One of these was J.E.D. Bethune Law Member of the Executive Council of the Governor-General and President of the Council of Education from 1848 to 1851 . Convinced that respectable Hindus would not educate their daughters in mission schools because of the missionary insistence on religious instruction, Bethune decided to establish a secular school for Indian girls and to bear the expenses himself.

One notable and welcome development in the last eighy years has been the growh in the number of educational centers for adult women. Experience has proved that married women, whether in villages or towns, take kindly to adult lieracy campaigns. Wherever suitable opportunities have been offered women have taken full advantage of them . The total percentage of female literacy in the 1951 census was 9.3 a definite advance on the 1941 figure. States in shich the percentage is relatively high are Kerala (46.1% ) Delhi (29.9 % ) and Coorg (24.1 % ) . It is lowest in Manipur ( 3.00 % ), Rajasthan ( 2.9 % ) , Himachal Pradesh (2.3 % ) and Vindhya Pradesh ( 1.4 % ) .

In the 7th century, a queen of the Pallave king Rangapathaka inspired the building of the famous Kailashnatha temple at Kanchi, considered to be the most beautiful specimen of architecture of that period. Again, Oueen Loka-Mahadevi , wife of the Chalukya king Vikramaditya of Badami, built the temple of Lokeshwara at Bijapur, noted for its exquisite workmanship. She supported many musicians and dancers, one of them , Achala, distinguished herself, and founded a school of classical dance.

Sembiyan Madhavi, a Malwa princess , wife of King Gandaradiya (950A.D) , daughter of King Simharaja of Lahara. Spent her life building temples, monasteries and cities in great cultural urge/ Kundavi, a Chola queen and elder sister of the celebrated patron of the arts, Rajaraja I , ws another great temple builder . She constructed a Vishnu and a Siva temple at Dadapura and a Jain temple at Traumalai , all in the Tamil country.

Avanti-Sundari (885-998 A.D.) who had several drams staged, the outstanding one being Karpura - Manjari, written by her husband Rajashekhara , a distinguished dramatist of the time. Rebbaladevi , a scholar, painter and musician of quality, deply influenced by Vedic lore, builtin Bellary district in Andhra a notable temple dedicated to Dkeshavandeva. The saintly Shantatadeve, queen of the Hoysala king Vishmavardhandeve, was a noted musician, singer and dancer , and was instrumental in building severa Jain shrines.
The first , Kodhai , who lived in the 9th century A.D. , was authoress of the Tirumoli and Tinippavai - devotional songs dedicate toSri Krishna, which are considered among the most remarkable lyrics in Tamil literature . Avvai, a poetess of great merit, wrote beautiful odes depictiong contemporary Tamil life in the 11th century.
Janabai, was a noted 14th century poetess of Maharashtra . Her abhangas, are chanted in kirtans as well as famous bhajans to this day.

The immortal Mirabai (1504-1550 )daughter of Rana Ratan Singh odd Mwer, near Ajmer, was one of the greatest of our singers and composers of bhajans. Sung in Vraja language mixed with a Rajasthani dialect, her celebrated songs in praise of Sri Krishna are known throughout India.

Gulbadan Begum (1523 A.D. )poetess - daughter of Babar, immoprtalized her name by writing theHumayun - Namah, a valuable contemporary record in beautiful text of the life of the Emperor and his family.
Nur Jehan (Ligtht of the World ) 1574-1646 brilliant and beautiful, wife of the Emperor Jehangir, was a woman blessed with great artistic, intellectual and administrative gifts.
Jehanara Begum (1613-1683A.D.)talented daughter of the Emperor Shah Jehan and Mumtaz Mahal, took great interest in both architecture and decorative gardens.

Muddupalani (1739-1763 ), a courtesan's daughter at the court of Tanjore, was highly educated in Sanskrit and Telugu, She was expert in dasnce and music and music and was a poetess and a vina player par exvellence. Her great musical talents are evident in her Ashtapadi, a Telugu rendereing of jayadev's lyrical work of the same time.

Para , a talented painter of the Kangra School of Rajput Miniature painting of the late 19th century, was greatly respected by contemporary painters.
Swarnakumari Devi (1855-1932 ), sister of the poet Rabindranath Tagore, possessed great literary talent and was a gifted musician and painter. She wrote historical and social novels, dramas , farces , lyrics and poems.

