- It doesn’t seem like it’s something that even needs to be explained, but such are the times we live in: colonialism was bad. The idea of India remaining part of Britain was a bad one. It just was. I’ve covered numerous Indian women who fought against Britain — notably Rani Lakshmibai and Velu Nachiyar — so please, nobody see this as a “yay colonialism was great” take. Thanks! ↩
- Also, on reflection, it’s probably a little strong to say she “hated” Gandhi – she debated the guy, she disliked him, and I think she distrusted him as a bit of a demagogue, but “hate” may be a bit much. ↩
- Cornelia’s dad was from a prominent, well-respected Parsi family. He had gotten into trouble in school for talking back to a Brahmin, and was shocked when the principal of the school, a Christian man, didn’t get mad at him, instead espousing the idea of loving one’s enemies. This led her dad to get into Christianity, which shocked and infuriated his community. He was regularly invited to give speeches, or given false information about his mother’s health, to lure him into a trap of mob violence. The worst of these incidents involved him being tricked on board a fishing boat and then dumped into the Indian Ocean. He survived for 4 days until he was rescued by a Goan fisherman. ↩
- The Sorabji children were basically raised in the same manner as Victorian English kids. They spoke English in the house from a young age (although they also spoke other Indian languages). They were encouraged to be independent, although the mission of empire was also heavily instilled in them. ↩
- It’s worth noting that the primary organization they allied with was the Church Missionary Society, which exploited much of her sisters’ and mother’s labors, without recognition or remuneration. ↩
- She went to undergrad for English literature in Pune, India – she was actually the first woman in western India to get a bachelor degree. She became a lecturer for classes of 300+ people after she graduated, at age 21. This was a terrifying experience for her, being surrounded by so many men, but it seemed like it went fine. ↩
- Getting into Oxford was extremely difficult financially. As a woman, she wasn’t eligible for scholarships, so the only way that she could get there is by the community raising money for her. Cornelia was interested in both literature and law, but eventually decided to focus on law. ↩
- It’s worth noting — she was the first Indian person, male or female, at a British university, and the first woman of any ethnicity at Oxford law. ↩
- This wasn’t the only sexism she suffered from this era. She wasn’t initially allowed to take her law tests with the men. This sort of stuff had a cumulative effect on her, and she had terrible self-esteem and a persistent case of Impostor Syndrome. The quote from the supportive guy on the previous page was actually in response to her bout of self doubt. ↩
- After her return, she was financially hard-strapped some time. She worked as a legal clerk for a while, and then as a legal petitioner for Britain. She applied to practice in Bombay and Allahabad, and was shot down — repeatedly, in the case of the latter. She even learned Urdu and Persian script for the Allahabad application, and the people working there agreed she was qualified, but felt “it would be impertinent of an Indian High Court to admit women to its folks before England had given the lead.” After that, she determined she needed to change public opinion. ↩
- She barely had any romantic relationships to speak of. The main was a brief dalliance with an married man named Falkner Blair, who, at 60, was nearly twice her age (she called him “Dads”). Their relationship was never consummated, and only lasted a short while. He died in her arms in 1907. ↩
- The other one was with a dude named W.R. Gourley, a man who enjoyed playing the field and was never quite on the same wavelength as her. Notably, the two traveled to Scotland at the same time in 1911 — his mother had invited Cornelia to come visit. He informed Cornelia shortly beforehand that he was actually going to Scotland to get married… to someone else. Cornelia went to his parents’ house anyway. Gourlay then moved, along with his new wife, down the road from Cornelia in Calcutta, which was emotionally exhausting for all involved. Plus, his position in the government often put Cornelia and him at odds professionally. Cornelia couldn’t catch a break. ↩
- I intentionally drew this with the same setup as the missionary teacher on page 2. She had to learn it from somewhere! ↩
- Purdah is a concept that originated from Muslim communities in South Asia, and spread to Orthodox Hindu communities. Savitribai Phule, whom I cover in my second book, also did a lot of work for women who had been ill-treated by this. Given that Phule and Cornelia both lived in Pune at the same time, they may have even met each other. ↩
- The amount of work she had to do to convince men that this was a problem was maddening. Men played down the problem, saying the numbers were insignificant and that there weren’t enough purdahnahshin cases to pay for someone to do her job. When she could convince men that it was a real problem, they countered that bringing up legal suits would just make these women more vulnerable to their now-angered “protectors.” ↩
