Revisiting the Educational and Literary Activities among the Jewish Women of Calcutta

Abstract

The Jewish women of Calcutta contributed extensively towards building and consolidating the rich socio-cultural heritage through the creation of social and cultural infrastructures like schools, hospitals, baby clinics, women and youth organizations. Breaking social taboos, they were stimulated by the attractions of western education and took up modern professions. Their contributions were keenly appreciated both in pre-and post-independent India, which this paper tries to explore. Moreover, when India is delving into the rich diversity of its different voices, with women and environmental issues coming to the fore, the contribution(s) of the Jewish women, as the “other voice of history” could hardly be ignored. Thus besides highlighting the different aspects of the world of the Jewish women of Calcutta and their contribution in the literary-educational field, the paper also tries to fit their collective experience in a multi-cultural rubric, in the Indian context.