Inventaa at 06:55, 26 March 2026

2026-03-26T06:55:31Z

New page

{{Short description|Indian physician (1861–1923)}}
{{EngvarB|date=September 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2023}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Kadambini Bose
| honorific-prefix = [[Medical doctor|Doctor]]
| native_name = কাদম্বিনী বসু
| image = Kadambini Ganguly.jpg
| signature = Kadambinj Ganguly Signature.jpg
| image_size =
| caption =
| birth_name = Kadambini Bose
| birth_date = {{Birth-date|18 July 1861}}
| birth_place = [[Bhagalpur]], [[Bengal Presidency]], British India
| death_date = {{death date and age|1923|10|3|1861|7|18|df=yes}}
| death_place = Calcutta, Bengal Presidency, British India
| occupation = Physician
| spouse = {{marriage|[[Dwarkanath Ganguly]]|1883|1898|end=d.}}
| children = 8
| education = {{Ubl
| [[University of Calcutta]]
| [[Medical College & Hospital, Kolkata|Calcutta Medical College]]
}}
}}

'''Kadambini Bose Ganguly''' (18 July 1861 – 3 October 1923<ref name="Sen">{{Cite web |url=http://www.scienceandculture-isna.org/sep-oct-2014/07%20Art_Kadambini%20Ganguly...by_B%20K%20Sen_Pg.271.pdf |title=Kadambini Bose Ganguly - An Illustrious Lady |last=Sen |first=B.K. |date=September 2014 |website=Science and Culture - Indian Science News Organization |access-date=23 February 2019 |archive-date=29 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200329110255/http://www.scienceandculture-isna.org/sep-oct-2014/07%20Art_Kadambini%20Ganguly...by_B%20K%20Sen_Pg.271.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref>) was the first Indian female doctor of [[western medicine]] along with [[Anandi Gopal Joshi|Anandibai Joshi]]. Both got their degree in Western medicine in 1886. However, she was India's first practicing lady doctor, as Anandibai died soon after receiving the degree. She was India's first practicing female doctor in [[Medicine|modern medicine]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kadambini Ganguli |url=https://cmsadmin.amritmahotsav.nic.in/district-reopsitory-detail.htm?28760}}</ref> Ganguly was the first woman to gain admission to [[Calcutta Medical College]] in 1884, subsequently trained in [[Scotland]], and established a successful medical practice in India. She was the first woman speaker in the [[Indian National Congress]].

== Early life ==
Kadambini was born in a [[Bengalis|Bengali]] [[Kulin Kayastha]] family<ref>{{Cite book |last=Paranjape |first=Makarand R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-UjZlNCh-qwC&dq=kadambini+ganguly+brahmin&pg=PA108 |title=Making India: Colonialism, National Culture, and the Afterlife of Indian English Authority |date=3 September 2012 |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |isbn=978-94-007-4661-9 |language=en |access-date=5 April 2024 |archive-date=3 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230903174955/https://books.google.com/books?id=-UjZlNCh-qwC&dq=kadambini+ganguly+brahmin&pg=PA108 |url-status=live}}</ref> as Kadambini Basu who was the daughter of [[Brahmo Samaj|Brahmo]] reformer Braja Kishore Basu. She was born on 18 July 1861<ref>{{cite journal |last=Karlekar |first=Malavika |year=2012 |title=Anatomy of a Change: Early Women Doctors |journal=India International Centre Quarterly |volume=39 |issue=3/4 |pages=95–106 |jstor=24394278}}</ref> at [[Bhagalpur]], Bengal Presidency (modern day Bihar) in [[British Raj|British India]]. The family was from [[Gournadi Upazila|Chandshi]], in [[Barisal District|Barisal]] which is now in [[Bangladesh]]. Her father was headmaster of Bhagalpur School. He and Abhay Charan Mallick started the movement for women's emancipation at Bhagalpur, establishing the women's organization Bhagalpur Mahila Samiti in 1863, the first in India.

Despite coming from an upper caste Bengali community that did not support women's education,<ref name="Kadambini Ganguly – UncoverED">{{Cite web |title=Kadambini Ganguly – UncoverED |url=http://uncover-ed.org/kadambini-ganguly/ |access-date=26 March 2021 |language=en-US |archive-date=9 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210109210228/http://uncover-ed.org/kadambini-ganguly/ |url-status=dead}}</ref> Kadambini initially received English education at the Brahmo Eden Female School, Dacca; subsequently at Hindu Mahila Vidyalaya, Calcutta which was renamed as Banga Mahila Vidyalaya in 1876. She became the first woman to pass the [[University of Calcutta]] entrance examination. In 1882, along with [[Chandramukhi Basu]], she passed the examination of the [[Bachelor of Arts]] (BA) degree from the University of Calcutta. She and Chandramukhi became the first female graduates in the country.{{efn|Female students were admitted into [[Oxford University]] in 1879, one year after the admission of female students for undergraduate studies at the [[University of Calcutta]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ox.ac.uk/aboutoxford/women.shtml |title=Women at Oxford |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061018054149/http://www.ox.ac.uk/aboutoxford/women.shtml |archive-date=18 October 2006 |url-status=dead |access-date=5 November 2006}}</ref> The [[tripos]] was opened to women at Cambridge only in 1881.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Davis/Indexes/yCambridge.html |title=Numbers of graduates of the University of Cambridge |work=MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive |access-date=5 November 2006 |archive-date=29 September 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929104926/http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Davis/Indexes/yCambridge.html |url-status=live}}</ref>}}<ref>{{cite news |title=A Convocation for the conferring of Degrees |work=[[The Times of India]] |date=15 March 1883 |page=9 |quote=Among the recipients of the B.A. degrees were two young ladies of the Bethune Female School, Miss Chandramukhi Basu and Miss Kadambini Basu, who were loudly cheered. The Vice-Chancellor [of Calcutta University] (the Hon. H. J. Reynolds) presided.}}</ref>

