Anandi Gopal Joshi

Anandibai Joshi
A portrait photo of Dr. Anandibai Joshee, M.D., Class of 1886.
Born	(1865-03-31)31 March 1865 Kalyan, Bombay Presidency, British India
Died	26 February 1887(1887-02-26) (aged 21) Pune, Bombay Presidency, British India
Resting place	Poughkeepsie, New York, United States (ashes)
Alma mater	Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania
Spouse(s)	Gopalrao Joshi

Anandibai Gopalrao Joshi, MD (Marathi: आनंदीबाई गोपाळराव जोशी) (31 March 1865 – 26 February 1887) was one of the first Indian female physicians. She was the first female of Indian origin to study and graduate with a degree in medicine in the United States. She is also believed to be the first woman to set foot on American soil from India.

Anandibai was born as Yamuna, in Kalyan of the Thane district in present-day Maharashtra, to an orthodox Hindu family. Her family used to be landlords in Kalyan but lost their economic wealth. As was the practice at that time, Yamuna was married at the age of nine to Gopalrao Joshi, a widower almost twenty years her senior, due to pressure laid by her family. After marriage, her husband renamed her Anandi.

Gopalrao worked as a postal clerk in Kalyan. Later, he was transferred to Alibag, and then, finally, to Calcutta (today, Kolkata). He was a progressive thinker, and supported education for women, which was not very prevalent in India at the time.

It was common for Brahmins in those times to be proficient in Sanskrit. However, influenced by Lokhitawadi's Shat Patre, Gopalrao regarded learning English as more pragmatic than learning Sanskrit. Noticing Anandibai's interest, he helped her receive an education and learn English.

At the age of fourteen, Anandibai gave birth to a boy, but the child lived only for ten days because the medical care necessary for his survival was unavailable. This situation proved to be a turning point in Anandibai's life, and inspired her to become a physician.

Gopalrao encouraged Anandibai to study medicine. In 1880, he sent a letter to Royal Wilder, a well-known American missionary, stating Anandibai's interest in studying medicine in the United States, and inquiring about a suitable post in the US for himself. Wilder offered to help if the couple would convert to Christianity. This proposition, however, was not acceptable to the Joshi couple.

Wilder published the correspondence in his Princeton's Missionary Review. Theodicia Carpenter, a resident of Roselle, New Jersey, happened to read it while waiting to see her dentist. Anandibai's desire to study medicine, and Gopalrao's support for his wife impressed her, and she wrote to them offering Anandibai accommodation in America. An exchange of many letters between Anandibai and Theodicia ensued in which they discussed, among other things, Hindu culture and religion.