KristyThacker77 at 18:05, 1 December 2025

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{{Short description|Bengali social reformer (1844–1898)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2021}}{{Use Indian English|date=December 2024}}

{{Infobox person
| name = Dwarkanath Ganguly
| image = Dwarkanath Ganguly.jpg
| alt = Photo of an older, mustachioed Ganguly
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1844|4|20|df=yes}}
| birth_place = [[Munshiganj|Bikrampur]], [[Bengal Presidency]], [[British India]]
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1898|06|27|1844|04|20|df=yes}}
| death_place = [[Calcutta]], [[Bengal Presidency|Bengal]], [[British Raj|British India]]
| occupation = Educator, journalist, social reformer
| spouse = {{ubl|{{marriage|Bhaboshundori Devi|1862|1866|died}}
|{{marriage|[[Kadambini Ganguly]] |1883|}}}}
| children = 10
}}

'''Dwarkanath Gangopadhyay''' (also known as '''Dwarkanath Ganguly''', 20 April 1844–27 June 1898) was a Bengali [[Brahmoism|Brahmo]] reformer. He made substantial contributions towards societal enlightenment and the emancipation of women. Ganguly dedicated his life to the latter cause, encouraging women to participate in politics and the social services. He was the husband of the first female [[Indian people|Indian]] physician, [[Kadambini Ganguly]].

== Early life ==
Ganguly was born in the village of Magurkhanda in [[Bikrampur]] [[pargana]], south of [[Dhaka]] in present-day [[Bangladesh]], on 20 April 1844. His father, Krishnapran Gangopadhyay, was a compassionate and humble man; his mother, Udaytara, belonged to a wealthy family and was a strong-willed woman.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|title=Dwarkanath Ganguly a forgotten hero|date=3 April 2018|url=http://im.thesadharanbrahmosamaj.org/2018/04/03/dwarakanath-ganguly-a-forgotten-hero/|access-date=22 July 2020|archive-date=22 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200722103526/http://im.thesadharanbrahmosamaj.org/2018/04/03/dwarakanath-ganguly-a-forgotten-hero/|url-status=dead}}</ref> Ganguly was deeply influenced by his mother, who instilled in him a love of truth and justice.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Sinha|first=S|title=Freedom Movement in Bengal 1818–1904: Who's Who, Calcutta Education Department, Government of West Bengal|pages=306–307}}</ref> He began his education in the local village ''pathshaala''. Keen to learn English, Ganguly then attended the English school in the nearby village of Kalipara.{{citation needed|date=July 2022}} He was strongly influenced at that school by [[Akshay Kumar Datta]]'s ''Dharma Niti'', which explored social problems such as polygamy, child marriage, inter-caste marriage and widow remarriage. Ganguly, touched by the plight of Bengali women, was influenced by Dutta's belief that "the first vital step to social regeneration is liberating woman from her bondage".<ref name=":3" />

== {{anchor|Life and career}}Later life and career ==
Ganguly belonged to the [[Kulin Brahmin]] clan. It was customary for Kulin men to practise [[polygamy]], earning money from gifts presented to the groom by the bride's father. The 17-year-old Ganguly was pained, however, when he learned that the fatal poisoning of a girl by her relatives was a common practice; he vowed to be monogamous, and began to empathize with the women in his society.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Sastri|first=Sivanath|title=Ramtanu Lahiri O Tatkalin Banga Samaj, 1903/2001, (in Bengali)|pages=340}}</ref>

Years after the death of his first wife, he married [[Kadambini Ganguly]] (née Bose, one of the first female graduates in the British Empire) in 1883. Ganguly fought for her admission to Calcutta Medical College, and Kadambini became the first female practising Indian physician.<ref name=":3" />