In present times, the first distinguished name in the realm of the dance is the late Menaka (Smt. Leila Sokhey ), friend and associate of Anna Pavlova, Menaka revived and introduced on the stages of India , and Europe the Kathak , the classical dance of North India.
Rakha Krishna and Maghul Miniature ballets are among memorable works that brought to audience the world over this ancient art. She was one of the pioneers of Indian dance, revealing the richness of choreography that could be made available from the dance in India for a wide array of creative ballets. Later , she established a school at Khandala , Bombay State , where manuy earnest dancers received a thorough training in the slassical form of Kathak and its varied techniques.
Balasarawathi is a dancer whose name stands as a shining example of women's achievement in the renaissance of Bharata Natyam , the classical dance of the South.
Gauri Devi , talented daughter of the eminent painter, Nandalal Bose, was another pioneer to take up the Indian dance seriously.
Besides Varalakshmi of Kumbakonam and Gouri Bai of Baroada there is Rukmini Devi of Madras , who mastered the art of Bharata Natyam and popularized it throughout India by her artistic presentations and the introduction of this school through ballet and dance drama. .
Mrinalini Sarabhai, as director of Dharpana. A dance society which is sponsored by the Karmakshetra Educational Foundation of Ahmedabad, has contribute much to the revival of the classical and folk dances of India.
Indian Rahman, the Travancore sister , Vijayantimala, Sarla,Tara Chaudhury , Shirin and Roshan Vazifdar, Vinoo Indranil, Anjali Hora and Satiavati have all established the

Indrani Rahman,. the Travancore sisters, Vijayantimala, Saral Sehagal , Tara Chaudhury, Shirin and Roshan Vazifdar , Vinoo Indrani , Anjali Gora And Satiavati have alllestablished themselves as dancers of quality in Bharata Natyam.roshan Kumari , Damayant Joshi aand Rani Karna are fine exponents of kathak The Jhaveri sisters, Nyanba and Ranjan , who have depicted the lilting beauty of the dances of Manipur through several ballests produced by the Indian National Theater, are among other enthusiasts who have brought to the Indian dance a fresh imprtus and popularity.

Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay was been one of the greatest pioneers in the revival of the theater movement in India. One of the first cultured women to participate actively years ago on the amateur stage, her years of devoted and untiring efforts bore fruitfirst in the Indian National Theater and later in the Sangeet Natak Academe. She is President of the Theater Canter, India , affiliated to the Theater Institute of UNSEEN.
Himadevi is well known in the theater movement in India, to which she has made her own unique contribution.
Sheila Bhatia has been a pioneer . Her production in December 1956 of Heer Ranjha, under the auspices of the Delhi Arts Theater .
Nirmala Joshi, a musician and singer pf quality, has done much constructive work as Secretary of the Sangeet Natak Academe , the National Academy of Music , Dance and Drama, which organized the First National Music Festival in 1953.
In Delhi , the first p;rofessikonal theater group , called Hindustaniu Theater , whose Director is Moneeka Misra , was started in 1957 .

One is Devika Rani Roerich, the beautiful and talented grand - nicee of Rabindranath Tagore. As early as 1930 she tookj the lead in the first Indian talkie made for the homne and international markets, called Kismat.
Durga Khote is a gifted singer and a stage , film and radio star .She is considered one of the pillars of the Marthi stage.
M.S.Subbalakshmi , the golden voiced singer of the South, has brought to the revival of classical music a beauty and sweetness of interpretation and technique that has won her the highest honours and made her household name throughout the country.
Hairabai Barodkar is a distinguished singer from Bombay State whose mastery over classical music and whose many recitals have placed her among our most moted singers
Kesarbai Kerkar , also from Bombay State , was one of the earliest recipients of the President's Award for eminence in music and the woman musician toi gain this distinction.
D.K. Pattamall is one of our foremost singers hailing from Madras State.

It is but fitting that rajkumari amrit kaur should have sponsored the rajkumari coaching scheme. This is an all _India drive to discover sporting talent all over the country and to train young people with the assistance of distinguished international and national experts. It is significant that this scheme accords as much attention to women as it does to men.

It was introduced on a competitive basis for women in the 1934 Olympics in delhiIndian women first participated in international athletics at the Helsinki Olympics in 1952 .
A promising young athlete, mary leela rao ,earned her place in the indian Olympic team for Melbourne in 1956. Miss rao was the proud leader of the Indian march -past at
the games

India table -tennis strength has since been reinforced by players like meena parande, gool nasikwala. Miss nasikwala wonnthe triple crown in the first asian championships in Singapore in 1952.

India made asensational international debut when Tara deodher daughter of the famous cricketer ,won the US women title while studying in the USA.Together with her sisters, sundar and summer,tara was soon joined by mumtaj chinoy(now smt.lotwala) and sashi bhat.The last named is the reigning champion. She and her mates, mumtaz twala, prem prasher, s. kapadia and s.athavale, beat the Malayans in the asian zone of the uber cup early in 1957.
The 1930.s recall memories of a dashing young girl from kharagpur, jenny sandison
Leela row,daughter of pandit kshama row, very aptly followed in her mother footsteps.other names in Indian tennis are khanum haji , urmila thaper the veteran , laura
Woodbrudge and rita daver.

The unchallenged Indian queen of this sport is dolly nazir of Bombay

Volleyball for women first came into vogue in u.p, where the u.p. girls volleyball club started the game under international rules in 1940.

Begum Akhatar of Lucknow is one of our foremost exponents of the thumri melody sung ijn complicated timings and shythms of medium length. She has also experimented in ghazals songs expressive of emotions and popular sentiments and tried to sompose new melodies and modern geets variety of skill in techniques of the compositions of ragas and raginis.
Rasoolan Bai of Banaras is another well know thumri singer. She has become very popular because of her verstility in both classical and folk songs. Jutika Ray is one of Bengal's contributions to the long list of women musicians.
Sandhya Mookerjee is anothersinger from Bengal, possessing a sweet clear voicee with a high tone, she is an adept in both the Khayal songs sung in low and high tempo with the use of intricate ornamentation by the subtlety of grace notes and harmonics and the ghumri.

Amrita Sher-Gil muist be counted as our leading modern Indian woman artist, who still lives through her inspiring and illuminating work .
Li Gotami, student of the eminent painters Abanindranath Tagore and Nandalal Bose , has shown special gifts not only in her original work, particulary portraiture.
Sushila Yawalkar, dancer , painter and sculptress , has made name for herself in a variety of styles, harmonious colour concepts and figure compositions based on themes from life in her work.
Sheroo Sidwa is a sculptress of another genre.
Premoja Chaudhuri is admired for her inspirational work as a painter and sculptress and it has earned her a special place among modern Indian artists.
Sheila Auden came into prominence for her art and colour harmonies, especially in the representation of figures, animals and sences.
Maru Roop Krishna is one of the few women artists who have specialized in etching , and has shown admirable ability and a poetic strain in this medium.

Philomena Thumboo Chetty made her name as one of the first Indian women to achieve distinction as a violinst.
Shanti Seldon is a well known pianist in western classical music who has delighted audiences as a soloist in symphony concerts in her own recitals and on All India Radio.
Gool Tata is a most successful teacher of western music.
Naja D.Tata ia teacher and gifted exponent of the mandoline Korshad Madan is a gifted violinist, having taken her higher studies in London.
Priya Chatterjee has sung in opera in Milan and Krishna Bhan's pure soprano voice won an international parize for singing in Madrid.
Roshan Pandole is a gifted singer possessing an excenptionally pure and melodious voice.
Siloo Panthaki and Myara Menzies, who are violinists, and Zenobia Vakil, who is gifted pianst.
The Delhi Music Society sponsors concerts of leading artist from all over the world form Menuhin to Moiesovitch . Its President was Rajkumari Amrit Kaur..
One interesting function organized by Women's dance and drama groups in Delhi was the Diwali Mela recreated in miniatire village setting for the delegates of the UNESCO Conference in 1956.

