Lecture on Perceptions of Educated Women organized at GNDU

Amritsar, May 7 (Punjab Post Bureau) – The Department of History Guru Nanak Dev University  organized Princess Sophia Duleep Singh  Annual lecture. Princess Sophia lecture has been initiated by Mahan Singh Dhesi family. The topic of the webinar was Perceptions of Educated Women: A comparative Analysis of Shraddha Ram Phillauri, Lala Devraj and Bhai Takhat Singh.

                Professor Amandeep Head Department of History thanked the Dhesi family for  initiating the Lecture in the name of Princess Sophia Duleep Singh, a prominent suffragette. The speaker was Professor Radha Sharma, an eminent scholar and former Professor of the Department.

                Professor Radha compared the contribution of Shraddha Ram Phillauri, Lala Devraj and Bhai Takhat Singh in eradicating social evils and their contribution to educating women. She reminded us that the prayer we recite, in temples or at our homes “Om Jai Jagdish Hare” was written by Shraddha Ram Phillauri. Further, she also told that Lala Devraj founded first exclusive girls school in Jalandhar named Arya Kanya Pathshala , presently Kanya Maha Vidyalaya. Funds were raised in cash and kind and even rags were collected and sold to sustain the institution. Panchal Pandita refers to ‘Kushal Grahini’ where a woman is educated to run her house efficiently. From time to time Lala Devraj modified his ideology and felt the need to provide English education to girls. Talking about the Sikh pioneer of education, Bhai Takhat Singh and his contributions for women education she said he opened Sikh Kanya Mahavidyalaya in Ferozepur. Along with his wife Bibi Harnam Kaur he opened first women boarding school where girls were taught Sikh scriptures, stiching, embroidery and english education. The ideology followed by these social reformers was that an educated woman does not educate one family rather educate the whole generation. The lecture was followed by question answer round and vote of thanks. The session was moderated by Dr. Shefali Chauhan and Dr. Harneet Kaur.