After graduating, Kadambini Devi decided to study medicine. In 1883, she enrolled at [[Calcutta Medical College]]. She was awarded the GBMC (Graduate of Bengal Medical College) degree in 1886. She was the first Indian woman to be allowed to practice Western medicine.

== Politics ==
After studying at a medical college for five years, she worked for a while at [[Lady Dufferin Hospital]] in 1888 for a monthly salary of 300 rupees before going to England. In 1895, she went to Nepal for the treatment of the Queen Mother. In 1889, Kadambini was one of the first six women delegates elected to the Fifth Session of the Congress in Bombay. The following year, she spoke at the Sixth Session of the Congress in Calcutta. Kadambini was the first woman speaker at the Congress. Kadambini was the first president of the [[Transvaal Indian Association]], founded by Gandhiji's colleague [[Henry Pollock]], and a member of the Women's Conference held in Calcutta in 1907. In 1914, she presided over the General Brahmo Samaj session in Calcutta. This session was organized in honour of Mahatma Gandhi.

== Personal life ==
[[File:Residence of Kadambini Ganguly.jpg|thumb|Residence of Kadambini Ganguly]]
Kadambini Bose married Dwarakanath Ganguly on 12 June 1883, 11 days before joining Calcutta Medical College.<ref>Star Jalsha, Prothoma Kadambini</ref> As the mother of eight children, she had to devote considerable time to her household affairs. She was deft in [[needlework]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Chakrabarty |first=Roshni |title=Kadambini Ganguly, India's first female doctor who made Calcutta Medical College start admitting women |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/gk-current-affairs/story/kadambini-ganguli-india-s-first-female-doctor-who-made-calcutta-medical-college-start-admitting-women-1570858-2019-07-18 |access-date=26 March 2021 |website=India Today |archive-date=19 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210519131256/https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/gk-current-affairs/story/kadambini-ganguli-india-s-first-female-doctor-who-made-calcutta-medical-college-start-admitting-women-1570858-2019-07-18 |url-status=live}}</ref> Among her children, Jyotirmayee was a freedom fighter and Prabhat Chandra was a journalist. Her stepdaughter was married to [[Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury]], grandfather of filmmaker [[Satyajit Ray]].

[[File:Statue of Kadambini Ganguly.jpg|thumb|Statue of Kadambini Ganguly, Birla Industrial & Technological Museum, Kolkata, West Bengal, India]]
American historian [[David Kopf]]<ref name="kopf">{{cite web |url=http://www.hist.umn.edu/faculty/kopf.html |title=David Kopf |access-date=5 November 2006 |work=History at Minnesota |publisher=Regents of the University of Minnesota |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060516060014/http://www.hist.umn.edu/faculty/kopf.html |archive-date=16 May 2006 |url-status=dead}}</ref> notes that Ganguly "was appropriately enough the most accomplished and liberated Brahmo woman of her time", and her relationship with her husband [[Dwarkanath Ganguly]] "was most unusual in being founded on mutual love, sensitivity and intelligence." Kopf argues that Ganguly was highly unusual even among emancipated women of contemporary Bengali society, and that "her ability to rise above circumstances and to realize her potential as a human being made her a prize attraction to Sadharan Brahmos dedicated ideologically to the liberation of Bengal's women."<ref name="kopfbook">{{Cite book |last=Kopf |first=David |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IUcY_IRKDHQC&pg=PA125 |title=The Brahmo Samaj and the Shaping of the Modern Indian Mind |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=1979 |isbn=978-0-691-03125-5 |location= |pages=125 |language=en}}</ref>

Ganguly died on 3 October 1923, after having conducted an operation the same day.<ref name="Sen" />

