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characters by blending in the background them- everyday life of common people. His female
selves. Sarat Chandra’s women—though poor, protagonists went through the daily grind stoi-
had high moral and ethical value. Women writers cally, writers like Bibhuti Bhushan Bannerji,
like Toru Dutta, Swarnakumari Devi, Kamini Tarashankhar Bannerji, Manek Bandopadhyay,
Roy, Sarojini Naidu, were eminent literary Satinath Bhadvri, Bonophul, Achintya Sengupta,
stalwarts in 19th century India. Ras Sundari Prabodh Sanyal and many have maintained a
Devi’s autobiography Amar Jeebon was the first high standard. They continued their tradition of
of its kind. They were perfect amalgams of the humanism and portrayed lives of poverty and
Eastern philosophy with Western modernity. The squalor.
eminent Hindi novelist Premchand wrote about

Terminology

Immemorial : originating in the distant past; very old
Acrimonious : angry and bitter
Oppression : prolonged cruel or unjust treatment or exercise of authority
Influence : the capacity to have an effect on the character, development or behaviour of
someone or something or the effect itself
Emancipation : the fact or process of being set free from legal, social or political restrictions;
liberation
Orthodoxy : authorised or generally accepted theory, doctrine or practice
Theosophists : those who study about God and the world based on mystical insight
Emancipation : the fact or process of being set free from legal, social, or political restrictions;
liberation

Inside Story
Inside Story
g There is no record in history to explain the answer to how and why women got to receive
secondary position in the society.
g The women’s movement in India is a rich and vibrant movement which has taken different
forms in the different parts of the country.
g Indian society of the 19th century was indeed a divided one.
g Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar worked actively for the promotion of widow remarriage.
g Sarala Devi considered Purdah to be the main obstacle for women’s education.

g In the 19th century, social reform movements began within the Islamic community as well.
g Keshab Chandra Sen started the Bamabodhini Patrika (1863) to improve the social and
moral conditions of women protagonists who were always self-respecting individuals.

A. Tick (3) the correct option.

1. Reform movements took place in different regions during the:
(a) 16th century (b) 19th century (c) 20th century

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