Dr. Kadambini Bose Ganguly(18 July 1861 – 3 October 1923[1]) was the first female medical doctor fromBritish India.She andAnandibai Joshiboth got their degree in Western medicine in 1886. However, She was India's first practicing lady doctor as Anandibai died soon after. She was the first Indian woman to have practiced with amodern medicinedegree. Ganguly was the first woman to gain admission toCalcutta Medical Collegein 1884, subsequently trained inScotland,and established a successful medical practice in India. She was the first woman speaker in theIndian National Congress.
Dr. Kadambini Bose | |
|---|---|
| কাদম্বিনী বসু | |
 | |
| Born | Kadambini Bose 18 July 1861 |
| Died | 3 October 1923(aged 62) Calcutta,Bengal, British India |
| Education | |
| Occupation | Physician |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 8 |
Early life
editKadambini was born inBengali Kayasthafamily[2]as Kadambini Basu who was the daughter ofBrahmoreformer Braja Kishore Basu. She was born on 18 July 1861[3]atBhagalpur,Bengal Presidency (modern day Bihar) inBritish India,raised in Barisal. The family was from Chandsi, inBarisalwhich is now inBangladesh.Her father was headmaster of Bhagalpur School. He and Abhay Charan Mallick started the movement for women's emancipation at Bhagalpur, establishing the women's organization Bhagalpur Mahila Samiti in 1863, the first in India.
Despite coming from an upper casteBengalicommunity that did not support women's education,[4]Kadambini initially received English education at the Brahmo Eden Female School, Dacca; subsequently at Hindu Mahila Vidyalaya, Ballygunj Calcutta which was renamed asBanga Mahila Vidyalayain 1876. The school merged with Bethune School (established byBethune) in 1878 and she became the first woman to pass theUniversity of Calcuttaentrance examination. She passed the FA exam in 1880. It was partly in recognition of her efforts thatBethune Collegefirst introduced FA (First Arts), and then graduation courses in 1883. She andChandramukhi Basubecame the first graduates from Bethune College and the first female graduates in the country.[a][7]
Personal life
edit
Kadambini Bose married Dwarakanath Ganguly on 12 June 1883, 11 days before joining Calcutta Medical College.[8][full citation needed]As the mother of eight children, she had to devote considerable time to her household affairs. She was deft inneedlework.[9]Among her children, Jyotirmayee was a freedom fighter and Prabhat Chandra was a journalist. Her stepdaughter was married toUpendrakishore Ray Chowdhury,grandfather of filmmakerSatyajit Ray.
American historianDavid Kopf[10]notes that Ganguly "was appropriately enough the most accomplished and liberated Brahmo woman of her time", and her relationship with her husbandDwarkanath Ganguly"was most unusual in being founded on mutual love, sensitivity and intelligence." Kopf argues that Ganguly was highly unusual even among emancipated women of contemporary Bengali society, and that "her ability to rise above circumstances and to realize her potential as a human being made her a prize attraction to Sadharan Brahmos dedicated ideologically to the liberation of Bengal's women."[11]
Ganguly died on 3 October 1923, after having conducted an operation the same day.[1]
Criticism from conservative quarters
editGanguly was heavily criticized by the conservative society of her time. After returning to India from Edinburgh and campaigning for women's rights, she was indirectly called a 'whore' in the Bengali magazineBangabashi.Her husband Dwarkanath Ganguly took the case to court and won, with a jail sentence of 6 months meted out to the editor Mahesh Pal.[12][13]
In popular culture
editA Bengali television serialProthoma Kadambinibased on Ganguly's biography was telecast onStar Jalshabeginning in March 2020, starringSolanki RoyandHoney Bafnain the lead.[14]Another Bengali series namedKadambini,starringUshasi Rayas Ganguly, was telecast onZee Banglain 2020.
