ABSTRACT
Pandita Ramabai had slid comfortably into her old niche in the progressive Brahmin circles of Maharashtra and remained distant from the Indian Christian community. Ramabai moved Sharada Sadan to Pune in November 1890 in order to reduce expenses and reach needy widows in the orthodox heartland of Maharashtra. The Bombay Advisory Board opposed the move, but Sarah Hamlin strongly supported it and assiduously cultivated the Pune elite. The gradual shift in the response of Pune's educated Brahmin community to the Sadan makes for dramatic reading. The Sadan's 'modern' lifestyle became conspicuous in 1892 when Ramabai bought a new house for it in the Civil Lines area inhabited mostly by the British and moved there from the earlier rented premises in the city. An interesting part of the campaign to denigrate Ramabai was the strategy of setting up alternative female icons in Maharashtra.
