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    Sarkar - Strishiksha or Education For Women

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    WORDS TO WIN ‘The Making of Amar Jiban: A Modern ‘Autobiography TANIKA SARKAR & Words to Win: The Mahing of Amat ban A Meders Autobiography Fst published in 1999 ty Kali fr Women B/S Haz Khas New Delhi 110 O16 (© Tania Saar 1999 Allright rered ISBN 61 85107 44 0 “Typeset in India by Serbe Conslans, B4/30 Safdarjung Enclave, "New Delhi 110 029 Printed at Raj Pres, 3 Inderpai, New Deli 110 012 6 Word > Win Women who were need ina more complete understanding sere simultane sine sd fasted by econ Ba Inpeor acoso ligs dicraces ced by sch dearer and ear, Rash worked ut 2 deeded sane views het ar and her Kent. She Sndetined he bia td her unui seces ee A Sea ine ek de ha» ep thay vee behind hs appa esi ths paral hts thar washer sma By evoking thi cont, she eed ot hers an ineror space which was he fh She pied open both smerand ih sccmsdnte new igi the ena et domed woman” bhatt who rene her stonomet scligous undemanding al by bevel» sth ha isch, ined fom al hat he woman's ar bad on of And to ith tha can oly be cxpresed trough the Ridden ivy of writing a book 4 Strishiksha, or Education for Women I “Must We Live in Chains?” In her own way, Rashsundati had a great deal to say about what hhad emerged at Scent theme in 19th century reform in Bengal: on women's education, on the sriceues against it in orthodox families, on its growing availabilty in her later yeas. ‘She does not, however, refer to the debates among reformist land the orthodony at such, even when her own observations ‘come cloee tothe reformist position. Here she sands apart from the 19th century Maharashtrian widow Tarabai, who declares hae diferences from the reformist agenda even when she wants ‘education for women.! She also sends apart fom the polemical ‘writings of 2 Bengali predecessor, Kailashbashini Debi, who ‘wrote a whole book on che educational deprivation of Hindu twomen? Rashsundaticefusee eo insert herself openly within an ongoing debate oa rf Re 7 —_ Se Roind Olan, A Conpuion Been Women and Mew Tere ‘Shinde nd the Cringe of Cnr Reon Cabal nd, Ono Unie Pres drs 1994 Inaction The Berar dh dca here, wert precede hide’ wring by lee vo eden "Se Kalb Db Hind Algae Bin O Teer Semana, Cae, 1678, “ Word 9 Win “The refusal could not have flowed from her ignorance of the issues In 1865, litle while before her book was finshed, ax many a: seven schools had been setup for gi in the dizi of Pana, hee birthplace. Bamasundari Debi, wel known woman teacher, was active in teaching married women in thir homes. Faridpur, too, had come to acquire seven schools by the 1860s. ‘An stocation of local notables ~ che Fatidpur Suhr Sabha wat behind the iniaive, and inal likelihood, funds would have come from the disc landlords — from men of her own clus, and, quite posbly, rom her own circle of acquaintances. ‘Around 1867-68, the Faridpur school had employed another ‘well-known woman teicher, Bhagabati Debi, trained by the teachers taining (Normal school at Dace, atthe considerable salary of Rs. 20 a month? Such information had no reason not to rech her, and her elogiessbout changing times could well have been inpied by such news ‘Acthe ime ofthe publication of her boo, she was no longer 4 timid young wife, inulated fom information about pul vents and debates, but had become an eddy matron whose leaning was known and welcomed within her family. Rahaundat could nor have fled to undersand thar what she had to 1a on women's education plugged into a lively, even acrimonous public debace. In fc, Jyotiindranath’s preface to her book dwells_on the controversies. With Rashrundar, however, ll eflections needed tobe shown a entizly rooted in her own experiences and undersanding: tae understanding, ‘moreover, must be sipped bare ofall exenal influence except divine inerventions Yet she does approximate atone of polemical anger and zeal con this question that i surprisingly close tothe more explck 7 Shkhs Senne Bua, 1867.68; Jana 186. tn he cllacion of aac fom Bhar Royse Sake Ne Bemabedin Pari 1270 — 15, Women Sos Rewuch Cee, Univesity of Clea, ent, 94 Po. * Shih Senn Bioon, Bh, 1272 and cations fiom Main’ Repo on Womens Edam in Beebe Paria dp, 280. Seitiaha 7 Bdcation fr Women ° seformistadvocacies, The 19th century debate om sihiahe ‘women's education wat_something whose terms included fr wider socal problems and penpectves than the matter of cucation alone. Rammohan Roy, in an ealy writing against ‘widow immolaion, was one oF te ire people vo question some ofthe fundamental rounds and implications ofthe norm that prohibited education for women. He linked it up with an entire ‘eeucere of regulations thie had actively denied moral and incllecnl facies to women and had then naturalized the results ofthe deprivation by describing the resus as che case: women's minds were 100 inferior — so ssid the conservative ‘opponents of reform —~ to aecomodate serious thinking Rammohan scparsted and reversed cause and effec. Ke it inceresting that Mary Wollstonecraft had similarly related siferences in womens icallectal achievements to a ference in opportunites and not o innate nature Rammohan might not have read her book, bur he could have been conversan with the controversies that it had provoked. Later Bengali women, however, mate the same point on thei own, akbough in thei cate, there could be no diet influence at all> Rammohun woote in 1818: “When did you ever tex the incalignce of women that you can zo easly designate thems at foolish creature. You witheld education and knowledge fom them, so how do. you decide that they ate incapable of Tearing?" This was writen atime when the fist moves were afoot to provide for women's eduction. In each subsequent decade, with the inauguration of new suggestions for sith whether by misionares in the 1820s, by the iconoclastic Young Bengal reformers in the 1830s, or by Vidyasagar and sober Brahmo reformers in the 40s and 50s — the debate fathered new szength and new bicernest. Invariably the 7 See Keith Mio Baer. "Deng tbe Fue Spe in 8th Cenry France’ Vato on 4 Thee by Haberman Cag and Calhoun, Habre and he Pb Shr MPP Pee, Cambrde 192. pp 20-08 eT pejedrias Bandopadhyey snd Sojitntn Das eds, Renmeben Grats Vet 3, 9. 7 Word 1 Win arguments would roll into and interogate — or defend — the fundamentals of an entre order of upper caste patiarchal injunctions. We ind, therefore, yer another relationship with the world of vidbi-nishedba that would, through concrete and partial demands of reform, set up some cracks within the ruling social order, Actually, in the hisorical context of the eatly 19th ‘century, the most minimalist plan for education would open up ‘uite a considerable excess beyond samar and its demands — a potential thar would steadily diminish for middle-dass women as very gradually, svshilha became normalised. Its transformative implications for poor people and poor women, however, sll retain some of the older valences in a country where bare literacy remains a scarce resource. Reformers rarely climed to do more than loosen up older lciplines a ite; they would, i fact, aune ther Limited charter 18 highly-controlled and soberly responsible measures. The orthodoxy, however, saw in each venture a definitive beginning of the end. Through the fiery contentions over srishibsha, we shall probe the nature ofthe fers, as away of measuring exacly ‘what the reforms could challenge and change. |___ Around the time thar Rashsundat’s book went co pres vita and new dimension had been added co the debate. Women themselves had stared writing abouc the question of their ‘education, and the print medium had incorporated these in the public sphere of debates and arguments. One ofthe frst printed pieces on the mater came fiom a gil of nine. Proponents of Itrihikiba, connected with the reloxmist newspaper Sombad Prabhakar, published a news item on. 26 Baisakh, 1256. (May, 1849) They had vised the young, gil ac her home and had set 4 text for her. They als vouched for che face that she had ‘composed the anewer in front of them. She was asked to write | poem on the theme “Gil ofthis lind are noe educated How ae they inferior to men?” ‘The ltd gil composed a poem in reply within an hou. Ie Sithilahs or Bdceion fr Women n was highly finished pice, written in ater erudite syle, and the verses shymed perfect. “Women ae kep ike anima sine they donot ge eduction espa he te wer nd ya ped Since men cannot be born without women Why ate women ao ced i? “Men wea them with conten jut Becase hey ate women Thy do noc cp tar mommy eo, hina prs? “The paper reported this at considerable length, for ic was ‘major event Ie was proof positive — and proof, badly needed in a debate where they had ted vo argu car education, if impariallydsebuted, would fetch the same results fom gel 48 fom a boy Kalashbashini Debi soon came out with an acid critique of Hindu gender norms From 1863, Umeshchandea Dara, 2 close associat ofthe Brahmo reformer Keshab Chandra Sen, had seated publishing the Bemabodhini Peita or the journal for the education of women. The est journal devoted t0 2 discusion of gender isses, it invited writings fom women, produced. material which’ mighe help ‘women to educate themselves in slow stages, and alo generated arguments for women’s education and social reform. It editor was 4 young ‘man in bis cay ewenti, who could not purse + medial teining because of his poverty. He later published a coletion of women's writings in 1872 — Bama Rachanabali — and book to argue about the aczzsiy of female education — Seilotganer Vidyatither