Google doodle honoured Kadambini Ganguly, India’s first female doctor on her 160th birth anniversary today. Doctor Kadambini Ganguly was born on July 18 in 1861 in Bhagalpur British India. She was the first woman to be trained as a physician in India. Ganguly was a vocal activist for women’s emancipation, a doctor, and a freedom fighter. The doodle is illustrated by Bengaluru, India-based guest artist Oddrija. Ganguly sought to uplift other women in India through both medical service and activism in India’s women’s rights movement.
So who exactly is Kadambini Ganguly? She was born on 8 July, 1861, in Bhagalpur British India, now Bangladesh. Her father, who used to run a women’s rights organisation, enrolled her into school at a time when education for women was an uncharted territory. From her schooling days, Ganguly went on to pursue further and entered college. In 1882, Ganguly and Chandramukhi Basu became the first women to graduate college in Indian history.
In 1883, Kadambini Bose married professor and activist Dwarkanath Ganguly. In fact, it was Dwarkanath, who encouraged Kadambini to pursue a degree in medicine. In 1886, she graduated from the Calcutta Medical College, and thus, made history as the first woman to become an Indian-educated doctor.
Kadambini Ganguly also worked and studied in the United Kingdom, earning three additional doctoral certifications with a specialisation in gynecology. In the 1890s, she returned to India to begin private practice.
“Kadambini Ganguly sought to uplift other women in India through both medical service and activism in India’s women’s rights movement. Among many other campaigns, Ganguly joined six others to form the first all-women delegation of the 1889 Indian National Congress,” the Google Doodle page says.
Kadambini Ganguly died on October 3, 1923 at the age of 62 in Kolkata.The Bengali television series Prothoma Kadambini is a period drama based on Kadambini Ganguly’s life.