Vijayalakshmi Pandit had the distinction of being the first woman to serve as Minister in a provincial government. She was appointed Minister of Local Self-Government and and Public Health in the then U.P. Congress Government . Smt. Pandit's career has been more variegated and glittering than almost and other woman's , let alone an Indian woman , for earlier she had erved on the Allahabad Municipal Board, where she was elected Chairman of the Education Committee , and she was later to serve as Vice - President of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom . From 1940to 1942 she was President of the All IndianWomen's Conference.
Women legislators simultaneously made their apperance in the Central Assembly , among the more notable being Renuka Ray , Radhabai Subbaroyan , who had earlier served on the Round Table Conference, and Ammu Swaminathan , a social worker from Madres.
Gandhiji's wife , Kasturba, who was interned along with the Mahatma and died during imprisonment, Sarojini Mnidu and Vijayalakshmi Pandit.
Aruna Asaf Ali, who went unndergroung and like a feminine Scarlet Pimpernel, successfully eluded the police.
Smt.Asaf Ali moved to the Socialist camp and , progressing more and more to the Lefr, finally found herself ideologically very near the Communists. Today she has renounced politics for social work with the Bharat Sevak Samaj.
Here the work of Achamma Matthai, Sucheta Kripalani, Mridula Sarabhai, Rameshwari Nehru and Kamaladeve Chattopadhyay call for special mention.
Many prominent women seved on this important body, among whom were Sarojini Naidu, Hansa Mehta, Durgabai, Renuka Ray and Malati Chowdhury.
Several women stood against other women in the contest, and significantly the chief candidates form New Delhi for the Lok Sabha , both in the 1952 and 1957 elections were two women, Sucheta Kripalani and Manmohini Sahgal, though in the last elections Smt. Sahagal withdrew her nomination
Twenty-three women were elected to the Lok Sabha in 1952, while 19 were elected or nominated , as in the case of the brilliant pioneer in dancing, Rukmini Arundale , to the Rajya Sabha .
Chakravarty specialized in trade union matters and often spoke forcefully from the floor of the house. Dr. Seeta Parmanand, who make up for her tiny stature with a frightening intensity and druve, organized the Women Legislators ' Club and launched into all aspects of vital social ligislation, particularly the controversial Inheritance Bill . Jaishri Raiji and Uma Nehru were concerned primarily with reforms andd the expansion of theco-operative movement, while Indira mayadeo took up unemployement questions and cottage industries. In the field of finance and commerce , Tarkeshwari Sinha worked with considerable vigour , and missionary zeal inspired the hardwork of Savitri Nigam in the matter of prohibition , which was partially imposed on Delhi State in 1956.
Smt. Indira Gandhi, who leads the women's section of the Congress party. Among prominent legislators carrying out this project are Lakshmi Menon, who was Deputy Minister of External Affairs,Smt. Menon, whose work at the U.N. Commission on the Status of Womem's is well known , is very active in tha Rajya Sabha especially at question time .
The 1957 elections took 193 million people to the polls and 27b women were returned to the Lok Sabha out of a total member ship of 500 , with 23in the Upper House , Out of a collevtive membership of 3000.
Notable among the members of a Parliament are Renuka Ray, politician and social worker, formerly Minister of Rehabilitation in the Government of West Bengal, Parvati Krishan a Communist member who is a brilliant debater, Violet Alva, who has among other things a fine fournalistic bvackground and is a Deputy Minister , and Sahodra Bai Rai, whose broken arm and gunshot injuries recall the heroic role she played during the non violent march on Goa in the last satyagrah movement , when she was fired in by Portuguese troops. Sudha Joshi, who was likewise among the unarmed batches that went towards the Goan btoder in an effort to liberate Goa, was also wounded and is at present languishing there in jail.
Rajkumari Anrit Kaur, who was Minister of Health unitl the Cabiner was reshuffled in April1957 following the last general elections. The Deputy Minister of Health, Smt. Chandrasekhar, was an able deputy.
Dr. Sushila Nayar being successively the Helth Minister of Delhi State and Speaker in the Delhi State Legislature while Smp. Renuka Ray, as Minister of Rehabilitation in West Bengal, was charged with the highly onerous task of copinng with the refuges from East Pakistan.
In 1957in Assam, Usha Borthakar is Deputy minister of Social Welfare, Rural Development and Maternity and Child Welafare. Bihar, which used to be considered a "backward province', has 32 women legislators in the State Assembly and two Deputy Minister -Jyotirmoyee Deve, in charge of Welfare and Helth and Naima Khatun Haider, in charge of Jails and Transport, Nirmala Raje Bhonsle is Deputy Minster of Education in Bombay State. Kumari K.R. Gouri is Minister of Revenue and Excise in Kerala. Rani Padmavati is Minister of Health in Madhya Pardesh, where 27 women have been elected to the State Legislature. In Madras, where women have played a pioneer role in public affairs as in Bengal, Smt. Lourdammal is Minister of Local Administration and Fisheres. In Mysore State Grace Tucker is Keputy Minister for Deucation while in Orissa Basanta Manjari Devi is Minister for Relief and Rehabilition. Dr. Prakash Kaur as Deputy Minister and , in Uttar Pradesh Prakashwati Sood is Deputy Minister of labour and Social Welfare. In Bengal, Purabi Mukharjee is a Minister of State concerned withRefugee Relief and Rehabilitation, and Kumari Maya Banerjee is Deputy Minister