Anandi Gopal Joshi

Anandi Gopal Joshi

Anandi Gopal Joshi (also known as Anandibai Gopalrao Joshi ; Marathi आनंदीबाई गोपाळराव जोशी Ānandībāī Gopāḷrāv Jośī ; born March 31, 1865 in Pune ; † February 26, 1887 ibid) was the first Indian woman who completed a medical degree in the United States and herself qualified as a doctor . The Venus crater Joshee is named after her.

Life

Anandi was born to Gunputrao Amritaswar Joshi and his wife Gungabai. Her original birth name was Yumna or Yamuna. The sixth of ten children, she had four brothers and five sisters, two of whom each died young. Her family were members of the caste of Brahmins , wealthy landowners and very conservative. A few years after Yamuna's birth, the family lost their fortune, which is why their daughter was married at the age of nine. Her husband, Gopalrao Joshi, was a widower and almost twenty years older than her. He was one of the advocates of women's education and therefore made the condition that he would teach his wife after the wedding. As was customary in Maharashtra at the time, he gave her a new first name, Anandibai, which means "joy of my heart".

Anandi Joshi, Kei Okami, and Sabat Islambooly at the Women Medical College of Pennsylvania , 1885

Gopalrao taught Anandi to read and write in Marathi , English and Sanskrit . According to some sources, obsessed with educating his wife, he allegedly hit her when she tried to help her grandmother in the kitchen. At fourteen, Anandi gave birth to her only child who died after only ten days of poor medical care. Allegedly, it was this sad event that made Anandi think about studying medicine in the United States . In her own words, she wanted to "provide my poor, suffering fellow citizens with the medical help they so desperately need as they would rather die than be touched by a male doctor." To that end, she set out on a mission Princeton , New Jersey , for assistance. However, she received the answer that she would have to convert to Christianity in order to do so, which she refused. However, their correspondence was reprinted in Missionary Review and read by Theodocia Carpenter, who then contacted Anandi and offered her help. A close friendship developed between the two and with their help Anandi traveled to America in 1883 despite health problems.

At the Women Medical College of Pennsylvania , later part of Drexel University , Anandi completed the normally four-year course in just three years. Her doctoral thesis dealt with obstetrics of the ancient Hindus. Two other women from abroad studied with her, Kei Okami from Japan and Sabat Islambooly from Syria . At her graduation ceremony in March 1886, at which both her husband and the Indian reformer Pandita Ramabai were present, Anandi received rousing applause and a written congratulations from Queen Victoria . However, her health was now so bad that she had to give up an internship at the New England Hospital for Women and Children and return to India. She received a formal reception in her homeland and the prospect of a position as chief physician of the female wing of the Albert Edward Hospital in the Indian state of Kolhapur . Shortly afterwards, however, it was discovered that she suffered from tuberculosis and she died on February 18, 1887, without ever having started the job. Her husband had them cremated according to Hindu custom, but instead of scattering the ashes, he sent them to Theodocia Carpenter in the United States, who buried them in her family grave in Poughkeepsie Cemetery .

aftermath

Although Anandi was criticized and even attacked by some of her compatriots for studying abroad, she was a pioneer and trailblazer for other women. Only two years after Anandi's death, the Indian Rakhmabai also began studying medicine and became India's first practicing doctor.

Anandi's first biography of Caroline Healy Dall appeared in 1888. The station Doordarshan broadcast the series Anandi Gopal made, directed by Kamlakar Sarang. A novel about her life by Shrikrishna Janardan Joshi has been turned into a play.

The independent Indian Institute for Research and Documentation in Social Sciences in Lucknow annually awards the Anandibai Joshi Award for Medicine and the Maharashtra government awards Anandibai scholarships to young women working in the field of gynecology. On Venus, whose craters are named after important women, is the Joshee crater named after Anandi.

literature

• Caroline Healey Dall: Dr Anandabai Joshee. A Kinswoman of the Pundita Ramabai. Roberts Brothers 1888, Boston
• Bonnie G. Smith: The Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History Volume . Oxford University Press 2008, ISBN 978-0-19-514890-9

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Boris March: Crater on Venus Named After Woman Buried in Poughkeepsie . 101.5 WPDH, March 14, 2016. Accessed November 3, 2016
2. ↑ Caroline Healey Dall: Dr Anandabai Joshee. A Kinswoman of the Pundita Ramabai. Roberts Brothers 1888, Boston. P. 21
3. ↑ Caroline Healey Dall: Dr Anandabai Joshee. A Kinswoman of the Pundita Ramabai. Roberts Brothers 1888, Boston. P. 30
4. ↑ ^{a b} Shreya Pareek: Do You Know What Made Anandi Joshi Become India's First Lady Doctor At A Time When No Girl Was Educated In India? . The Better India, May 6, 2014. Accessed November 4, 2016
5. ^ Mallika Rao: Meet The Three Female Medical Students Who Destroyed Gender Norms A Century Ago . The Huffington Post, September 16, 2014. Accessed November 5, 2016
6. ↑ ^{a b} Meera Kosambi: Joshee, Anandibai . In: The Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History Volume 1 . Oxford University Press 2008, p. 664
7. ↑ Divya Bala: Dr Anandibai Gopalrao Joshi . The National Medical Graduates Club, accessed November 5, 2016