Saguna: A Native Christian Life

Though a novel, Saguna effectively serves as an autobiography of Krupabai Satthianadhan’s life. Like Saguna, Satthianadhan was the daughter of converted Christian parents. Both author and character attribute their idyllic childhoods to Christianity. In the novel, Saguna seeks a godly sort of love, waiting for a suitor who feels the same way she does about religion. Saguna deeply values education, acknowledging her desire as a child to learn as her brothers do. Like Satthianadhan herself, Saguna pursues medical education (though the real life author ended up leaving her studies due to illness, working as a teacher instead). Saguna is notable not only for its feminist message, but for instances of anti-racism as well. Saguna, as a girl, wonders why white Christians treat her family differently; her mother explains this maltreatment is natural, but Saguna does not accept this answer.

Lehigh University Catalog Record: https://asa.lib.lehigh.edu/Record/10765787

Krupabai Satthianadhan (1862-1896)
Saguna: A Native Christian Life
Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1990