Late K.Subramanya (Assistant Railway Engineer Western Railway Mumbai) and Late Smt Nagalakshmi Subramanya.
Late N.R Nagrajaiah (Land Lord and Shanbogh, Gungurmale Tiptur Taluk Tumkur District) and Late Smt Gowaramma Nagrajaiah.
Introduction
The role of women in India’s freedom struggle is extremely significant and well – known. Even at a time when they were known as the weaker sex, women left behind their homes, families and children to participate in the fight for their motherland, India. There is a long list of great women whose names are noted in history for their dedication and undying devotion.
The history of the Indian struggle for freedom would be incomplete without mentioning the contributions of some of these women. The sacrifices made by them and the true spirit and indomitable courage with which they faced various tortures, exploitations, and hardships to earn us our freedom are legendary. When most of the men freedom fighters were in prison the women came forward and took charge of the struggle.
Women’s participation in India’s freedom struggle began as early as 1817. Bhima Bai Holkar fought bravely against the British Colonel Malcolm and defeated him in guerrilla ware fare. Rani Lakshmi Bai of Jhansi’s heroism and superb leadership is an outstanding example of real patriotism. Sarojini Naidu, Kasturba Gandhi , Vijayalakshmi Pandit ,Annie Besant etc. are some of the names remembered even today for their contribution towards attaining freedom for the country.
A century of revolts, bloodshed, satyagraha and sacrifices later, India finally achieved Independence on August 15,1947.The brave sons and daughters of India, irrespective of religion or caste, fought shoulder to shoulder to throw out the British. Perhaps for the first and the only time in world history, the power of a mighty global empire had been challenged and overcome by the moral might of a people armed only with peace, ideals and courage.
Women shouldered critical responsibilities in India’s struggle for freedom. They held public meetings, organized picketing of shops selling foreign alcohol and articles, sold Khadi and actively participated in National Movements. They bravely faced the baton of the police and went behind bars. Hundreds and thousands of Indian women dedicated their lives toward obtaining freedom for their motherland.
Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of our Nation, squarely summed up the strength of womanhood in his tribute to the gender:
“To call woman the weaker sex is a libel; it is man’s injustice to women. If by strength is meant moral power then woman is immeasurably man’s superior. Has she not greater intuition, is she not more self sacrificing has her not greater power of endurance, and has she not greater courage? Without her man would not be. If non-violence is the law of our being, the future is woman. I have nursed this thought now for years”.
Preface
Life before independence was hard to lead. There were many freedom fighters that fought against the cruel British administration. Many of them and their hard struggle are still unknown to most of us. It was not easy to do research on women freedom fighters. However Mr. Prasanna took up this challenge and this yeoman effort by him has resulted in finding valuable historical information for his readers. This book will provides information on the women freedom fighters who took part at various stages of India’s struggle for freedom.
This book, “Invisible Diamonds of India” gives us this wonderful opportunity to get to know the women freedom fighter of Pre-independence India who are largely unknown to the common man. These are the freedom fighters who sacrificed their lives to provide us a better today.
I am thankful to Shri Prasanna Karthik.S for giving me the honour of writing a small preface for his wonderful book. This is my proud contribution for the good of our great nation.
I wish him success throughout his esteemed career.
Yours truly,
Srivatsa.P.V
(Activist, Film Director, Writer & Founder President, Sai Annapoorna Foundation)
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A Note from the Author
Greetings dear Reader!
“Invisible Diamonds of India” is a collection of biographies of 36 brave and strong Indian women who laid down their lives, sacrificed property and family for the sake of India’s independence. As Indians we are proud that we belong to the world’s largest democracy. However, if we try to recollect who are the stalwarts that got us our independence only a few names come into our minds. Though we know that there were countless people who fought along with the Gandhi’s and the Nehru’s, we are unable to name them. We are not aware that there were many women among these nameless many freedom fighters. This was one purpose behind my wanting to write this book.
My second purpose was to give the youth of today an insight into a side of our freedom struggle that they do not get to know through their History textbooks. We belong to a great nation that is India and let us not forget it while we enjoy copying western culture. I hope that my young friends realise, through this effort of mine, the many trials and tribulations that our young freedom fighters went through to bring into being a country that is proud of its culture and its history. .
Women have a special place of pride and honour in Indian society. Their role in nation building is also well recognized. Like men they too have excelled in every walk of life. If we turn the pages of History we come across great women rulers, queen warriors, women leaders, women freedom fighters, women saints, scholars, writers, social workers and what have you. The country remembers them and honours them and brings out commemorative postage stamps in their fond memory even after they are gone.
If this effort of mine is able to make each of you a proud citizen of our wonderful country, I will consider it a task well done!
I am thankful to Sri Srivatsa.P.V who has written a a wonderful preface for this book.
Happy Reading!
Yours Truly
Prasanna Karthik.S
Biographer, Editor and Writer.
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Accamma Cherian (Kerala)
Early life and education
She was born on 14 February 1909 at Kanjirapally, Travancore, as the second daughter of Thomman Cherian and Annamma Karippaparambil. She was educated at Government Girls High School, Kanjirapally and St. Joseph's High School, Changanacherry. She earned a B.A. in History from St. Teresa's College, Ernakulam.
After completing her education in 1931, she worked as a teacher at St. Mary's English Medium School, Kanjirapally), where she later became head mistress. She worked in this institution for about six years, and during this period she also did her L. T. degree from Trivandrum Training College.
Freedom fighter
In February 1938, the Travancore State Congress was formed and Accamma gave up her teaching career in order to join the struggle for liberty. Under the State Congress, the people of Travancore started an agitation for a responsible government. C. P. Ramaswami Aiyar, the Dewan of Travancore, decided to suppress the agitation. On 26 August 1938, he banned the State Congress which then organized a civil disobedience movement. Prominent State Congress leaders including its President Pattom A. Thanu Pillai were arrested and put behind bars. The State Congress then decided to change its method of agitation. Its working committee was dissolved and the president was given dictatorial powers and the right to nominate his successor. Eleven ‘dictators’ (Presidents) of the State Congress were arrested one by one. Kuttanad Ramakrishna Pillai, the eleventh dictator, before his arrest nominated Accamma Cherian as the twelfth dictator.
Accamma Cherian led a mass rally from Thampanoor to the Kowdiar Palace of the Maharaja Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma to revoke a ban on State Congress. The agitating mob also demanded the dismissal of the Dewan, C. P. Ramaswami Aiyar, against whom the State Congress leaders had levelled several charges. The British police chief ordered his men to fire on the rally of over 20,000 people . Accamma Cherian cried, "I am the leader; shoot me first before you kill others". Her courageous words forced the police authorities to withdraw their orders. On hearing the news M. K. Gandhi hailed her as ‘The Jhansi ki Rani of Travancore’.
In October 1938, the working committee of the State Congress directed Accamma Cherian to organize the Desasevika Sangh (Female Volunteer Crops). She toured various centres and appealed to the women to join as members of the Desasevika Sangh.
The first annual conference of the State Congress was held at Vattiyoorkavu on 22 and 23 December 1938 in spite of the ban orders. Almost all leaders of the State Congress were arrested and imprisoned. Accamma, along with her sister Rosamma Punnose (also a freedom fighter, M.L.A., and a C.P.I. leader from 1948), was arrested and jailed on 24 December 1939. They were sentenced to a year's imprisonment. They were insulted and threatened in the jail. On the instruction of the jail authorities, some prisoners used abuse and vulgar words against them. This matter was brought to the notice of M.K. Gandhi by Pattom A. Thanu Pillai. C. P. Ramaswami Aiyar, however, denied it. Accamma’s brother, K. P. Varkey, also took part in freedom movement.
Accamma, after her release from jail, became a full-time worker of the State Congress. In 1942, she became its Acting President. In her presidential address, she welcomed the Quit India Resolution passed at the historic Bombay session of the Indian National Congress on 8 August 1942. She was arrested and awarded one year imprisonment. In 1946, she was arrested and imprisoned for six months for violating ban orders. In 1947, she was again arrested as she raised her voice against C. P. Ramaswami Aiyar’s desire for an independent Travancore.
Life in Independent India
In 1947, after independence, Accamma was elected unopposed to the Travancore Legislative Assembly from Kanjirapally. In 1951, she married V.V. Varkey, a freedom fighter and a member of Travancore Cochin Legislative Assembly. They had one son, George V. Varkey, an engineer. In the early 1950s, she resigned from the Congress Party after being denied a Lok Sabha ticket and in 1952, she unsuccessfully contested the parliamentary election from Cochin-Meenachil as an independent.
In the early 1950s, when she found party ideologies changing, she quit politics. Her husband V. V. Varkey Mannamplackal,Chirakkadavu. served as an MLA in the Kerala Legislative Assembly from 1952–54. In 1967, she contested the Assembly election from Kanjirapally as a Congress candidate but was defeated by the Communist Party's candidate. Later, she served as a member of the Freedom Fighters’ Pension Advisory Board.
Death
Accamma Cherian died on May 5, 1982.
Aruna Asaf Ali (Haryana- Bombay)
Early life
Aruna Asaf Ali was born as Aruna Ganguly on July 16, 1908 at Kalka, Punjab, British India (now in the state of Haryana) into a Bengali Brahmo family. She was educated at Sacred Heart Convent in Lahore and then in Nainital. She graduated and worked as a teacher. She taught at the Gokhale Memorial School in Calcutta. She met Asaf Ali, a leader in the Congress party, at Allahabad.They were married in 1928, despite parental opposition on grounds of religion (she was a Brahmo while he was a Muslim) and age (a difference of more than 20 years).
Freedom struggle: early days
She became an active member of the Congress Party after marrying Asaf Ali and participated in public processions during the Salt Satyagraha. She was arrested on the charge that she was a vagrant and hence not released in 1931 under the Gandhi-Irwin Pact which stipulated release of all political prisoners. Other women co-prisoners refused to leave the premises unless she was also released and gave in only after Mohandas K. Gandhi intervened. A public agitation secured her release.
In 1932, she was held prisoner at the Tihar Jail where she protested the indifferent treatment of political prisoners by launching a hunger strike. Her efforts resulted in an improvement of conditions in Tihar Jail but she was moved to Ambala and was subjected to solitary confinement. She was not very active politically after her release.
Family
Her father Upendranath Ganguly hailed from Barisal district of Eastern Bengal but settled in the United Province. He was a restaurant owner and a very adventurous man. Mother Ambalika Devi was the daughter of Trailokyanath Sanyal, a renowned Brahmo leader who wrote many beautiful Brahmo hymns. Upendranath Ganguly's younger brother Dhirendranath Ganguly (D G) was one of the earliest film directors. Another brother Nagendranath, a soil biologist was married to Rabindranath Tagore's only surviving daughter Mira Devi though they got separated after sometime. Her sister, Purnima Banerjee was a member of the Constituent Assembly of India.
Face of Quit India movement
On August 8, 1942, the All India Congress Committee passed the Quit India resolution at the Bombay session. The government responded by arresting the major leaders and all members of the Congress Working Committee and thus tried to pre-empt the movement from success. A young Aruna Asaf Ali presided over the remainder of the session and on 9 August hoisted the Congress flag at the Gowalia Tank Maidan. This marked the commencement of the Quit India Movement. The police fired upon the assembly at the session. Aruna was dubbed the Heroine of the 1942 movement for her bravery in the face of danger and was called Grand Old Lady of the Independence movement in her later years. Despite absence of direct leadership, spontaneous protests and demonstrations were held all over the country, as an expression of desire of India’s youth to achieve independence.
Countdown to Independence
An arrest warrant was issued in Aruna’s name but she went underground to evade the arrest and started an underground movement in year 1942 . Her property was seized and sold. In the meanwhile, she also edited Inquilab, a monthly magazine of the Congress Party, along with Ram Manohar Lohia. In a 1944 issue, she exhorted the youth to action by asking them to forget futile discussions about violence and non-violence and join the revolution. Leaders such as Jayaprakash Narayan and Aruna Asaf Ali were described as "the Political children of Gandhi but recent students of Karl Marx." The government announced a reward of Rs. 5,000/- for her capture. She fell ill and was for a period hiding in Dr Joshi's Hospital in Karol Bagh in Delhi. Mahatma Gandhi sent a hand-written note to her to come out of hiding and surrender herself – as her mission was accomplished and she could utilize the reward amount for the Harijan cause. However, she came out of hiding only after the warrant against her was withdrawn in 1946. She treasured the note from the Mahatma and it adorned her drawing room. However, she also faced criticism from Gandhi for her support of the Royal Indian Navy Mutiny; a movement she saw as the single greatest unifying factor of Hindus and Muslims at a time that was the peak of the movement for Pakistan.
Post-Independence
She was a member of the Congress Socialist Party, a caucus within the Congress Party for activists with socialist leanings. Disillusioned with the progress of the Congress Party on socialism she joined a new party, Socialist Party in 1948. She however left that party along with Edatata Narayanan and they visited Moscow along with Rajani Palme Dutt. Both of them joined the Communist Party of India in the early 1950s. On domestic front, she was bereaved when Asaf Ali died in 1953.
