Dorothy Jinarajadasa

Last updated

Dorothy Jinarajadasa (born Dorothy May Graham; 19 March 1881 - 13 January 1963) was an English feminist, suffragette, and writer based in India. [1] Along with Margaret Cousins and Annie Besant, she established the Women's Indian Association in 1917, and was active in efforts to end child marriage and female illiteracy in India. She was a justice of the peace for Madras, and an active Theosophist. She is one of the earliest members of the suffragist movement in India, and is known for her efforts to build transnational networks between suffrage movements.

Contents

Biography

She was born as Dorothy May Graham in the United Kingdom, and married Sri Lankan Theosophist, Curuppumullage Jinarajadasa on 11 November 1916. They had met in Adyar, in meetings of the Theosophical Society, and had traveled back to London to be married. [2] [3]

Career

Jinarajadasa was active in efforts to establish suffrage for women in the United Kingdom as well as in India, and was arrested (but not charged) for her participation in protests for the British suffrage movement. [4]

In 1917, she established the Women's Indian Association (WIA) along with Margaret Cousins and Annie Besant. [2] The organization was conceived of by Cousins and Jinarajadasa, who met at the Theosophical Society in Adyar, where Jinarajadasa and her husband were living, and where she served as a justice of the peace. The initial purpose of the organization was to encourage women's sports, as well as to promote women's education and craft. Once established, Jinarajadasa reached out to the Theosophical Society to invite them to establish similar branches of the Women's India Association across India. Through her efforts, forty-three additional branches were established over the following year. [5] Jinarajadasa served as the first secretary of the organization. The WIA was very politically active, advocating against child marriage, engaging in philanthropy, and supporting suffragist efforts. [2] In 1918, Cousins and Jinarajadasa founded Stri Dharma , a women's magazine that they edited, and which carried articles concerning women's welfare, and Jinarajadasa contributed extensively to the magazine as well as editing it. [6] Jinarajadasa had previously established a smaller women's organisation in Madanapalle. [4] Along with Hannah Sen, Jinarajadasa advocated for the involvement of Indian women in the suffrage movement, and protested against Western misrepresentations of Indian religious and cultural practices. [7]

In 1917, Jinarajadasa was part of a delegation of women, including Cousins, Sarojini Naidu, Annie Besant, Herabai Tata and others, to address Sir Edwin Montagu, the secretary of state for India, on a proposal to extend the vote for women. [4] Although their efforts were unsuccessful at the time, they received wide attention in the Indian and English press and were soon supported by demands for suffrage from other organizations, including the Indian National Congress. [4] In 1918, at the Malabar District Conference of the Indian National Congress, Jinarajadasa successfully moved a resolution in support of female suffrage, which was passed unanimously. [4] Through 1918, she was in regular correspondence with Constance Villiers-Stuart, who was advocating in England for the inclusion of women in the Indian electorate. [4] In April 1921, when the franchise was extended to women in the Madras Presidency, Jinarajadasa was one of several women who attended the debates. [8] Writing in Sri Dharma, she contrasted the Indian experience of suffrage to her experiences in Britain, where the suffrage movement had been received with violence and arrests. [4]

As part of her efforts to promote suffrage, Jinarajadasa worked to establish links between women's organisations across the world. [9] While traveling with her husband between Vienna and Madras, she visited a number of such organizations along the way, and particularly, addressed meetings for women in Basrah, Iraq. In the 1920s, she also toured Australia, interacting with Australian suffragists, and addressing a number of public gatherings, including the National Council of Women in Brisbane in September 1919; the National Council of Women in Australia in Melbourne in October 1919; and the Australian Women's National League in October 1919. [6] Her efforts were matched by suffragist women's organizations reaching out to establish links in India; for instance, in 1921, members of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom reached out to her about drawing in Indian members. [10] In 1921, Jinarajadasa published a pamphlet with the Women's Indian Association titled Why Women Want the Vote, in which she advocated for the building of networks between suffrage movements in the Commonwealth. In 1923, she was a delegate for India at the conference of the International Alliance for Women, and addressed the conference on the issue of Indian suffrage in widely reported speech. [6] [11]

In 1934, Jinarajadasa led early efforts to raise the age of marriage and consent for women to 16, in the Madras Presidency. She prepared a letter in support of a bill to raise the age, and circulated it across political leaders in India, drawing letters of support, including one notably from Mahatma Gandhi. [12]

Along with her husband, Curuppumullage Jinarajadasa, she was an active Theosophist. [13] She died in London, aged 81, in 1963.