Abayahate? From the sis, then, along with reformist advocacies of ssbb, there is «print forum that welcomed women's opinion on the mate. The new vernacular prose allowed a few’ women — a yet unable to require an Engish ora dasical eluction — wo expres theit 7 Benoy Ghosh Semaylpae Banger Sachi, ol 2, Papyrus, Clea, 1978p. 228 ” "chins Dei, Hinde Magne Henhat (Cau 1863, 2 Sot Spy nad Rng Chri, Ct, n Wont Win thoughts in books, acts, articles and in letets in Bamabodbini. Being closer co their everday speech, the pose of the journal allowed them « mote immediate understanding of what they read and whae they needed to write. Women's own writings at this pone were, indeed, quite cha and drew quite alot rom 4 Sanslet-based or tedbhaba vocabulary ‘Aone of deep and pervasive anger was flected bya number of leer that teached the editor of Bemabodhini Paik from Aiscice towns, inchding one from. "Shrimati Bibi ‘Taheranncchha", a Musim woman fom Bods Balika Bidyala. Ie was writen in extremely chase, Sanskriised Bengali and ‘efeted extensively to ancent Hinds women oflearing” Uma Chakeavart has exposed the largely maythicied nature ofthe totion of the leaned ancient Hinds woman. ‘The myth, however, had a wide range of contesatory possibilies, and reformminded women, even Muslim ones, needed the appeal of a mythidaed ancien golden age whose glory induded the Spread of knowledge among women" Ie was ao, perhaps tore revealing sign of those times, tha 1th century Hind men preferred ro construct 2 myth about the incllecually song roman rather than one about the docile, servile wie. Shrimai Soudamini Debi fiom Bakarganj wrote in 1865: Why have men kept us in sch a low state? Are we not the childfenof the Gres Father ...How much longer do we say Chained to our home" Sheimati Kamini Debi wrote fom hipaa in 1867 “Ie is no exaggeration o say that our women live lives that are no beter than that of animals” An anonymous woman wrote in 1868 from Konnaga: “Our father ‘Mie we ie in chins all our lives, even though we are your dbughtre? Ala! Were we born inthis land only perform low Laser af Phalga, 1272 (1869). in p26. " "Whar Happened 0 the Velie Da Orem, Naionlsn and A “Sep forthe Pa fa Snga an Se Vs, eng Wome aay on Cll Hier Ka fox Worn, Dei, 189. Seika or Bdceion fr Women a cask, Why ma we lie ll ou ve ike caged irs win the home?” “The words sentient and pac the mosf of the bid nd the ruc homes weir thes in ar Jian. We might ike two tings fom the sma, and bok could be party tue. Rchaindar could have rnd some of is tefore she nled her autobiography She docs not reer to any modem eading aero l bu ‘ead only ome aed texts might have been a aul veto deine her geeralobedicnge and wadloral view In any cae she probably wool ave ead some nev pre compos 5 pros et, inpraton for which could ot have come from the ated vers sone By the 186s when the ft eon oF A was being composed, 3 Bengal journals had already tome of age, and the new posal sytem had developed well fnough wo eany newspapers and pedal int cre remote ‘ilage homes At the same time, che svi of the new journal for women and women's wing at jst aout the time when she ‘wot er bc mig inde meng ee Temi ew Coward an emergent sructe of felngs among uppercase gly eclded women whose ais woud be wel enough ‘o-alcat them if they had wanted to doo Irwould be a eae for anew form of female identity that woud. rotent domesiciy as wel as dialgn ‘women somevhat fom the dome confines tha they initenly debe a» pion and 2 age Ofcoune, aoc ofthese let might scaly have been pean by men, wing under amine pocadonym fo cdi othr gestions ne when ew women could come up with writen and pint mater Bu when we ompuethem with the few ples of octal women's wings, ‘we find lide discrepancy. = ‘A182 subenined piece of woman's witing, nt only ierenes in the debate ai nal sage although widow Sima Sh p55 ” Wendt Win seeming todo so. The face that its author was someone who was hot connected with reformist circles at all, went a long way 10 five it status as an autonomous female argument that could not hhave been mimicking male reformism. Historically, its appearance coincided with a sage inthe debare when, for the Firs time, women could express their opinion within the public sphere of che pres and prine culture, Rashsundar's very distance from the centre of that sphere — reformisc circles in Calcura and her silence and implied ignorance of the public nature ‘and import ofthe issue, made her book appear at even more the authentic and spontanouly, even innocently, produced article. 0 ‘What Men Feared about Strishiha ‘Whereas om her loss ofthe natal home, she uses the frst person singular consistently, on the subject of education Rashsundati seneralise, talking aboue all Bengali women in past and present times — a are deparcue for her. She does not usually write in the discursive mode on social matters bur wansate her general concerns into deeply personal experiences of pain. While talking bout women and education, she refers to ewo disinee phases the fst covers the early years of her childhood andthe is years in her new home when she had co keep her thirst for knowiedge secret, The second was a somewhat altered context in the late sixties, when the first pat of her book was nearing an end. ‘Even in her mother's home, whete she had picked up some levers from listening to her brothers’ reading, no one was told about it. After her mariage, when she was fourteen — around the mid 1820: — she began to long to read, but her Feats were feat about letting anyone know of this desire. Aleady, male {guardians were complaining about “the Queen's rule” and about hhow that had encouraged subversive spread of education among women, Both er desize and the male fears were ‘obviously produced by some beginnings that had already been made ro educate women by the early ewenties RRashsundar, however, is a litle confused about different Seitilaha o” Edcaton fr Women % ‘moments of time here: Acunlly, Victoria's rule commenced a decade after she had curned fourteen and was pining to read, She was, then, conflating the historical moment of the twenties when the debate about sridhitoba had juse begun, with a situation of the ealy and mid-hiries when Victorias reign had ‘commenced, a few tentative effors had already been made ‘owardsinstiutionalised primary education for women and very ‘much more was being urged by Christian missionaries and liberal reformers. Ths would be, infact, closer tothe time when she was ewenty-five, and was actully teaching herself to read in secret. Rashsundat’s account cartes vivid sense of the male fears chat were whipped up to produce a hardening of orthodox: lines at ewo slightly diferene junctures. vo quantity when the 19th century opened. Ward's Repor of 1803 mentioned that sa aT ine Fe ad primary schol or pba but seemed to have catered to boys alone." Adam's Report described a roughly similar piceue in the mid-thiries but, again, pre-colonial educational Facilities — well organised as they were for those times — seemed co have offered nothing to gis, It was not simply a question of omision. Girls were expresty forbidden to read in literate, even well-educated households (Customary injunction had ic that literate gel were fated to be widowed. In his Second Report on the State of Education in Bengal, Adam wrote in 1836: ‘A supersttiosfeling i alleged to exist inthe msjotity of Hindu families, principally cherished by the women and not discouraged by the men, that a gil aught to write and read will oon become 2 widow... and the belief i also generally entertained in naive society tha inuigue ie fitted by + knowledge of lees onthe part of females... when aster. is observed imitating her bothers !utempr at penmanship, she expres forbidden to do so. These. Felings prevail exensively -. both amongst Hindus who ae 7 Ramet Gdn Miva, Econ, 18531905, n NK. Se Hoey fbn 1757-190, Cts, 1367, AV. 16 Wonk te Win dooted to the pursuits of igon, and those who ae engaged in the bain of the word." No. mere Oriental sect, this, since the desciption rexel in rey pac, Rundown expt ‘Adams Report wat prepared beween 1835 and 1838, aroun the ime whoa a twenty Bve year old Rashsundai was struggling to ead in the most fearfl sereg Tn hic Report, Adar refers co ewo separate odes of fear hat choked off women's elhcaion. One was the fex_of soul Inugigues, since a literate woman could wie and wake secret ‘Sopa oF an ice nature Tp ely pena ey, Shi TRE Who reformer, was taught a home an oxeptional mother who was fly welreducted. When he ete end the wig ola od hi ear tht be wra being supervised by his mother, he teacher sent a leer of iigation 10 this entry unfamiliar woman through her fisuspeting, ton, secure in the certain conviction of her immoral.” “The other kind of fear was about che impending threat of widowhood forthe eucted wanes Ta Seo Te Re on sruhilsha, Gourmohan Vidyalankar mentioned the . s punished the woman who forgot hee spent gle by ating oe ee \widowhood.'