In 1954, she helped form the National Federation of Indian Women, the women's wing of CPI but left the party in 1956 following Nikita Khrushchev's disowning of Stalin. In 1958, she was elected the first Mayor of Delhi. She was closely associated with social activists and secularists of her era like Krishna Menon, Vimla Kapoor, Guru Radha Kishan, Premsagar Gupta, Rajani Palme Joti, Sarla Sharma and Subhadra Joshi for social welfare and development in Delhi. She was the first elected Mayor of Delhi.
She and Narayanan started Link publishing house and published a daily newspaper, Patriot and a weekly, Link the same year. The publications became prestigious due to patronage of leaders such as Jawaharlal Nehru, Krishna Menon and Biju Patnaik. Later she moved out of the publishing house due to internal politics, stunned by greed taking over the creed of her comrades. In 1964, she rejoined the Congress Party but stopped taking part in active politics. Despite reservations about the emergency, she remained close to Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi.
Legacy
Aruna Asaf Ali was awarded International Lenin Peace Prize for the year 1964 and the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding in 1991. She was awarded India’s second highest civilian honour, the Padma Vibhushan in her lifetime in 1992, and finally the highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna, posthumously in 1997. In 1998, a stamp commemorating her was issued. Aruna Asaf Ali Marg in New Delhi was named in her honour. All India Minorities Front distributes the Dr Aruna Asaf Ali Sadbhawana Award annually.
Anecdote
Aruna Asaf Ali was well known for her Spartan lifestyle – she used public transport. In her eighties, once she was travelling in a crowded bus in Delhi and no seat was vacant. A fashionable young lady also boarded the bus and a gentleman trying to impress her, vacated his seat. This lady, in turn, offered the seat to Aruna Asaf Ali who accepted it. At this, that man protested, saying to the lady, "I vacated that seat for your sake, sister." Aruna Asaf Ali retorted with her quick wit, "Never mind, mother always comes before sister."
Begum Hazrat Mahal (Uttar Pradesh)
Her maiden name was Muhammadi Khanum and she was born at Faizabad, Awadh, India. She was a courtesan by profession and had been taken into the royal harem as a Khawasin, after being sold by her parents to Royal agents and later promoted to a Pari. She became a Begum after being accepted as a royal concubine of the King of Oudh, and the title 'Hazrat Mahal' was bestowed on her after the birth of their son, Birjis Qadra.
She was a junior wife of the last Tajdaar-e-Awadh, Wajid Ali Shah. The British annexed Oudh in 1856 and Wajid Ali Shah was exiled to Calcutta. After her husband was exiled to Calcutta, she took charge of the affairs of the state of Awadh despite her divorce from the Nawab which then was a large part of the current state of Uttar Pradesh, India.
Indian Rebellion of 1857
During the Indian Rebellion of 1857–1858, Begum Hazrat Mahal led a band of her supporters against the forces of the British East India Company, and was even able to seize control of Lucknow. She declared her son Birjis Qadar as the ruler (Wali) of Oudh. When the forces under the command of the British re-captured Lucknow and most of Oudh, she was forced to retreat. Hazrat Mahal worked in association with Nana Saheb but later joined the Maulavi of Faizabad in the attack on Shajahanpur.
One of the principal complaints of Begum Hazrat Mahal was that the East India Company had casually demolished temples and mosques in order to make way for roads. In a proclamation issued during the final days of the revolt, she mocked the British claim to allow freedom of worship:
"To eat pigs and drink wine, to bite greased cartridges and to mix pig's fat with sweetmeats, to destroy Hindu and Mussalman temples on the pretence of making roads, to build churches, to send clergymen into the streets to preach the Christian religion, to institute English schools, and pay people a monthly stipend for learning the English sciences, while the places of worship of Hindus and Mussalmans are to this day entirely neglected; with all this, how can people believe that religion will not be interfered with.
Later life
Ultimately, she had to retreat to Nepal, where she was initially refused asylum by the Rana Prime Minister Jang Bahadur but was later allowed to stay. She died there in 1879 and was buried in a nameless grave in the grounds of Kathmandu's Jama Masjid.
Commemoration
Begum Hazrat Mahal Park
Memorial of Begum Hazrat Mahal in Begum Hazrat Mahal Park, Lucknow
On 15 August 1962, she was honored at a ceremony in the old Victoria Park. Here a marble memorial has been built by the state Government in the memory of the Begum as she played a very crucial role during the era of the first freedom movement in 1857. This memorial was adorned with strings of flowers and brightened by multi-coloured bulbs and neon tubes. There is also a marble tablet that has four round brass plaques bearing the coat of arms of Awadh royal family.
Located in the heart of the city, Begum Hazrat Mahal Park once used to be a rally ground. It’s been witness to many Ravanas, going up in fire during Dusshera. A number of Lucknow Mahotsavas have also been hosted here. But what you see today is a totally different landmark, a walker’s paradise. With pathways that are interwoven into the beautiful, green landscaping in the Park, it’s also a visual delight of sorts. While the mornings are marked by scores of people walking at different paces, the evenings are relatively inactive at the park. But when the fountains go up and the lights turn on, it’s a sight most of us can feast our eyes on. And one which comes as a relief from the mundane sight of the traffic zipping past it. It is on the crossing of B.H.M and opposite the hotel Clarks Avadh.
Bhikhaiji Rustom Cama (Bombay)
Early life
Bhikhaiji Rustom Cama was born Bhikai Sorab Patel on 24 September 1861 in Bombay (now Mumbai) into a large, well-off Parsi family. Her parents, Sorabji Framji Patel and Jaijibai Sorabji Patel, were well-known in the city, where her father Sorabji—a lawyer by training and a merchant by profession—was an influential member of the Parsi community.
Like many Parsi girls of the time, Bhikhaiji attended Alexandra Native Girl's English Institution. Bhikhaiji was by all accounts a diligent, disciplined child with a flair for languages.
On 3 August 1885, she married Rustom Cama, a wealthy, pro-British lawyer who aspired to enter politics. It was not a happy marriage, and Bhikhaiji spent most of her time and energy in philanthropic activities and social work.
Social life
In October 1896, the Bombay Presidency was hit first by famine, and shortly thereafter by bubonic plague. Bhikhaiji joined one of the many teams working out of Grant Medical College (which would subsequently become Haffkine's plague vaccine research centre), in an effort to provide care for the afflicted, and (later) to innoculate the healthy. Cama subsequently contracted the plague herself, but survived. Severely weakened, she was sent to Britain for medical care in 1901.
She was preparing to return to India in 1908 when she came in contact with Shyamji Krishna Varma, who was well known in London's Indian community for fiery nationalist speeches he gave in Hyde Park. Through him, she met Dadabhai Naoroji, then president of the British Committee of the Indian National Congress, and for whom she came to work as private secretary. Together with Naoroji and Singh Rewabhai Rana, Cama supported the founding of Varma's Indian Home Rule Society in February 1905. In London, she was told that her return to India would be prevented unless she would sign a statement promising not to participate in nationalist activities. She refused.
That same year Cama relocated to Paris, where—together with Singh Rewabhai Rana and Munchershah Burjorji Godrej—she co-founded the Paris Indian Society. With the support of other notable members of the movement for Indian sovereignty living in exile, Cama wrote, published (in Holland and Switzerland) and distributed revolutionary literature for the movement, including Bande Mataram (founded in response to the Crown ban on the poem Vande Mataram) and later Madan's Talwar (in response to the execution of Madan Lal Dhingra). These weeklies were smuggled into India through the French colony of Pondichéry on the subcontinent's south-east coast.
Design of the "Flag of Indian Independence" raised by Bhikhaiji Cama on 22 August 1907, at the International Socialist Conference in Stuttgart, Germany.
Based on the Calcutta Flag, the green, yellow and red fields represent Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism respectively. The crescent and the sun again represent Islam and Hinduism. The eight lotuses in the upper register represent the eight provinces of British India. The words in the middle are in Devanagri script and read Vande Mataram "[We] Bow to thee Mother [India]", the slogan of the Indian National Congress.
The design was adopted in 1914 as the emblem of the Berlin Committee (later known as the Indian Independence Committee). The original flag raised by Cama in Stuttgart is now on display at the Maratha and Kesari Library in Pune.
On 22 August 1907, Cama attended the International Socialist Conference in Stuttgart, Germany, where she described the devastating effects of a famine that had struck the Indian subcontinent. In her appeal for human rights, equality and for autonomy from Great Britain, she unfurled what she called the "Flag of Indian Independence". It has been speculated that this moment may have been an inspiration to African American writer and intellectual W. E. B. Du Bois in writing his 1928 novel Dark Princess. Cama's flag, a modification of the Calcutta Flag, was co-designed by Cama, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar and Shyamji Krishna Varma, and would later serve as one of the templates from which the current national flag of India was created.
In 1909, following Madan Lal Dhingra's assassination of William Hutt Curzon Wyllie, an aide to the Secretary of State for India, Scotland Yard arrested several key activists living in Great Britain, among them Vinayak Savarkar. In 1910, Savarkar was ordered to be returned to India for trial. When the ship Savarkar was being transported on docked in Marseilles harbour, he squeezed out through a porthole window and jumped into the sea. Reaching shore, he expected to find Cama and others who had been told to expect him (who got there late), but ran into the local constabulary instead. Unable to communicate his predicament to the French authorities without Cama's help, he was returned to British custody. The British Government requested Cama's extradition, but the French Government refused to cooperate. In return, the British Government seized Cama's inheritance. Lenin reportedly invited her to reside in the Soviet Union, but she did not accept.
Influenced by Christabel Pankhurst and the Suffragette movement, Bhikhaiji Cama was vehement in her support for gender equality. Speaking in Cairo, Egypt in 1910, she asked, "I see here the representatives of only half the population of Egypt. May I ask where is the other half? Sons of Egypt, where are the daughters of Egypt? Where are your mothers and sisters? Your wives and daughters?" Cama's stance with respect to the vote for women was however secondary to her position on Indian independence. In 1920, upon meeting Herabai and Mithan Tata, two Parsi women outspoken on the issue of the right to vote, Cama is said to have sadly shaken her head and observed: "'Work for India's freedom and independence. When India is independent women will not only have the vote, but all other rights.'"
With the outbreak of the World War I in 1914, France and Britain became allies, and all the members of Paris India Society except Cama and Singh Rewabhai Rana left the country (Cama had been advised by fellow-socialist Jean Longuet to go to Spain with Acharya, but she had preferred to stay). Cama and Rana were briefly arrested in October 1914 when they tried to agitate among Punjab Regiment troops that had just arrived in Marseilles on their way to the front. They were required to leave Marseilles, and Cama then moved to Rana's wife's house in Arcachon, near Bordeaux. In January 1915, the French government deported Rana and his whole family to the Caribbean island of Martinique, and Cama was sent to Vichy, where she was interned. In bad health, she was released in November 1917 and permitted to return to Bordeaux provided that she report weekly to the local police. Following the war, Cama returned to her home at 25, Rue de Ponthieu in Paris.
Cama remained in exile in Europe until 1935, when, gravely ill and paralysed by a stroke that she had suffered earlier that year, she petitioned the British government through Sir Cowasji Jehangir to be allowed to return home. Writing from Paris on 24 June 1935, she acceded to the requirement that she renounce seditionist activities. Accompanied by Jehangir, she arrived in Bombay in November 1935 and died nine months later, aged 74, at Parsi General Hospital on 13 August 1936.
Beena Das (West Bengal)
Bhowmick initially studied in the Bethune College in Kolkata, but later migrated to Diocesan College in order to ensure that her revolutionary activities remain unhindered. She passed the BA with honors in English and her daring attempt occurred during her own convocation ceremony. For this she was given 9 years of imprisonment with labour.
After her release in 1939, she joined the “Jugantar” revolutionary club. She was again imprisoned in 1942 for three years while she was the Secretary of Calcutta Congress Committee. In 1947 she married Jatish Bhowmick, a freedom fighter and a fellow member of Jugantar.
A true revolutionary spirit, her activities did not end with the Indian Independence in 1947. She aided Sheikh Mujibur Rahaman during his declaration of revolution in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) against a brutal and oppressive West Pakistan administration. This incident eventually precipitated into the full-scale Bangladesh war. Again in 1975 Mrs. Bhowmick spoke out against the Declaration of Emergency and suppression of personal rights by the then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. She personally witnessed and strongly protested against the police brutality on the refugees in Marichjh(n)api. A good writer, she penned two books, the autobiography “Shrinkhal Jhankar” and “Pitredhan”.
In a characteristic show of idealistic strength, she didn’t accept the “Freedom Fighters’ Pension” offered by the Government of India. After the death of her husband, she decided to live by herself in Rishikesh (Himalaya), where she died within a month in a lonely condition.
Gangubai D. Mirzavakar (Honavara)
Gangubai participated in many freedom movements like
1921 Ahmadabad Congress Movement
1923 in Kannada Sahithya Sammelana which was led in Gokarna
1924 Congress Movement which was led in Belgavi.
In 1931, the East India Company led a lathi charge against the local people of Honavar which left them feeling very low. Gangubai came forward and led a group of friends on foot to Honavar. However on reaching there they learn that Section 144 had been declared in the town. Gangubai and her friends broke the rules of Section 144 and two of them, Gangubai and Ramabai, were arrested. The next day both Ramabai and Gangubai were released but with a warning that they should not to participate in any nationalist activities.
