Women Jat leaders/ Social reformers

[rkumar]

Dear Friends,

For last few days I have been thinking if there have been some great women Jat leaders or reformers or educationists or what so ever. Please pardon my ignorence, I have not been able to find any. Ofcourse I have come across the names of few in politics, but again they are the persons of hardly any significance.

May be some learned lady members know some names. I am sure most members will love to know a bit more about our women's contribution in these ares.

Regards
Rajendra

[itsnavin]

Kya baat kar rahe ho Rajender ji! aap ne SONALI SINGH ka naam nahin suna kya...aur nahin suna to uski jatland par "Bachao, Bachao...Sonali ko Bachao" wali post padh lo...this is just full of info.

[rkumar]

Navin Farswal (Sep 17, 2004 08:17 a.m.):
Kya baat kar rahe ho Rajender ji! aap ne SONALI SINGH ka naam nahin suna kya...aur nahin suna to uski jatland par "Bachao, Bachao...Sonali ko Bachao" wali post padh lo...this is just full of info.

I agree with you Navin...She is wasting her energy in that post now...high time she prepares to become the attorney General of USA in near future....Anyway, I would like some serious write up here dost...light stuff can continue under that post..

Rajendra

[nvedwan]

Well, one that I can think of, and have some familiarity with is Subhasini Tonk, who was a social reformer, a product of the Arya Samaj movement among Jats, and worked for women's education. She established the Khanpur gurukul in Rohtak distt, which provided education to girls from rural areas, a lot of them Jat.

[rkumar]

Neeraj Vedwan (Sep 17, 2004 09:17 a.m.):
Well, one that I can think of, and have some familiarity with is Subhasini Tonk, who was a social reformer, a product of the Arya Samaj movement among Jats, and worked for women's education. She established the Khanpur gurukul in Rohtak distt, which provided education to girls from rural areas, a lot of them Jat.

Thanks Neeraj. Yes, I also heard of her, but forgot to mention. Following link would be and eye opener how this Delhi university prof. nonica dutta thinks of Subhasin Tonk..

http://www.freeindiamedia.com/women/19_june_women.htm

Following is the relevent para taken from her above link

"Women's participation in communal movements in contemporary India is widely recognised. However, little is known about women in localities who fortified caste identities, promoted communal tendencies, and forged their identities within a religio-communitarian context in colonial India. Consider the testimony of Subhashini, an 88-year-old Jat woman. She talks about the virtues of her Arya Samaj upbringing in rural Haryana. Educated at Kanya Gurukul Dehradun, in the 1920s, she committed herself to rural women's Arya Samaji education by establishing a Kanya Gurukul in Khanpur village in 1942. Though exposed to Gandhi's nationalist struggle in the 1930s, she was principally committed to the notion of a Hinduised Jat identity. She actively supported shuddhi (reconversion), sangathan (organisation), Ved-prachar (proselytisation) and cow-protection campaigns. Many of her pupils and teachers remained brahmacharinis (celibate), for the purpose of serving the Hindu community and nurturing patriotism.

Central to Subhashini's worldview was her obsessive fear of Muslims. She trained her girls in self-defence techniques, including the use of arms, as protection against imaginary Muslim attacks. She emphasised the threat of Hindu women's abduction by Muslims, but justified the reality of Muslim women being abducted by Jat men in the 1930s and 1940s. She celebrated Partition violence as a providential moment in which the Hindu Jats wiped out Muslims from her part of Punjab (now Haryana). The Partition was a final resolution of a long-standing conflict between her Jat community and Muslims. Her land was cleansed of the Muslims' presence. Her fear of Muslim menace vanished. She and her pupils felt safe, secure and liberated, and their sense of Jat identity fused with a supra-Hindu identity in the aftermath of India's partition.


But Subhashini was not alone in holding such beliefs. There were many women like her, in other parts of the country, who were active agents of a Hindu communitarian agenda and anti-Muslim sentiments. It was primarily through their adherence to religious orthodoxies that they came to occupy a respectable position within the Hindu family, community and society. This sort of space was neither available to women participating in anti-colonial nationalist struggles, nor to those subscribing to radical, secular traditions. Hindu communal organisations and leaders supported women's anxieties against Muslims, and co-opted their concerns into the broader Hindutva movement"

I find another link

http://www.scu.edu/history/Raman.htm

Work in Progress

"Jat Women: Gender & Immigration


Rajendra

[shailendra]

Neeraj Vedwan (Sep 17, 2004 09:17 a.m.):
Well, one that I can think of, and have some familiarity with is Subhasini Tonk, who was a social reformer, a product of the Arya Samaj movement among Jats, and worked for women's education. She established the Khanpur gurukul in Rohtak distt, which provided education to girls from rural areas, a lot of them Jat.

Interesting!...had not heard about Subhasini Tonk, so thanks a lot Neeraj! I promise to try and look up some more on her.....
I wonder if it has got to do something with the fact that in this society women are not admired enough somehow for their great accomplishments...neither talked about enough in gatherings, books, articles, posts and what have you...(unless of course, it is for some in-famous reason in a famous field; and Oh no, I am not starting another thread here for you-know-who!)...The ones that did accomplish something are only 'heard about' but then very conveniently forgotten! [No pun intended Mr.Kalkhundeji...after all you must still be commended on at least starting this post]

Also too It was not surprising therefore to see this string almost turn towards a lighter (and in-famous, I must say) direction...

But anyways, salvaged just in time! ;p

Thanks again Neeraj...here's looking forward to more mention of 'noteable' contributions of Jat women.

[sonalisingh]

No...No...I don't want this thread to become about me either. To contribute, here is an
article that has reference to a Jat woman Subhasini. Interesting lady.


http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/2002/06/15/stories/2002061501511000.htm

[bnashier]

http://www.jatland.com/cgi-bin/ub/UltraBoard.cgi?action=Read&BID=2&TID=3107&P=1&SID=20273#ID20

Post #7 on Ms. Shubhasini Ji

[shailendra]

Sonali Singh (Sep 17, 2004 10:21 a.m.):
No...No...I don't want this thread to become about me either.


...Hmmm, fair enough Sonali,
By the way, I was actually talking about 'Mallika Sherawat' back there... ;-)

[sonalisingh]

:-D
Tunnae keh di...err munnae maan li ! :-D
Vaise I would really be interested in learning about such Jat women. But just don't seem to be too many.

Shailendra Singh Hooda (Sep 17, 2004 11:08 a.m.):
[b]Sonali Singh (Sep 17, 2004 10:21 a.m.):
No...No...I don't want this thread to become about me either.


...Hmmm, fair enough Sonali,
By the way, I was actually talking about 'Mallika Sherawat' back there... ;-)[/quote]

[shailendra]

Sonali Singh (Sep 17, 2004 11:41 a.m.):
:-D
Tunnae keh di...err munnae maan li ! :-D
[/quote]

...Why does it sound more like you aren't really buying that?...

Anyways moving on; More on Chanakya coming up soon...
It's incredible how some interesting posts just get buried away...only to be reminded of later!

Glad some of us are reading those [if not entirely responding to it!... ;-) ]