® Far later in the century, the tame Tear is again Imentoned in the pages ofthe Remabodhini Para in 1863." ‘We should look at the fear cosy, for they indicate what and how much the most minimalist notions of strishikshe, advocated by the most moderate of reformers, would need t0 Wasim 5, Fel nan in Sect Report on the Se of Edeion| in Benga 1836 by Wiliam Ada Educ by Ananash Basu Cat ‘nies, Cal 194, pp. 167-8 "Shiba Sha, Annan, Cala 1982 p22 "Vilar, Sicha: Arar Pet © Tanna O Bide Srioer Dra, sew 1822 9-3 "See ude Agha Gene Sear Kathy, BP, 163, rau, op sp? Swish or Eduction fr Women n overcome. There are ewo separate dyads at work here — the ‘educated woman and che widow, and the immoral woman and the educated one. They can be run into each other ¢o make up 4 single, triangulated structure. The «wo bate terme — the widow and the immoral woman — may be merged rogether to constitute the apex term — the educated woman, who now ‘comes to represent both the base terms. The base terms can be tuned on the bass ofa characersic impulee ofthe educated ‘woman which encompasses the sats ofboth the widow and the jmmoral woman — she, like the two other protorypes, is not defined entirely by het husband's presence. The educated woman, therefore, shares with the immoral one, an extra matital deste. Ie makes no difference that in her casei isa deste for learning — she is not supposed to possess a desire for anything that does noc come through, ot is not related to her husband. By this act of desiring something els, she has then terminated hher need for the husband. The husband, therefore, dies a physical death, leaving her as a widow, since this is a logical culmination of her tefutal to be defined solely through her conjugal status. The immoral and the educated women have both symbolically cancelled out the husband: widowhood is a physical embodiment of che consequences. In a farce witen in| 1907, the contesion Tetweenaahey and widowhood ttansfereed from the realm of divine retribution to chat of the active agency of the woman. In a play, whose tile may be translated as Educate she Woman, and You are Digging Your Owns Grave, the educated woman fist wens to adultery, and then murders her husband. The distance beeween the cree categories is completely closed off, and 2 new fear is offered about a new ‘category of the evil woman: the educated woman as potential hhusband-kiler2” Education, th ube repudiation of the husband. It ie the connection alitde further, beyond the figure of the husband, TSR Pak Me Leer, Ape Hee Dab Mans, Cat 1857 ” Word 2» Win we find that the new educated woman is ‘opposite term of the domestcareTeaste good wife of old times {Pike sigacaton is widened our Te Tore THEW SATEon qual the end ofthe patriarchal marrage system. We chus have here a findamental kind of binary opposition berween ewo entice vvays of being, two gender systems. This puss a weight on the meaning of women’s education — and on socal reform in this Sphere — that significantly in excess ofthe stice programmatic Content of 19th century shila. There is 2 continual ‘overproduction and leakage of meaning. that inexorably fencompasses the future of Hindu domesticity. Refoom, therefore, may appear paral and limited in intent, but to its adversaries ss we shall soe — it was necessarily laden with momentous consequences. m On the Educated Woman Very often, Indian reforms, especialy those related 10 education for women, ate seen at a simple function of mimicry, of aspirations towards Vicorian gentity, for an emulation of ‘companionate mariage”! This argument shoves the reformed tnd the educated woman under a doubled servitude — to her husband's new needs for a mote sympathetic wifey and +0 ‘western, Virorian standards of patiarchy. I chink we need to “Emphasis very strongly, however, that che normative and moral horizons beeen the two cultural systems were so very different and diane that plain mimicry was plainly out ofthe question. Even if the basic digits of selt-fshioning look superficially similar — a lite education, closeness othe husbands interes, intelligent housekeeping, educating infants — the proceses through which all this would be achieved were so vasly divergent thar seemingly similar conclusions would lead up 0 ‘entrly diferent experiences and norms. The Victorian lady did Se Samp and Ville Reng Women Ey in Cali! Hise, onc, luda. aE nn Sitios or Eden fr Women ” not have to hide her literacy, she was not marred off in her infancy, her husband could not be formally polygamous and the ‘widow was not customarily barred from remarriage. Nor did she live in viel seclusion, ‘The reforms chat Victorian feminists struggled for were not basic education, end to widow- immolation, leasing widow-remarrage, de-lgalising infant marriage. For the 19th century Bengali Hindu woman, moreover, even the minimalist idea of these reforms would be posible to conceive of only after very hard struggle against tuling vidhi-nihedha, afer a radial break with her own. inherited sensibilities. Ie would come about through a process that was inevitably painful and erss-rdden. Iisa historia fae of immense significance chat women articulated an early yee strong sense about non-gendered, inalienable, equal human right, ist ofall in the sphere of education: in contrast, abolition of widow immolation, lgalising widow emartage, a higher age fof consent and mariage were rights that male ceformers inated. 1 think that such mistecognicion of historical developments arses when we confine ourselves to assessments of Finished literary products a the sole gauge for sensibilities ofthe day: we need to look dls that went rupeures and challenges chat the foal exts do not make Te watt cance out che asociation berwcen education on the one hand, and widowhood and immorality on the other, that ‘he Fee women writers carefully undevined che face char the education _was initiated bands Kailashbashini Debi farrated inher preface, how her husband insisted tha she learne to read and write 2 night, indicating the appearance of a new kind of conjugal intimacy that, to, had to be secretly performed in the privacy of the bedroom? The seformists assumed th the band i een sn ‘hain OF ttocltone that we had looked at cater. Far fom Kadai Da op ce 80 Word 1 Win being a wansgresive deste thatthe adulterous woman nurtured to tun away fiom, and cancel out the husband's presence, this ‘was something initiated by the husband himeelf: education was ‘thus integrated with conjugaliy, 3 change that traneformed the scope of conjugality iwel, In this sense, Racheundaris was a daring deparure, since cleaty, she had acquired her education hon fer butands Inenleige or ppl TF Only BATEpons to the prohibition seemed to have been the rich landlord families. According to Adam, girls of many such families were educated since, in cae of widowhood, they were expected to manage the family properties. He also mention® that more than half the landlords ae Nateore in Raehahi were widows, OF tem, “Rane Suyamani Das and Kanalman asi were known to have a good command over Bengali writin and scunt™ Kasbah Deno mention tact om arithmetic and accounts in educating gies from these files?" Much later, 28a senior maton, Rashsundari pur her education to practical use by writing a plea, in her husbands absence, on behalf of some of cheir tenants who were being mishandled by 2 neighbouring Muslim zamindat. Yet, not all landlords daughters could have been educated since Rasheundai herself belonged to such 2 houschold and nobody tried to teach het anything. Aguin, according 10 Adam, even in zamindsti hhouseholds, che teaching was done in secret It sems thatthe licerate daughter was 2 social libily that even the wealthiest, and most influential families could not declare in public Secrecy, with its association of hidden desite and tranegesson, was, indeed, a dominanc mocif for the entre actviny. RRashsundari, therfore, was not an exception, The other known category of women who were literate were those fiom mendicane Vaishnay orders — the beshtomis fom popular, often low class and caste devotional sets, who made an 7 hl Second Repos op 2 Kabhi Debi Hinde Abate Bibby O Tar Soman (alae, 1978, pp 2324 adams Sead Repo op ch Shih or Bdcton fr Women a income from teaching women from upper easte households. In the Jorasanko Tagore family, for instance, 2 “ma goin” was hited to teach the women.2® Adam commends the fact that “the authors and leaders ofthis ser had the sagacty o perceive the importance ofthe vernacular dialect as a means of gaining access to the multitude, and in consequence, their works...orm a larger portion of che current popular literature than those of any other sect...the subject maer of these works cannot be said to bbe of a very improving character...” The subject. marer, ‘obviously, would relate tothe illic love berween Krishna and Radha. Pethaps, for chat reason, not every affluent household ‘would use them to teach their gils. On the contary, the ‘macgoiaine were held to be dangerously immoral themselves. "As sect they rank precisely che lowest in point of general morality and expeially in respect of the virwe of the woman.” Adam ‘mentions thatthe example of thee literate and immoral women might have produced fears abou the lierae woman in general?” For most respectable upper caste families, the association between boshtomie and literacy itself would act as 2 counter- ‘model and inhibie the extension of education among their women, since bodtom orders were looked down upon and were suspected of all kinds of sexual peccadillos. Rashsundar’s familie were devout Vaishnave az well as highly educated, but they were strict about withholding education from women, ‘Once Rasheundari was bold enough to make her achievement known, she realised that there were ochers in her family who ‘were hungry for words and lenters. Many other women from these times had similar experiences. Sarda, the wife ofthe grat 19th ceneury saint Ramakrishna, sadly recollected inher old age, how she, asa young gil, was keen to read, and how her treasured fist book was snatched away ffom her hands by an infuriated male relative who rebuked her: "Women are not meant to read 7 Dende Trg, Swen Jen Chari Cae, 1098, 65. Reine in Arma Aap, Cae, 198 7 Am, Seed Repo op 2 Word t Win ‘They wll end up reading novels and plays.” I is precisely {ear of frivolous and immoral