Fierce and Determined: A Pioneering Spirit

Biographies such as Radical Spirits: India’s First Woman Doctor and Her American Champions, Nandini Patwardhan’s engrossing biography of Dr. Anandibai Joshee, celebrate women while underscoring their plight.
Born in March 1865, married at the age of nine, and pregnant as a young teen, Joshee lost a son only 10 days following his birth. Because she had eagerly embraced education under her husband’s tutelage, she reasoned her loss was due to an absolute lack of healthcare for women. This led her to become a doctor.

A chance reading of an 1879 article in Missionary Review about Joshee and her goals, Theodocia Carpenter of Roselle, NJ, was compelled to write Joshee a letter, and upon receipt, Joshee replied. Over the next years, a deep, binding relationship—that of aunt and niece—developed between the women. Joshee arrived in the U.S. in 1883, where she was welcomed as an innovator, stayed with the Carpenters, and was awarded a scholarship to the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania. Three years later, she became the first Indian woman to become a doctor.

Bold and brilliant, Joshee defied all expectations of her Brahmin caste and became well-known before she stepped onto the ship The City of Calcutta, her first leg of her voyage to America. Yet, she suffered all manner of difficulties as she moved toward her dream: Christian attempts to convert her in exchange for assistance; criticism from family and Indian society; the inability to obtain vegetarian food during her travel and while overseas; the onset of tuberculosis; and even abuse from her husband.

Through extensive research—Joshee’s letters to her husband, Carpenter, and others; primary sources written by those who knew and interacted with Joshee; contemporary articles—Patwardhan superbly chronicles the life of an inspiring young woman. She brings Joshee’s fierce spirit and determination to life a century and a half after Joshee was born. Patwardhan, who has lived in the U.S. for four decades, seamlessly employs the ability to present the story via what she calls her “insider-outsider perspective.” With strong, elegant writing combined with care to shed light on Indian culture under the British Raj, Patwardhan offers a captivating read.

I began to read this book on March 17, the day after Americans were advised to limit socializing, work remotely, and stay home from school for 15 days. Covid-19, the global pandemic, changed the way we live. Immediately, the story presented a sobering connection between Dr. Joshee and us. As Americans, we expect to enjoy a good life. What we don’t know, however, is what life will look like on the other side of this crisis. In the same way, Anandibai had expected a certain, prescribed life. Once she decided to do what no other Indian woman had thought to do, she had no idea what life would be like once she left home as a young girl in 1883.

Joshee’s life was short—just under 22 years—but her impact was great. She achieved what no Indian woman before her had dared and motivated others to follow suit. For all of the personal, cultural, social, and religious obstacles Joshee overcame during her journey toward her goal, she emerged as a true pioneer through will, determination, and focus. It is to Patwardhan’s credit that she has kept Dr. Joshee’s empowering story and spirit alive, especially during a time when some days may seem hopeless.

This review first appeared in India Currents magazine, April 6, 2020

A biography unlike any other, Radical Spirits: India’s First Woman Doctor and Her American Champions by Nandini Patwardhan depicts the life of Dr. Anandi Joshee. A woman struggling with gender bias. A child bride growing up in a vindictive family. With an abusive husband, who supported her education but with his own agenda. One who suffered a miscarriage since male doctors were not allowed to treat female patients. One who decided to become a doctor so that women could receive good and timely medical care.

I had previously read the author’s collaborative book, Train Friends with Ranjani Rao, and was eager to pick this one too. The writing is simple and easy to read. The charm of the book is the letters written by Dr. Anandi to “her aunt” Theodocia Carpenter. The author has painstakingly built up the narrative based on original letters, university archives, and newspaper account. They give a very personal insight into the mental makeup of the person. The author also includes her opinions to connect the missing pieces.

History celebrates success. Very few people have heard of Dr. Anandi Joshee. Perhaps because she survived only a few months after receiving her medical degree. Dr. Anandi had to struggle with her dietary restrictions as a devout Hindu and her attire (a saree) in the cold climate. The book raises a pertinent question. If she had the freedom to eschew the restrictions, she would surely have had an easier path and it would have preserved her health.

America adopted her as a niece before India could fully accept her. What could have otherwise been a dry collection of letters is indeed an inspiring story. The book is also an honest depiction of British India and post-Civil War America. The book focuses on the plight of women in the 1890s. Racism. Misogyny. The different versions of faith. The complete lack of medical treatment for women in India.

The narrative could have been tighter but the context of the book more than makes up for it. It is one of those hidden gems and I highly recommend it.

