Mumbai Women On Planet Venus

Venus is supposed to be the planet for women and Mars is supposed to be planet from men. Venus is a Goddess of love, beauty and fertility in Greek mythology. 

In 1991, Scientists studying Venus with Magellan spacecraft (Photo 1) proposed that these craters be named after famous women, instead of giving them numbers. It was agreed to give Eponyms. Oxford English Dictionary defines Eponym as “A person after whom a discovery, invention, space, etc. is named or thought to be named”. In Medicine there are over 15,000 Eponyms. The International Astronomical Union approved this proposal. Since then many craters have been named.

The famous women after whom craters are named include playwright Lillian Hellman and Diplomat Clare Booth Luce, Margaret Mead, the anthropologist and Pearl Buck the famous author also feature in the list.

From India we have only these 3 ladies who have received this honor.

Let us look at the brief biodatas of these 3 ladies

1) Dr. Anandibai Joshee (1865-1887)(Photo 2)

Crater named after her is JOSHEE CRATER. Dr. Anandibai lived in Kalyan which was then a suburb of Mumbai. Her Maiden name was Yamuna. She was married at the age of 9 years to Gopalrao Joshee who was a widower and 17 years older than her and he was obsessed about educating women. After marriage she lived in Mumbai and in Alibaug. At the age of 13, she had a child but lost it very soon due to lack of Medical care.

He started educating Anandibai by enrolling her in a Missionary school in Bombay. Others from their community made fun of her and were very unkind but she was strong minded and continued. She soon became fluent in English and could give lectures.

In mid 19thcentury there was a Reformist movement in India and particularly in Maharashtra. Liberal thinking persons like Ranade, Agarkar and Bhandarkar spoke in favour of Women’s Education and widow remarriage. Gopalrao was influenced by their views. Views of women were not considered and they were forced to study. Their usual work load of house hold duties continued. Along with these views old views of total subordination of a wife also continued. It was difficult but challenging time for women but they managed to cope.

In 1878, news of women becoming Medical Doctors trickled in from England and America. There was much opposition in those countries also for women to join Medical Colleges. But they did succeed and were honoured for their fortitude. That inspired Gopalrao to think of making Anandibai a Medical Doctor. She accepted the idea, as she had lost a precious new born due to lack of healthcare and was happy to be able to join that noble profession. The only way was to ask the Missionaries for help and he started doing that. There were many issues involved which were not acceptable to the Joshees A chance encounter with Carpenter family changed the scenario completely.

Finally Anandibai sailed to New York on 7/4/1883 and was received by Carpenter family with love and affection. She entered the Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania, in which many International students were enrolled.(Photo 3)

She was a good student and made friends with all the local and  International students. She graduated in 1886 after a 4 year course and was awarded MD. Thus she became the 1st Indian Woman Doctor to fully qualify.

She had a triumphant return home and was congratulated by none other than Queen Victoria. She and Gopalrao were in Kolhapur but unfortunately she was seriously ill with tuberculosis. She died on  26th February 1887.

It is a pity that her life ended at a tender age of 22 years and she never practised Medicine which was her lifetime dream.

Many books are written about her life. Many discussions have also taken place about Social issues of Women in that era. Her life certainly contributed to the change of the attitude of Society towards Women’s Education.

2)Pandita Ramabai Dongre Medhavi  (1858-1922)

The crater named after her is the “MEDHAVI Crater”. 

She was a social worker and a scholar and above all, a champion of the cause of Emancipation of Indian Women especially Hindu women. Her life straddled the 19th and the 20th Century of Pre-independence India. She was born in a middle class Brahmin family.

She had a harsh childhood as she lost her parents early. She and her brother Srinivas had to fend for themselves, get educated and earn a living. They were most concerned about the lack of education for girls. They studied Sanskrit and were well versed with Hindu Vedas. She wrote several books, the most famous being “The High Caste Hindu Women”. Unfortunately she lost her brother early in life and had to struggle alone. She was invited to Calcutta to lecture. There she met and married Bipin Behari Medhavi, who was from a lower caste which shocked the Society. They had a daughter whom they called “Manorama”. Again tragedy struck her as her husband died 6 months after the birth of their child leaving her a widow and a single mother. But her best years came after that tragedy.

She relentlessly continued to improve the status of education and employment of women. Rehabilitation of widow was on her agenda. She was influenced by the Christian thought and the church supported her activities.

She formed the Arya Mahila Sabha in 1881 and later Pandita Ramabai Mukti Mission in 1889 to rehabilitate young widows.

Although she eventually, converted to Christianity she also continued to believe in Hindu Culture such as vegetarian diet. She promoted the Reformist Hindu Organisations like Brahma Samaj. She received many awards for her work such as Kaiser-i-Hind Medal in 1919 from British Government.

She was widely travelled, She went to UK to become a Medical Doctor but was not able to do that. Dr. Anandibai Joshi was her cousin and was overjoyed when Anandi became a Doctor. She attended her graduation in USA and lectured there also. The British Government and also Queen Victoria who was Empress of India were well informed about her activities and gave her full facilities. Her books were read all over UK and USA and also in India. Later her daughter Manorama joined her. They established many Institutions to promote education of girls and women.