Once Gangubai’s son, Shankar Mirzavakar was arrested while participating in the National Movement and was jailed for 7 months. All this time, Gangubai would prepare food and visit him in jail. She realised that a number of others were also in jail for nationalist activities and for raising their voices against the inhuman British practices. She began providing food for all of them in jail.
In 1931, the Congress Party came into existence. Umabai Kundapur and Krishna Bai Panjekar started the Women’s Association. This Association supported the Freedom Movement. This Association had 60 members who were taught to weave Swadeshi Saris and Khadi. Till today this Association is in existence.
Gangubai was not only a great freedom fighter; she was a good decision maker. Once Belagavi Madgavankar, another freedom fighter, and family were arrested and taken to Karwar jail. When she heard of this Gangubai went to meet them. The police were at that time taking them to jail. She convinced the police that Madgavankar and family needed to have their breakfast. While they were eating, she asked all the members of the Madgavankar family to give her their jewels in her custody. When they were released after some months in jail, Gangubai returned all the jewels that they had handed over to her.
Indira Gandhi (Allahabad)
By all accounts, the child’s early years were painfully lonely. The house served as a headquarters for the freedom struggle and the police were constantly there. Her parents were frequently taken off to jail.
”My public life started at the age of 3,” she said. ”I have no recollection of games, children’s parties or playing with other children. My favourite occupation as a very small child was to deliver thunderous speeches to the servants, standing on a high table. All my games were political ones – I was, like Joan of Arc, perpetually being burned at the stake.
”I was very headstrong. The whole house was always in a state of tension that nobody had a normal life. There were police raids, arrests and so on, the physical and mental strain. And all the time it was in public.”
What made her childhood even more difficult was the contemptuous treatment given to her mother, Kamala, by the far more Westernized and sophisticated women of the Nehru family. Mrs. Gandhi in later life indicated that her own fluency in Hindi, far better than her father’s, and her ”Indianness,” or ability to think and feel as a Hindu Indian, were largely a legacy of her mother. When asked once about the impact of Kamala Nehru on her personality, Mrs. Gandhi replied,”I saw her being hurt and I was determined not to be hurt.”
One of the most remarkable women in modern India was Indira Gandhi who from her early years was active in the national liberation struggle. During the 1930 movement, she formed the ‘Vanar Sena’- a children’s brigade to help freedom fighters.
She became a member of the Indian National Congress in 1938. Soon after her return to India in March 1941, she plunged into political activity.
Her public activity entered a new phase with India’s Independence in 1947. She took over the responsibility of running the Prime Minister’s House. The Congress, which had been her political home ever since her childhood, soon drew her into leading political roles, first as member of the Congress Working Committee in 1955 and later as member of the Central Parliamentary Board in 1958. In 1959, she was elected President of the Indian National Congress. She oriented Congress thinking and action towards basic issues confronting Indian society and enthused the younger generation to take up the task of nation-building.
In the eventful years of her leadership as Prime Minister, Indian society underwent profound changes. She was unremitting in her endeavour for the unity and solidarity of the nation. A staunch defender of the secular ideals of the Constitution, she worked tirelessly for the social and economic advancement of the minorities. She had a vision of a modern self-reliant and dynamic economy.
She fought boldly and vigorously against communalism, obscurantism, and religious fundamentalism of all types. She repeatedly warned the nation that communalism and obscurantism were the tools employed by the forces of destabilization. She laid down her life in defence of the ideals on which the unity and integrity of the Republic are founded. The martyrdom of Mahatma Gandhi and Indira Gandhi for upholding the unity of India will reverberate across the centuries.
Rarely in history has one single individual come to be identified totally with the fortunes of a country. She became the indomitable symbol of India’s self-respect and self-confidence. Death came to her when she was at her peak, when her stature and influence were acclaimed the world over.
Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay (Mangalore)
Several cultural institutions in India today are a gift of her vision, including the National School of Drama, Sangeet Natak Akademi, Central Cottage Industries Emporium, and the Crafts Council of India.
Kamaladevi was the doyen of Indian arts and crafts. She was the person single-handedly responsible for bringing Indian crafts back from oblivion after 200 years of foreign rule where they went without any patronage, be it government or public, due lack of awareness of its richness as well as its accessibility to the common man.
She stressed the significance which handicrafts and cooperative grassroot movements play in the social and economic upliftment of the Indian people. To this end she withstood great opposition both before and after independence from the power centres, but managed to leave behind a rich and formidable legacy of thriving Indian handicrafts, theatre forms and arts that have now become an integral of our rural economy, across the nation.
Biography
Early life
Born on 3 April 1903, Kamaladevi was the fourth and youngest daughter of a Chitrapur Saraswat Brahmin couple in Mangalore. Her father, Ananthaya Dhareshwar was the District Collector of Mangalore, and her mother Girijabai, from whom she inherited an independent streak, belonged to an aristocratic family from Karnataka. Kamaladevi's grandmother was herself, a scholar of ancient Indian texts, and her mother was also well-educated though mostly home-educated. Together their presence in the household, gave Kamaladevi a firm grounding and provided benchmarks to respect for her intellect as well as her voice, something that she came to be known for in the coming years, when she stood as the voice of the downtrodden as well as the unheard.
Kamaladevi was an exceptional student and also exhibited qualities of determination and courage from an early age. Her parents befriended many prominent freedom fighters and intellectuals such as Mahadev Govind Ranade, Gopal Krishna Gokhale, and women leaders like Ramabai Ranade, and Annie Besant. This made young Kamaladevi an early enthusiast of the swadeshi and nationalist movement.
She studied about ancient Sanskrit drama tradition of Kerala- Kutiyattam, from its greatest Guru and authority of Abhinaya, Nātyāchārya Padma Shri Māni Mādhava Chākyār by staying at the Guru's home at Killikkurussimangalam.
Tragedy struck early in life, when her elder sister, Saguna, whom she considered a role model, died in her teens. When she was just seven years old her father died as well. To add to her mother, Girijabai's trouble, he died without leaving a will for his vast property, so according to property laws of the times, the entire property went to her stepson, and they only got a monthly allowance. Girijabai defiantly refused the allowance and decided to raise her daughters on her dowry property.
Her rebellious streak was visible even as a child, when young Kamaladevi questioned the aristocratic division of her mother’s household, and preferred to mingle with her servants and their children wanting to understand their life as well.
First Marriage and widowhood
In 1917, when was only fourteen years of age, she was married to Krishna Rao, and within two years, while she was still at school, she was widowed. According to orthodox Hindu rules of the times, being a widow she was not allowed to continue her education. Yet she defiantly moved to Chennai, and continued her education from St. Mary's School, Chennai and finally completed her high school in 1918.
1920s
Marriage to Harin
While studying at Queen Mary’s College in Chennai, she came to know Suhasini Chattopadhyay, a fellow student and the younger sister of Sarojini Naidu. Suhasini later introduced Kamaladevi to their talented brother, Harin, by then a well-known poet-playwright-actor. It was their mutual interest in the arts, which brought them together.
When she was twenty years old, Kamaladevi married Harindranath Chattopadhyay, much to the opposition of the orthodox society of the times, which was still heavily against widow marriage. Their only son Ramu was born the following year. Harin and Kamaladevi stayed together to pursue common dreams, which wouldn’t have been possible otherwise, and in spite of many difficulties, they were able to work together, to produce plays and skits.
Later she also acted in a few films, in an era when acting was considered unsuitable for women from respectable families. In her first stint, she acted in two silent films, including the first silent film of Kannada film industry, 'Mricchakatika'(Vasantsena) (1931), based on the famous play by Sudraka, also starring Yenakshi Rama Rao, and directed by pioneering Kannada director, Mohan Dayaram Bhavnani. In her second stint in films she acted in a 1943 Hindi film, Tansen, also starring K. L. Saigal and Khursheed, followed by Shankar Parvati (1943), and Dhanna Bhagat (1945).
Eventually after many years of marriage, Kamaladevi and Harindranath parted ways amicably. Here again, Kamaladevi broke a tradition by filing for divorce, rather than stay in a non-functional marriage, much to the chagrin of the society.
Move to London
Shortly after their marriage, Harin left for London, on his first trip abroad, and a few months later Kamaladevi joined him, where she joined Bedford College, University of London, from where she received a diploma in Sociology.
Call of the Freedom Movement
While still in London, Kamaladevi came to know of Mahatma Gandhi’s Non-Cooperation Movement in 1923, and she promptly returned to India, to join the Seva Dal, a Gandhian organisation set up to promote social upliftment. Soon she was placed in charge of the women's section of the Dal, where she got involved in recruiting, training and organizing girls and women of all ages across India, to become voluntary workers or 'sevikas'.
In 1926, she met the suffragette Margaret E. Cousins, the founder of the All India Women's Conference (AIWC), and was inspired by her to run for the Madras Provincial Legislative Assembly. Thus she became the first woman to run for a Legislative seat in India. Though she could campaign for only a few days, she lost only by 200 votes.
The All-India Women's Conference
In the following year, she founded the All-India Women's Conference (AIWC) and became its first Organizing Secretary. In the following years, AIWC, grew to become a national organization of repute, with branches and voluntary programs run throughout the nation, and work steadfastly for legislative reforms. During her tenure, she travelled extensively to many European nations and was inspired to initiate several social reforms and community welfare programs, and set up educational institutions, run for women, and by women. Another shining example in this series was the formation of Lady Irwin College for Home Sciences, a one of its kind college for women of its times, in New Delhi.
1930s
Later she was a part of the seven member team, announced by Mahatma Gandhi, in the famous Salt Satyagraha (1930), to prepare Salt at the Bombay beachfront. The only other woman volunteer of the team was Avantikabai Gokhale. Later in a startling move, Kamaladevi went up to a nearby High Court, and asked a magistrate present there whether he would be interested in buying the 'Freedom Salt' she had just prepared.
On 26 January 1930 she captured the imagination of the entire nation when in a scuffle, she clung to the Indian tricolour to protect it.
First Indian woman to be arrested
In the 1930s, she was arrested for entering the Bombay Stock Exchange to sell packets of contraband salt, and spent almost a year in prison. In 1936, she became president of the Congress Socialist Party, working alongside Jayaprakash Narayan, Ram Manohar Lohia and Minoo Masani. For her, feminism was inseparable from socialism, and where necessary she opposed her own colleagues when they ignored or infringed women’s rights. For instance, when Mahatma Gandhi opposed the inclusion of women in the Dandi March (claiming that Englishmen would not hurt women, just as Hindus would not harm cows), Kamaladevi spoke out against this stand. Sometime in the 1920s she and Harindranath separated and divorced by mutual consent; their marriage had largely been one of convenience and they had followed different paths.
1940s
When World War II broke out Kamaladevi was in England, and she immediately began a world tour to represent India’s situation to other countries and drum up support for Independence after the war.
Post-Independence work
Independence of India, brought Partition in its wake, and she plunged into rehabilitation of the refugees. Her first task was to set up the Indian Cooperative Union to help with rehabilitation, and through the Union she made plans for a township on cooperative lines. At last, Mahatma Gandhi reluctantly gave her permission on the condition that she did not ask for state assistance. So after much struggle, the township of Faridabad was set up, on the outskirts of Delhi, rehabilitating over 50,000 refugees from the Northwest Frontier. She worked tirelessly helping the refugees to establish new homes, and new professions. For this they were trained in new skills. She also helped set up health facilities in the new town.
Thus began the second phase of Kamaladevi’s life's work in rehabilitation of people as well their lost crafts. She is considered single handedly responsible for the great revival of Indian handicrafts and handloom, in the post-independence era, and is considered her greatest legacy to modern India.
1950s and beyond
Around this time she became concerned at the possibility that the introduction of Western methods of factory-based mass production in India, as part of Nehru's vision for Indian's development, would affect traditional artisans, especially women in the unorganised sectors. She set up a series of crafts museums to hold and archive India's indigenous arts and crafts that served as a storehouse for indigenous know how. This included the Theatre Crafts Museum in Delhi.
She promoted arts and crafts equally, and instituted the National Awards for Master Craftsmen. A culmination of her enterprising spirit lead to the setting up Central Cottage Industries Emporia, throughout the nation to cater to the tastes of a nation, rising to its ancient glory.
In 1964 she started the Natya Institute of Kathak and Choreography (NIKC), Bangalore, under the aegis of Bharatiya Natya Sangh, affiliated to the UNESCO. Its present director is the famous danseuse Smt. Maya Rao.
Kamaladevi was a woman ahead of her times. She was instrumental in setting up the All India Handicrafts Board, and was also its first chairperson, she founded the Crafts Council of India and was also the first president of the World Crafts Council, Asia Pacific Region.
She also set up the National School of Drama and later headed the Sangeet Natak Akademi, and was also a member of UNESCO. Her acclaimed autobiography, “Inner Recesses and Outer Spaces: Memoir” was published in 1986.
Awards and recognition
The Government of India conferred on her the Padma Bhushan (1955) and later the second highest civilian award, the Padma Vibhushan in 1987, which are among the highest civilian awards of the Republic of India. She also received the Ramon Magsaysay Award (1966) for Community Leadership. She was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship, Ratna Sadasya, the highest award of Sangeet Natak Akademi, India's National Academy of Music, Dance and Drama, given for lifetime achievement in 1974,
UNESCO honoured her with an award in 1977 for her contribution towards the promotion of handicrafts. Shantiniketan honoured her with the Desikottama, its highest award. UNIMA (Union Internationals de la Marlonette), International Puppetry organization, also made her their Member of Honour.