reading habit that Jyotirindranath ‘Tagore tris to refure in the Inroduction by pointing out that Rashsundari used her education to read sacred texts. Ie seems thatthe right to engage in systematic and extensive reading wae a privilege reserved for the female aseticrenouncer who had already lefe the household to join an ashram. Most of Ramakishna’s women disciples were invariably prolific readers, though the saine himself was ilierate 2? v Early Schools ‘Chuistian missionaries began to experiment with schools for gids fom about TSTS Ward's campaign in England resulted in the ‘establishment of the Female Juvenile Soiey in chat year. Mrs ‘Cooke of the Church Missionary Sociery came to Caleuta in 1821, and managed to set up as many as ewenty-four gil’ schools in different parts of Caleut, attended by four hundred pupils. By 1828, when Rashsundari frst starts thinking of the possibilty of reading, the number had gone up to thiny schools, visited by six hundred student The numbers could have been somewhat exaggerated and certainly they declined fily soon and quite rapidly. Some ofthese students would later be trained under che Normal or teachers training schoo, set up under the auspices of the Ladies’ Sociecy that inaugurated the zenana or hhome-based education system. Under this scheme, tained teachers would teach, in seclusion, gies or maied women from cdeply respectable families, who would not send the women to schools. The scheme was coordinated by Reverend Fordyce and ‘Mrs. Mullen. Special efforts were made by Mrs. Toogood to Sarda Deb, Amato. Compl by Abas Diigop. Ramsidina Mision Tse of Cre, see 197 > See he bopaghicl sec of Join Ma and Goat Ma ia Seam Ganblrnad, Sie Rama Bhima, Par 1, Udon Kay alee 1999. ‘Swishitsha o Bducaion for Women % train teachers who would disseminate education through the vernacilae medium, and ce efforts bore some fut inthe fst. Few years Very ineexingy, che same Mrs. Mallens wrote prosyking novel in Bengali — posibly the fst flllngth fron of con — that showed the educated woman as the leader Yrithin the family and community of Christan convers. The few woman is located in a rural low-income setup, in sharp conuastco reformist iterate! Ta December 1823, Bishop Heber vted one of Mrs. Cooke's [Native Female Schools, founded under the Church Missionary Society. He praised the high level of progress in reading, writing and sowing among the young students bu he did not mention ‘vhae kind of readings were prescribed, ot what kinds of sudents ‘were teruted. Looking at che gis with a vomewhat voyeuristic {te he described thei faces and bodies in some detail instead Tewas very prety to ce hell warty chien come forward co repeat thie lens... blushing even through their swarchy omplerions, wih their musin veils ehrown over thee sli, halnaked figures." Tn 1822 Gourtnohan Vidyalaar wrote Sishitshevidpch vo serve a dual purpose. It advocated female literacy, and pars of the booke were recommended a posible readings for git seudent I was writen not nly in. vernacular prose, but in an cxcesvely colloquial, comvenational mode, in the form of Aialogues Berween women. In later much produced for ‘women, we Rad a more chaste language being used ha probably Indicates that woren had aleay been exposed wo some printed mare. Vidyslankar,on the other hand, needed to make his 3 See NIL Bak Miner of Vr Ebon in Bong 1800-1856, Bhat Book Sel Ca, 1974 pp US. 2 Men Malle, Pho O ara, Kachin Base DsiprapeSekine Sena, Cet 192 ei 1 en for 12 December Me Lait, Seo fom Her oad Datla, Mash ned Porc: ehy The Eon Unarandng of Inc Diop Heer i Norm India Skis fo Heber Jura, Cabi Unveny Pras 1971 pp 450 4 Wont Win ‘ing 2 close wo everyday spech 28 posible since women were 2 yet not used to reading formal prose. In the nexe decade the Society claimed to have taught 500 gil in several istics, but to regular school semed to have survived In the 1820s Miss. Cooke and the Ladies’ Sociery for Native Female Education made some progress in Caleta and neighbouring districts, but ‘Adam reported in 1838; “eis oaly che children of the very poorest and loves cates tha atend the gl schools and chet attendance is avowedly purchased"™ There is some indication, however tha gis of poor flies were also eager vo lean, Mrs. (Cooke ad apparently setup vernacular pba only fr boys under the School Book Socey. She decided to open school for girls when she found a lide gil weeping a its door since the teacher would not let her in, despite hee pleas for over 3 smonth2® Since schools filed to acquire 1 weold among gids of respectable familes, Radkakanta Deb proposed thar hey should deliberately carget hee teaching a poorer gs, while the beer ‘off should be taught at home. Misionary schools in Caleuta did remain largely confined ro the depressed areas It would be ‘very imeresting to piece together record of eatly misonary ‘experiences among the poote and the low-cae gil to establish how the later related to prospects of edacation. Certainly, Rshsundat's childhood was not touched by these efforts. She does mention a white woman teacher — probably a missionary — who ran the village school on er home premise, but she sem to have aught oly the boys and made no effort to teach Rashundari. According to report imued by the Serampore Baptist Mission in 1829, the inrcuion was already running ewengy-one vernacular schools in Serampore and in 7 Remain Pari im Bhar iy op pp 15. » Adam Repo, op ce 493. 2 Shima Shui Remsen Lait OTe Bergson New Age Pubes, Cae 1956. Sum Sur, “Vidar and Baba Sai Hise, Oxfrd Unive Dre, Dd 1997 ring Sit Suita o Eden fr Women a5 rcighbouring areas, while it had also set up seven and cight schools at Dacea and Chittagong respectively. With the rise of high Anglcism in the nest decade, the vernacular school, run by misonaries, fell imo disse. Rashaindar’s home-based school could have been an ofthoot ofthis experiment that was founded on 2 scheme for vernacular education chat Dr, Marshman had inated” Since a this stage only misionares ran schools fr gi, fear ‘of Christian proselsacon merged with the pull of custom and the deep seated male feats that an educated woman would use her knowledge ro wrt ilict ove leer, Prasannakuma Tagore, 4 prominent Caleura notable, warned in 1831 against infiltration of Hindu homes by misionaries through their augheers** A distinction must be made here berween wo levels within the debate on education. While che orthodox hardliners opposed the very idea of education isl, the proponents of sribitshe were uncerain about whether schooL-based or ‘home-based duction would serve the best purpose. Agsin, the division between the hardliners and the eeormists on this ive did not always correspond to the larger octhodoxcliberal opposition Radhalanta Deb, who led the agitation in four of widowimmolaion, was, nonetheless, 2 pioneer on behalf of stribiksha. Since schools were a public space away from homes, ic was unthinkable for most respecable families that their daughters could travel daily beyond thet homes, To allay such fears, misionaries had curned to zenana education — teaching ‘women within the safe confine of their homes. That, ofcourse would have aggravated feats of Christian penetration into Hinds homes. Redhakanta Deb ofered his blamelesdy onodox palace precincts asthe examination hall for students under the Female Javenile Sciey in 1822. Obviously, he, unlike moet of his orthodox fiends, saw ina partially educated woman a source of 7 Se Bak op cp #0. 2 Se Ramah Chanda Mi, op cit 453 Se Min id 6 Wont Win better and more informed female consent that needed ro be ‘generaed for somewhat besiged Hindu patriarchal norms. Bishop Heber narrates avery intersting meeting, with Radhakanea Deb at 2 pary that was also attended by several European ladies, “Hurree Mohan Thakoot’, an orthodox Hindu dlignitary, remarked that these paris were 20 much more inetesing than any others, forthe preence of women lent them ‘much grace. Heber informed him that ancient “Hindoos” also enjoyed such occasions and ic was only Muslim rule chat put an tend to the public appearance of women. “Radhakants Deb obsered.. itis true that we did not use to shut up out women ‘il che times of the Mussulmans, But before we could give them the same liberty as the Europeans, they must be beter educated, ‘The meeting encapsulates hisrrical exchange. At first lance, the impore seems obviour enough; the Orientalist- Imissonary pastes on a hisrricl selédesctiption ax well as a future agenda to the orthodox Hindu and che moment of liberal ‘education, as of communalied historiography, originates fom this exchange. Oriental sahib, Hindw orthodoxy, liberal ‘form, Hindu nationalizm blend into one another, all falling an originary Orientalist agenda of cultural conquest. If we look closely, however, the moment unfolds more complicated ‘meanings. Instead of assimilating and reguegtating 2 given statement, Radhakanta shows no surprise at it, he does not indiate cha this information is freshlyreceived wisdom. Rather, his quick response could indicate that he himself might have ‘been already thinking on such line On the other hand, he immediately makes distinctions within the transmitted message fand selects what he cin use. He endotses the supposed information about public mobility of ancient Hindu women but he ie not prepated to restore the privilege 2s of now, however axtractve it might appear to his frend Harimohan Thakur. He pute i¢ into an explanatory frame thar would serve his present purposes better and links ic up with srisikche within 7 bathe, wa op ci Switaha or Education fr Women ” domesticity. He thus draws up his own map of social relations fand resets the boundaries