==Criticism from conservative quarters==
Ganguly was heavily criticized by the conservative society of her time. After returning to India from Edinburgh and campaigning for women's rights, she was indirectly called a 'whore' in the Bengali magazine ''Bangabashi''. Her husband Dwarkanath Ganguly took the case to court and won, with a jail sentence of 6 months meted out to the editor Mahesh Pal.<ref name="The Life and Work of Dr. Kadambini Ganguly, the First Modern Indian Woman Physician">{{cite journal |url=https://www.jurology.com/article/S0022-5347(18)31285-0/abstract |title=The Life and Work of Dr Kadambini Ganguly, the First Modern Indian Woman Physician |journal=The Journal of Urology |date=April 2007 |doi=10.1016/S0022-5347(18)31285-0 |access-date=5 April 2007 |last1=Rao |first1=Amrith R. |last2=Karim |first2=Omer |last3=Motiwala |first3=Hanif G. |doi-access=free |archive-date=11 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210211035308/https://www.auajournals.org/article/S0022-5347%2818%2931285-0/abstract |url-status=live |url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Dwarakanath Ganguly – A Forgotten Hero – The Indian Messenger Online |date=3 April 2018 |url=http://im.thesadharanbrahmosamaj.org/2018/04/03/dwarakanath-ganguly-a-forgotten-hero/ |access-date=6 August 2020 |language=en-US |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>

==In popular culture==
A Bengali television serial ''[[Prothoma Kadambini]]'' based on Ganguly's biography was telecast on [[Star Jalsha]] beginning in March 2020, starring [[Solanki Roy]] and [[Honey Bafna]] in the lead.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Prothoma Kadombini to launch on March 16 |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tv/news/bengali/prothoma-kadombini-to-launch-on-march-16/articleshow/74604692.cms |access-date=8 November 2020 |work=[[The Times of India]] |language=en |archive-date=12 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230212144822/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tv/news/bengali/prothoma-kadombini-to-launch-on-march-16/articleshow/74604692.cms |url-status=live}}</ref> Another Bengali series named ''[[Kadambini (TV series)|Kadambini]]'', starring [[Ushasi Ray]] as Ganguly, was telecast on [[Zee Bangla]] in 2020.

On 18 July 2021, Google celebrated Ganguly's 160th birth anniversary with a [[Google Doodle|doodle]] on its homepage in India.<ref>{{Cite news |date=18 July 2021 |title=Kadambini Ganguly, India's First Female Doctor, Honoured by Google Doodle |url=https://www.news18.com/news/lifestyle/kadambini-ganguly-indias-first-female-doctor-honoured-by-google-doodle-3976013.html |access-date=17 July 2021 |work=News18 |language=en |archive-date=17 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210717194323/https://www.news18.com/news/lifestyle/kadambini-ganguly-indias-first-female-doctor-honoured-by-google-doodle-3976013.html |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Kadambini Ganguly's 160th Birthday |url=https://doodles.google/doodle/kadambini-gangulys-160th-birthday/ |access-date=18 July 2021 |language=en |archive-date=18 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210718013925/https://www.google.com/doodles/kadambini-gangulys-160th-birthday |url-status=live}}</ref>

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* {{cite book |last=Murshid |first=Ghulam |year=2012 |chapter=Ganguly, Kadambini |chapter-url=http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Ganguly,_Kadambini |editor1-last=Islam |editor1-first=Sirajul |editor1-link=Sirajul Islam |editor2-last=Jamal |editor2-first=Ahmed A. |title=Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh |edition=Second |publisher=[[Asiatic Society of Bangladesh]]}}
* {{cite encyclopedia |editor1-last=Sengupta |editor1-first=Subodh Chandra |editor2-last=Basu |editor2-first=Anjali |year=1988 |orig-year=First published 1976 |script-title=bn:কাদম্বিনী গঙ্গোপাধ্যায় |trans-title=Kadmini Gangopadhyay |script-encyclopedia=bn:সংসদ বাঙালি চরিতাভিধান |encyclopedia=Saṃsada bāṅāli caritābhidhāna |trans-encyclopedia=Parliament Bengali Biographical Dictionary |url=https://archive.org/details/Samsad-Bangali-Charitabhidhan-Ed2/page/%E0%A7%AD%E0%A7%AF/mode/1up |language=bn |volume=1 |edition=2nd |location=Kolkata |publisher=Sahitya Samsad |page=79–80}}

{{Commons category}}

{{Bengal Renaissance}}
{{Ganguly-Ray family}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ganguly, Kadambini}}
[[Category:1861 births]]
[[Category:1923 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Bhagalpur]]
[[Category:Brahmos]]
[[Category:Medical doctors from Kolkata]]
[[Category:Scientists from Bihar]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian medical doctors]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women scientists]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian medical doctors]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian women scientists]]
[[Category:Women scientists from Bihar]]
[[Category:Bethune College alumni]]
[[Category:University of Calcutta alumni]]
[[Category:Medical doctors from Bihar]]
[[Category:Scientists from West Bengal]]
[[Category:People from the Bengal Presidency]]
[[Category:Medical doctors from British India]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian women medical doctors]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women medical doctors]]
[[Category:Satyajit Ray]]
[[Category:People from Chandsi]]
[[Category:Medical doctors from Barisal Division]]

Kadambini Ganguly - Revision history

Inventaa at 06:55, 26 March 2026