Legacy
In 2007, the Outlook Magazine chose Kamaladevi amongst its list of 60 Great Indians. and she was one of India Today's, 100 Millennium People.
Today, the World Crafts Council gives two awards in her memory, the Kamaladevi Awards and the Kamala Sammaan, for exceptional craft persons or to individuals for their outstanding contribution to the field of Crafts. Apart from that the Crafts Council of Karnataka, also gives the Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay Vishwakarma Awards, each year to noteworthy crafts persons.
For over three decades now, Bhartiya Natya Sangha has been awarding the 'Kamaladevi Chattopadhyaya Award' for the best play of the year.
Kalpana Joshi (West Bengal)
The Chittagong Armory Raid took place on 18 April 1930 and Kalpana hurried back to Chittagong and came in contact with Surya Sen in May 1931. In the meantime, many of the leaders of the Raid like Ananta Singh, Ganesh Ghosh and Loknath Bal had been arrested and were awaiting trial.
Kalpana was entrusted with the safe carrying of heavy explosive materials from Calcutta. She also secretly prepared ‘gun-cotton’ and planned to plant a dynamite fuse under the court building and inside the jail to free the revolutionary leaders, who were being tried in a special Tribunal.
The plot was uncovered and certain restrictions were imposed on Kalpana’s movements. She, however, managed to visit regularly the village of Surya Sen, sometimes even at dead of night. She also used to have regular training in revolver shooting, along with her comrade Pritilata Waddedar.
In September 1931 Surya Sen decided to entrust Kalpana and Preetilata with a plan to attack the European Club at Chittagong. A week before the action, Kalpana was arrested while moving out for survey work in boy’s attire. While in jail, she was told about the Pahartali action and the heroic suicide of Preetilata. Being released on bail, she went underground at the bidding of Surya Sen and in the early hours of 17 February 1933 the police encircled their hideout. Surya Sen was captured while Kalpana, along with Manindra Datta, escaped.
On 19 May 1933 Kalpana, with some comrades, was arrested. In the second supplementary trial of Chittagong Armory Raid case, Surya Sen and Tarakeswar Dastidar were sentenced to death, and Kalpana was sentenced to transportation for life. Being released in 1939 she graduated from the Calcutta University in 1940. Soon she joined the CPI and resumed her battle against the British rule. She turned Kalpana Joshi in 1943 when she married PC Joshi, the leader of the CPI. She went back to Chittagong and organised the Kisans’ and women’s fronts of the party. In 1946 she contested, though unsuccessfully, in the elections to the Bengal Legislative Assembly. After 1947 she migrated to India and resigned from active politics.
Kalpana Datta breathed her last at New Delhi on 8 February 1995.
Kamala Kaul Nehru (Allahabad)
Kamala Kaul Nehru (1899–1936) was the wife of Jawaharlal Nehru, leader of the Indian National Congress and first Prime Minister of India. Kamala married Nehru on 8 February 1916. Their marriage was arranged by his parents.
Brought up in a traditional Hindu Brahmin family, she felt alienated amongst the more Westernized Nehrus. It was only with the involvement of the Nehrus in the national movement, that she emerged into the forefront. In the Non Cooperation movement of 1921, she organized groups of women in Allahabad and picketed shops selling foreign cloth and liquor. When her husband was arrested to prevent him delivering a "seditious" public speech, she went in his place to read it out. She was twice arrested by British authorities.
Described as pretty, slim, and tender, Kamala was quiet, unobtrusive, and is thought to have had little impact on her husband. In 1917, she gave birth to a daughter, Indira Priyadarshini, who later succeeded her father as prime minister and head of the Congress party. Kamala died from tuberculosis in Switzerland while her husband was in prison.
She spent some time at Gandhi's ashram with Kasturba Gandhi where she built a close friendship with Prabhavati Devi wife of Jayaprakash Narayan
Kanaklatha Baruah (Bombay)
Soon she got an opportunity to fulfil her dream of serving the country. As soon as the ‘Quit India’ movement began the British rulers started arresting Congress leaders. Under the leadership of revolutionary Jyoti Prasad Agarwala, in the district of Darrang, a resolution was adopted unanimously to hoist the National flag at the court and police station, as they were the marks of British Empire. Being aware of women’s participation in the nation’s freedom struggle, Kanaklatha enrolled herself in the suicide squad. The day for peaceful and non-violent action was decided as September 20.
According to the programme, freedom fighters with National flags had to capture local police station. Four thousand people from Kalabari side and an equal number from Barangabari moved towards Gohpur police station. In the front line was Kanaklatha Baruah holding a National flag in her hands. She requested the officer in charge of the police station to allow her to hoist the flag at the western gate peacefully. The officer in charge ignored her request and threatened to shoot her, if she dared to proceed further. Firebrand Kanaklatha marched ahead and had to face the bullets of the strong police force. She laid down her life for the freedom of the country.
Kasturba Gandhi
Kasturba Gandhi, Mahatma Gandhi’s wife joined her husband while he was in South Africa and worked with him for many years there. She was a leader of Women’s Satyagraha for which she was imprisoned. She helped her husband in the cause of Indigo workers in Champaran, Bihar and the No Tax Campaign in Kaira, Gujarat. She was arrested twice for picketing liquor and foreign cloth shops, and in 1939 for participating in the Rajkot Satyagraha.
Kasturba married Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (Mahatma Gandhi) through arrangement. They were both 13 years old. At that time, she was illiterate, and so Gandhi taught her to read and write — a potentially radical move, given the position of women in India at that time.
When Gandhi left to study in London in 1888, she remained in India to raise their newborn son Harilal. She had three more sons – Manilal (1892), Ramdas (1897), and Devdas (1900).
In 1906, Mohandas Gandhi decided to practice brahmacharya, and the couple became celibate. Although she stood by her husband, she did not always easily accept his ideas. Gandhi had to work hard to persuade her to see (and agree to) his points of view. Kasturba was deeply religious. Like her husband, she renounced all caste distinctions and lived in ashrams.
Kasturba often joined her husband in political protests. She traveled to South Africa in 1897 to be with her husband. From 1904 to 1914, she was active in the Phoenix Settlement near Durban. During the 1913 protest against working conditions for Indians in South Africa, Kasturba was arrested and sentenced to three months in a hard labour prison. Later, in India, she sometimes took her husband’s place when he was under arrest. In 1915, when Gandhi returned to India to support indigo planters, Kasturba accompanied him. She taught hygiene, discipline, reading and writing to women and children.
Kasturba suffered from chronic bronchitis. Stress from the Quit India Movement’s arrests and ashram life caused her to fall ill. After contracting pneumonia, she died of a severe heart attack on February 22, 1944. She died in Mahatma Gandhi’s arms while both were still in prison. He was never the same after her death.
Kittur Rani Chennamma (Kittur)
Early Life
Chennamma was born in Kakati (a small village in north of Belgaum in Karnataka), in 1778, that is almost 56 years earlier than Rani Lakshmi Bai of Jhansi. From a very young age she received training in horse riding, sword fighting and archery. She was well known in her town for her brave acts.
She was married to Mallasarja Desai, ruler of Kittur at the age of 15. Her married life was a sad tale after her husband died in 1816. From this marriage she had only one son, but fate had tragedy in store for her. Her son breathed his last in 1824, leaving the lonely soul to fight against the British rule.
After his death, his son Shivalingarudra Sarja who had no children adopted a boy, Shivalingappa who was his relative. Shivalingrudra died prematurely and Chennamma ruled as the regent, Queen Chennamma during the British rule.
The Doctrine of Lapse was imposed on native states by the British. Under this declaration, native rulers were not allowed to adopt a child if they had no children of their own. Their territory formed part of the British Empire automatically.
The state of Kittur came under the administration of the Dharwad collectorate in charge, Mr. Thackeray. Mr. Chaplin was the commissioner of the region. Both did not recognize the new ruler and the regent, and declared that Kittur had to accept the British regime.
War against the British
Both the local people and Rani Chennamma opposed this British high handedness strongly. Thackeray invaded Kittura and in the battle that ensued, hundreds of British soldiers were killed along with Thackeray.
The humiliation of defeat at the hands of a small ruler was too much for the British to swallow. They brought in bigger armies from Mysore and Sholapur and surrounded Kittur.
Chennamma tried her best to avoid war. She negotiated with Chaplin and the Governor of Bombay Presidency under whose regime Kittur fell. But this had no effect. Chennamma was compelled to declare war. For 12 days, the valiant Queen and her soldiers defended their fort, but as was the common trait, traitors sneaked in and mixed mud and dung in the gunpowder in the canons. The Rani was defeated (1824 CE). She was taken prisoner and kept in the fort of Bailhongal for life. She spent her days reading holy texts and performing pooja till her death in 1829 CE.
Kittur Rani Chennamma could not win the war against British, but she etched her presence for many centuries in the annals of history. Along with Onake Obavva, Abbakka Rani and Keladi Chennamma, she is much revered in Karnataka as an icon of bravery.
Chennamma became a legend. During the freedom movement, her brave resistance to the British formed the theme of plays, songs, and ballads. Folk songs or lavanis were a legion and freedom struggle got a good boost through singing bards who moved throughout the region.
It is heartening news that a statue of Kittur Chennamma was installed in the Parliament premises at New Delhi on 11th September 2007. It is the most fitting tribute to a brave queen, who was the earliest ruler in Bharat to fight the British rule
Krishna Bai Panjekar (Honavar)
In 1921, Krishna Bai’s brother took her back to her maternal home, and she started learning Kannada there. A few years later, she joined Training College. In 1928 she married Panjekar, who was a widower with three sons. sons. Krishna Bai loved them as her own sons.
Krishna Bai started the Women’s Association (Mahila Samaj) in Saraswathipuram (Dharward). She raised a voice against foreign goods and also participated in the Salt Satyagraha In 1932. Krishnabai’s speech impressed the people and they started to participate in the National Activist Movement. This angered the British officers who decided to arrest her. In 1941 Krishna Bai was arrested and she was imprisoned for 6 months in Yarawada Jail and a reward of Rs. 300 was imposed on her head. After her release Krishna Bai became a president of KPCCI. (Karnataka Pradeshika Congress Committee of India)
Krishna Bai was a secretary of Kasturba Gandhi National Memorial Fund. She collected Rs 2.5 lakhs for the fund and gave that amount to Mahatma Gandhi. As her husband’s health began to deteriorate, Krishna Bai was unable to concentrate in National Activities. Sadly, in 1942 Krishna Bai’s husband Mr Panjekar died and in 1943 Krishna Bai lost both her parents in law. More tragedy followed when in 1944 Krishna Bai’s step daughter also passed away. She was completely distressed by these tragic events and devoted all her time and energy in fund collections. She herself self donated a valuable Rs. 10,000 and also managed to collect the princely sum of Rs. 41000 for the Education trust which helped many students get an education.
The many tragedies in her life took a toll on her health and Krishna Bai Panjekar died in 1949. In her death India lost one more valuable pearl.
Lakshmi Sahgal (Madras)
Early life
Sahgal was born as Lakshmi Swaminathan in Madras (now known as Chennai) on 24 October 1914 to S. Swaminathan, a lawyer who practiced criminal law at Madras High Court and A.V. Ammukutty, better known as Ammu Swaminathan, a social worker and independence activist from the prominent Vadakkath family of Anakkara in Palghat, Kerala.
Sahgal chose to study medicine and received an MBBS degree from Madras Medical College in 1938. A year later, she received her diploma in gynaecology and obstetrics. She worked as a doctor in the Government Kasturba Gandhi Hospital located at Triplicane Chennai.
In 1940, she left for Singapore after the failure of her marriage with pilot P.K.N. Rao. During her stay at Singapore, she met the members of Netaji’s Indian National Army. She established a clinic for the poor, most of whom were migrant labourers from India. It was at this time that she began to play an active role in the India Independence League.
The Azad Hind Fauj
In 1942, during the surrender of Singapore by the British to the Japanese, Sahgal aided wounded prisoners of war, many of whom who were interested in forming an Indian liberation army. Singapore at this time had several nationalist Indians working there including K. P. Kesava Menon, S. C. Guha and N. Raghavan who formed a Council of Action. Their Indian National Army or Azad Hind Fauj however received no firm commitments or approval from the occupying Japanese forces regarding their participation in the war.
It was against this backdrop that Subhas Chandra Bose arrived in Singapore on 2 July 1943. In the next few days, at all his public meetings, "Netaji" spoke of his determination to raise a women's regiment which would "fight for Indian Independence and make it complete". Lakshmi had heard that Bose was keen to draft women into the organisation and requested a meeting with him from which she emerged with a mandate to set up a women’s regiment, to be called the Rani of Jhansi regiment. Women responded enthusiastically to join the all-women brigade and Dr. Lakshmi Swaminathan became Captain Lakshmi, a name and identity that would stay with her for life.
The INA marched to Burma with the Japanese army in December 1944 but by March 1945, with the tide of war turning against them, the INA leadership decided to beat a retreat before they could enter Imphal. Captain Lakshmi was arrested by the British army in May 1945, remaining in Burma until March 1946, when she was sent to India – at a time when the INA trials in Delhi heightened popular discontent with and hastened the end of colonial rule.
