Child marriage was common in nineteenth century Hindu society in India. Girls as young as five were given in marriage, school and work were strictly off limits. Their primary role in society was to marry and bear children for their husbands. They were also held responsible if their husbands died. Widowhood was considered a punishment for sins committed in previous lives. Widows had to cut their hair, wear drab clothing, forego family gatherings and remain single.
Pandita Ramabai (1858-1922) was born into such a society. Her progressive father taught her Sanskrit, the sacred language of Hinduism. By age twelve, she had memorized eighteen thousand Sanskrit verses. Her parents died in a famine, so she moved to Calcutta. Hindu priests were amazed with her learning and bestowed on her the title Pandita meaning scholar. As she delved further into Hindu writings, she became disillusioned with its low regard for women. Though she belonged to the Brahmin upper caste, she broke with tradition and married a man from the lowest caste. She read Luke’s gospel that she found in her husband’s library and desired to become a Christian. When a twelve-year-old widow reduced to begging came to live with her, she knew what she had to do: rescue widows and orphans.
A Christian missionary invited her to live in England among an order of Anglican sisters committed to rescuing prostitutes. When she asked why compassion was shown to “fallen women,” an Anglican sister shared with her Jesus’ encounter with the “fallen” woman of Samaria in John 4. It stunned her that Jesus didn’t despise her but saved her. Ramabai was baptized and returned to India to work with widows and orphans. She had been drawn to Christianity for the respect Jesus showed to women, but she came to the point where, “I wanted to know Christ and not merely his religion. I had, at last, come to the end of myself and unconditionally surrendered myself to the Savior.”
Ramabai started the Mukti Mission, and thousands of widows and orphans came to live there. She wrote, “A life totally committed to God, has nothing to fear, nothing to lose and nothing to regret.” A prayer spoken before her death expresses her total commitment: