Pandita Ramabai

Pandita Ramabai Sarasvati (Marathi: पंडिता रमाबाई सरस्वती; 23 April 1858 – 5 April 1922) was an Indian social reformer and Christian missionary. She was the first woman to be awarded the titles of Pandita as a Sanskrit scholar and Sarasvati after being examined by the faculty of the University of Calcutta. She was one of the ten women delegates of the Indian National Congress session of 1889. During her stay in England in early 1880s she converted to Christianity. She then toured extensively in the United States to collect funds for destitute Indian women. With the funds raised, she started Sharada Sadan (Home for Learning) for child widows. In the late 1890s, Ramabai founded Mukti Mission, a Christian charity at Kedgaon village, forty miles east of the city of Pune. The mission was later named Pandita Ramabai Mukti Mission.

Early life and education