Later years
In 1971, Sahgal joined the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and represented the party in the Rajya Sabha. During the Bangladesh crisis, she organized relief camps and medical aid in Calcutta for refugees who streamed into India from Bangladesh. She was one of the founding members of AIDWA in 1981 and led many of its activities and campaigns. She led a medical team to Bhopal after the gas tragedy in December 1984, worked towards restoring peace in Kanpur following the anti-Sikh riots of 1984 and was arrested for her participation in a campaign against the Miss World competition in Bangalore in 1996. She was still seeing patients regularly at her clinic in Kanpur in 2006, at the age of 92.
In 2002, four leftist parties – the Communist Party of India, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the Revolutionary Socialist Party, and the All India Forward Bloc – nominated Sahgal as a candidate in the presidential elections. She was the sole opponent of A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, who emerged victorious. Cap Lakshmi Sahgal passed away on 23 July 2012.
Personal life
Sahgal married Colonel Prem Kumar Sahgal in March 1947 in Lahore. After their marriage, they settled in Kanpur, where she continued with her medical practice and aided the refugees who were arriving in large numbers following the Partition of India. They had two daughters Subhashini Ali and Anisa Puri
The Sahgals' daughter, Subhashini Ali, is a prominent Communist politician and labour activist. According to Ali, Sahgal was an atheist. The filmmaker Shaad Ali is her grandson.
Death
On 19 Jul 2012, Sehgal suffered a cardiac arrest and died on 23 July 2012 at 11:20 A.M. at the age of 97 at Kanpur. Her body was donated to Kanpur Medical college for medical research. Captain Lakshmi Sehgal International Airport is proposed at Kanpur Dehat district.
Awards
In 1998, Sahgal was awarded the Padma Vibhushan by Indian president K. R. Narayanan.
Jhansi Rani Lakshmibai (Jhansi)
Lakshmibai was born probably on 19 November 1828 in the holy town of Kāśi (Varanasi) into a Brahmin family. She was named Manikarnika and was nicknamed Manu. Her father was Moropant Tambe and her mother Bhagirathi Bai. Her parents came from Maharashtra. Her mother died when she was four. Her father worked for a court Peshwa of Bithoor district who brought Manikarnika up like his own daughter. The Peshwa called her "Chhabili", which means "playful”. She was educated at home. She was more independent in her childhood than others of her age; her studies included archery, horsemanship, and self-defence.
Manikarnika was married to the Maharaja of Jhansi, Raja Gangadhar Rao, in 1842, and was afterwards called Lakshmibai (or Laxmibai). She gave birth to a boy named Damodar Rao in 1851, but when he was four months old he died. The Raja adopted a child called Anand Rao, the son of Gangadhar Rao's cousin, who was renamed Damodar Rao, on the day before he died. The adoption was in the presence of the British political officer who was given a letter from the raja requesting that the child should be treated with kindness and that the government of Jhansi should be given to his widow for her lifetime. After the death of the raja in November 1853 because Damodar Rao was adopted, the British East India Company, under Governor-General Lord Dalhousie, applied the Doctrine of Lapse, rejecting Damodar Rao's claim to the throne and annexing the state to its territories. In March 1854, Lakshmibai was given a pension of Rs. 60,000 and ordered to leave the palace and the fort.
Indian Rebellion of 1857–58
May – July 1857
A rumour that the cartridges supplied by the East India Company to the soldiers in its army contained pork or beef fat began to spread throughout India in the early months of 1857. On 10 May 1857 the Indian Rebellion started in Meerut. When news of this revolt reached Jhansi, the Rani asked the British political officer, Captain Alexander Skene, for permission to raise a body of armed men for her own protection and Skene agreed to this. The city was relatively calm in the midst of unrest in the region but the Rani conducted a Haldi Kumkum ceremony with pomp in front of all the women of Jhansi to provide assurance to her subjects, and to convince them that the British were cowards and not to be afraid of them.
Till this point, Lakshmibai was reluctant to rebel against the British. In June 1857 a few men of the 12th Bengal Native Infantry seized the fort containing the treasure and magazine, and massacred the European officers of the garrison along with their wives and children. Though her forces did not kill any East India Company officials and their wives and children in Jokhan Bagh on 8 June 1857, she was subsequently accused by the British of that. An army doctor, Thomas Lowe, wrote after the rebellion characterizing her as the "Jezebel of India ... the young rani upon whose head rested the blood of the slain". Four days after the massacre the sepoys left Jhansi having obtained a large sum of money from the Rani, and having threatened to blow up the palace where she lived. Following this, as the only source of authority in the city, the Rani felt obliged to assume the administration and wrote to Major Erskine, commissioner of the Saugor division explaining the events which had led her to do so. On July 2 Erskine wrote in reply that he requested her to "manage the District for the British Government" until the arrival of a British Superintendent. The Rani's forces defeated an attempt by the mutineers to assert the claim to the throne of a rival prince who was captured and imprisoned. There was then an invasion of Jhansi by the forces of Orchha and Datia (allies of the British). Their intention however was to divide Jhansi between them. The Rani appealed to the British for aid but it was now believed by the governor-general that she was responsible for the massacre and no reply was received. She set up a foundry to cast cannon (to be used on the walls of the fort) and assembled forces,, including some from former feudatories of Jhansi and elements of the mutineers which were able to defeat the invaders in August 1857. Her intention at this time was still to hold Jhansi on behalf of the British.
August 1857 – June 1858
From August 1857 to January 1858 Jhansi under the Rani's rule was at peace. The British had announced that troops would be sent there to maintain control but the fact that none arrived strengthened the position of a party of her advisers who wanted independence from British rule. When the British forces finally arrived in March they found it well defended and the fort had heavy guns which could fire over the town and nearby countryside. Sir Hugh Rose, commanding the British forces, demanded the surrender of the city; if this was refused it would be destroyed. After due deliberation the Rani issued a proclamation: "We fight for independence. In the words of Lord Krishna, we will if we are victorious, enjoy the fruits of victory, if defeated and killed on the field of battle, we shall surely earn eternal glory and salvation." She defended Jhansi against British troops when Sir Hugh Rose besieged Jhansi on 23 March 1858.
Jhansi Fort, 1882
The bombardment began on 24 March but was met by heavy return fire and the damaged defences were repaired. The defenders sent appeals for help to Tantia Tope. An army of more than 20,000, headed by Tantia Tope, arrived to relieve Jhansi but they failed to do so when they fought the British on 31 March. During the battle with Tantia Tope's forces part of the British forces continued the siege and by 2 April it was decided to launch an assault by a breach in the walls. Four columns assaulted the defences at different points and those attempting to scale the walls came under heavy fire. Two other columns had already entered the city and were approaching the palace together. Determined resistance was encountered in every street and in every room of the palace. Street fighting continued into the following day and no quarter was given, even to women and children. "No maudlin clemency was to mark the fall of the city" wrote Thomas Lowe. The Rani withdrew from the palace to the fort and after taking counsel decided that since resistance in the city was useless she must leave and join either Tantia Tope or Rao Sahib (Nana Sahib's nephew).
The place from where Rani Lakshmibai jumped on her horse, Badal
According to legend, Rani Lakshmi Bai tied Damodar Rao to her back and jumped on her horse Badal from the fort. They survived but the horse died. The Rani escaped in the night with her son, surrounded by guards.
She decamped to Kalpi with a few guards, where she joined additional rebel forces, including Tantia Tope. They occupied the town of Kalpi and prepared to defend it. On 22 May British forces attacked Kalpi. The Indian forces, commanded by the Rani herself, were again defeated. The leaders (the Rani of Jhansi, Tantia Tope, the Nawab of Banda, and Rao Sahib) fled once more. They came to Gwalior and joined the Indian forces who now held the city (Maharaja Scindia having fled to Agra from the battlefield at Morar). They moved on to Gwalior intending to occupy the strategic Gwalior Fort and the rebel forces occupied the city without opposition. The rebels proclaimed Nana Sahib as Peshwa of a revived Maratha dominion with Rao Sahib as his governor (subedar) in Gwalior. The Rani was unsuccessful in trying to persuade the other rebel leaders to prepare to defend Gwalior against a British attack which she expected would come soon. General Rose's forces took Morar on 16 June and then made a successful attack on the city. On 17 June in Kotah-ki-Serai, a squadron of the 8th (King's Royal Irish) Hussars, under Captain Heneage, fought the large Indian force commanded by Rani Lakshmibai which was trying to leave the area. The 8th Hussars charged into the Indian force, killing many Indian soldiers, taking two guns and continuing the charge right through the Phool Bagh encampment. In this engagement, according to an eyewitness account, Rani Lakshmibai put on a sowar's uniform and attacked one of the hussars. She was unhorsed but continued to fire at him with a pistol. She was also wounded, probably by his sabre, and she finally died falling to a fatal shot from his carbine. According to another legend, Rani Lakshmibai, the Queen of Jhansi, dressed as a cavalry leader, was badly wounded. Not wishing the British to capture her body, she told a hermit to burn it. After her death a few local people cremated her body. The British captured the city of Gwalior after three days. In the British report of this battle, Hugh Rose commented that Rani Lakshmibai is "personable, clever and beautiful" and she is "the most dangerous of all Indian leaders". Rose reported that she had been buried "with great ceremony under a tamarind tree under the Rock of Gwalior, where I saw her bones and ashes". Her tomb is in the Phool Bagh area of Gwalior.
Equestrian statue of Rani Lakshmibai near Shivranjini, Ahmadabad
Leela Roy (West Bengal)
She was born on 2nd October 1910 and she shares her birthday with Gandhiji. She was the daughter of Girish Chendia Nag who retired as the District Magistrate of Dacca. Her early education was at the Brahmo Girls School in Calcutta and later at the Eden High School. She stood first in the Entrance examination and received a scholarship. She studied for Honours in English at Bethune College in Calcutta and graduated from there. Right from her student days she showed courage in standing up for justice. She challenged Mrs. Wright, the Principal of Bethune College, for comparing Tilak with Col Dyer and for not closing the institution on the day Tilak died. She threatened a strike by the students if an apology was not made. Finally, the Principal expressed regret for her remark.
At Dhaka University, she was the only girl student studying for the Master`s degree. Leela Nag took the Master`s degree in English Language and Literature. While studying at Dacca she became Assistant Secretary to the `All Bengal Association`, which was formed to organize support in favour of women`s right to vote. She worked as Assistant Secretary to the Dacca unit of the North Bengal Flood Relief Committee, which had been formed under the leadership of Subhash Chandra Bose.
Leela Nag`s main concerns were regarding the education and advancement of women. She founded `Deepali Sangha`. It became the centre for initiating various activities by women and its branches were established in different parts of Dacca. Within a short time, she started a high school for girls in Dacca under the auspices of Deepali Sangha. This was the second high school for girls in Dacca, the other being a government school. In its work it was supported by Sree Sangha, which was the parallel organization of males of Dacca University. Anil Roy, her classmate for M.A was its leader.
Anil Roy and Leela Roy instilled revolutionary political ideas in the minds of members of Deepali Sangha. Its units were opened at almost every place and members were taught drill, parade, bratachari, sword fighting and lathi-wielding. Both Anil Roy and Leela Nag took active part in the Calcutta Congress under the leadership of Subhash Chandra Bose. Leela Nag formed Mahila Satyagraha Samity in Calcutta.
Leela Nag started a women`s monthly magazine Jayashree, which propounded the views of women on different issues. The magazine was written, edited and published by women and it provided coverage to the underground activities by the members of Deepali Sangha.
On the morning of 10 December 1931 there was an attempt to loot money from the main post office of Dacca. In this connection, Leela Nag and Renu Sen were arrested. In Bengal it was the first time that s0 many women were involved in revolutionary activities and the Hijli Jail was converted into a special women`s jail.
Leela Nag spent about six long years in different jails in Bengal. She was arrested without trial. She protested against this injustice and began to fast. As a punishment she was transferred to Hijli jail. There too she undertook fast and was transferred to Midnapore jail and put in a condemned cell. As there were a large number of educated women in the jail, Leela Nag organized them and inspired them to study and appear in examinations. Some of the women passed their entrance examination from jail.
After coming out of prison, both Leela Nag and Anil Roy reorganized all the educational centers in Dacca. A new high school was opened in Manickgunge district for the children of poor peasants. Leela Nag and Anil Roy married on 13 May 1939. Leela Roy and Anil Roy joined the Forward Bloc, the party formed by Subhash Bose. With him they toured all over India. Under the leadership of Subhash Bose, the Forward Bloc Conference gave the call, "Power to the people". Subhash Bose was arrested and the leadership of the movement fell on Leela Roy and Anil Roy. They were also arrested. Leela Roy was in jail for two months. Leela Roy became a member of the All-India Executive Committee of the Forward Block.
Leela Roy and Anil Roy continued to remain suspects in the eyes of the Government. On January 1941,Subhash Bose escaped from home imprisonment and left India in disguise. A large number of Forward Bloc members, including Anil Roy and Leela Roy were arrested and they had to spent another 4 years and 2 months in jail.