He had ten children from both marriages. Ganguly's eldest daughter, Bidhumukhi, married [[Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury]] (grandfather of Indian filmmaker [[Satyajit Ray]]).<ref name=":6" /> [[Jyotirmayee Gangopadhyay]], his other daughter, was an educator and freedom fighter. Prabhat Chandra Ganguly followed his father into journalism and was a contemporary of [[Sukumar Ray]], Ganguly's nephew. He was a member of Sukumar's "Monday club".<ref name=":6">{{Cite book|title=Sukumar Sahitya Samagra|publisher=Ananda|year=1973|isbn=8170661722|location=Kolkata|pages=Preface by [[Satyajit Ray]]}}</ref>

== ''Abalabandhab'' ==
[[File:Screenshot of Abalabandhab Patrika.png|thumb|Library copy of ''Abalabandhab''|alt=See caption]]
In May 1869, Ganguly launched the journal ''Abalabandhab'' (''Friend of Women'') in Dhaka. According to American historian [[David Kopf]], it may have been the first journal in the world devoted solely to the liberation of women.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kopf |first=David |author-link=David Kopf |title=The Brahmo Samaj and the Shaping of the Modern Indian Mind |year=1979 |publisher=Princeton University Press |page=123 |isbn=978-0-691-03125-5}}</ref> ''Abalabandhab'' brought him recognition as a spokesman for women's social rights in society.<ref name=":4">{{cite thesis |last=Biswas |first=Supriya |date=August 2016 |title=Investigating Gender Equality and Women Empowerment: A Study on the Women Associations of Colonial Bengal (1865-1943) |type=Phd |chapter=Gender Consciousness |publisher=University of North Bengal |chapter-url=https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/205831/11/11_chapter%203.pdf |access-date=2022-05-25}}</ref> Ganguly was a humanitarian journalist who brought to light cases of female exploitation and suffering. His writings in ''Abalabandhab'' defended women, and were moralistic and judgmental about the behaviour of educated women. The first issue dealt with a number of topics, such as self-protection, vocational training and social, political and religious issues. The second issue had an article about "Knowledge of the Yavanas in Sanskrit"; the third "Whabi religion, Rafique Mondal and Amiruddin"; the fourth "Edison and Electric Light"; the fifth "Telephone, Microphone and Phonograms", and the sixth a "System of Kindergarten Education". The seventh (and final) issue was devoted to miscellaneous topics.<ref name=":5">{{cite thesis |last=Chakrabarti |first=Sampa |year=1992 |title=An Enquiry Into the Educational Contribution of the Brahmo Samaj Movement and Its Impact on the Later Educational Development |type=Phd |chapter=Sadharan Brahmo Samaj and Some of Its Stalwarts |publisher=Kalyani University |chapter-url=https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/240928/9/09_chapter%204.pdf |access-date=2022-05-25}}</ref>

The journal included articles on cooking, the scientific training of midwives improving the health of new mothers (who were usually segregated from other family members in unhealthy conditions).<ref name=":4" /> ''Abalabandhab'' attracted the attention of students in Calcutta{{snd}}where Ganguly introduced it in 1870{{snd}}and Dhaka, especially young Brahmos (including [[Sivanath Shastri]] and his friends).<ref name=":7">{{Cite book|last=Sastri|first=Sivanath|title=Ramtanu Lahiri O Tatkalin Banga Samaj, 1903/2001, (in Bengali)|pages=452}}</ref>

== Sadharan Brahmo Samaj ==
Ganguly was a supporter of higher education for women, including the fields of science and mathematics. He advocated equal syllabi for men and women, unlike other social reformers (such as Brahmo leader [[Keshub Chandra Sen]]) who believed that women's roles should complement those of men.<ref name=":0" /> Ganguly campaigned against polygamy, bigotry, [[purdah]] and child marriage.<ref name=":5" /> He tried to introduce changes to women's dress, and established a music school for girls. Divisions within [[Brahmo Samaj]] led to the 1878 formation of the [[Sadharan Brahmo Samaj]], where Ganguly served several terms as secretary.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Brahmo Samaj |url=https://www.thebrahmosamaj.net/samajes/sadharansamaj.html |access-date=2020-06-30 |website=thebrahmosamaj.net}}</ref>