On 18 July 2021,Googlecelebrated Ganguly's 160th birth anniversary with adoodleon its homepage in India.[15][16]
Notes
edit- ^Female students were admitted intoOxford Universityin 1879, one year after the admission of female students for undergraduate studies at theUniversity of Calcutta.[5]Thetriposwas opened to women at Cambridge only in 1881.[6]
References
edit- ^abSen, B.K. (September 2014)."Kadambini Bose Ganguly - An Illustrious Lady"(PDF).Science and Culture - Indian Science News Organization.Archived(PDF)from the original on 29 March 2020.Retrieved23 February2019.
- ^Paranjape, Makarand R. (3 September 2012).Making India: Colonialism, National Culture, and the Afterlife of Indian English Authority.Springer Science & Business Media.ISBN978-94-007-4661-9.Archivedfrom the original on 3 September 2023.Retrieved5 April2024.
- ^Karlekar, Malavika (2012). "Anatomy of a Change: Early Women Doctors".India International Centre Quarterly.39(3/4):95–106.JSTOR24394278.
- ^"Kadambini Ganguly – UncoverED".Archived fromthe originalon 9 January 2021.Retrieved26 March2021.
- ^"Women at Oxford".Archived fromthe originalon 18 October 2006.Retrieved5 November2006.
- ^"Numbers of graduates of the University of Cambridge".MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive.Archivedfrom the original on 29 September 2007.Retrieved5 November2006.
- ^"A Convocation for the conferring of Degrees".The Times of India.15 March 1883. p. 9.
Among the recipients of the B.A. degrees were two young ladies of the Bethune Female School, Miss Chandramukhi Basu and Miss Kadambini Basu, who were loudly cheered. The Vice-Chancellor [of Calcutta University] (the Hon. H. J. Reynolds) presided.
- ^Star Jalsha, Prothoma Kadambini
- ^Chakrabarty, Roshni."Kadambini Ganguly, India's first female doctor who made Calcutta Medical College start admitting women".India Today.Archivedfrom the original on 19 May 2021.Retrieved26 March2021.
- ^"David Kopf".History at Minnesota.Regents of the University of Minnesota. Archived fromthe originalon 16 May 2006.Retrieved5 November2006.
- ^Kopf, David (1979).The Brahmo Samaj and the Shaping of the Modern Indian Mind.Princeton University Press. p. 125.ISBN978-0-691-03125-5.
- ^Rao, Amrith R.; Karim, Omer; Motiwala, Hanif G. (April 2007)."The Life and Work of Dr Kadambini Ganguly, the First Modern Indian Woman Physician".The Journal of Urology.doi:10.1016/S0022-5347(18)31285-0.Archivedfrom the original on 11 February 2021.Retrieved5 April2007.
- ^"Dwarakanath Ganguly – A Forgotten Hero – The Indian Messenger Online".3 April 2018. Archived fromthe originalon 22 July 2020.Retrieved6 August2020.
- ^"Prothoma Kadombini to launch on March 16".The Times of India.Archivedfrom the original on 12 February 2023.Retrieved8 November2020.
- ^"Kadambini Ganguly, India's First Female Doctor, Honoured by Google Doodle".News18.18 July 2021.Archivedfrom the original on 17 July 2021.Retrieved17 July2021.
- ^"Kadambini Ganguly's 160th Birthday".Archivedfrom the original on 18 July 2021.Retrieved18 July2021.
Further reading
edit- Kopf, David (1979),The Brahmo Samaj and the Shaping of the Modern Indian Mind,Princeton University Press,ISBN0-691-03125-8
- Sengupta, Subodh Chandra and Bose, Anjali (editors), (1976/1998),Sansad Bangali Charitabhidhan(Biographical dictionary) in Bengali, pp 79–80,ISBN81-85626-65-0
- Murshid, Ghulam (2012)."Ganguly, Kadambini".InIslam, Sirajul;Jamal, Ahmed A. (eds.).Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh(Second ed.).Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.
