On Pandita Ramabai’s 164th birthday, we bring you a rare glimpse into her life as an image maker and archivist. During the 19th century widow reformation movement, Pandita Ramabai set up Mukti Mission – a home for widows and other young girls women rescued from the aftermath of pandemics and famines. In Mukti Mission, she created photographs that not only archive a precious moment in feminist history, but also challenge the ongoing conjugality project by offering up alternatives to coupledom and the traditional family set-up.
In this video, Dr Uma Chakravarti, feminist historian and filmmaker takes us through the radical act of Pandita Ramabai: of reinventing the family photograph.
