24/02/2024
Rukhmabai by Sudhir Chandra
She was extraordinary and made me wonder why we don't know about such a pioneering woman. Why doesn't our history teach us this in schools where we need such impact-making stories to inspire young minds?
Rukhmabai, a child bride, was a pioneering woman doctor in India who challenged patriarchy and became a symbol of women's liberation. She was denied formal education and married off at eleven to a wastrel named Dadaji Bhikaji.
Her defiance led to a legal suit for the restitution of conjugal rights', which sparked a significant social and political debate. She moved to the UK to study medicine and qualified as a doctor in 1894. She led hospitals in Surat and Rajkot during two pandemics, performed daring surgeries, and inspired women to seek medical treatment.
She was brave, courageous, patient, and dedicated. Her efforts were commendable. I am in awe of her and can't imagine the struggle she and other women like her faced. The letters in this book showed what the women had to endure with the references to cases.
She had enormous support from different people who believed in her and formed a defense committee for her. When she won the case, she was celebrated, and at the same time, she became a villain in Hindu society. Though the case ended, hatred against her did not. She had an inspiring journey establishing feminism and being a doctor, all against the Hindu orthodoxy, with all the trials she faced.
There is so much to her that I can't put down in words. Her story needs to be read and known. After being an Indian physician and the first practicing woman doctor in colonial India, slowly and gradually she became known for her work, and people deified her. They believed she had magic in her hands.
Sudhir Chandra's efforts are commendable for what he brought to us in this biography and also enlightened us about a person we ought to know about. His writing was detailed and well-written, with evidence, back stories, and articles that showed the research he did.
This authentic biography sheds light on her life and the radical view she proposed of women's freedom.
Thank you for providing this.
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