Avantika Bai Gokhale
Avantika Bai Gokhale, 1882-1949, social and political worker. Daughter of a railway employee of Indore, she was married in 1891 to Baban who taught her to read and write. When her husband left for overseas in 1895, her father-in-law encouraged her to read and she sccured a diploma in midwifery in 1901. Her husband lost his fingers is an accident and came to live with her who practised as a midwife. Popular in her profession she joined Social Service League in 1913, and also went to London the same year. In 1916, the couple met Mahatma Gandhi and came under his influence. They joined the Champaran satyagrah (1917) and she worked amongst women, She also wrote a book about Mahatma Gandhi in 1918. She was an active political worker from 1920 to 1946 and was imprisoned many times. She also worked for harijan’s uplift and women’s welfare, and started the Hind Mahila Sangh in Bombay in 1916 to spread social and national consciousness amongst women.
