6
edits
robot: Update article (please report if you notice any mistake or error in this edit)
>OAbot m (Open access bot: hdl added to citation with #oabot.) |
(robot: Update article (please report if you notice any mistake or error in this edit)) |
||
| Line 42: | Line 42: | ||
==Social reformer== | ==Social reformer== | ||
"What propelled Malabari to prominence across India and prompted his first visit to Britain in 1890 was what reformers in Victorian England and India called 'the problem of [[Hindu]] women,'"<ref name="Burton_1998_160">{{harvnb|Burton|1998|p=160}}.</ref> that is, his ardent advocacy for social reform with regards to [[child marriage]] and the remarriage of widows. In August 1884, Malabari published a set of ''Notes on Infant Marriage and Enforced Widowhood,'' that he sent to 4,000 leading Englishmen and Hindus. In it, Malabari deplored the "social evil" of "baby marriage" and demanded legislature to prevent it. Similarly on the issue of remarriage for widows, Malabari criticised the Hindu practice of prohibiting it, and he placed the blame squarely with that religion's "priestly class" and the "social monopolists" | "What propelled Malabari to prominence across India and prompted his first visit to Britain in 1890 was what reformers in Victorian England and India called 'the problem of [[Hindu]] women,'"<ref name="Burton_1998_160">{{harvnb|Burton|1998|p=160}}.</ref> that is, his ardent advocacy for social reform with regards to [[child marriage]] and the remarriage of widows. In August 1884, Malabari published a set of ''Notes on Infant Marriage and Enforced Widowhood,'' that he sent to 4,000 leading Englishmen and Hindus. In it, Malabari deplored the "social evil" of "baby marriage" and demanded legislature to prevent it. Similarly on the issue of remarriage for widows, Malabari criticised the Hindu practice of prohibiting it, and he placed the blame squarely with that religion's "priestly class" and the "social monopolists" for their "vulgar prejudices."<ref name="q_Burton_1998_161">Qtd. in {{harvnb|Burton|1998|p=161}}.</ref> Although acknowledging that many educated Hindus deplored the practice, he repeatedly argued that it was due to inaccurate interpretation of scripture by "the greedy priests" and base Hindu "superstition" that caused "a girl after ten [to be treated as] a serpent in the parents' house."<ref name="q_Burton_1998_162">Qtd. in {{harvnb|Burton|1998|p=162}}.</ref> His "notes" were the prelude to an emotionally charged discussion that occupied the press for over seven years and made Malabari "one of, if not the most influential" Indian social reformer of his time.<ref name="Kulke_1978_112">{{harvnb|Kulke|1978|p=112}}.</ref> | ||
In 1885, a girl named [[Rukhmabai]] was ordered by a Judge Pinhey to return to her husband or be jailed. Malabari's editorials of the Rukhmabai case gave the issue a popular focus, and it "was largely by his efforts"<ref name="EB_1911"/> and the agitation of [[William Thomas Stead]] in the ''[[Pall Mall Gazette]]''<ref name="Burton_1998_161">{{harvnb|Burton|1998|p=161}}.</ref> that brought about the Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1885, and the [[1891 Age of Consent Act|Age of Consent Act]] (which regulated the age of consent for females in Britain and India) in 1891. In this, Malabari "was instrumental not just in refining the gendered dimensions of contests for cultural legitimacy and power in the [[Bombay Presidency|western presidency]], but in refiguring such contests for consumption by the British reform public at home as well."<ref name="Burton_1998_160"/> His agitation for reform in India "through the agitation of the British public at home was virtually unprecedented."<ref name="Burton_1998_163">{{harvnb|Burton|1998|p=163}}.</ref> | In 1885, a girl named [[Rukhmabai]] was ordered by a Judge Pinhey to return to her husband or be jailed. Malabari's editorials of the Rukhmabai case gave the issue a popular focus, and it "was largely by his efforts"<ref name="EB_1911"/> and the agitation of [[William Thomas Stead]] in the ''[[Pall Mall Gazette]]''<ref name="Burton_1998_161">{{harvnb|Burton|1998|p=161}}.</ref> that brought about the Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1885, and the [[1891 Age of Consent Act|Age of Consent Act]] (which regulated the age of consent for females in Britain and India) in 1891. In this, Malabari "was instrumental not just in refining the gendered dimensions of contests for cultural legitimacy and power in the [[Bombay Presidency|western presidency]], but in refiguring such contests for consumption by the British reform public at home as well."<ref name="Burton_1998_160"/> His agitation for reform in India "through the agitation of the British public at home was virtually unprecedented."<ref name="Burton_1998_163">{{harvnb|Burton|1998|p=163}}.</ref> | ||
| Line 49: | Line 49: | ||
Although Malabari stayed away from the [[Indian National Congress]] as an organisation, Malabari attended the Indian National Congress in Bombay in 1885, and "he was a nationalist" and he had a close relationship with Dadabhai Naoroji,"<ref name="Kulke_1978_113">{{harvnb|Kulke|1978|p=113}}.</ref> one of the founders and leaders of the Congress. It was however to his advantage not to allow his name to be aligned to any specific political party or movement, as that would have precluded support from British politicians in his campaign for social reform as well as from the Indian princes of [[Patiala]], [[Gwalior]] and [[Bikaner]] upon whose financial generosity he depended.<ref name="Kulke_1978_113" /> | Although Malabari stayed away from the [[Indian National Congress]] as an organisation, Malabari attended the Indian National Congress in Bombay in 1885, and "he was a nationalist" and he had a close relationship with Dadabhai Naoroji,"<ref name="Kulke_1978_113">{{harvnb|Kulke|1978|p=113}}.</ref> one of the founders and leaders of the Congress. It was however to his advantage not to allow his name to be aligned to any specific political party or movement, as that would have precluded support from British politicians in his campaign for social reform as well as from the Indian princes of [[Patiala]], [[Gwalior]] and [[Bikaner]] upon whose financial generosity he depended.<ref name="Kulke_1978_113" /> | ||
Seva Sadan was established by this parsi social reformer. Seva Sadan was specialized in taking care of those women who were exploited and then discarded by society. It provided the destitute women with education and medical and welfare services. | |||
==References== | ==References== | ||