“Because I am a woman”: A child widow’s memoirs from colonial India
Haimabati Sen, Tapan Raychaudhuri (Tr.), Geraldine Forbes and Tapan Raychaudhuri (Eds.)
Price
675
ISBN
9788180280399
Language
English
Pages
288
Format
Hardback
Dimensions
140 x 216 mm
Year of Publishing
2011
Territorial Rights
World
Imprint
D C Publishers

Out Of Stock

This detailed and intimate memoir chronicles the life of one of India’s earliest women doctors, Haimabati Sen. Born c. 1866 and married before she was 10, Haimabati became a widow within a year. Unwelcome in her deceased husband’s and her natal home, she travelled to Benares, Calcutta, East Bengal and back to Calcutta seeking an education. She eventually remarried, trained as a medical practitioner, and became a “Lady Doctor”. The account of her life and times illustrates the hard lives of girls and women who flouted social conventions. Originally written in Bengali in lined school notebooks, Haimabati’s narrative was discovered and translated by Tapan Raychaudhuri and edited by Geraldine Forbes and the translator. This edition includes an introduction by the editor, comprehensive biographical notes and photographs.

Tapan Raychaudhuri is Emeritus Fellow of St. Antony’s College, Oxford. Geraldine Forbes is a Distinguished Teaching Professor of History at the State Univesity of New York Oswego.