Absolutely fascinating biography on the life of Ananda Joshee, the first female doctor in India. Radical Spirits by Nandini Patwardhan combined so many of my interests: history (especially daily life), feminism, medicine, religion, multiculturalism, and the author really did the topic justice. It is clear Nandini Patwardhan did her research and she did a superb job in both letting original text speak for itself, and providing non-intrusive clarification on things most modern readers would be unaware.
I thoroughly enjoyed learning about Ananda Joshee, her passion to become a doctor in order to help other Indian women not to suffer through pregnancy and child birth without medical help, and the support from her husband Gopal in her gaining an education (something that was considered wrong for women in India at the time).
It was fascinating to learn about the role missionaries played in educating people in India, and how Christianity interacted with Hinduism.
Ananda Joshee's relationship with her American champion - and honourary aunt - Theodocia Carpenter, brought tears to my eyes. It was so incredible to see people be so open-minded, accepting and supportive of people so very different from themselves and yet so very similar.
Highly, highly recommended.

Patwardhan has navigated the challenging task of creating a readable, well-researched biography. I enjoyed this book that introduced me to an amazingly strong, intelligent woman who in the 1800's defied the place that Indian society decreed that a woman should be at home.

I found the synopsis of this book interesting since I was unaware of AnandiBai Joshee or her remarkable achievement. I even went to check if there were collections of women in Indian history who did extraordinary things but did not find anything concrete on Book Depository and then did not continue my search.

Since it is not often I get to read a book written about a woman from my country, I counted myself fortunate and jumped right into it. I have to be frank that I went in on the defensive as I am wont to do, once again due to the lack of texts that I have actually pursued that do not skew a narrative in any one direction. The author has done a grand job in making sure all angles were covered, and it felt like her personal stand did not play into the narrative. 

AnandiBai Joshee got her degree in western medicine in 1886 from the US and throughout her struggles to survive in a world entirely new for her, she remained steadfast in her thought process. She was well versed in the background of her roots while simultaneously absorbing things from her new surroundings. Her path crossed with many well-wishers amongst the numerous naysayers, but the most unique part has to be her relationship with the family that housed her. Their contribution to the growth and emotional nourishment of AnandiBai brought tears to my eyes in some poignant moments. The parallels that the author drew with her own move to the country versus AnandiBai's journey gave the narration a whole new dimension. The story is built on actual excerpts of letters that the people involved wrote to each other as well as direct transcripts of lectures/speeches given which lets us draw our own impressions of people like her husband ( a very multifaceted person!). The writing was smooth and never once did I feel bogged down by facts (as it sometimes happens when I read non-fiction). It is a story of astonishing fortitude by a woman so young. She had clarity in thought as well as in expression for one so young, and I shudder to think of the physical burden she had to experience before her untimely demise.

There are even political implications hidden within the narrative and does focus on different versions of faith that people then followed and used as a moral guideline for all their actions. This once again is usually a topic I am not overly comfortable reading about. Still, nothing in this instance unduly perturbed me, and that was a personal reason that I liked it all.

I felt energized by this book, and I think I would recommend it to anyone who finds the topic or the person described within even mildly interesting. 

I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley, and my review is entirely based on my reading experience and may be mildly influenced by the fact that the story is a part of my own country's history.

Having grown up in India, I was aware of Anandi Gopal Joshi's story and her struggles. Recently, there was even a movie about her life. But, reading this book, I learned a lot more about her that I had not known before. Patwardhan has depicted a complex woman dealing with the many biases and prejudices of her time with a spirit and backbone that ought to inspire even women of today across cultures and geographies.

There were times I wished for the prose to be more polished and the narrative to have a tighter structure. But I applaud the writer for her research and the level of detail brought together to present this much-needed portrait of a pioneering, trailblazing Indian woman who ought to be more recognized and lauded globally.

This is the story of Anandi Joshee India’s first female doctor.Her husband was very supportive of her continuing her education when they were married but that turned sour after they came to America.
She met Theodocia Carpenter who is an American progressive and helps her navigate the challenges she faced in getting a medical degree.
She died young.She left behind a wonderful legacy.A trailblazer so far ahead of her time.
Wonderfully researched,not dull as most biographies are to me.
Thankyou Netgalley for this ARC

At the end of the 19th century Anandi was born to the Brahmin caste in Kalyan in India. She was married to her husband Gopal, when she was 10 years old, and he was considerably older than her.

After the death of her son, born when she was 14, Anandi wanted to do something to improve medicine for women in India. Due to cultural restrictions, women were not allowed to be treated by men, and women were not permitted to be educated in medicine.