- The title she got was advisor to the Court of Wards. She primarily looked after the purdahnahshins, but also advocated against child marriage and for women’s education. As an advisor, she couldn’t actually order any changes, but she did write up a lot of recommendations, most of which were followed. She ended up saving the government far more than they paid her in wages. ↩
- This was a woman she referred to as the Squirrel Lady (I believe because she often hung out with squirrels). She was very religious and mostly wanted a pittance of her money to go on pilgrimages. Cornelia describes her as looking practically bent in half the last time she saw her. ↩
- Another example of a client: a beautiful young Maharani whose (male) doctor sexually harassed her, often “accidentally” walking in on her bathing. She was depressed for pretty obvious reasons, but her family pushed to diagnose her as a lunatic and have her put in asylum. ↩
- Others included a woman who’d been forced to do sati (self-immolation after one’s husband dies) and survived; a woman who was forced into lifelong training to do sati by doing things like having to stir boiling soup with her bare hands. ↩
- Much of Cornelia’s advocacy about purdahnahshins was about getting them out of seclusion and integrating them into a changing world. Much of her criticism towards Gandhi was that he didn’t see their plight or consider it a priority. ↩
- She’d really wanted this position to open doors for women, and wanted it to be a permanent one — but the courts continually ruled it as temporary. When she finally did get a permanent position, she was put on a low salary and reduced-rate pension. Plus, her consulting work, which had brought in 8000 rupees a year, was eliminated, and replaced with a stipend of 1600 rupees. Her legal background was belittled and described as “wholly unnecessary” for her job. ↩
- She stopped doing this government job in 1922, the same year the first woman was allowed to take the bar in England. She passed the bar herself in 1924, only the second Indian woman to ever do so. ↩
- The last panel is from her own clerk suing her for non-payment – a tactic he was encouraged to do by her political enemies. She had trouble paying for help because of her low salary and because her colleagues continually spread rumors she didn’t want paying work. When she confronted the newspaper and they gave the above response, she fumed, “They only regard me as a woman when there is something which can be interpreted against me, I suppose.” ↩
- There were a ton of other obstacles, big and small. One of the most pernicious ones was that she was given only limited access to a legal library she desperately needed in order to find legal precedents (and do her job). She eventually got in, after a lot of arguing, despite her gender. She had to pay out the nose for her own books because of her limited access, and lost many cases regardless. Of her eventual admittance to the library, she wrote, “I am giving the highway robber my purse but I do not admire his courtesy or honesty.” ↩
- Part of the reason she wrote so many articles about purdahnahshins was to supplement her tiny income, since she couldn’t take outside work. ↩
- Mayo’s book blamed Indian male sexuality for all of the country’s ills, and harped breathlessly about rape, homosexuality, prostitution, STIs, and other preoccupations of repressed Victorian society. Cornelia mostly responded to the parts about the mistreatment of women, girls, and animals. Her blind spot for the rest of it is… well, she was a flawed person. ↩
- Gandhi, for his part, didn’t deny the broad outlines of Mayo’s critiques of Indian society, but pointed out she was functioning as a drain cleaner, only seeing the absolute worst of Indian society without representing any of its upsides. ↩
- Cornelia had been doing a lot of work into starting social programs to help the downtrodden. Gandhi had been doing similarly with his own programs, but Cornelia was deeply suspicious of how he intermingled politics with it, considering it a form of near indoctrination. The irony of this criticism being brought by a devotee of missionaries never seemed to occur to her. ↩
- Many of her critics seemingly didn’t even read Mother India or what she’d written about it, and just castigated her on principle. This was devastating and deeply infuriating for Cornelia. ↩
- By this point, Cornelia’s eyesight had begun to suffer, and she moved to London. She lived there through World War II and all the bombings. In her old age, she began to suffer mild dementia and was placed in the care of her sister Alice, who was not a very kind caretaker. ↩
- It’s worth noting that she also was against women’s suffrage and generally had pretty conservative views. As she got older, she even had one letter that borderline advocated for British authoritarianism in India — although I believe that was an anomaly in her writing borne out of frustration. ↩
- She practically never wore the wig and robe (that was more an English courts than an Indian court thing, I think), but it’s such a striking image, I had to share it. ↩