Every April 7 many churches celebrated the feast of Pandita Ramabai, in honour of her passing away in 1922.

If you’ve never heard of her before, well you are in for a treat! Pandita was a pioneer, an activist for womens empowerment and a devoted Christian. Born into a high caste family of devout Hindu’s, Pandita could recites hundreds of Hindu scriptures by the time she was 12 and the priests her family were connected with were absolutely amazed. By the time Pandita was 13, she had lost her mother and father to severe starvation through famine. The priests gave her the title of “Pandita,” which means scholar. A phenomenal reality for a woman in the late nineteenth century. Pandita travelled teaching the Hindu scriptures but the more she learnt, the more she lacked peace. Eventually she married a lower caste lawyer which shocked her friends but he died after 18 months. Widowed and alone by the age of 23, she wrote a book called Morals for Women and another attacking the Hindu caste system which oppressed women.

While travelling to the U.K. and US, she came to faith in Christ and returned to Bombay starting a school for young girls. It was called The Home of Salvation. In a short space she had 2000 girls she was educating and she encouraged them to be missionaries and to travel for the gospel. A huge revival fire broke out among her students and many of her students went on to preach the gospel. Pandita was always advocating for a better life for women and young girls, and her legacy still lives on. Today, her school is still active and continuing to serve girls and communities even 100 years after her death. See less