HARDEVI (1859-1926)
She was a pioneering woman from Lahore of the 19th century, who took up the crusade for women’s education and worked tirelessly against social injustices like purdah and the plight of widows.
The daughter of the celebrated architect of Lahore, Rai Bahadur Kanhaiyalal, she herself was a child widow. She travelled to London with her brother (1886-1888) and published two books about her travel, London Yatra (1888) and London Jubilee (1889). She is credited with the book ‘Simantani Updash’(1882), a feminist treatise, though it was published in the name of an anonymous Hindu woman. Hardevi published a magazine called Bharat Bhagini (1889-1911) for more than two decades to educate women. Her writings and activism had contributed significantly to the passing of law (1891) for setting the Age of Consent for consummation of marriage of girls to the age of 12. Hardevi took the revolutionary step of remarrying Roshan Lal in 1890, causing a lot of controversy in the Kayasth community she belonged to. She established Nari Shilpa Laya in 1902 to teach handicrafts to women for self-reliance.
Though Hardevi had looked up to Queen Victoria and the British for support of women’s rights, but eventually she was critical of the British exploitation of her country. The British government jailed her for acts of sedition in 1910. Perhaps she was the first elite woman to have suffered being in jail during the freedom movement of India.
Hardevi should be remembered in the canon of Hindi literature for earliest feminist treatise like Social Justice for women (1889). She was not only a writer of many books including a novel Hukumdevi(1892) but also a pioneering organiser of women's gatherings to further the feminist cause.
She had established many institutions like Sundari Ashram for old helpless women and Vanita Buddhi-Vikasini Sabha in Lahore. The Bombay Guardian took note of her exceptional public oratory espousing the terrible state of widows in India.
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