tyabji woman lawyer who studied in london

When did Kamila Tyabji die?

Tyabji died in Mumbai in 2004, aged 86 years. WIT continues working for women's economic independence, and runs a nursing home and teacher training school in addition to its original activities. The Kamila Tyabji WIT Centre in Panvel was named in her honour. In 2014, she was posthumously awarded the KarmaVeer Puraskaar, for her lifetime achievements.

What did Tiabji wear?

Tyabji wore "brilliant silken saris" while she practiced insurance law in London for 25 years, and hosted a BBC television program, Asian Club, with Shakuntala Shrinagesh, between 1953 and 1956. In 1960 she was founder and first chair of the Women's Indian Association of the United Kingdom.

Who is Kamila Faiz?

Kamila Faiz Badruddin Tyabji was born in Bombay, a member of the prominent Muslim Tyabji family of that city. Her father was Faiz Badruddin Tyabji , a judge, and her mother Salima was a member of the Bombay Legislative Assembly. Her grandfather was Badruddin Tyabji (1844-1906), third president of the Indian National Congress. Her brother was Badruddin Tyabji, Laila Tyabji is her niece, and Zafar Futehally was her first cousin.

Why did Tyabji lose custody of her kids?

2:17. In 1994, Tyabji lost custody of her 3 kids because a judge ruled she was too busy with work. 2:17. In his decision, Judge Justice Spencer said he gave Sandana full custody of the children because Tyabji's busy political career would interfere with her role as a parent.

Did Tyabji get custody?

But family lawyer Leena Yusefi says she's not surprised the judge didn't grant her custody at the time.

What did Tyabji do to help women?

Tyabji was also active in women's emancipation and worked to weaken the zenana system. He sent all of his daughters to be educated in Bombay and in 1904 he sent two of them to boarding school in Haslemere in England.

Why was Tyabji important?

To promote social interaction among the city's Muslims, Tyabji was instrumental in founding both the Islam Club and the Islam Gymkhana. In response to criticisms that Muslims should boycott the Congress, Tyabji declared that he had denounced all communal and sectarian prejudices.

How old was Badruddin when he joined the Bar?

His elder brother, Camruddin, had been the first Indian solicitor admitted in England and Wales, and inspired the 15-year-old Badruddin to join the Bar.

Where was Tyabji born?

Tyabji was born on 10 October 1844 in Bombay, part of the Bombay Presidency of British India. He was the son of Mullah Tyab Ali Bhai Mian, a member of the Sulaimani Bohra community, and a scion of an old Cambay emigrant Arab family. His father had sent all of his seven sons to Europe for further studies, at a time when English education was ...

When was Tyabji appointed to the Bombay Legislative Council?

He was a member of the University of Bombay senate between 1875–1905 and appointed to the Bombay Legislative Council in 1882, resigning in 1886 owing to ill health.

Where did Tyabji go to school?

Whilst in England, his father gave him letters of introduction to Lord Ellenborough, the retired Governor-General of India After Newbury, Tyabji enrolled at the University of London and Middle Temple in 1863.

Who was Badruddin Tyabji?

Middle Temple. Occupation. Lawyer, activist, politician. Badruddin Tyabji (10 October 1844 – 19 August 1906) was an Indian lawyer, activist and politician during British Raj. Tyabji was the first Indian to practice as a barrister of the High Court of Bombay who served as the third President of the Indian National Congress.

Abstract

Raihana Tyabji is best known in history, not for her writing or even her singing, but as a devotee of Gandhi. Yet in 1924 this at least nominally Muslim woman composed a small book of bhakti devotionalism that has continued to garner popular interest right into the twenty-first century.

Introduction

In 1924, a young woman called Raihana Tyabji ‘suddenly felt’, in her own words, ‘a tremendous, an irresistible urge to write’. She sat down at her desk ‘with sheets of foolscap and poised pen’ and, over the next three days, poured out the story of Sharmila, a gopi, or milkmaid, enraptured by Krishna in his guise as the cowherd at Vrindavan.

Raihana's personhood

So, who is Raihana Tyabji? As her surname may suggest, she was born into the prominent Tyabji clan that was at the forefront of Bombay's Sulaimani Bohra community in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

The recourse to bhakti

According to Raihana, she had no role in crafting the story that came through her hand.

Using the gopi tradition

Those familiar with the Islamic context will know that it boasts a long tradition of recording life stories quite apart from the Western biographical and autobiographical tradition.

The marvellous and the miraculous: conclusion

I first read The Heart of a Gopi in the personal collection of Salima Tyabji, herself a descendant of Tyab Ali, at her home in Delhi. The copy that she generously allowed me to peruse at her kitchen table (while, memorably, drinking the most delicious cinnamon tea) had, apparently, been presented by Raihana herself to Salima's father, Saif.

Footnotes

Earlier drafts of this paper were presented at the panel, ‘Speaking of the Self? Women and Self Representation in South Asia’, at the European Conference on Modern South Asian Studies in Bonn, Germany in July 2010; and at the South Asia Studies Seminar at the University of Leeds in March 2011.