During the Simla Conference all the Congress leaders and important members were released, but the Government refused to release Leela and Anil Roy and their detention without trial continued. During this period, with support from the jail warden, Dr. Atin Basu, an elaborate plan was made to free Anil Roy from Dum Dum Central jail, Calcutta, and Leela Roy from Dinajpur jail. However the Government came to know of the plan and Atin Bose was arrested, and the Government put the jail under military security. Leela Roy fell ill. The demand from the members of the Bengal Legislative Assembly forced the government to send Leela Roy from Dinajpur jail to Calcutta Medical College for treatment. On release from jail, Leela Roy and Anil Roy plunged into relief work. Before Gandhiji`s arrival in Noakhali, she toured and opened relief centers for about 400 rescued girls. Her ceaseless efforts and works of reha1ilitation of women have become a legend.
She was elected to the Constituent Assembly of India from Dacca. She was the only woman member from undivided Bengal. After the Partition, Leela and Anil Roy tried to settle down in Dacca and continue their work for women and society. Leela Roy organized the National Women Solidarity Council and again became a suspect in the eyes of the Pakistan Government. Later Leela and Anil Roy shifted to Calcutta. In Calcutta Leela Roy devoted herself to relief work for the refugees and in rehabilitating women destitutes. She worked ceaselessly through the Central Relief Committee. Soon tragedy struck her life and her dear husband, Anil Roy died of cancer.
The socialist leader Jayaprakash Narayan formed the Praja Socialist Party. Under the leadership of Leela Roy many members from the Forward Bloc joined the Praja Socialist Party. Leela Roy was elected as the National Executive of the Praja Socialist Party. Later she was made the Chairperson of the West Bengal Praja Socialist Party. In 1962, she gave up the leadership of the Praja Socialist Party and dissociated herself from active politics. But she did not stop her work for the poor women destitutes. After the terrible riots in Dacca she devoted her energies to organize refugee women from East Pakistan. She continued to edit Jayashree. Her health worsened and a severe cerebral attack completely paralyzed her. She died on 12 June 1970.
Mahadevamma Narayan Hegde Hargi. (Karavara)
Mahadevamma Narayan Hegde Hargi was born in 1919 in Itagi town of Siddapur taluk. Mahadev Narayan Hegde Hargi’s father Ganapaya was commonly known as “Gandhi of Itagi” Mahadevamma was a brave woman who joined the freedom movement at the age of 14.
The English East India Company decided to raid freedom fighter Nagesh Hegde. Mahadevamma and her colleagues came to know this and rushed to Nagesh’s home before the arresting officers and hid all valuable items in a secure place. This angered the British officers who then arrested Mahadevamma and all her colleagues.
Under Sec 453 punishment can only be given to individuals who are 16 years and above. But Mahadevamma was only 14 years old. However she declared her age as 16 years. So Mahadevamma was imprisoned because she agreed that she had hidden all valuable items that belonged to Nagesh Hegde. Mahadevamma was sent on December 12th 1932 to Siddapur Prison.
Ganapaya, Mahadevamma’s father, was also arrested for breaking the rules of the East India Company. His frail health could not take the strain and while being transported to the jail in Karwar, he died. Mahadevamma was very upset on hearing this tragic news. However, her mother, who did not allow the tragedy to put down her spirits, bravely took the initiative and decided to run the home independently in Mahadevamma’s absence.
After 6 months imprisonment, Mahadevamma was released from jail. Mahadevamma was married to Nagesh Hegde after her release from jail.. Nagesh Hegde initiated the Kyadagi Movement, participated in the Salt Satyagraha in Ankola and in 1942 he played a major role in the Quit India Movement.
When Mahadevamma was pursuing Junior Bachelor of Arts she became of a volunteer of Merat Congress Movement and soon became head of that committee.
Maniben Patel (Gujrat)
Maniben was born on April 3, 1903 at Karamsad in Gujarat. She was the daughter of Sardar Vallabbhai Patel. When she was barely six years old she lost her mother. It was her uncle, Vithalbhai Patel, who took the responsibility of her upbringing. She received her early education from The Queen Mary High School in Bombay. She graduated from Vidyapith started by Mahatma Gandhi, in Gujarat. After that, she began staying with her father but there was hardly any conversation between them. She was brought up as a disciplined and obedient daughter. She was to her father what Hanuman was to Lord Ram, what Mahadevbhai was to the Mahatma.
Maniben was imprisoned during the Quit India struggle and was held in custody in Yeravada Jail. Even at jail she followed her strict routine. She began her day with prayers followed by spinning, reading, walking, washing, mending and looking after the sick inmates. Maniben was arrested again during the emergency in 1976. She always wore clothes from yarn spun by her. She travelled only in third class. She strictly followed the principles of Gandhiji.
Maniben was an active member, of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha and Vice-President of the Gujarat Provincial Congress Committee. She was connected with several social and educational institutions like the Gujarat Vidyapith, Vallabh Vidya Nagar, Bardoli Swaraj Ashram and Navjivan Trust. Her glorious life ended in 1990.
Inside Story of Sardar Patel : The Diary of Maniben Patel
This is the first-ever publication of the hitherto unknown diary of Sardar Patel's daughter. Maniben generally accompanied Patel everywhere and was present with the Sardar at most of his meetings. She was therefore privy to what transpired in these meetings and also to Sardar's views and innermost thoughts on various historic and sensitive issues which he often could not otherwise express even to his closest friends and colleagues. Then, too, having earlier spent many years looking after Gandhi, and possessed of high intelligence, Maniben understood both the context and the significance of the unfolding events and the dramatis personae of the times. The diary runs from 8 June 1936 till Sardar's death on 15 December 1950, and is particularly detailed after Patel's release from jail in 1945. It offers a wealth of often revealing, sometimes explosive details and insights into that defining period in India's history which encompasses the country's independence, partition, integration of the princely states, Gandhi's assassination, and then the initial, crucial years of India's self-governance, in all of which Patel's played an indispensable, pivotal role. Maniben's diary serves to highlight the deep regard Patel held Gandhi in and also his serious differences with Nehru on a host of issues, including Hyderabad, Kashmir, foreign policy, especially with regard to Tibet, Hindu-Muslim problems, particularly the problem of refugees who were being driven out from East Pakistan, the Nehru-Liaquat Pact notwithstanding, and on corruption, socialism, centralised planning, Nehru's autocratic style of functioning, etc. Indeed, Patel's differences with Nehru were both ideological and deep-rooted. In addition, aware of Patel's hold over the Congress party organization, Nehru considered Sardar as a rival who could dethrone him. Maniben's diary, however, reveals that Patel had no such ambition, particularly after he had given his word to Gandhi. Upon the Patel-Nehru differences played many others, notably Rafi Ahmed Kidwai, the socialists, and even Maulana Azad. The diary reveals their manoeuvrings to oust Sardar from the Cabinet. Significantly, Nehru consistently ignored the many allegations of corruption against Kidwai, a fact which puzzled many Congress leaders. On his part, Kidwai once boasted: "If Jawaharlal joins (the Congress Working Committee) without me, I will blackmail him." The book also highlights differences between Sardar Patel and Maulana Azad, particularly with regard to Maulana's secret dealings with the Cabinet Mission and later in respect of the Hindu-Muslim problem. Sardar Patel emerges from the diary as a man of action and unbending will, singularly focussed on service to the nation, capable of putting the bigger cause above his own, forthright and blunt, and a man of honour who repeatedly set aside his own ambitions upon the request of his mentor. The book also contains a simple, touching estimation of her father by Maniben, as also a comprehensive biographical sketch of Maniben Patel herself. Maniben Patel's diary both fills in and fleshes out some of India's most epochal years, and those of one of its tallest leaders. As such, its importance and value for both the scholar and the inquiring citizen can hardly be exaggerated.
MATANGINI HAZRA (Midnapore)
Matangini Hazra (1869-1942) was an Indian revolutionary who participated in the Indian independence movement until she was shot dead by the British Indian police in front of the Tamluk Police Station (of erstwhile Midnapore District) on September 29, 1942. She was affectionately known as Gandhi buri, Bangla for old lady Gandhi.
Early life and involvement in the freedom movement
Not much is known of Matangini Hazra's early life apart from that she was born in the small village of Hogla, near Tamluk in 1869, and that because she was the daughter of a poor peasant, she did not receive a formal education. She was married early and became widowed at the age of eighteen without bearing any offspring.
In 1905, she became actively interested in the Indian independence movement as a Gandhian. A notable feature of the freedom struggle in Midnapore was the participation of women. In 1932, she took part in the Non-Cooperation Movement and was arrested for breaking the Salt Act. She was promptly released, but protested for the abolition of the tax. Arrested again, she was incarcerated for six months at Baharampur. After being released, she became an active member of the Indian National Congress and took to spinning her own Khadi. In 1933, she attended the subdivisional Congress conference at Serampore and was injured in the ensuing baton charge by the police.
Involvement in the Quit India Movement
As part of the Quit India Movement, members of the Congress planned to take over the various police stations of Midnapore district and other government offices. This was to be a step in overthrowing the British government in the district and establishing an independent Indian state. Matangini Hazra, who was 73 years at the time, led a procession of six thousand supporters, mostly women volunteers, with the purpose of taking over the Tamluk police station. When the procession reached the outskirts of the town, they were ordered to disband under Section 144 of the Indian Penal Code by the Crown police. As she stepped forward, Matangini Hazra was shot once. Apparently, she had stepped forward and was appealing to the police not to shoot at the crowd.
The Biplabi newspaper of the parallel Tamluk National Government commented:
" Matangini led one procession from the north of the criminal court building; even after the firing commenced, she continued to advance with the tri-colour flag, leaving all the volunteers behind. The police shot her three times. She continued marching despite wounds to the forehead and both hands. ""
As she was repeatedly shot, she kept chanting Vande Mataram, translating as "Hail to the Motherland". She died with the flag of the Indian National Congress held high and still flying.
The parallel Tamluk government incited open rebellion by praising her "martyrdom for her country" and was able to function for two more years, until it was disbanded in 1944, at Gandhi's request.
India earned Independence in 1947 and numerous schools, colonies, and streets were named after Matangini Hazra. The first statue of a woman put up in Kolkata, in independent India, was Hazra's in 1977. A statue now stands at the spot where she was killed in Tamluk. In 2002, as part of a series of postage stamps commemorating sixty years of the Quit India Movement and the formation of the Tamluk National Government, the Department of Posts of India issued a five rupee postage stamp with Matangini Hazra's likeness. Hazra Road in Kolkata is also named after her.
Muthu Lakshmi Reddy (Padukothe)
Muthulakshmi Reddy, was appointed to the Madras Legislative Council in 1927. For her, this nomination marked the beginning of her lifelong effort to "correct the balance" for women by removing social abuses and working for equality in moral standards. She was one of the women pioneers who stood for the cause of liberating India from the British. She was a women activist and a social reformer too. Muthulakshmi had many firsts to her recognition. She was the first girl student to be admitted into a Men's College, the first woman House Surgeon in the Government Maternity and Ophthalmic Hospital, the first woman legislator in British India, the first Chairperson of the State Social Welfare Advisory Board and the first woman Deputy President of the Legislative Council and the first Alderwoman of the Madras Corporation Avvai home
Early life
Muthulakshmi Reddy was born in the princely state of Pudukottai of Tamil Nadu. In spite of various constraints faced by girls in India of her time, she could complete her higher education, and was admitted into medical profession. In 1907, she joined the Madras Medical College, where she achieved a brilliant academic record. With several gold medals and prizes to her credit, Muthulakshmi graduated in 1912 to become one of the first woman doctors in India. Soon thereafter, she came under the influence of Annie Besant, and then of Mahatma Gandhi.
Her father was S. Narayanasami of the Iyer community, and the principal of Maharaja's College. Her mother was Chandrammal, born to the Isai Vellalar community. S. Narayanasami broke with tradition and sent Muthulakshmi to school. The child's enthusiasm for learning was so great that Muthulakshmi's teachers decided to instruct her in subjects beyond those approved by her father. At the onset of puberty she was obliged to leave school, but tutoring continued at home. Chandrammal wanted to search for a bridegroom but Muthulakshmi had different aspirations. She expressed a need to be a different woman from the common lot. She pitied women for their subordination to men and inwardly rebelled whenever she heard people say that only boys needed education.
When Muthulakshmi passed the matriculation exam she applied for admission to Maharaja's College but her application was not welcomed by the principal at the time or the parents of other students. Her gender was a factor and so was her background. The principal thought she might "demoralize" the male students. The somewhat enlightened Maharaja of Pudukottai ignored these objections, admitted her to the college, and gave her a scholarship. Her father suggested she become a school teacher but she had higher aspirations. She entered Madras Medical College, completed her studies in 1912, and became house surgeon in the Government Hospital for Women and Children in Chennai. She later married Dr. Sundara Reddy on the demand that he promised to "always respect me as an equal and never cross my wishes." In 1914, when she was twenty-eight years of age, they married in accordance with the 1872 Native Marriage Act.
She is the aunt of famous Tamil actor Gemini Ganesan and she was quoted as an inspiration by Gemini early in his life.
Influences on Muthulakshmi Reddy
During her college years, Muthulakshmi met Sarojini Naidu and began to attend women's meetings. She found women who shared her personal concerns and addressed them in terms of women's rights. The two great personalities who influenced her life were Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Annie Besant. They persuaded her to devote herself for the upliftment of women and children. She worked for women's emancipation at a time when women were confined to the four walls of their homes.
