The Missionary Register, published in 1828, contains a sketch of one of the earliest girl students in India. It carries this brief description on page 175.
"The accompanying Engraving is taken from a Portrait of one of the Scholars attending the Schools in Calcutta ; she is represented in the Native-Female Dress, which is called a " Sarrie:" the same is a long piece of white muslin, folded round the body and thrown over the head and shoulders. The book in her right-hand shews that she is a scholar : the sight of a girl with a book in her hand, however common in England, was till lately very unusual in India. In her left-hand she holds one of the work-bags sent out by Ladies in England as rewards for the best behaved Girls."
"The accompanying Engraving is taken from a Portrait of one of the Scholars attending the Schools in Calcutta ; she is represented in the Native-Female Dress, which is called a " Sarrie:" the same is a long piece of white muslin, folded round the body and thrown over the head and shoulders. The book in her right-hand shews that she is a scholar : the sight of a girl with a book in her hand, however common in England, was till lately very unusual in India. In her left-hand she holds one of the work-bags sent out by Ladies in England as rewards for the best behaved Girls."
Raj - This picture is from 1828 India. In a magazine recently saw a photo of an Afghan girl covered from head to toe, carrying books to school...nearly 200 years on, world has not changed ! Even now in India, deep in some villages you see school kids in "Davani" carrying books....Balaji...
ReplyDeleteBalaji, true. But to the credit of the British, they did try to get Indian girls to go to school as early as 1828. May be as part of their missionary work, but at least the concept of schooling was established.
ReplyDeleteOnce when discussing the position of women in India in the colonial times, my Class Eight girls who probably are fourth or fifth generation learners found it difficult to comprehend why girls could not be sent to school in those days. It was difficult for a present day 12 or 13 year old to even imagine a situation like that. Many hours of discussion later and reading out texts on women reforms, it was still a mystery to them.These same children argued that 33% of reservation for women in the parliament was not necessary as seats should be earned not given on a platter they felt.
ReplyDeleteBut as Balaji rightly points out we still have the other end of the spectrum in our country. It is indeed a paradox.
When will we be truly liberated?
Shalini
Shalini, that is true. Maybe, we should stop blaming the British, if 62 years after they left, the problem still continues.
ReplyDeleteRaj, an interesting anecdote. My mother and her 5 younger sisters studied at St. Joseph's Convent Coonoor (2 years gap between each) and all of them stood first in Class and during the medal presentation the Principal of the School used to turn away her head since they outshone Europeans. She used to handover the medal very reluctantly it seems. Wondering why Coonoor, my Grandfather was the first Indian Chief Chemists at Nutrition Research Labs there which later shifted to Hyd in 1958 and came to be known as the Natl Inst of Nutrition.
ReplyDelete