Uma Chakravarti

Uma Chakravarti
Uma Chakravarti - May 2015
Born	20 August 1941 Delhi
Academic background
Alma mater	Benaras Hindu University
Academic work
Institutions	Miranda House, University of Delhi
Notable works	Social Dimensions of Early Buddhism Rewriting History: The Life and Times of Pandita Ramabai

Uma Chakravarti is an Indian historian and feminist who taught at the Miranda House, University of Delhi. Her scholarship focused on Buddhism, early Indian history, 19th century history, and contemporary issues. She has also been an activist associated with the women's movement and the movement for democratic rights, participating in several fact-finding committees including the `International Tribunal on Justice for Gujarat'. A leading scholar of feminist history-writing in India, she has been called the `founding mother' of the Indian women's movement.

Uma Chakravarti was born in Delhi on 20 August 1941. Her father was a civil servant, originally from Palghat in Kerala. Uma studied in the Delhi Public School and, later, Mount Carmel College, Bangalore. Afterwards, she studied Law at the College of Law, Bangalore and simultaneously completed a Master's in History from the Benaras Hindu University.

Chakravarti joined the Miranda House, the premier women's college in Delhi University, in 1966. She worked there till 1988, working on Buddhism, early Indian history, the 19th century history and contemporary issues. She authored 7 books and over 50 research articles.

Since the 1970s, Chakravarti has been associated with the women's movement and the movement for democratic rights. She participated in several fact-finding teams to investigate human rights violations, communal riots and state repression.

In most recent work, she has directed two films, one on the life of a child bride Subbulakshmi who went on to participate in the Indian independence movement and the second on the writer Mythili Sivaraman who worked with labouring men and women, documenting their oppressions.

Jawaharlal Nehru University historian Kumkum Roy has edited a volume of scholarly essays in Chakravarti's honour, stating that she had inspired generations of teachers, students and friends. Ashley Tellis from City University of New York adds that she had a profound influence on the lives and careers of scores of young scholars and activists, playing the role of a `founding mother' of Indian feminist history-writing as well as the Indian women's movement.