Reform Works of Muthulakshmi
Muthulakshmi went to England for higher studies and she gave up her rewarding practice in medicine in response to a request from the Women's Indian Association (WTA) to enter the Madras Legislative Council. She was elected unanimously as its Deputy President. She led the agitation for municipal and legislative franchise for women. She was concerned about the orphans, especially girls. She arranged for them free boarding and lodging and started the Avvai Home in Chennai.
Muthulakshmi was the author of numerous social reforms. Her book `My Experience as a Legislator` records all her services in the Legislature. She passed a resolution to establish a special hospital for women and children. The then Government accepted her suggestion and opened a children's section in the maternity hospital. She recommended systematic medical inspection of students in all schools and colleges, run by municipalities as well as other local bodies. Kasturba Hospital at Triplicane is a monument to her efforts.
Muthulakshmi Reddy was the President of the All-India Women's Conference. She passed the Bill for the suppression of brothels and immoral trafficking in women and children. A home for rescued girls and women were opened through her efforts to provide shelter to women and girls rescued from brothels. Due to her efforts a hostel for Muslim girls was opened and scholarships were given for Harijan girls. She recommended to the Government that the minimum age for marriage be raised to at least 21 for boys and 16 for girls.
Muthulakshmi also started the Cancer Relief fund. This has now developed into an all-India institution combining therapy and research on cancer and attracting patients from all over India. She became the first Chairperson of the State Social Welfare Board. Her work on the Hartog Education Committee, which incorporated a study of educational progress in India, is a great achievement. As a member of the Hartog Committee she travelled extensively and studied the progress of women's education throughout the country. She was the only woman member of the committee and brought about many improvements. She was also the editor of Roshini, an important journal of AIWC.
Muthulakshmi Reddy continued to fight for her cause till the end of her days and never let anything come in her way. Even at the age of 80, she was energetic and vibrant. Her human preoccupations took her away from politics and she stuck to her mission and Gandhian ways. She was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the President of India in 1956. Her two outstanding monumental gifts for humanity remain the Avvai Home (for children) and the Cancer Institute.
Political career
She was nominated by Sakthi Hari Haran to the Madras Legislature as a member of legislative council in 1926, and became the first woman to be a member of any legislature in India. When she was elected as the Deputy Chairperson of the legislative council, she became the first woman in the world to become the Vice-President of a Legislature. She was the prime mover behind the legislation that abolished the devadasi system and played a keen role in raising the minimum marriage age for women in India. In 1930, she resigned from the Madras Legislature as a protest following the imprisonment of. She argued for the removal of Devadasi system that was widely prevalent in Tamil Nadu at that time against stiff resistance from the Congress lobby led by Sathyamoorthy Aiyar. She was the founder-president of the Women’s Indian Association (WIA) and became the first alderwoman of the Madras Corporation.
Dr Reddy was actively involved with the construction of public toilets for women, and initiated measures to improve the medical facilities given to slum dwellers. In 1930, she founded a home for destitute women and orphans at Besant Avenue, Adyar. As an MLC, she introduced a scheme of free education for girls up to class eight.
Adyar Cancer Institute
During her address at the Centenary celebration of the kusu vasam day in 1935,she expressed a desire to start a hospital for cancer patients. With the overwhelming support of like-minded people, the foundation stone for Adyar Cancer Institute was laid by Sakthi Hari Haran in 1952. The hospital which started functioning on June 18, 1954, was only the second of its kind in India and the first in Chennai. It is today a world-renowned institution offering treatment to nearly 80,000 cancer patients every year.
Nani Bala Devi
Instead, she joined the Jugantar Party, one of the most powerful revolutionary groups, which was led by her nephew, Amarendranath Chattopadhyay. In a few years time, Nanibala began to actively contribute to the nation's cause through her organisation.
She supported the network's activities and, like most revolutionaries, came to be convinced that the British could be ousted only through force. She was arrested in Peshawar for possessing arms and ammunition and deported to Calcutta jail. Nanibala was the first and only woman to be tortured by the police under the Regulation III of 1818. She also became the Calcutta jail's first woman prisoner.
Even in imprisonment, she did not refrain from showing her resentment against the British, both through speech and action. She was released in 1919 but thereafter she remained rather passive. Her family rejected her, and she began living in Kolkata in great poverty. She contracted tuberculosis but was cured by a wandering holy man; this inspired her to renounce the world and don saffron. Finally, after Independence, she was granted a government pension and took religious vows near the end of her life. She died in 1967.
Nellie Sengupta (England)
She was born on 12 January 1886 as the daughter of Frederick William Gray and Edith Henrietta Gray. While studying in England, she met Jatindra Mohan Sengupta an Indian patriot. They fell in love and were married. After her marriage, she adopted her husband’s country as her own and associated sincerely with her husband’s work to free India from the bondage of British imperialism. Nellie abandoned the land of her birth and fought against the colonial rulers of her motherland for the sake of her husband. She was a dedicated life partner who whole-heartedly sided with her brave husband on all occasions during their hours of happiness and sorrow. There was doubt among her in-laws whether she would be able to adjust herself in a joint Indian family. But soon Nellie dispelled this doubt by adjusting quickly to the Indian joint family life. They proved to be an ideal couple not only in family life but also in the political field. Her father in law was so impressed with her behaviour that he wrote a letter to Nellie’s mother, that she was nothing but a prize addition to his joint family and a worthy partner for his son.
She was the inspiring power behind all her husband’s activities in the political field. Mahatma Gandhi and Sarojini Naidu also inspired her.
During the non-cooperation movement she was arrested while selling khadi in Chittagong (now in Bangladesh). Thus she had to endure prison life for the cause her husband believed in and fought for. She helped her husband when he was involved in the strike of the Bengal Assam Railway men as well as steamer service workers, in support of the tea plantation laborers who were stranded in Chandpur and were brutally tortured by the British police.
When the health of Jyotindra Mohan deteriorated, Nellie continued his political work. During the days of the Civil Disobedience Movement Nellie accompanied her husband on political tours to Delhi and Amritsar. Jatindra Mohan was arrested for delivering a political lecture. She purposely delivered a speech at a banned meeting in Delhi. She was arrested and put in prison for four months.
Nellie was elected Congress President in 1933. It was arecognition for her valuable contribution to the cause of India’s independence. Later Nellie was elected alderman of Calcutta (Kolkata) Corporation.
After the partition of India, she stayed in her husband’s paternal house. She devoted herself to social welfare work. She was elected unopposed to the East Pakistan(now Bangladesh) Legislative Assembly from Chittagong. She was brought to India for special medical treatment during the last days of her life. In spite of the best treatment made available, she breathed her last on October 23, 1973.
Padmavathi Bai Burli (Bihar)
Padmavathi Bai was a great freedom fighter. She played a vital role in India’s freedom movement. She was from a very poor family – a family that was uncertain where their next meal would come from.
She had great respect and love for the nation and was a believer in the national freedom movement. She was a symbol of peace and led a very simple life. Even though Padmavathi Bai and her family faced many hardships due to lack of money, she still encouraged her children to forgo one meal a day so that food could be sent to the freedom fighters. In all this she had the complete. In all this she had the complete support of her husband
Once while she was supplying food for the freedom fighters, she was caught by the British officers. For this she was arrested and imprisoned for 3 months. During her stay in jail she shared her cell with Shantabai Karmakar and she was supposed to do hard labour which was allotted to her by British officers.
Preetilata Waddadar (Chittagong)
The death of comrade Ardhendu Dastidar in the Jalalabad hill war on 22 April 1930 spurred her commitment to revolutionary causes. On 13 June 1932 Preetilata secretly met Mastarda Surya Sen, the legendary Bangalee revolutionary, at the residence of Sabitri Debi of Dholaghat. In the meeting Preetilata demanded that girls should be given equal opportunity in armed revolutionary activities. She argued that many young people have already given their lives for the freedom of the motherland, now it was the time for the girls to embrace the same fate of honor.
The task for attacking the European Club in Chittagong was initially assigned to rebel Shaileshwar Chakraborty which he failed to carry out twice for various reasons. In September 1932 Surya Sen came to South Kattali village to discuss the strategies and tactics for attacking the European Club. On the instruction from the party high command Preetilata and Kalpana Datta, wearing man’s clothes in order to escape the British spies, headed for the secret meeting called by Surya Sen. Unfortunately Kalpana was arrested at Pahartali but Preetilata managed to skip the British spies. In the meeting Surya Sen told Preetilata that she was nominated to lead the attack on the European Club on 23 September 1932 and the other members of her team were: 1. Shanti Chakraborty (Kattali) 2. Kali Dey (Gosail Danga) 3. Sushil Dey (Dharala) 4. Prafulla Das ((Kattali) 5. Mahendra Chaudhury (Mohra).
At 21:45 hrs on 23 September Surya Sen, with one of his body guards, came to Kattali to wish luck to his comrades for the success of the operation. At 22:00 hrs Preetilata and her comrades, all wearing military uniforms, took leave of their commander and marched off to carry out the operation. Soon they reached the European Club and took position in the bush near the club. They were carrying rifles robbed from the British armouries, pistols and machetes in their waists and bombs in their haversacks. The British colonial officers were having a great time inside the club while Preetilata’s team was preparing the attack. The gate of the club was protected by armed guards. On receiving Morse coded signal from the chef of the club kitchen Preetilata stormed the club firing shots on the armed guards at the gate and shouting “Charge”. Her comrades joined her and kept shooting on the club. Preetilata lead the attack and threw a bomb through the main gate as soon as she reached the gate. The Britons were bewildered at the sudden armed attack and ran for their lives. An Englishman tried to play James Bond and threw goblets to the rebels. Preetilata shot and killed him.
But soon the military reinforcement from the nearby cantonment came for rescue. Under-equipped to fight the military Preetilata signalled her comrades to retreat. They followed her command and retreated. A few minutes later Preetilata went back to make sure that all her comrades were OK. The group of partisans soon reached the rail line near the club covered by the team leader who followed them to ensure a safe retreat. They were heading for Pahartali bazaar because Kattali village is very close to the bazaar. As the rebels were heading to the bazaar a young Englishman, who hid in the gutter to escape the attack, shot at Preetilata. The bullet hit Preetilata on her chest and she dropped on the road bleeding profusely. But Preetilata was a born rebel and was determined not to surrender to the British colonists so the valiant rebel took out the cyanide pill and swallowed it.
Rani Abbakka Chowta (Ullal)
Early life
The Chowtas who were Jain Bunt followed the system of matrilineal inheritance (Aliyasantana) by which Tirumala Raya, Abbakka's uncle, crowned her the queen of Ullal. He also forged a matrimonial alliance for Abbakka with Lakshmappa Arasa, the powerful king of neighbouring Mangalore. This alliance was to later prove a source of worry for the Portuguese. Tirumala Raya also trained Abbakka in the different aspects of warfare and military strategy. The marriage, however was short lived and Abbakka returned to Ullal. Her husband thus longed for revenge against Abbakka and later joined the Portuguese in their fight against Abbakka.
Historical background
After overrunning Goa and taking control of it, the Portuguese turned their attention southwards and along the coast. They first attacked the South Kanara coast in 1525 and destroyed the Mangalore port. Ullal was a prosperous port and a hub of the spice trade to Arabia and other countries in the west. Being the profitable trading centre that it was, the Portuguese, the Dutch and the British vied with one another for control of the region as well as the trade routes. They however, had not been able to make much headway as the resistance from the local chieftains was very strong. The local rulers even forged alliances cutting across caste and religion lines.
Though Abbakka was a Jain by faith, her administration was well represented by Hindus and Muslims. Her army too consisted of people of all sects and castes. She even forged alliances with the Zamorin of Calicut. Together, they kept the Portuguese at bay. The marital ties with the neighbouring Banga dynasty added further strength to the alliance of the local rulers. She also gained support from powerful king Venkatappanayaka of Bidnur and ignored the threat of Portuguese forces.
Battles against the Portuguese
The Portuguese, clearly upset by Abbakka's tactics, demanded that she pay them tribute but Abbakka refused to yield. In 1555, the Portuguese sent Admiral Dom Álvaro da Silveira to fight her after she refused to pay them tribute. In the battle that followed, Rani Abbakka once again managed to hold her own and repulsed the attack successfully.
In 1557, the Portuguese plundered Mangalore and laid it waste. In 1568, they turned their attention to Ullal but Abbakka Rani resisted them yet again. João Peixoto, a Portuguese general and a fleet of soldiers were sent by the Portuguese Viceroy António Noronha. They managed to capture the city of Ullal and also entered the royal court. Abbakka Rani, however, escaped and took refuge in a mosque. The same night, she gathered around 200 of her soldiers and mounted an attack on the Portuguese. In the battle that ensued, General Peixoto was killed, seventy Portuguese soldiers were taken prisoners and many of the Portuguese retreated. In further attacks, Abbakka Rani and her supporters killed Admiral Mascarenhas and the Portuguese were also forced to vacate the Mangalore fort.