Publications

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Theosophical Society Adyar</span> International occult organisation

The Theosophy Society was founded by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky and others in 1875. The designation 'Adyar' is sometimes added to the name to make it clear that this is the Theosophical Society headquartered there, after the American section and some other lodges separated from it in 1895, under William Quan Judge. In 1882, its headquarters moved with Blavatsky and president Henry Steel Olcott from New York to Adyar, an area of Chennai, India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Theosophical Society</span> Organization advancing theosophical thought

The Theosophical Society is the organizational body of Theosophy, an esoteric new religious movement. It was founded in New York City, U.S. in 1875. Among its founders were Helena Blavatsky, a Russian mystic and the principal thinker of the Theosophy movement, and Henry Steel Olcott, the society's first president. It draws upon a wide array of influences among them older European philosophies and movements such as Neoplatonism and occultism, as well as parts of Asian religious traditions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Annie Besant</span> English writer and activist (1847–1933)

Annie Besant was a British socialist, theosophist, freemason, women's rights and Home Rule activist, educationist, and campaigner for Indian nationalism. She was an ardent supporter of both Irish and Indian self-rule. She became the first female president of the Indian National Congress in 1917.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Webster Leadbeater</span> British theosophist and writer (1854–1934)

Charles Webster Leadbeater was a member of the Theosophical Society, Co-Freemasonry, an author on occult subjects, and the co-initiator, with J. I. Wedgwood, of the Liberal Catholic Church.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bhagwan Das</span> Indian theosophist (1869–1958)

Bhagwan Das was an Indian Theosophist and public figure. For a time he served in the Central Legislative Assembly of British India. He became allied with the Hindustani Culture Society and was active in opposing rioting as a form of protest. As an advocate for national freedom from the British rule, he was often in danger of reprisals from the Colonial government. He was awarded the Bharat Ratna in 1955.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Theosophical Society in America</span> Nonprofit organization

The Theosophical Society in America (TSA) is a member-based nonprofit organization dedicated to the teaching of Theosophy and affiliated with the international Theosophical Society based in Adyar, Chennai, India. The name "Theosophical Society in America" was legally adopted by the American Theosophical Society in 1934. Previously, other organizations had used the same name during the years 1895–98 and 1898–1908.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rukmini Devi Arundale</span> Indian dancer and choreographer (1904–1986)

Rukmini Devi Arundale was an Indian theosophist, dancer and choreographer of the Indian classical dance form of Bharatanatyam, and an activist for animal welfare.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Arundale</span> British theosophist (1878–1945)

George Sydney Arundale was a Theosophist, Freemason, president of the Theosophical Society Adyar and a bishop of the Liberal Catholic Church. He was the husband of the Indian dancer Rukmini Devi Arundale.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Radha Burnier</span>

Radha Burnier was born in Adyar, India. She was president of the Theosophical Society Adyar from 1980 until her death in 2013. She was General Secretary of the Indian Section of the Society between 1960 and 1978, and was previously an actress in Indian films and Jean Renoir's The River.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Curuppumullage Jinarajadasa</span> Sri Lankan theosophist

Curuppumullage Jinarajadasa was a Ceylonese author, occultist, freemason and theosophist. The fourth president of the Theosophical Society, Jinarajadasa was one of the world's foremost Theosophical authors, having published more than 50 books and more than 1600 articles in periodicals during his life. His interests and writings included religion, philosophy, literature, art, science and occult chemistry. He was also a rare linguist, who had the ability to work in many European languages.

<i>The Theosophist</i>

The Theosophist is the monthly journal of the international Theosophical Society based in Adyar, India. It was founded in India in 1879 by Helena Blavatsky, who was also its editor. The journal is still being published till date. For the year 1930, the journal was published in Hollywood, California by Annie Besant and Marie Russak Hotchener, but it returned to Adyar in 1931. The journal features articles about philosophy, art, literature and occultism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ernest Wood</span>

Ernest Egerton Wood was a noted English yogi, theosophist, Sanskrit scholar, and author of numerous books, including Concentration – An Approach to Meditation, Yoga and The Pinnacle of Indian Thought (1967).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">T. Sadasiva Iyer</span> Indian judge

Sir Thyagaraja Sadasiva Iyer was an Indian judge and theosophist who served as the Chief Justice of Travancore from 1905 to 1910. He was also the first President of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department, Madras Presidency.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Margaret Cousins</span>

Margaret Elizabeth Cousins was an Irish-Indian educationist, suffragist and Theosophist, who established All India Women's Conference (AIWC) in 1927. She was the wife of poet and literary critic James Cousins, with whom she moved to India in 1915. She is credited with preserving the tune of the Indian National Anthem Jana Gana Mana based on the notes provided by Tagore himself in February 1919, during Rabindranath Tagore's visit to the Madanapalle College. She was a member of the Flag Presentation Committee which presented the National Flag to the Constituent Assembly on 14 August 1947.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christianity and Theosophy</span> Relation between Christianity and Theosophy

Christianity and Theosophy, for more than a hundred years, have had a "complex and sometimes troubled" relationship. The Christian faith was the native religion of the great majority of Western Theosophists, but many came to Theosophy through a process of opposition to Christianity. According to professor Robert S. Ellwood, "the whole matter has been a divisive issue within Theosophy."

