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Kadambini Ganguly.One of the first women graduates from India and the entire British Empire, who moved on to become one of the first female physicians trained in western medicine in the whole of South Asia.Early Life.She was born on 18 July 1861, as Kadambini Bose in Bhagalpur & brought up in Changi, Barisal (now in Bangladesh).Her father Braja Kishore Basu was headmaster of Bhagalpur School & a Brahmo Samaj reformer. He along with Abhay Charan Mallick started the movement for women's liberation at Bhagalpur. They established the women's organisation Bhagalpur Mahila Samiti in 1863, the first in India.Kadambini completed her education from Banga Mahila Vidyalaya, which was later merged with the Bethune School. She was the first candidate from the Bethune School to appear for the University of Calcutta entrance exam & created history by becoming the first woman to pass the test in 1878.She and Chandramukhi Basu became the first graduates from Bethune College, & also the first female graduates in the country and in the entire British Empire, when they finished the BA course, in 1882.In 1884, Kadambini was awarded a government scholarship of Rs 20 a month for women medical students.Marraige.She married Dwarkanath Ganguly in 1882. He was a prominent Brahmo Samaj leader, her teacher from Bangla Maha Vidyalaya & a widower who was 17 years elder to her.The Bramho Samaj members did not accept their wedding invitation.After marraige Dwarkanath encouraged her to study medicine. Her decision to do so as a woman received severe backlash in the upper caste Bengali community.Study in Medicine.The road to becoming a doctor was a difficult one. Calcutta Medical College refused to admit Kadambini as a candidate despite her merit because there was no history of Indian women studying there.Dwarkanath was campaigning to ensure accommodation and enrollment of female students in Calcutta Medical College, since a long time.Kadambini was allowed to study after the authorities were legally threatened by the couple.She studied western medicine at Calcutta Medical College. In 1886, she received her GBMC (Graduate of Bengal Medical College) degree, allowing her to practice medicine.Kadambini had to overcame some opposition from the teaching staff, and orthodox sections of society.Later she went to the United Kingdom in 1892 to get more experience in her field & returned to India after qualifying as LRCP (Edinburgh), LRCS (Glasgow), and GFPS (Dublin).After returning to India, she worked for a short period in Lady Dufferin Hospital Women’s Hospital on a salary of Rs 300 per month, a princely sum in those days.She started her private practice later as a gynaecologist & she was successful. She practised till her death in 1923, at the age of 61.Fight against equality for women.She campaigned for women's rights but she was criticised by the conservative society opposing women liberation.The editor, Maheshchandra Pal of the popular periodical Bangabasi, referred to her as a courtesan(whore) in his magazine.The couple took the case up to the court & won the case. The editor was penalised with a jail sentence of 6 months & a fine of one hundred rupees.Social Reforms & her role in Independence.She became the first woman to get a place on the dais at an Indian National Congress session.She also become the first chairperson of the Transvaal Indian Association, formed after the imprisonment of Mahatma Gandhi in South Africa to protest against anti-Indian legislation & worked tirelessly for Indians there.She was instrumental in the fight that sought to improve conditions of female coal miners in the Eastern India.She was a part of the Indian National Congress’s first ever female delegation (women who were selected to vote) in its 5th session.Kadambini openly spoke against the Calcutta Medical College’s practice of not admitting female candidates at the Medical Conference of 1915. It was her provoking lecture that led the university authorities to amend their policies and open their doors to all female students.Subject of wide praise..As the mother of eight children(two step children), she devoted her time between work & household affairs. She was expert in needlework too.Her achievements drew the attention of well-known people of that era, including Florence Nightingale & Annie Besant.Florence Nightingale had written to her acquaintance about Kadambini,This young lady, Mrs Ganguly, married after she made up her mind to become a doctor! and has had one, if not two children since.But she was absent only thirteen days for her lying-in!! and did not miss, I believe, a single lecture!!”Well-known American historian David Kopf wrote about her in his 1979 book ‘The Brahmo Samaj and the Shaping of the Modern Indian Mind.’Ganguli’s (sic) wife, Kadambini, was appropriately enough the most accomplished and liberated Brahmo woman of her time.From all accounts, their relationship was most unusual in being founded on mutual love, sensitivity and intelligence.Her ability to rise above circumstances and to realise her potential as a human being are exceptional.Annie Besant wrote in her book How India Wrought For Freedom,One of the delegates, Mrs Kadimbini Ganguly, was called on to move the vote of thanks to the chairman, the first woman who spoke from Congress platform, a symbol that India’s freedom would uplift India’s womanhood.Last years of her life.Her husband’s death in 1898, made her mostly withdraw from public life which affected her health too.A year before her death, she visited Bihar and Orissa to help women mining labourers.Until the day she died, she did not turn down any of medical calls. She died on 7th October 1923, fifteen minutes after returning from one of her regular medical calls. Unfortunately, she left the world, before any medical aid could reach her.Post Script : Anandibai Joshi was the first Indian to acquire a western medical degree in the United States (1885). But she could not practice medicine as she passed away in February 1887. Hence Kadambini is known as the first Indian medical practitioner.References : The Phenomenal Story of Kadambini: One of India's First Women Graduates & DoctorsKadambini Ganguly: The first Indian woman to become a practising doctorKadambini Ganguly - Wikipedia