Her husband, Gopal was a great advocate for her early education and did everything within his power to ensure she studied. This included physical abuse. Through a series of events, an American woman Theodocia Carpenter, had heard about Anandi and her quest to travel to America to learn medicine and got in touch. They became great friends and Theodocia was an integral supporter of Anandi and her studies and sponsored her to travel to the US. Throughout their time together their relationship developed until they considered each other as family.

Anandi was the first Hindu woman to study medicine at the Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania where she graduated after two years. Travelling to America to study was a huge decision and risk for Anandi, as she initially travelled without her husband which was cultural suicide but she was also going against her caste by travelling overseas and eating food prepared by non-Brahmins. She risked losing her family and friends but she was always looking at the bigger picture of being able to train women in India to be doctors and therefore improve the general health of her people.

When her husband Gopal did travel to America to be with her, it seemed the novelty of having an educated wife was wearing very thin and he was quite cruel. He made frequent public speeches about the problems with American society and in particular the Christian Missionaries, which was insulting to the people who were supporting his wife.

Whilst in America, Anandi became sick with TB which was exacerbated by extensive work hours at the college, and an inadequate vegetarian diet - it was inadequate as Americans in the 1880s didn't really understand the concept of vegetarianism.

She returned to India in 1886, following her graduation, with the intention of taking up a position at one of the hospitals training women to be doctors. However, she was never able to take up the position as she died in 1887 just before her 22nd birthday.

I found this book fascinating, and Anandi's story inspiring. She was a very determined, strong and intelligent woman. She remained a Hindu throughout her time in the US, despite the Christian missionaries best efforts; holding onto her culture and religion. She had to endure extreme racism, poor food and poor health but still kept her goal in mind.

The book was well-written, and fast paced using letters from Anandi to her American benefactors and her husband to build up the story of her life, character and determinism. The relationship between Anandi and Theodocia was really touching, and I love than Anandi asked for her ashes to be sent to the Carpenter mausoleum to she could be with her 'aunt' Theodocia.

It seems heartbreaking that she died so young, after working so hard.

I am so glad Nandini Patwardhan decided to take this project on. I never thought about who India's first female doctor might be, but now I feel incredibly indebted to her. Patwardhan's writing style is clear and elegant. She deftly navigates the reader through Anandi's short life at a pace that feels neither too fast, nor too slow. After finishing the book, I felt I had learned just enough-- not too much and not too little. I'm satisfied, yet I'm interested in continuing to read about Anandi's life through other sources. I absolutely recommend this book.

I must say, though, I am GUTTED by the way the book ended. I didn't see it coming, even though there was plenty of build-up. Part of me hoped it wouldn't happen, yet it did. Anandi fought hard, both physically and spiritually. I admire her fortitude and I'm happy to add this book to my collection.

It hangs in the Kelkar museum in Pune, India, an institution with an impressive collection of historical artifacts: a colorful if faded quilt. The modest quilt looks a little out of place among the other treasured objects until you discover that it belonged to Dr. Anandibai Joshee, a one-time resident of the city and a respected trendsetter in many ways.

Nandini Patwardhan’s Radical Spirits pays just homage both to Dr. Joshee and the Americans who paved the path for Dr. Joshee to become the first Indian woman medical doctor. Anandi was but a teen when she lost a baby in childbirth. Determined to remedy the lack of adequate medical care for women in India, Anandi decided she would become one. With the moral support of her husband and the kindness of a newly formed relationship, Anandi would travel all the way to America to do so. It helped that her husband, Gopal Joshee, ardently believed that educating women was the first step on the road to societal progress. Patwardhan flawlessly chronicles how a seemingly improbable relationship that Anandi forged with an American progressive, Mrs. Theodocia Carpenter, would pave the path for her to fulfill her ambition. Patwardhan’s insights into the unprecedented nature of Dr. Joshee’s historic achievements make this narrative more than just a catalog of “what happened when and where.” The author reminds us just how daring Anandi’s moves were at a time when the highest Hindu caste Brahmins could not eat food served by those of a lower caste or cross the seven seas (“kala pani” — dark waters was a real thing then). Equally impressive, on the American side, were the Carpenters and the dean of the Woman’s Medical College in Philadelphia. Dr. Joshee might have been a rebel but Patwardhan reminds us that she still had to color within the lines. Ultimately those very societal constraints straitjacketed her spirit. That Dr. Anandi Joshee nevertheless achieved so much in such a short period of time is a testament to her remarkable will and to the undying support of her adopted “aunt.” A moving and riveting story that is equal parts inspiring and tragic.