Since 1851, obituaries in The New York Times have been dominated by white men. With Overlooked, we’re adding the stories of remarkable people whose deaths went unreported in The Times.

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Pandita Ramabai Saraswati, a scholar, feminist and educator, broke nearly every rule and tradition that confined the life of an upper-caste Hindu woman in 19th-century India.

She was the rare woman who had learned Sanskrit, the ancient Hindu liturgical language reserved for Brahmin men; the rare Brahmin to marry out of caste; the rare widow who remained in public view, defying customs; and the rare Indian woman to decide, on her own, to convert to Christianity.

At a time when women were expected to be little seen and never heard, Ramabai was an outspoken advocate of women’s education and participation in public affairs. She traveled across India giving lectures on women’s rights. She studied in Britain and the United States, gave lectures in Japan and Australia, and taught Sanskrit as well as her mother tongue, Marathi.

Most remarkably for her time, Ramabai charted these paths as a single woman and mother; the few Indian women who were active in social reform then did so only with the encouragement — or, at least, the permission — of their husbands.