Nationalism and the Visibility of Women in Public Space: Tilak's Criticism of Rakhmabai and Ramabai

Abstract

‘Under the alien rule… when Brahmins break the law they are punished like other persons and women are visible in public like railway carriages where men could cast improper glances’. These were the words from the article ‘Shivaji's Utterances’ in the nationalist weekly Kesari for which Tilak was prosecuted for sedition in 1897. Vishwanath Narayan Mandalik, Vishnu Shastri Chiplunkar and Bal Gangadhar Tilak criticized the reformers for encouraging women and non-Brahmins to occupy public space. They called their opposition as nationalist and reformers’ support to women and non-Brahmins as ‘un-national’. They argued that the caste system and confining women to the domestic space formed the basis of the Hindu nation. Reformers like Jotirao Phule, Gopal Hari Deshmukh, Mahadev Govind Ranade, Kashinath Triyambak Telang, Ramakrishna Gopal Bhandarkar and Narayan Ganesh Chandavarkar were criticized as ‘denationalised persons.’ The nationalists in Maharashtra questioned ‘the right of alien rulers to interfere in the internal affairs of the Hindu society who encouraged the non-Brahmins and women to take up education and become visible in the public space’. This formed the core of the nationalist agenda during 1880-1920.