== {{anchor|Higher Education for Women}}Higher education for women ==

=== {{anchor|Establishment of Girls' School}}Establishment of girls' school ===
Ganguly and his associates, including [[Durga Mohan Das|Durgamohan Das]] and [[Monomohun Ghose|Monomohun Ghosh]], argued that girls' education should be equal that for boys. He was headmaster at the [[Hindu Mahila Vidyalaya]] in Calcutta, a boarding school,{{citation needed|date=July 2022}} supervised by [[Annette Beveridge|Annette Akroyd]]. Ganguly and his associates ran the school, whose boarders included Indumati, daughter of [[Ramtanu Lahiri]]; Sarala and Abala, the daughters of Durga Mohan Das; Ganguly's daughter, Bidhumukhi, and Harasundari, the wife of Srinath Datta. Ganguly was also a teacher, dietician, guard and maintenance man.<ref name=":0" />

The school was praised by the government's education department, but the [[Bethune School]] was a cause for concern. Through the intercession of Monomohun Ghose, secretary of the Bethune School Committee, a proposal to merge the two schools was approved; they merged on 1 August 1878.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Mukherjee|first=A|title='Women's Emancipation in 19th-Century Bengal-Some Aspects' an article by Dr. Manju Chattopadhyay|pages=155–156}}</ref> Among its alumnae were Swarnaprabha Basu (wife of Ananda Mohan Basu), [[Sarala Roy]] (wife of [[Prasanna Kumar Roy]]), [[Abala Bose|Lady Abala Basu]] (wife of [[Jagadish Chandra Bose|Jagadish Chandra Basu]]), Girijakumari Sen (wife of Sasipada Sen), [[Kadambini Ganguly]] (Ganguly's wife) and Hemlata Devi (daughter of Sivanath Shastri).{{citation needed|date=July 2022}} Dwarkanath Ganguly's efforts in making of the present Bethune College, along with those of Durgamohon Das and Ananda Mohan Basu is no less than that of Bethune and [[Vidyasagar College]].<ref name=":9">{{Cite book|last=Ganguli|first=Prabhat Chandra|title=Bangalir Nari Jagaran|publisher=Brahmo Mission Press|year=1945|pages=84}}</ref>

=== {{anchor|Opening Doors of University}}Calcutta University ===
Ganguly's campaign to allow women to attend university bore fruit when [[University of Calcutta|Calcutta University's]] policy barring female students was overturned on 25 November 1876. Kadambini Basu and Chandramukhi Basu were the first two female graduates in the British Empire in 1882.<ref name=":9" />

=== {{anchor|Dwarkanath and Mary Carpenter}}Mary Carpenter ===
[[Mary Carpenter]] visited India to expand women's education and welfare. Ganguly was inspired by her work to write the women's novel ''Suruchir Kutir'', for which he received the Mary Carpenter Prize.<ref name=":9" />

=== {{anchor|Dwarkanath and Pandita Ramabai}}Pandita Ramabai ===
[[Pandita Ramabai]] was influenced by Ganguly and his work for female emancipation when she visited Bengal. Rambai decided to do similar work in Bombay and began in 1882 with Dwarkanath's support and guidance by forming Arya Mahila Samiti in [[Pune]] with [[Ramabai Ranade]], Tanubai Tarkhud and Dharubai Limaye.<ref name=":9" />

== {{anchor|Contribution to National Politics}}National politics ==

=== Indian Association ===
The [[Indian National Association|Indian Association]], founded in 1876 by [[Surendranath Banerjee]] and [[Ananda Mohan Bose]], was [[British India]]'s first nationalist organization.<ref name=":8">{{Cite web |title=Indian Association {{!}} political organization, India |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Indian-Association |access-date=2020-09-28 |website=Encyclopædia Britannica |language=en}}</ref> Its objective was "promoting by every legitimate means the political, intellectual and material advancement of the people". Ganguly was the organization's associate editor.<ref name=":7" />

