
suffering from heart ailments. From Kedgaon, she was shifted to a
hospital in Miraj. She breathed her last there on July 24, 1921.
By
this time, Pandita Ramabai's translation of Bible into Marathi was in
the final stages. Her health was also deteriorating. But she kept
praying to God that he should not call her before the completion of
the work. Ramabai completed the translation work nine months after
the death of her daughter. After checking the last proof of
translation, she sent it to the press and breathed her last the same
night. It was April 4, 1922.
Pandita
Ramabai and Manorama Medhavi are credited with the work of
rehabilitating and educating the destitute women and children during
the British regime. Very few women were involved in such work during
those days.
Pandita
Ramabai remained in the limelight for many years due to her
extraordinary intelligence, participation in social and political
fields and many controversial incidents in her life. It was not so
with her daughter, Manorama. After staying abroad for many years, she
chose to work in a small village like Kedgaon. Many incidences in her
life were challenging. She was able to face them because of the
support from her mother. Devdatta Tilak has written in his biography
of Pandita Ramabai has said that - "Amongst the people around
Ramabai, Manorama used to shine like a star."
Manorama
Medhavi has a special place among women social workers in Maharashtra
belonging to the pre-Independence era.
References:
-
1.
'Maharashtrachi Tejasvini - Pandita
Ramabai' (Marathi) (The bright woman of Maharashtra – Pandita
Ramabai), Author, Publisher - Devdatta Narayan Tilak, Shanti Sadan,
Agra Road, Nashik, Maharashtra (1960)
2.
'Stri-Muktichya Udgatya'
(Marathi) (Pioneers of women’s liberation) - Mrinalini Joglekar,
Swati Prakashan, Pune 411 030.
3.
'Vismrutichitre'
(Marathi), Dr. Aruna Dhere, Shrividya Prakashan, 250, Shanivar
Peth, Pune 411 030 (1998).