offered by Heber. What is ineretng is the desire that nites che European and the Hindu: 4 desire for interesting and public socal occasions where ‘women’s presence war estential, even ifthe Hindu mus, forthe present, be content with the presence of European ladies alone. ‘A new sense ofan ideal scibiliy ie een to be emerging, even if as a disane, imagined possiblicy. Again, in Radhakanta’s mediate reply to Heber, che point of real incerest would sem ta be a replication of the western promise to the Indian ineeligentsia: rights would be avilable to it only aer proper education. By tansferring it to Indian women, Radhakanea is repeating what was, pethaps, a larger perceived function of the Indian woman. She i, co the colonised Indian man, what he i to the sah, and, by being that, she offers co him the vicarious pleasure of being a surrogate sib within the family. This is, however, the tone that Radhakanta uses, a man who combines his pleas forthe continued burning of Hindu widows with the hope of giving Hindu women a li literacy at home while they lived. We must note that he tals nor of withld freedom, of inflicted blindness, of Hinda male guilt as Rammohan does. He talks of Muslim culpability, of intelligent and responsible Hind male decision-making. If sections of the orthodoxy were prepared to loosen up the tesictions on this one particular sphere of the woman's existence, the radical, iconoclastic rebels ofthe next decade, the Young Bengal or Derosian students, bierly denounced the prohibitions aguinst education in che pages of their journal, Gyananverhan. They enlarged the conception of education by linking ie up with a plea againse child marrage, <0 thae gle would hive acces to unintersupted learning before they were given away to “strangers” and to unfamiliar homes where thee future growth would be beyond the control of their eatlie guardians: a fate that Rashsundari had writen so eloquently about. This was one of the fist systematic arguments for tricituha that was consolidated into a coherent postion and statement in Maheshchandra Deb's early but cogent statement a8 Word to Win on the Hindu gender stem: his Skach of he Condition of Hindoo Women eae ou in 1839 Since the young Derzians had stuck tor in Caleu Hindu scien with thee open and somewhat exhibitonisic attacks and ccioms of Hindu convention, thei advocacy of rishishe came to look ike apart oftheir reckless tebelion and defance against Hinduism il ‘The fearful comment on education that Rashida heard in the mid-hirdzs could be parly related to the association bbeween srihisa and Deroraniconodasm. These few. yet immensely sky vemurs famed the context within which Rashsundari acquted he education. The meagrenese ofthe efforts agains as yet undened custom explains how a daughter of an allen, ested clas with developed wadiions of reading within the home and the Vaishnav community, who herself was yearning to lean, could have been deprived of literacy and ‘why her leaning needed © be a scree © the world The mae feats tha she refers to in her work, wee shaped bythe sength of dominant custom chat begins wo apprehend a breach ints rule. Ie is interesting that asthe century advances, we hear less about the prospect of widowhood and far more about the innate immorality of educated women. Rassundad in fat, plays a double enendre on the sociation when she describes her deste 1 read a longing fora forbidden pleasure Rashsundari refers to some anxious speculations among her sale guardian, somewhat hashly and rudely worded, abou the evil effects of having a Female queen. Subjction under a woman ‘monarch was an unprecedened polit experience for Bengalis andthe immediate reaction seems to have been snes about major tribulations in social life, world turned the wrong side up. Living under the rule of « woman seemed to fulfl old prophecies abou che onset of the ast and most eil age of all —laliyug, when women and low ease shud would lord i ‘over upper-easte men. The sgn that accompanied and embodied 5 Se Suni St, Te Compe of Young Bengal in Citgo Ceol Indi, Pp, Cakes, 1985, p27 Swit» Eduction fr Women » the new order was, for them, the contemporary movement for ‘educating women, So far, reformers had been able to do little on that score. Ie is exremely signiicane tha they, too, were besiged by some of the fears that asailed the orthodox about giving the woman access t0 something unconnected with pure domesticity. They took care to prove thatthe ewo were in fact, deeply connected. ‘Sumit Sarkar has pointed out how an altered conjugal situation ‘would have inspired reformers, excommunicated by kin groups and society, to overcome ther isolation within a shrunken world ‘of human contact, to pevilege the woman's question over other kinds of reform. They needed to recreate women with whom they could communicate and share? The entre concept of the smother asthe best teacher forthe child at home was, again, a reformise way of domesticating the education of women. Tract after behaviour tact and manual set out to prove that the ‘educated woman managed her home better, was more chaste and _modesc in her ways, and was a mote pleasant and ecient cook, ‘nurse and companion. Reformers wee also worried about certain ‘unwelcome fillouts from her literacy — mol, the “pernicious” habit of reading useless novels about romantic love and illicit passion that the new Batala publishers were chutning out in {reat numbers at cheap rates and were peddling from door to door, to cake them within reach of women readers Fears of learning about immoral ways jostled with feare of wasting money and cime, of neglecting housewodk. To counter this, reformers, produced improving reading matter in the form of cheap ‘behaviour manuals and moral tales in large quantities, founded journals full of “useful” things co learn for the educated housewife and drew up rigorous work schedules (for het) to teach her about the management of dockoriented time: Sa aT Wn uti Bin Ci Cd ine Sesto «newman in St Sela itd Kg Tne ay fC Rag ‘iy %0 Word 1 Win Jyotcindranath's preface to. Rashsundati’s book cviumphandly Utes ie to demonstrate that this woman expended her education fot in reading novels but for devotional works. However insrumentalis’ and tame their approach and resolutions seemed to be (this in il is an inadequate bass for judging reformist intentions and desires since bold proposals foften need ro wear a tame and modest face co disarm orthodox suspicion), the very act of seizing upon the writen word was a deparcure’ that was full of anspressive meanings and possblces. No matter what would be given to women by way OF reading, there ‘was 0 foolproof way of containing the Consequences once a new capabiley was created. And this was to ordinary capabilry. The 19th century upper-middle lass and. luppercaste man defined his masculine worth primarily, even exclusively, in terme of his mastery over the writen word. If masculinity required, above all a selfiferentition from the feminine, then recreating feminine subjectivity as lverate, as capable of acquiring knowledge, was a dangerous gif. ‘In colonial Bengal, education was the only resource that could fic out che middle class man with a self-image of transformative ‘enterprise. Ie was the only avenue 0 some power, ro profitable professions, co self-esteem under colonial conditions. By the Iniddle decades of the century, industries, rade and business were vitally closed to those Bengalis who had some capital ro ives, but who were dishearened by the series of flues of Bengali enterprises. The higher reaches of the army and the administration were, similaly, closed to Indians. Parasitic Tandlordism wae the only feld for profitable investment but rentiership wat hardly a sign of masculine vigour and creative ‘enterprise. If to be masculine was co be different from the ‘woman/Other, then 4 monopoly over education would be the supreme marker of that necessary difference — particulary, for 2 group of men who were regularly chastised by the colonial masters for effeminacy. The sharing of this supreme capability would then allow the surfacing of the represed feature that would faaly dessbilise cultualy-ordered sexual difference. In Silas or Education fr Women 31 the next decades, af we shall see, women’s education would evoke deep and awful fears about sexual emasculation. ‘Women's writings, on the other hand, argue that men had conspired to keep them away from some precious resource by posiing a basic diference in mates of intellect. There is a [pervaive senze of something that they had lst, something that had been cruelly withheld ftom them, some inflicted wound that ‘only formal knowledge could heal. Rammohan Roy, once again, made pechape the frst major, systematic statement on the matte. He identified ic asthe gift of tue religious knowledge and he charged brahmans for concealing it from ordinary people: Absence of education was taken by him and by 19th ‘century women writers asthe basi lack char differentiated male and female capabilies. Unlike the penis envy, postulated by Freudian. analysis, however, this was a lack thar could be redeemed. Rashsundari speaks of a similar blindness chac had been inficred by the concealment ofthe sacred uth which can ‘only be gained through learning. In Bamabodhin, a bridge is bile berween sacred and secular knowledge, and a case is made ‘out for women's acess vo both: secular knowledge of the world is tandated as knowledge of God's handiwork, and, therefore, divine in origin The metaphor of the lost inner eye, or the ‘esential Blindness chat persits even when the physical eyes Function, because these eyes cannot sce the world properly without