Column | How an Australian social worker helped advance women’s education in Travancore

It goes without saying that missionaries played a crucial role in spreading education in Kerala in the colonial era. One of the pioneering bodies to undertake this work, especially when it came to educating girls in the state in the early 20th century, was the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA).

The Australian wing of the association, which was founded in 1880, took an active interest in the cause of women’s literacy in India. Nina Brentnall, a graduate of Sydney University, was the first member from Australia to move to Kerala. In 1911, when Brentnall arrived in Travancore, she had an incredibly tough task at hand.

“By the early twentieth century, women’s education in Kerala faced different challenges compared to men’s education,” the Kerala Museum, Kochi, said in an article on its website. “Separate schools were established for the backward classes, and most schools admitted Ezhava boys in the early twentieth century, but the girls of these communities were not admitted to any of the schools. Caste prejudice was more apparent in the education of girls than boys.”

In addition to navigating the complex caste web, Brentnall faced another challenge. “Co-education policies resulted in Malayali women entering public spaces previously dominated by men, which elicited mixed reactions from the students, parents, government and school authorities, and the public.”

It was in such a difficult environment that the YWCA was formed in Trivandrum. In August 1917, a group of Christian women gathered at the Victoria Jubilee Town Hall to discuss the functioning of the new association in the city. Brentnall was appointed general secretary.
Within two years of the establishment of the association in Trivandrum, a hostel for girl students was opened in a house that was taken on rent.

The hostel provided a safe environment for girls from small towns of the Travancore princely state to pursue their education in Trivandrum. It would have initially taken a great deal of convincing for parents and family members to allow girls to go and live under the care of the association.

The Australian was, however, determined to make her mission a success. Brentnall once famously remarked to the press in her country that before she went to India, she was told that Travancore was referred to as the “graveyard of missionaries.” She added, “it hasn’t been ours and it never will be.”

Brentnall’s efforts had the backing of the British colonial authorities as well as the Travancore royals. While receiving funding from the YWCA of India, Burma and Ceylon, she also had to raise money from Australia and New Zealand to buy land in Trivandrum for a hostel. “The ruler of Travancore, the Regent Maharani Sethu Lakshmi Bayi, gave some land adjacent to the property at Spencer Junction to the YWCA,” according to the YWCA Trivandrum website.

In 1929 the students hostel was inaugurated by Lucy Irwin, the wife of then viceroy of India Lord Irwin. “The imposing hostel building is a standing tribute to Miss Brentnall’s tireless energy and selfless service,” the YWCA said on its website. “The hostel dating back to 1929 still houses our student residents.”
For her efforts in women’s education, Brentnall was awarded the Kaisar-i-Hind Medal for Public Service by Lord Irwin.

During her more than two decades in Kerala, Brentnall would regularly visit Australia, and she carried with her stories about Travancore’s people and customs.
Her talk to the people of Adelaide in November, 1920, was covered by the Observer. The newspaper report said she praised Maharaja Moolam Thirunal, who apparently wanted his people to be “the happiest in the world” and felt this could be secured through education.

Brentnall also held the common women of Travancore in high regard, with the paper citing her as saying that they showed “a strong business sense and strong executive ability.”

The Observer journalist was so impressed with what Brentnall had to say about the people of Travancore that he/she wrote the following: “Miss Brentnall told us many interesting things of life over there, and the beautifully unselfish and wonderful things they do to help each other. It seems to me that we who call ourselves Christians could learn much of the Christlike life from the Hindus of Travancore.”
(Ajay Kamalakaran is a multilingual writer, primarily based in Mumbai)