=== {{anchor|Rights of women in politics}}Women in politics ===
After the establishment of Indian National Congress in 1885, Indian Association lost its influence.<ref name=":8" /> Garguly began a movement to enable women's participation in national politics, allowing female delegates at Congress meetings. Due in part to his efforts, higher education and politics were opened to women before they were opened in England.<ref name=":9" />

== {{anchor|Journalism, nationalism and published work|Journalism|Educational material for schools|Nationalism and published work}}Journalism, nationalism and published works ==

In addition to ''Abalabandhab'', Ganguly was a journalist who called attention to social issues. He and [[Krishna Kumar Mitra]] published ''Sanjivani'', a weekly Bengali newspaper which tried to organize the peasants of lower Bengal.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Chattopadhyay |first=Guatam |editor-last=Johansson |editor-first=Eve |year=2013 |orig-year=First published 1991 |chapter=Petition, protest and revolt - the changing face of the anti-imperialist press in India 1857-1947 |title=La presse de la liberté |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PR4jAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA48 |publisher=De Gruyter |page=48 |isbn=978-3-11-135730-0}}</ref> Ganguly's articles detailing the wretched conditions of tea-plantation workers in [[Assam]] eventually led the Indian National Congress to send investigators (angering the British planters) and sparked agitation against colonial rule.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2017-11-21|title=How a School Teacher Exposed the British 'Coolie' Trade in 19th Century Assam|url=https://www.thebetterindia.com/121647/dwarkanath-ganguli-women-emancipation-coolie-trade-british-india/|access-date=2020-07-29|website=The Better India|language=en-US}}</ref> Unhappy with existing educational mathematics and [[applied science]] materials, he wrote health-science, geography and mathematics textbooks.<ref>{{Cite news |title=A New Image of Health - Kadambini Ganguly was equally happy in her marriage and her career |url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/opinion/a-new-image-of-health-kadambini-ganguly-was-equally-happy-in-her-marriage-and-her-career/cid/1026266 |access-date=2020-10-27 |work=The Telegraph |location=Calcutta |type=Opinion}}</ref>

Ganguly's song, "Na jagile Bharat lalana e Bharat aar jage na jage na ..." ["Till the women of India rise, India shall not rise"], was sung at a 14 March 1907 [[Swadeshi movement]] meeting organized by [[Bipin Chandra Pal]] specifically for women.<ref>{{cite thesis |last=Datta |first=Devasree |date=2008 |title=Women of the Barak Valley and the Indian National Movement |chapter-url=https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/68405/10/10_chapter%202.pdf |type=PhD |chapter=Barak Valley: Society and Political Consciousness Among Women (Till the Emergence of Gandhi) |publisher=Gauhati University |page=32}}</ref> He wrote a novel, ''Suruchir Kutir'';<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Sastri|first=Sivanath|title=Ramtanu Lahiri O Tatkalin Banga Samaj, 1903/2001, (in Bengali)|pages=341}}</ref> a journal biography of Brohmomoyee Debi (the first wife of Durga Mohon Das), and a who's who of contemporary Bengal.<ref name=":1" />

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:1844 births]]
[[Category:1898 deaths]]
[[Category:Brahmos]]
[[Category:Bengal Renaissance]]
[[Category:People from Bikrampur]]
[[Category:Bengali Hindus]]
[[Category:19th-century Bengali people]]
[[Category:Bengali educators]]
[[Category:Bengali writers]]
[[Category:Indian educators]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian educators]]
[[Category:Indian social reformers]]
[[Category:Indian social workers]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian journalists]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian writers]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian male writers]]
[[Category:Social workers from West Bengal]]
[[Category:Educators from West Bengal]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian philosophers]]
[[Category:Indian newspaper editors]]
[[Category:Satyajit Ray]]
[[Category:People from Naria]]

Dwarkanath Ganguly - Revision history

KristyThacker77 at 18:05, 1 December 2025