India’s Greatest Reformers: 51 Extraordinary Stories

India’s Greatest Reformers documents the stories of 51 extraordinary men and women who in their times undertook various social reforms, at times facing stiff resistance from society.

Raja Ram Mohan Roy saw to it that the evil practice of Sati—the practice of burning a widow on the pyre of her husband—was abolished. Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar succeeded in getting a legislative act adopted in 1856 allowing widows to remarry. Mahatma Gandhi and Dr B.R. Ambedkar worked tirelessly for the eradication of untouchability. Dayanand Saraswati castigated persons who believed in the caste system. Great women like Mary Clubwala Jadhav and Sindhutai Sapkal worked for girls’ education and orphanages, respectively.

From contemporary India, Kailash Satyarthi, Dr Bindeshwar Pathak, Devendra Raj Mehta and Dr Uma Tuli are featured for their significant work. The 51 portraits in this book will inspire readers to give some thought to the eradication of malpractices that still afflict our society one way or the other.

The stories include that of Dr B.R. Ambedkar, Baba Amte, Begum Sultan Jahan, Bilkees Idrees Latif, Durgabai Deshmukh, E.V. Ramaswami, Jagan Nath Kaul, Janaki Devi Bajaj, Dr Javaid Rahi, Jyotirao Phule, K. Vishwanathan, Kailash Satyarthi, Martha Farrell, Mary Clubwala Jadhav, Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Rabindra Nath Upadhyay, Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Dr Rajnikant Arole, Runa Banerjee, Shalini Moghe, Subhas Chandra Bose, Subramania Bharati, Sunderlal Bahuguna, Swami Sivananda, Swami Vivekananda, Tarabai Shinde, Vinoba Bhave, among many other luminaries.