Name Kashibai Kanitkar | Died 1948, Pune | |
Kashibai Kanitkar (Marathi: काशीबाई कानिटकर) (1861–1948) was the first major woman writer in Marathi from Maharashtra, India since the 15th century "sant" poet Kanhopatra .
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Kashibai was born into a wealthy Brahmin family in the town of Ashte in Sangli District, and according to the social custom of her days, her marriage was arranged at her age 9 to one Govind Vasudev Kanitkar (who was seven years older than she was).
Kashibai had no formal education, but with her progressive husband's strong encouragement, she learned to read, and gradually mastered many Marathi, Sanskrit, and English works.
John Stuart Mill's Subjugation of Women had a powerful impact on her, and through her prolific and wide-ranging writings—both fiction and non-fiction—she promoted women's emancipation.
The following is a partial list of Kashibai's works: