“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28).
Christianity offers the most freedom to all humans in the world. This has been true all throughout history. There have been times when women have not been given the credit that is due to them by the Church, but by and large, Christianity has brought freedom for all peoples no matter what nationality or gender.
Consider the beliefs about women of some of the other world religions:
Muslim: “Men shall have the pre-eminence. The ground of the pre-eminence of man over woman is here said to be man’s natural superiority over woman. Women are an inferior class of human beings. … Men are the lords of the women, and women become the virtual slaves of the men. The holy, happy estate of Eve in Eden can never be even approximately secured for her daughters under Islam.”
Ancient Jewish Prayer of Men: “BLESSED ART THOU, O LORD OUR G-D, KING OF THE UNIVERSE, WHO HAST NOT MADE ME A WOMAN.”
Hindu: “that women of high and low caste, as a class, were bad, very bad, worse than demons, as unholy as untruth, and that they could not get Moksha as men. The only hope of their getting this much-desired liberation from Karma and its results … was the worship of their husbands. The husband is said to be the women’s god; there is no other god for her. … Women have no minds. They are lower than pigs.”
Of the examples of the dim view of women in many cultures, the Hindu view is the most blatant. One cannot imagine how any woman could succeed or be happy in that culture. But, that is reckoning without a providential Father God Who raises up people in His own good time to help bring the good news of salvation to many. One
woman who was clearly led of God was Pandita Ramabai.
During the nineteenth century in India, many men believed that women were not able to be educated. There was one man, however, who thought differently – Ananta Shatri Dongree, a wealthy Hindu guru. He did not believe that women were just animals. He proved it by educating his wife and his daughter, Pandita Ramabai (1858-1922).
As a child, Ramabai was educated in the Hindu scriptures and by the time she was twenty years old, she had memorized 18,000 verses of the Puranas, the Hindu holy book. She could speak many Indian dialects, as well as English. Her tremendous knowledge impressed the local Hindu scholars. They gave her the name “Pandita,” which means “learned.” They asked her to teach the high-caste Hindu women. She studied the Hindu scriptures in preparation for her class. She discovered that the Hindu scriptures contradicted themselves in almost every area except one – the negative view of women. Ramabai read one thing that they all agreed on, “Women were worse than demons.” She did not believe this, because her father had not raised her to believe this.
Pandita then began to move for reform. She desired to dismantle the Hindu caste system. She mainly wanted to raise the status of women in Indian society. Her efforts became even more intensive when she became a widow with a small daughter.
Among already low-ranking women in India, widows ranked the lowest. Many were burned alive on their husband’s funeral pyres. Those who were allowed to live were forced to become slaves. These women were sent to temples to become temple prostitutes and make money for the Hindu priests. As soon as the women were no longer pleasing to the priests, they were turned out on to the streets to be beggars. Most would die of starvation. Ramabai saw all of this firsthand and founded an organization to reform this terrible treatment of women.
Around this time in her life, Ramabai came into contact with a Baptist missionary and began her journey toward Christianity. For a time she joined a cult which blended Hindu beliefs with Christianity. Then in 1883 she traveled to England and made friends with a woman who was a member of the Anglican community.
Ramabai embraced Christ fully while in England and was baptized. She was joyous, but many back home in India were outraged. They did not want the most famous woman reformer in their country to be a Christian. They wanted her to continue to embrace their culture.
Ramabai did not see any conflict with her culture and Christianity. She did not want to be a part of the Church of England. She just considered herself simply a Christian. She resisted the efforts of the sisters of the Anglican Church to make her conform to western ways. She remained independent in her Christian life. She explained to the English women that she would like to keep the customs of her forefathers as far as she could, as long as the customs were not hurtful. She was able in this way to reach many more women in India for Christ.
With this spirit of independence Ramabai developed her educational system for women and girls. She gave lectures and preached in Hindu temples. She started a school for girls, called Mukti, which means “salvation”. She taught the young girls and women life skills that they could use to support themselves. She did not try to force them to become Christians, but many desired to follow Christ because of her example.
She was an early believer in “life-style evangelism”. Once during a famine, Ramabai fed thousands of people who would have otherwise starved to death.
In the early 1900’s there were revivals in many places in the English speaking world. When Ramabai heard about them, she prayed that revival would happen among her girls. At her school, Mukti, five hundred and fifty women met daily and prayed for God’s blessings. On June 29, 1905, God blessed them by sending an outpouring of His Holy Spirit. During the next few days a thousand girls professed faith in Christ.
During this time of success, the Indian officials were still upset with her for evangelizing. She refused to give in. Though she did not actively seek to convert the girls as other mission schools did, she maintained her faithful Christian life, which was the best way to present the Gospel at that time in that culture. She did not want to present a “western” Gospel, but one that was focused on Christ and Christ alone. Her faith and practices were compatible with her culture rather than just on institutional dogma.
And her beliefs were shown in her deep zeal for revival. She prayed that God would send 100,000 Christians to India to go out and spread the Gospel.
Soon after this, she was asked to care for 25,000 orphans. She believed that God had answered her prayer and began to train them as little followers of Christ.
Pandita Ramabai’s work lives on today. She is known by some as the greatest woman of the nineteenth century living in India. Many have praised her achievements. God can bless any people at any time, even with a woman leader. We can rejoice at how God led her from a devout Hindu home to an earnest faith in Jesus Christ. Thousands are grateful for her testimony, tireless work, and the success she had in raising the status of women in a dark land.