Stri Dharma was the magazine of the Women's Indian Association which was first published in January 1918 by two Theosophist feminists –Margaret Cousins and Dorothy Jinarajadasa– and continued until August 1936. Its title was Sanskrit for the dharma of women: their right way.

The Women's Indian Association (WIA) was founded at Adayar, Madras, in 1917 by Annie Besant, Margaret Cousins, Dorothy Jinarajadasa, and others to liberate women from the deplorable condition women suffered in socio-economic and political matters during the 19th and the early 20th century. The Association later developed into a potent force to fight against illiteracy, child marriage, the Devadasi system and other social ills. After Besant's death in 1933, Dorothy Jinarajadasa became more involved in the internal politics of theosophists. The faction she supported fell from favour, and her name stopped appearing in all documents from that point onward.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Herabai Tata</span>

Herabai Tata (1879–1941) was an Indian women's rights activist and suffragist. Married in 1895, Tata's husband was progressive and supported the education of his wife and daughter, hiring tutors to help her with her schooling. In 1909, Tata, who was Parsi, developed an interest in Theosophy and within a few years made the acquaintance of Annie Besant. Around the same time, in 1911, she met Sophia Duleep Singh, a British suffragist with Indian heritage, who influenced her development as a suffragist. A founding member and the general secretary of the Women's Indian Association, she became one of the women who petitioned for enfranchisement before the Montagu-Chelmsford investigation in 1917.

The Women's suffrage movement in India fought for Indian women's right to political enfranchisement in Colonial India under British rule. Beyond suffrage, the movement was fighting for women's right to stand for and hold office during the colonial era. In 1918, when Britain granted limited suffrage to women property holders, the law did not apply to British citizens in other parts of the Empire. Despite petitions presented by women and men to the British commissions sent to evaluate Indian voting regulations, women's demands were ignored in the Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms. In 1919, impassioned pleas and reports indicating support for women to have the vote were presented by suffragists to the India Office and before the Joint Select Committee of the House of Lords and Commons, who were meeting to finalize the electoral regulation reforms of the Southborough Franchise Committee. Though they were not granted voting rights, nor the right to stand in elections, the Government of India Act 1919 allowed Provincial Councils to determine if women could vote, provided they met stringent property, income, or educational levels.

Josephine Maria Ransom, née Davies (1879-1960) was an Australian Theosophist and writer. She served as General Secretary of three different national sections of the Theosophical Society, and wrote A Short History of the Theosophical Society. Ransom was also Honorary Secretary of the Britain and India Association, and editor of its magazine Britain and India.

References

  1. ↑ "Theosophy Cardiff's Gallery of Great Theosophists". ardifftheosophy.walestheosophy.org.uk. Retrieved 12 May 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 Forbes, Geraldine; Forbes, Geraldine Hancock (1999-04-28). Women in Modern India. Cambridge University Press. p. 72. ISBN   978-0-521-65377-0.
  3. ↑ Lutyens, Mary (1997). Krishnamurti: The Years of Awakening. Shambhala Publications. ISBN   978-1-57062-288-5.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Mukherjee, Sumita (2018-04-16). Indian Suffragettes: Female Identities and Transnational Networks. Oxford University Press. pp. 48–54. ISBN   978-0-19-909370-0.
  5. ↑ Forbes, Geraldine Hancock (2005). Women in Colonial India: Essays on Politics, Medicine, and Historiography. Orient Blackswan. p. 16. ISBN   978-81-8028-017-7.
  6. 1 2 3 Broome, Sarah (2012-08-01). "Stri-Dharma: Voice of the Indian Women's Rights Movement 1928-1936". History Theses. doi:10.57709/3075581.
  7. ↑ Woollacott, Angela (2001-08-30). To Try Her Fortune in London: Australian Women, Colonialism, and Modernity. Oxford University Press. p. 130. ISBN   978-0-19-534905-4.
  8. ↑ Menon, Nitya (2015-03-08). "When Madras' women won the vote". The Hindu. ISSN   0971-751X . Retrieved 2022-01-06.
  9. ↑ Sandell, Marie (2015-01-26). The Rise of Women's Transnational Activism: Identity and Sisterhood Between the World Wars. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN   978-0-85773-730-4.
  10. ↑ Sluga, Glenda; James, Carolyn (2015-06-12). Women, Diplomacy and International Politics since 1500. Routledge. p. 202. ISBN   978-1-317-49703-5.
  11. ↑ Siegel, Mona L. (2020-01-07). Peace on Our Terms: The Global Battle for Women's Rights After the First World War. Columbia University Press. ISBN   978-0-231-55118-2.
  12. ↑ Majumdar, Maya (2005). Encyclopaedia of Gender Equality Through Women Empowerment. Sarup & Sons. ISBN   978-81-7625-548-6.
  13. ↑ Dixon, Joy (2003-05-01). Divine Feminine: Theosophy and Feminism in England. JHU Press. pp. 208, 217–8. ISBN   978-0-8018-7530-4.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.