Kadambini ganguly biography channels

This is the story of Kadambini Ganguly, one of the first women graduates from India and the entire British Empire, who moved on to become one of the first female physicians trained in western medicine in the whole of South Asia. Women hid behind their veils, and social evils like child marriage and sati marred society. Most women were not allowed to get an education or be working professionals.

Marriage, childbearing and rearing were deemed the only aspirations they could have. But this is NOT a story about oppression. Instead, it is a coming-of-age story of the earliest female emancipations in pre-partition India. Of how one woman smashed the glass ceiling, shattered all stereotypes and became a trailblazer for generations to come.

With a series of firsts to her credit, Kadambini Ganguly was also one of the earliest working women in British India. Her childhood was strongly influenced by the Bengal Renaissance and her father, Braja Kishore Basu, was a renowned champion of the Brahmo Samaj. She was the first candidate from the Bethune School to appear for the University of Calcutta entrance exam and created history becoming the first woman to pass the test as early as Kadambini was one of the first two graduates, along with Chandramukhi Basu, in the entire British Raj.

Apart from education, she challenged everything the society deemed acceptable at every step. She married her teacher, Dwarakanath Ganguly, a prominent Brahmo Samaj leader from the Banga Mahila Vidyalaya, who was 20 years older to her. When most thought she would put an end to her education after graduating, Dwarkanath encouraged her to study medicine.

Kadambini ganguly death

Her decision to do so as a woman received severe backlash in the Bhadralok upper caste Bengali community. So much so that the editor of the popular periodical Bangabasi , Maheschandra Pal, referred to her as a courtesan in his piece. But the road to becoming a doctor was a difficult one.