knowledge, pervades the writings of Rashsundar as well, 4 the more open advocscies of education among the women ‘who published tacts and lees. v ‘The Fist Secular School (Christian missionaries, the grat liberal reformer Ishwarchanda 7 See Sumi Sr, Rarmohn Roy an she Bre wih the Pain A ing of Cll nd, op "Soh Pier Ababa, Remco Paik, fs ise 1863. See Bhar Ray, Shr Haro i 92 Wont Win Vidyasagar and thera icoocass ofthe Young Bengal group had’ made women's education cental plank in thet reform proposis: JED. Bethune, Law Member in the Governor Gener’ Council, gave ia new direction. He had decided by the 1840s hat unless the Hindu lites were encouraged to send aught o schoo, effors would be echausted among reformiz families alone. To achieve this, he paid sange prices, He foreswore religous insruction in his Calcura Female School, founded in 1849, and he promised wo recruit students ony from high caste families. The opening ofthe school was «major event. Twas inaugurated with & musi procesion dough the ets that was joined by prominent reformist figures. The school bus carted the Sandie sloka fiom the Mahanimentante “Kanyapyeba palaniya shilbaniyatyanarch” (Daughters should also be nurtured and educaed wih peat care). The school met for evo hous inthe moming. An edely brahman pandit taught Bengali while an European lay taught embroidery # I seemed safe and blamcless enough. ‘The scope of the ealy colonial interventions was natow primarily because che government would nos pare with adequate fans to bul abroad social base for women's education. fore thus needed to be conceneated at the top, hoping for a downvard percolation to follow. In the cae of Bengal, that percolation remained ilusory. At the same time, the eects of concentrating efforts on social lies were alo coy in a diferent vay, for they were dieced a upper-eate gil, conventionally bared from al education. As soon as the school wa founded, ic faced a wal of implacable outrage. The school bus atracted much public abuse on the sweets and the young gs had to stave in the midst of open and aggresive ering Tauri leads ofthe Caleue Hindu soci envlled ther daughter co pave the way forthe lest flk, and so did some reformeminded brahman” pandits Raja Dakshinaranjan, Madanmohan “ Bharad Bay, ops. Incodcin © Shiba Shai ama Lab op ce 172 Seitilaha or Education fr Women 93 Tarkalankar, Shambhunath Pandit, Ramgopal Ghosh Tarlalankar's ewo daughters — Kundamala and Bhubanmala — were the first students t0 be admived, and he had to face enormous social ostacim as a consequence® The more representative sections of landholders and Caleuea notables organised campaigns of social boycot to coerce supporters ofthe school into submission, The Landholdes Assocation expelled Rasiklal Sen fom its ranks since he had sent his daughter to school. Sen was no longe invited 0 the rirual ceremonies atthe hhomes of other members. The reformist paper Sambad Prabhakar epored as late as 1856 thatthe Dharma Sabha was sending agents to intimidate parens who wanted to send thet daughters to school. ‘A good measure of slaciousness and scandal-mongering were cused with deadly effect ro constitute deterrents to schoo ‘Doubts were cast on the purity ofthe lineages of those whose daughters were going to school — an apersion chat would lead to outcasting and to dilfculties by way of arranging marriages for their children. Obscene mockery and abuse abounded, functioning as warnings. The journal Chendrte O Prabhakar was fairly smacking is lips: “IF respeeable Hindu genlemen want to cur thee wives ino prosiutes, who can prevent tha? Not us, ..on the contrary, we want to vst thee schools... at sight and put he gid! students t tes.” Goaded beyond politeness, che eeformise Sembad Prabhakar replied to the aged editor in kind: a somewhat unusual departure for reformers who were otherwise careful to use a rather snitsed language, and who had acquired 2 reputation for prises. ‘The editor is an ancient man, we regard him a our grandfather Bac Time has not coded his sense of humour, though it har Ife its matks on his body... We had mistakenly thought that Grandpa has probably forgot the alls of youth... However, the very word Chandan Bandyopadhyay, Vihar, tid en, Indian Pes, Nbbbad 1908, p 196 © Sambal Prabal, 102\856, im Benoy Ghosh, Semipare Ranger Sami, 2, Paps, Cat, 1978, 34 4 Word 10 Win ‘ha produced such a delighted surge of youth in him shat we ae now faidy sre that he ha lose noching of his vii. “The word for virile here is seerya which i used both for valour and for semen. Other conservatives watned about sexual abut, both a school and on the way to school, expressing powerfully a fear about daily, regular movement in publi, about claiming the streets, however carefully he school bus might screen the gis fiom sight. Semacharchandriba ied Shastric injunctions against school-going and warned against male teacher, however old or pious — for men and women, if thrown together, will inevitably ‘urn co sinful ways. I also sounded dite warnings, composed of real dystopic anxieties about public movement ar well a of lubreious fantasisings, of dangers from mal lust on the way. young gl ar sen off to school, hey might be deflowered since lusesteken men would never lt them slone but would surely ape them... do rges spare goat? IF rch people end body-uatde fo proce thelr daughters Geom such danger, then the guards themselves will dellower the gis, the protectors will avish emt Fears, at this point, seem to be more about school-going asa non-domestic activity that breaks down the seclsion of women, rather than against education as such, although the obsesive senual innuendos revive the old asocations berween education and immoral assgnations through lecers wl ‘The Spread of Schools ‘After Bethune’s death in 1851, Governor General Dalhousie undertook the funding of the school and the government Formally rook over its management after Dalhousi's retirement. TB Bese Ghosh, Smog op ct 31 5° Cred Sanka Paar, S859, Benoy Ghd, mayen op Seitiaha or Education fr Women 95 Iswarchandra Vidyasagar, who had been closely aszoiaed with the school since is inception, remained the Honorary Serery [Now began phase when the government seemed to move for the ist time, and, a8 we sal se, very biel inc dhe mater of women's education. Wood's Educational Despatch of 1854 had made an explcc reference to tis aan azea of government responsbiliy and fiom 1857, Le Governor Halli began to draw Vidyasagar ingo a scheme of expansion of government. Aided schools for gi As member of the Educaon Counc, Haliday had already submited a Minute and his views on a broad-based eduction sytem dew heavily on Vidysagae's "Note on Vernacular Education’. In 1853, Vidyasagar had seated fee school in his home vilge Birsingha in Midnapore which included a gis wing. Berween November 1857 and May 1858, he setup about thiry-ive schools, wth a population of ely 1.300 gis, in Hooghly, Burdwan, Midnapore and Nadia districs in south west Bengal where he functioned ab Asisant Inspector of Schools? ‘What seems striking isthe gap between government aid and imteresy and. missionary urging and investment. While missionaries had been experimenting with several plans for educating is since the carly ence, the government made ts frst formal commitment only in che ely fies Ae that pat, itchose wo work through the agency of che exablshed reformer and educatonin Vidyasagar, the Inipetor Genera of Schools tather chan of the misionaries hough they, too, had Tong ‘experience inthe fl of education. Vidyasagar was then If fee £0 work on his own for brief while. From che begining, ne fearue was constant: such schols would not allow for Christian proseytisation. Will it be true to argu, then, chat the colonial government had & more hegemonic vision of wertenisaion that 7 On Velyaag dil! scheaing se Chandan Bandyopadhyay, op ‘tgp. 12020% Bharat ay ch, Sealer Nari, op Induction, Roma Miva op ci Ake Se, lieben Vihear ond he Eb ‘Miler, Ned Indi, Calta, 1977 Sumit Sua, Vater and Braman Sy op 96 Word to Win went beyond conversion, chat sought to contol the Indian woman's mind mote securely theough a westernist education through reformist agencies? Do we find that Vidyasgar’s pedagogical ambitions and generous hopes for mass lieray and education that would, for the first cime, also include women, were an unconscious tool for completing the hegemony of the West If 0, isthe history of women’s education exhausted in that description, asi is annexed and subordinated co this grand Such arguments are familiar enough and they have an arerctive political edge euned agains the imperial agenda while seeming. t0 broaden its scope convincingly beyond. mere governance or economic motives” They aso challenge eater Historical frameworks by inverting the relationship berween education as a strategy for imperial political contol and education as an insrument of cultural hegemony which now is taken to be the real historical endeavour ofthe Occident in the (Orient, The whole argument wll then need o prove a constancy of government effort and investment in_one direction alone, towards women’s education and reform of orthodox life, «0 wean them away from past caditions and align them eo more westemist values. One would need to move away” from “Macaulay's own times both backwards and forwards and prove that his intention was te of colonialism thoughout its hoy: that intention being that the government was committed 9 an ‘Aanglcis elite-based education geared towards eulcural conquest through which a midale cls of "brown sahibs" — and, in this case, “memsahibs" as well — would be produced who would ‘only fecbly mime thet western masters. In my other work on socal reform Ihave tied to show tac this panicular design for hegemony was atypical, eemporay, undercut by other strategic plans for power and other social perpectves that felt more at home with orthodox Hindu 7 Ga Vwanaan, Mas of Cone Lirary Sayan Brii ae India, New York. Columbia Univesity Pe 1989, Ton Sia or Eduction fr Women 7” patriarchy than with the ealy westein feminism of the 19th ‘entuy.» The moment of the combined efforts of Vidyasagar and Halliday would seem to disprove my thesis. Let us, chen, turn to the fuller history ofthat collaboration, Before the Bengal Government had assumed any esponsibiliey for siding girls’ schools, three applications from local people had come to the Inspector General of Schools for funding for three schools — wo in Hooghly and one in Burdwan. Initative, then, ly with Indians themselves. Those lewers formed the basis on which investment plans were made, ‘They gave Vidyasgar an opportunity to move our into the src, rather than concentrate hie effors in Caleuta. His fist school was in Jaugram village in Burdwan and che subsequent ‘ones were in the districts at well?