This book is a collection of essays based on the lives of some well known and some less known personalities of our past. The common factor among them is that they represent different strands and symbolize the spirit of the 19th century Indian renaissance.
The major part of this book is devoted to Sister Nivedita (Miss Margaret Noble) whose name is very familiar in Bengal. But a historical evaluation of Sister Nivedita and her works in India is yet to be made. Her writings on Indian history and philosophy, on religions and religious customs, festivals, her lectures on multifarious subjects, her travelogues and interactions with eminent persons have given a new depth, and added a new dimension, to the socio-cultural history of India. Her study of Indian life and her love for Indian women make her the most revered foreigner who adopted India, Bengal in particular, as her second home.
The lives of Aghore Kamini Devi and Pandita Ramabai are fascinating and instructive as they reveal Indian women’s indomitable courage and determination against adverse circumstances. Their contribution towards women’s liberation can not be ignored.
In the female world of this book there are two male names-author Saratchandra Chattopadhaya and Sakharam Ganesh Deuskar. Saratchandra’s sympathy for women, his insight into women’s psychology and his description of our spirit of this book. Though a less known name, Deuskar’s role in our freedom struggle is worth remembering and the ideas he developed in his “Desher Katha†have not lost relevance even now.
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