Let the Earth Hear Her Voice!: The Life and Work of Pandita Ramabai

Tuesday 5th April 2022 marked the centenary of the death of Pandita Ramabai (1858-1922). Ramabai was an extraordinary Indian Scholar, Feminist and Educator. Though still little known in the West, she was a pioneer for women's education and participation in public affairs - becoming the first woman to address the Indian National Social Congress; a widely-travelled Sanskrit scholar, despite never having a day at school or college during her childhood, and was author of several pioneering books, including The High Class Hindu Woman and The Peoples of the United States. Ramabai was an active social reformer, recording the experiences and life-stories of hundreds of child widows for whom she pioneered a wholly new and distinctive indigenously-rooted setting for and method of education. She travelled across India and many other countries giving lectures on women's rights and she was the first woman to translate the Bible into her own language. Most remarkably for her time, Ramabai charted these paths as a widowed single woman and mother. Although marginalised in history, since her death Ramabai has started to become more recognised. There are signs that her time has come. The New York Times published an obituary as part of the series, Overlooked No More by Aisha Khan on 14th November 2018. And in her recent book, Azadi, Arundhati Roy wonders why there is no film on this radical campaigner, reformer and tireless friend of women and children in her beloved India. There have been biographies and academic papers over the decades, but it is following the sustained research, translation and writing by the late Professor Meera Kosambi and her academic colleagues that a comprehensive biography has become possible. Set in social and historical context, Let the Earth Hear her Voice! draws from extensive original material to describe Ramabai's extraordinary life. Dr White was present for the launch of a centenary edition of the book on 5th April 2022 in Mukti, the community that Ramabai founded near Pune. He has worked on this 800-page study since 1997 beginning with a PhD (2003). He is a sociologist and author and editor of many books. He has also produced an edition of The Bible intended for people of all ages, cultures and faiths worldwide. "Pandita Ramabai is the only, unique, incomparable, intelligent and learned woman of this age, unparalleled in history." Justice M.G. Ranade (1842-1901) "The name of Pandita Ramabai ought to have a high place among the makers of modern India ... She proved herself not only a great woman but a great saint." The Times of India

About the Author :
Keith J. White was born with a love for India and its peoples. From the moment he discovered Ramabai in 1997, he has devoted 25 years to researching her life and work. A graduate of Oxford, Edinburgh and Cardiff Universities and a fellow of the Centre for Social Policy, he has lectured on all five continents. Among the 20 books he has written or edited are The Growth of Love; Entry Point; The Art of Faith; Children and Social Exclusion; Theology, Mission and Child. He is publisher of an edition of the Bible for ordinary people worldwide inspired by the pioneering translations by William Tyndale and Pandita Ramabai.

Review :
"Keith White's book is to be warmly welcomed, not simply as a comprehensive work of historical scholarship, but also because it issues a challenge to the Church today, both in India and in the West." Brian Stanley, Professor of World Christianity, University of Edinburgh "This monumental work is a very significant contribution on Ramabai: the research, documentation, insights, interpretations, have impressed me deeply." Dr Atul Y. Aghamkar, PhD, Director National Centre for Urban Transformation "A magnificent, splendid volume: 'magnum opus' hardly does it justice!'" Dr Ian Randall, FRHistS, Research Associate, Cambridge Centre for Christianity Worldwide