® It also seems to be his decision to opt for schools, rather shan for home-based education for gis. Implicy, then, his decision was grounded on a conviction that women needed — for hhowever shore time — an extradomesic identity, which would move them physically into the public domain. Schools insitutionlised women’s education as a public, non-domestic activity that would take out gis every day beyond the family and atach them to an extrzfamiial space, identity and collectivity. They would also, forthe firs time, generate tes and. acquaintances among teachers and peer groups that they would form in thei capacity as individuals and which would noc be tied co their familial and kinship connections. At schools, t00, they would be known under their own proper names: ‘Rashsundari has commented in her book that she was deprived even of a name of her own. This, then, was a kind of muddying Lup of che other strand in the reformist agenda: that education would be home based, undertaken by male guardians, familial Sx Tala Slat, "Colon Lamang ad LiveDet of Idan “Women Dilrene Reais of Law snd Commanay’ e Rae Kopel Fomine Tee nL Domains niga Eom Women ad a Idi Ka for Women, Dei, 1996. Se Ashe Se, lurhnde Varo i 98 Wont Win actvgy. Now i takes the form of going aay from the home, fouide che family, however biel. Thee is ako a confer of fan ident cha might be gramed under che fly's consent, bhue that nonetheless was” publclnon-domesc, a well at indviduating “The fanning our beyond Calc scems ro go bac to che catty misionary venues which had als founded village schools inthe ewenie The mision schools, however, were openly ed to proselysation which tequted lage social and geographical catchment ares from among ral low castes. Government schools, on the other hand, foreswore prosyisation, and Vidyasagar combined his reformism with orthodox brahmanical habit impersonal life. In fact, s0 far at girl schools were concerned, he raid on a fleation effet that would work bes if the noion became widespread among gis of higher socal echelons. There was some teuth in tis observation. Indeed, Smong low cate Namasudea peasants, the upper este example ingpited many aspicing improves to sek social advancement by cmlting the reformers, hus warning away fom an older model ‘which had made them inst on reer sedusion for their women, in imitation of brahmans:® Schools wer, cherfore, Founded among high cate clusters in localities like Kalingram in Burdwan2” So, with women's education, Vidyasagar came develop a more slanted vison than what he had about mass level ‘education in general he seemed to reste his own thrst here tthe upper eutemiddle dass sections outside Caleuva, and thus develop a brosder geographical spread, horizontal cxpansion, within the same socal ase "The choice of places, then, sem to be dictated by neither misionary calculations not by any previous governmental pater of investment. It ties in with Vidyasigar® own Sattar Bandopeyay, “Cae, Widowremanige ad the Reform of Pople Curate m Colonial Bega in haa Ray el Fo he Sr of Hire ayo Indon Women, Orford Usineiy Press Dei 1935 pp. 37. FSi Saar “Viyaapa ad eahmanicd Soke” Wrap Seal ey, oop A. Swishitha or Edson for Women » indinavion towards spreading elementary education beyond metropolitan elite reformist enclaves. On 7 September, 1853, Vidyasagar wrote tthe Education Council “What we require is to extend the benef of education tothe mass ofthe people. Lec us esablsh a number of vernacular schools, le us prepae a series of vernacular cass books on useful and instructive subjects." Women of upper castes, governed by brahmanial ‘orthodoxy, were a part of the Indian masses who had been systematically excluded from elementary education. And here, traditional prohibitions had been fostered by Macaulay who had ruled against che spread of vemacular and elementary education 2s suggested by Adam, in favour of a more elit and Anglcs ‘education for the middle clases. Vidyasagar’s plas to inves in vemaculat, elementary education at non-lite levels militate, then, against Macaulay’s vison. Ie is noe the lure of the great English literary eadion buc vernacular literacy that emerges at the prefered field of investment, Is mass education then the new strategy of colonial — westerist — Enlightenment mode of domination? Vidyasaga’s moment of success, we must remembet, was over before it began. Tied up with the revolt of 1857, and no doube regrering the posbilcy chat reform might have added its bit vo the causes of the uprising, the Government reneged on is pledges. In May 1858, ic refused co sanction lager funds that the new schools would require. The schools were kepe going on voluntary conubusions. In December 1858, er prowacted and bier negotiations it agreed ro honour the expenses ofthe schools already in exiaence, but aly declared that ic would make no further commicment wo the cause of women's education. That seemed tobe that, and Vidyasga' plans for steady expansion were well and truly doomed. Shorly afterwards, he reired, and there ‘was nothing more that he woul be required co do for government plans for women’s education. When in che 1860s, Miss Carpenter submited her plans for teacher taining insiutons for adule Th 100 Wont Win Hinds women, Vidysgar ccfised to ave anything todo with them. In his lever of I Seprember, 1867 r Willam Grey, Lt Governor of Bengal he pointed out why he though she scheme va impractical and enter produine, More than tha, he Sounded decply ed, dienchnted and cynic about offical ‘motivation and intervention.” Women’s education was once agin leew Indian privte eneprie and to reformist and ‘isionay efor Colonial investment nee sed it ino being tor helped igifcany. In any es, even with Indian eformes the ede woman wat a middecls, uppercase pecon, albeit from the mufassil. ae Tr the mid 80s, che statin wae changed somewhat afer the publication of the Hunter Commision recommendations for feger graneinail for gid school Even that would be condoned by inal Idan private olay. So from women's minds being 4 major ste forthe costrcion of 2 werent tmodenity for whote action colonial governments exsed, women's eduction was the fist cl tha the. colonial ovement ely and immiaely incred, when fed witha finds crunch and pola cis. We need to sek the impulse foe rie more in he sexi undetanding of Indian eres and, above lof women themselves While schools continued co incense in limping and uncertain mannes, the Bomahodhini Paribas planned. a home-based edvcation, graded along fie clases. In sylabus chalked out for 1869, for inance, we find the ise two ya vere devoted to Bengal grammar, le and poems and some arithmetic. Fom the thtd year, there i alo the history of Bengal through questions and. anones, geography, hygeine, embroidery and moral readers, Inthe fourth and ith yea, there is more advanced Bengali literature like Vidyasagar’s Sitar Banabas, hixory of England, map of Indi, geography and 7 dake Sen, Tehedhs Vhong, op cs Sumit Sub, Viger, ope ° Geline Fete, Women in Madi Indi, The New Camps Hina nda, Cambridge Unversity Pre, Cambie, 1965, chapter 2 Sui o Education for Women 101 science. Te seems that sience was to be read out of specially designed cextbooks for women that were published in a series called Neribilsha. Narsibsha alvo inelided moral lessons, biographical material, nature studies, hygeine and poems. Ke was brought out by the Bamabodhini Sabha, and che frst pare cost, four annas while the second par sold for ewelve annas. For other subjects, separate books were prescribed, ike Jadugopal Chattopadhyay’ Bhararbarsher Santhipca Ihe. These textbooks were written for both sexes! Most of the textbooks seem (0 hhave been illustrated. Far too many of them, however, had been prescribed, and some help from male guardians was necesary to follow the courses systematically. So much required investment in terms of both time and money would have only been possible in the most advanced refocmis Flies of some afluence ‘The emphasis seems wo be on reading nd writing perfec Bengal, 2 notion of tales from various cultures at enterainment, some improving, mor mater, and a practical course on hygiene. Apart from tha, there is quite a bit on elementary natural sences, some very rudimentary fits about history, and a fir amount of geography, 28 ako, several courses on arithmetic. Ie sem, on the whole, non. gendered and not pariculay geared ro domesic needs. What is being offered to women is sense ofthe world around them, vu ‘The Meanings of Knowledge All the material chat went into svshiksh was in Bengali, In an eatly piece in Bamabodhini on the necessity of education, the proponent argues that the recent production of Bengali textbooks has paved the way for women’s learning, for all ite branches are now accesible in the vernacular. The piece also commends the appearance of print: “So many good Bengal books are now very cheaply publihed."