Kadambini Ganguly

Kadambini Ganguly

The Medical College Hospital in Calcutta (approx. 1850–1870)

Kadambini Ganguly , née Basu , ( Bengali কাদম্বিনী গাঙ্গুলি Kādambinī Gāṅguli ; born July 18, 1862 in Bhagalpur ; died October 3, 1923 in Calcutta ) was an Indian medicin . Along with Anandi Gopal Joshi, she was the second Indian doctor with training in Western medicine in India and in the entire British Empire .

biography

Kadambini Basu grew up in Barishal (today in Bangladesh ). Her upper caste family belonged to the so-called Bhadralok , a bourgeois upper class that had formed in India during the British colonial era, and was influenced by the Bengali Renaissance . Her father, Braja Kishore Basu, was a leading member of the Hindu reform organization Brahmo Samaj . He was a school principal and was committed to the emancipation of women. In 1863 he was a co-founder of the Bhagalpur Mahila Samiti , the first women's organization in India.

Basu began her education at Bang Mahila Vidyalaya , a college for women in Calcutta, which she graduated in 1881. In 1883, at the age of 21, Kadambini Basu married her teacher and co-founder of Banga Mahila Vidyalaya , Dwarakanath Ganguly (1844–1898), an equally prominent Brahmo Samaj member who was 17 years older than her and a widower. This unusual connection met with great rejection in the family and friends of Kadambini Basu; her husband's best friend, the writer Shivnath Shastri, refused to come to the wedding.

Dwarakanath Ganguly encouraged his wife to study medicine. The Calcutta Medical College refused to take Kadambini Ganguly; up to that point no Indian woman had studied there. Only after the couple had announced legal action, Kambini Ganguly was admitted as a student from 1884. In 1886 she graduated from the Graduate of Bengal Medical College (GBMC). Along with Anandi Gopal Joshi, she was the first Indian doctor to practice Western medicine.

On February 20, 1888, Florence Nightingale wrote to a friend about Ganguly:

“Do you know anything about Ms. Ganguly or can you give me some advice? She has already passed the so-called first licensing examination in medicine and surgery and will take her final exam next March. This young lady, Mrs. Ganguly, got married after she decided to become a doctor and has since had one, if not two, children. But she was only absent for 13 days because of the confinement, and I don't think she missed a single lecture! "

In 1893, Kadambini Ganguly traveled to Edinburgh to take further exams at the university there . The decisive factor for this step was that she had been treated disparagingly by colleagues while working at the Lady Dufferin Hospital in Calcutta. This trip was possible because of the full support of her husband; her sister was currently looking after her children. In the same year she obtained diplomas from the Royal College of Physicians (LRCP) in Edinburgh as well as from Glasgow (LRCS) and Dublin .

After returning from the UK, Ganguly practiced again at Lady Dufferin Hospital until she opened a private practice. An editor of Bangabasi magazine , Maheschandra Pal, described her in an article as a "whore" because she had to leave the house at night to visit patients. Dwarakanath Ganguly reported Pal and the journalist was sentenced to six months' imprisonment and 100 rupees in compensation. When visiting patients, Kadambini Ganguly was often treated like a servant and was expected to clean afterwards. This changed after she successfully treated the Queen Mother of Nepal in 1895/96 and recognized a tumor diagnosed by male doctors as pregnancy. In addition to her job and activities, she had five children and looked after several stepchildren.

Ganguly was involved in several social movements. She was a member of the first female delegation to the Indian National Congress at its fifth session. In the course of the partition of Bengal by the British in 1905, she organized a women's conference in Calcutta to protest against this decision and in 1908 acted as its president. In 1908 she chaired a meeting in Calcutta to express her solidarity with the Indian workers in the Transvaal , South Africa , who practiced the nonviolent Satyagraha . She founded an association that raised money to support the workers. In 1914 she led the meeting of Sadharan Brahmo Samaj , which took place in Calcutta in honor of Gandhi during his visit to Calcutta. She campaigned for the rights of women miners in Bihar and women workers on the tea plantations in Assam . In 1915, Kadambini spoke out publicly against the decision of the Calcutta Medical College not to admit female students, which led the college to reverse this decision.

In the year before her death, Ganguly worked together with the Bengali poet Kamini Roy for a government committee that was informed about the conditions of the miners in the province of Bihar and Orissa . Her health was weakened, but she continued to practice as a doctor. Kadambini Ganguly died on October 3, 1923, at the age of 61, shortly after performing a difficult operation.

Popular reception

The Bengali TV series Prothoma Kadambini , based on her biography, was broadcast on Star Jalsha TV channel from March 2020 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Jovita Aranha: The Phenomenal Story of Kadambini: One of India's First Women Graduates & Doctors. thebetterindia.com, August 31, 2017, accessed January 7, 2021 . 
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Vidhipssa Mohan: Kadambini Ganguly. The University of Edinburgh, accessed January 8, 2021 . 
3. ↑ Malavika Karlekar: A new Image of Health - Kadambini Ganguly was equally happy in her marriage and her career. telegraphindia.com, May 25, 2007, accessed January 8, 2021 . 
4. ↑ Kadambini Ganguly, first female doctor from Bengal who fought patriarchy. getbengal.com, February 29, 2020, accessed January 8, 2021 . 
5. ↑ ^{a b c d} Sumbul Jawed Khan: Kadambini Ganguly. medium.com, February 6, 2020, accessed January 8, 2021 . 
6. ↑ ^{a b c d} B.K. Sen: Kadambini Ganguly - An illustrous lady. Indian Science News Association, accessed January 8, 2021 . 
7. ↑ Prothoma Kadombini to launch on March 16 - Times of India. The Times of India, accessed November 8, 2020 .