®? Learning was no longer confined co foreign of casial languages which had lost See Bar aye Sb Maa op ce pp 71-76 ta 102 Word 0 Win thie monopoly. There was, indeed, an earlier sytem of vemacular edvation a elementary and primary levels in the pathihalas. That education, however, was strictly practical and instrumental, geared to accounts, book-keeping, arithmetic and spelling and leer-wrting * The new concept of education that {appeals to women, on the other hand, isthe notion of formal knowledge without which, chey fel, they no longer see thet way astound in the world. Vernacular prose and printed books made ‘hat kindof knowledge available for them. in fat, the very desire for education could have been lagely produced by the availabilty of books wiiten in their motherstongue, in their Kenown prose. Knowledge, fced fiom the ivory tower of unfamiliar clascal or foreign tongues, suddenly ceased to be ccoteric. It was even something that they could produce themselves by manipulating a language that they knew how to ‘Without a veracularistion of education, the development of prose and print, such a conviction could not have take toot. In 4 piece published in Bamecbodhin’ in 1865, a mother tells her daughter: ‘Thanks co the mercy ofthe Lod, you are born in very beautiful times, You se the spread of knowledge everywhere thee day. SO far, gnorae and cruel men had deprived them (women) from such a tare and pleural gem hati eduction. il dey see them ffl Uke serene Rasheundari praises her own times in identical words. ‘Why ie knowledge so beausiful? We have already seen that its primary justification ie that it revels sacred truth which isthe true inner eye, real seeing, This looks like a piece of religious Op ck Ve Beek Kept 7. 4 Set Foomel Acuna. "Inignous Ect nd Bema Hegemony in Beng and Rat Stal, “The Papo and impact of Corer Folie 98 Pats Garunobasoy in Nine Canary Bega in Niel (Cook, The Tromminon of Kole Sah Ase Ey» Ebon, ‘align, Hi and abc, Ox Univey Pres. Dali, 1956 pp. 98-135 i, Kener nti Meter Upade pp 12- 13 Swi 7 Education fr Women 103, piety that is entirely blameles: and safe. The way the 19th ‘century woman used it, however, made ic problematic and tansgresive for the orthodoxy in three ways. Ftst, no Hindu tradition would insist that religion is to be reached primarily through the path of knowledge, so far asthe householder is ‘concerned. Vaishnavism, being a proselytising religion, did ‘generate 2 loc of Bengali sacred literature and thus helped mass ‘education. Yer, it ritcsed the path of knowledge, counterposing agains che arrogant learning of the brahman pathendi or sinner, the simple devotion ofthe lesser fol Its democratsing impulse, then, tended to ground iuself on a shor-czcuting of knowledge, rather than on its dissemination. In more orthodox traditions, for the woman and the shudra. particularly, knowledge i emphatically nor the way o dame. Ie is, indeed, antithetical to the vidbionshedba that regulate cei sancar.®© Not i sacred truth to be confused with modern leaning or with temporal issues: the tls or brahmanical instcuions of higher learning did not have courses on history, geography, natural sciences.” On the ‘other hand, if secular learning was to be included inthe courses anywhere, it was supposed to yield immediate practical, usable value. The pacbsalar aught some arithmetic and writing even +o peasant boys so that they understood the documents they needed to sign, to write letere and to keep accounts, Sirisha breaks with all ehese assumptions. Ie insists that religion cannot be pracised without knowledge. By an extension, religious knowledge is made to cover human history in all its facets as well asthe natural, physical world, fr chey are all God's handiwork. There is thus a new, entirely modern sense ‘of the world, and it elatonship to the individual. The irs issue On the complied tani Lewen waren andrei ening in Refsation an Count Refrmaton Fane and Germuny, 8 Nate Zeon vig “Ciy Women snd Religious Change in Say and Caren Er ‘Maton Fant, Duk, UX 1975. pp 66-84 Ao yl Roper Te fey “awgild Wower and Mera in Ratan Apu, Canon Ps Ovo 1968, pp. 260.58 * Se Dinh Chand Sen, op, 104 Word Win of Bamabodbin dedared that al vats of human action — the ars, Mert, religion, ade, commerce and industry — + would come under this sanctified rubs Secondly, svishishe isis hat ll thie knowledge is exxentiallynon-gendered — that i inthe Bld of eue religion, women have the same paths to follow at men oftheir class and caste. Tit, ic eases eo lnk up knowledge with any immediacy practic results, There is fot yet a demand that education for women can bea means of Tvehood — even though the Bamabodhin dos menton that “these days, several women are writing good books and they snake a profiewich hat" Rashsundar herself would bean ely ccample ofthat earning capaci, though she i slene abou his fspect of her book. However, tha, in itself, would not be a Imajor argument since chat sot of income would be limited and tncerain. In aay cas, no reformer had as yet Yenuted to Forward a cae for économie slfsuficency fr the upper caste Knowledge, at this sage then, has a mote pure function for ‘women than thas for men who, obviously, ned iro ge by in the word o earn eer living, Inthe fist ise of Bamabodini 2 tof bol defences is formulated ering for ts own sake i desirable fri develops che faults and opens the inner ee. I significance tha this primary Function is being appropriated ‘more for women, sine men wil use knowledge for practical purposes For uppercase men, then, education would not have held out auch broad transformative hopes for radical self fashioning since the purpore of education would largely be similar vo what they would have expected fom Pesan learning Inolder mes. Secondly, iis sated hats wl give confidence ro women tose their own judgement and thereby reduc theie ‘ependence on men: 2 bold reson, indeed, and one cht beats ‘ovtall the orthodox fess and axis. Thiel, ie will generate wa Vila Kechpahn, ambi 1863. See hac Ray, Shaler aia op Switilahs or Education fr Women 1 slept for witout adhe ace the ow see that men fave reared fr them'® Nov eonome dependence bat independence fm mrs opin eg nel sapper Welln echoes ofl ise puncte int mat epee argument for non lance for slice In amet 6 t tminatumentapprch co, purehrowedge mle Clucaon steed i intramenali’fncon i wl in septa o pve and pri In an duction et for women, wien inthe form of dialogue between mother snd dager the meter tle te daughter hac witout, the woud hee rely one frie Aas ren mon wil come het wl fn fulfimen in cooking. an can for them fe aobet pice, women ate ued (© babour siedy” lng Bhagnies ~ for il nomen, Hoe des an Seas Siew al hig, The new Kd of home tate emerge out oF this wast bea recovery of the happy Hindu homer ld tne, ‘ren Kets Chand Sey tented Be telomere up the Vitra College town good Finda women Te lr ddr of eh cea grin ‘calm was this nfl he agenda crn on af ier room and to appropri ri project some ext, fr commit urpres vu Late 19th Century Leaps and Their Limits ‘Afier the fre par of A/ came out, Rashsundari lived to see more efforts for more comprehensive schemes for rrishitha. The second part of the autobiography concludes on a very optimistic vein in this respect. Certain new thraste were developed from the 1870s, a the supervision of education was tansetted from Tint Nari, Pan 2, “Aneparibe 0 Vibe Chheniganer nth, Cale, 1884, 9p. 194 106 Word to Win pe geet chert Semana theme a oS iaaeaies whence gimmie meee: pana ptenee eat aes Co rirniceecoad camara Se mooie eos Sees ica cre ee eae See Saari Saas ee etnies ims es ee apt eee Samar Safa in 1871. The crcl conve of elt So ane be nt eae Sees a er epee So ee eer ee oer eee 7 Via Chaban, Cndion of eg Women Arand the Sad Half of the Ninna Coney, Cent, 198, pA td. Swish or Education fr Women Ww ‘Kadambini Bose and Chandramukhi Bose — pasted the Degree cxaminaton and became eligible for graduate courses. This was something that would not be possible for Engh gis forthe next few decades since Engh universes ceed them access to formal universcy degrees. Ic is remarkable chat this was allowed in Calcutta which had a much thinner ground-level bas for women’s literacy and primary and secondary education than Brisin had and which was governed by a colonial alng clas that drew its highest recruit from the conservative landed English gentry. Ie speaks ofthe force of indigenous reformism that made such combined, uneven development posible, I also speaks of the fact that the colonial government would not sce the educated Indian woman as a threat to isl or its male monopoly on offices which the white woman graduate in England could become. The fist two Indian graduates had been private students, From 1888, the Bethune. School starved graduate courses and developed a college wing.” In 1882, Abala Das and a Christian gi, Ellen D’Abrew, were refused admision by the Caleuta Medical School, and had to seck entry into the moe liberal Madras Medial College. That stated off a public agitation for change, and the Lt. Governor ‘was persuaded to change the rules to enable gil’ admission the ‘ext yea, Kadambini Bose was the ist woman co receive a all medical degree in 1888 The Medical College also offered

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