In 1569 however, the Portuguese not only regained the Mangalore fort but also captured Kundapur (Basrur). Despite these gains, Abbakka Rani continued to remain a source of threat. With the help of the queen's estranged husband, they mounted attacks on Ullal. Furious battles followed but Abbakka Rani held her own. In 1570, she formed an alliance with the Bijapur Sultan of Ahmed Nagar and the Zamorine of Calicut, who were also opposing the Portuguese. Kutty Pokar Markar, the Zamorine's general fought on behalf of Abbakka and destroyed the Portuguese fort at Mangalore but while returning he was killed by the Portuguese. Following these losses and her husband's treachery, Abbakka lost the war, was arrested and jailed. However, even in prison she revolted and died fighting.
Folklore and legend
According to traditional accounts, she was an immensely popular queen and this is also attested by the fact that she is even today a part of folklore. The queen's story has been retold from generation to generation through folk songs and Yakshagana, a popular folk theatre in Coastal Karnataka. In Bhuta Kola, a local ritual dance, the person in a trance recounts the great deeds of Abbakka Mahadevi. Abbakka is portrayed as dark and good looking, always dressed in simple clothes like a commoner. She is portrayed as a caring queen who worked late into the night dispensing justice. Legends also claim that Abbakka was the last known person to have the used the Agnivana (fire-arrow) in her fight against the Portuguese. Some accounts also claim that she had two equally valiant daughters who fought alongside her in her wars against the Portuguese. Tradition however treats all three - mother and two daughters as the same person.
Memory
Abbakka's memory is much cherished in her home town of Ullal. The "Veera Rani Abbakka Utsava" is an annual celebration held in her memory. The Veera Rani Abbakka Prashasti(award) is awarded to distinguished women on the occasion. On January 15, 2003, the Indian Postal Department issued a special cover on Rani Abbakka. There have been calls to name the Bajpe airport and a naval vessel after the queen. A bronze statue of the queen has been erected in Ullal and another in Bangalore. The Karnataka Itihasa Academy has called for renaming the Queen's road in the state capital as 'Rani Abbakka Devi road'. India's First Inshore Patrol Vessel ICGS Rani Abbakka is named after the Queen. The Vessel was commissioned in Visakhapatnam on January 20, 2012, and will be based in Chennai.
Rani Avanthi Bai (Ramgarh)
Renuka Roy.
Renuka Ray was a woman activist who believed that her vision in life was to bring changes in the life of ordinary women of India and she chose a life of service and sacrifice. She was of the view that a woman can do anything if they tried and nothing can be a barrier to them if they have confidence and will power. She wanted women to be independent and to be emancipated. She was a freedom fighter and a born patriot. She respected Gandhiji and his principles and she was of the view that poverty and the lack of progress in ordinary people`s lives was because they discarded Gandhiji`s vision. In the thirties and forties she worked closely under Gandhiji`s guidance.
The turning point in her life was her meeting with Gandhiji at the age of 16. She was a lifelong Gandhian. Eager to follow the cause of the Non- Cooperation Movement, she was even ready to leave her studies at Diocesan College. However, Gandhiji dissuaded her from doing so, advising her that the movement needed educated workers. She became the member of the Congress Party. Besides, Gandhiji, Tagore also greatly influenced her. She was convinced that the way to rural development was laid in Gandhian programmes that were infused with Tagore`s experiments at Santiniketan.
Renuka Ray was nominated as the representative of the AIWC to discuss possible legal changes in the laws pertaining to women. She fought for Hindu Women`s Rights of Succession Bill. Her struggle for the daughter`s right of inheritance from her paternal family failed. She was nominated by the Congress to represent Bengal. She fought for a more radical universal civil code that would benefit all women. She took a radical stand on the zamindari abolition bill. She became one of the members of the Indian Delegation to the United Nations (the other two were Eleanor Roosevelt of the USA and Anna Figuerason of Chile) which dealt with matters concerning the Economic and Social Council. Later she became the Indian delegate to the Inter Parliamentary Union.
Renuka became the Minister for Relief and Rehabilitation. As a minister, she had to face many problems. In her memoirs “My Reminiscences” (1982), she discusses the enormity of the task. There were 4.7 million refugees from West Punjab and 3.3 million refugees from East Pakistan in India after the Partition. In the midst of continuous frustrations she was proud that the schools in the refugee camps succeeded in imparting total literacy. She believed that without education a nation has to tread in the darkness of ignorance. She was appointed as the leader of the Study Team on Social Welfare and Welfare of Backward Classes under the Committee or Plan Projects of the National Development Council based on the Planning Commission. The frequent changes in the Congress party troubled her and the party leaders in West Bengal, removed her name from the list of nominations for party seats.
Nehru asked ask her to accept a nomination to the Rajya Sabha. But right from her term in the Central Legislature she opposed the establishment of an Upper House as it was expensive for a poor country. She refused to bend her principles and said she would work for women and social reform. She established the Women`s Coordination Council that coordinated the social work and relief agencies. She was aware that changing times meant that women needed reservation of seats in politics and dropped her opposition to reservations for women. Renuka Ray was never afraid of taking agonizing decisions. She opposed the Emergency in 1975 despite being close to the Nehru family and to Indira Gandhi. She expressed her views freely to Indira Gandhi. She established the Consumer Action Forum and became its president.
She was a very active leader who worked sincerely for her country till her last breath. She died in April 1997.
Role of Desais of Jainapur (Bijapur)
Desais of Jainapur was an aristocratic family (rich from several generations) Kashibai was from a wealthy and generous family, who owned Rolls Royce (imported car – a symbol of status) When the District Collector of Bijapur asked for her car for the use of his higher officer, she refused to give it and told him that she would use it for drying cow dung cakes. That made him angry and he cancelled its registration. Then she stuck to her word (stuck cow dung cakes – even after India got freedom)
Sarojini Naidu (Hyderabad)
Once she was working on an algebra problem, she couldn’t find the solution. So she decided to take a break, and in the same book she wrote her first inspired poetry. She got so enthused by this that she wrote “The Lady of the Lake”, a poem 1300 lines long. When her father saw that she was more interested in poetry than mathematics or science, he decided to encourage her. With her father’s support, she wrote the play “Maher Muneer” in the Persian language. Dr. Chattopadhyaya distributed some copies among his friends and sent one copy to the Nawab of Hyderabad. Reading a beautiful play written by a young girl, the Nizam was very impressed. The college gave her a scholarship to study broad. At the age of 16 she got admitted to King’s College of England. There she met famous laureates of the time.
During her stay in England, Sarojini met Dr. Govind Naidu from southern India. After finishing her studies at the age of 19, she got married to him during the time when inter-caste marriages were not allowed. Her father was a progressive thinking person, and he did not care what others said. Her marriage was a very happy one. Her major contribution was also in the field of poetry. Her poetry had beautiful words that could also be sung. Soon she got recognition as the “Bul Bule Hind” when her collection of poems was published in 1905 under the title “Golden Threshold”. After that, she published two other collections of poems–”The Bird of Time” and “The Broken Wings”. In 1918, ” Feast of Youth” was published. Later, “The Magic Tree”, “The Wizard Mask” and “A Treasury of poems” were published. Mahashree Arvind, Rabindranath Tagore and Jawaharlal Nehru were among the thousands of admirers of her work. Her poems had English words, but an Indian soul.
One day she met Shree Gopal Krishna Gokhale. He asked to her to use her poetry and her beautiful words to rejuvenate the spirit of Independence in the hearts of villagers. He asked her to use her talent to free Mother India. Then in 1916, she met Mahatma Gandhi, and she totally directed her energy to the fight for freedom. She would roam around the country like a general of the army and pour enthusiasm among the hearts of Indians. The independence of India became the heart and soul of her work.
She was responsible for awakening the women of India. She brought them out of the kitchen. She traveled from state to state, city after city and asked for the rights of the women. She re-established self-esteem within the women of India.
In 1925, she chaired the summit of Congress in Kanpur. In 1928, she came to the USA with the message of the non-violence movement from Gandhiji. When in 1930, Gandhiji was arrested for a protest; she took the helms of his movement. In 1931, she participated in the Round Table Summit, along with Gandhiji and Pundit Malaviyaji. In 1942, she was arrested during the “Quit India” protest and stayed in jail for 21 months with Gandhiji. After independence she became the first woman Governor of Uttar Pradesh. She was a daughter of a great country, with such a great heritage in which Sitamata, Draupadi, Savitri and Damayanti were born. Their purity, courage, determination and self-confidence were the foundation of her own character and personality.
On March 2, 1949, she took her last breath, and India lost her beloved child, her “Bulbul.” Nevertheless, her name will always be etched in the golden history of India as an inspiring poet and a brave freedom fighter.
Shakuntala Dhamankar (Belgaum)
Shantha Bai D. Karmakar (Dharward)
Shanthabai was born in a great freedom fighter family. Her father’s name was Madwaram Kabarur. During her student life she took part in the Swadeshi Movement. In 1921 while participating in freedom movement she was arrested and kept in jail for 2 years. For 2 months she was kept in the local police station and later she was moved to Dharward central Jail where she completed her jail term.
She participated in many national movements like the Salt Satyagraha in 1930. Shanthabai was joined by many other women freedom fighters like Ahalyabai, Kamalabai and Radhabai.
In 1942 she took part in the Quit India Movement. She was arrested along with her father. After being released from jail they decided to protest near the clock tower in Dharward. When Shanthabai arrived there with her child, there was a huge round of applause. Then Shantha gave her child to Binducharya’s wife and started a tremendous hard core speech against the British Administration. After Shantha bai spoke the crowd moved towards the “Datathreya Temple”. The British police arrested her along with all the other leaders who were there.
She was arrested and kept in Hindalgi jail where she meet with great personalities like Padmavathi Bai Burli, Ramabai Yalagi, Leelavathi Magdi, Basamma Suthagathi, Shanthabai Marad and many others.
In jail she was given very little food like a cup of milk and two slices of bread. She distributed even this meagre meal among the small girls who were present in the jail.
Sucheta Kriplani (Uttar Pradesh)
Early Life
Sucheta was born in Ambala, Haryana to a Bengali family. Her father, S.N. Majumdar though a government doctor was a nationalist. Educated at Indraprastha College and St.Stephen's College, Delhi, she became a Professor of Constitutional History at Banaras Hindu University. In 1936, she married socialist, Acharya Kriplani and became involved with the Indian National Congress.
Freedom Movement and Independence
Like her contemporaries Aruna Asaf Ali and Usha Mehta, she came to the forefront during the Quit India Movement. She later worked closely with Mahatma Gandhi during the Partition riots. She accompanied him to Noakhali in 1946. She was one of the few women who were elected to the Constituent Assembly and was part of the subcommittee that drafted the Indian Constitution. She became a part of the subcommittee that was handed the task of laying down the charter for the Constitution of India. On 15 August 1947 she sang Vande Mataram in the Independence Session of the Constituent Assembly.
Post Independence
After independence she remained involved with politics in Uttar Pradesh. She was elected to the Lok Sabha in 1952 and 1957 from New Delhi constituency and served as a Minister of State for Small Scale Industries. In 1962, she was elected to the Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha from Kanpur and served in the Cabinet in 1962. In 1963, she became the Chief Minister, the first woman to hold that position in any Indian state. The highlight of her tenure was the firm handling of a state employees strike. The first-ever strike by the state employees which continued for 62 days took place during her regime. She relented only when the employees' leaders agreed for a compromise. Although the wife of a socialist, Kriplani behaved as a firm administrator by refusing their demand for pay hike. In 1967, she was elected to the 4th Lok Sabha from Gonda constituency in Uttar Pradesh.
She retired from politics in 1971 and remained in seclusion till her death in 1974.
Sumantha Malya (Belagavi)
Sumantha Malya was a great freedom fighter. Right from the time she was a child, her mother would tell her inspiring stories about the freedom struggle. Listening to the stories, her mind was completely diverted towards the freedom movement.
Sumantha Malya took part in the Quit India movement which was held in 1942, Under the leadership of Belagavi Nath Pai, Sumantha started to take part directly in the movement. Although she was a student at the time she actively took part in the freedom movement. She spent her nights distributing pamphlets related to the movement. Her enthusiasm in these nationalistic works often prevented her from eating or sleeping on time. There were days when she slept a mere 3 – 4 hours a day.
One October 2, the people decided on a new strategy to throw the British out of India. It did not worry them that they might be thrown into jail. Sumantha made an effigy of Churchill and took out a procession. They carried the effigy through all the roads and by lanes of the town shouting slogans against the British and their rule. They planned to burn the effigy in the centre of the town, but when they reached there the British police would not allow it. This time 200-250 students were arrested. On this occasion Malya’s 11 year old sister was also in the crowd. An officer came to her and advised her to sign a paper and apologise However, she refused to do both and managed to shame the British officers.
T. B Jayalakshmi (Hari Hara)
Jayalakshmi was born in 1912 in Hari Hara Taluk of Male Benur. She joined the Congress with her siblings and became involved in the Bangalore Congress movement. Having become a member of the Congress, she realised the importance of the freedom movement and started actively participating in it. Jaya’s husband T.B Keshavrao was an eminent freedom fighter who devoted his total life and time to the freedom movement. He gave Jayalakshmi the freedom and encouraged her to also participate in the freedom movement.
In 1930, she joined a group of like-minded ladies in Harrapanahalli and started to issue the bulletins and pamphlets regarding the freedom movement. In this way the villagers became aware of the happenings in the country and about the call for freedom from the British. Jayalakshmi motivated them to participate in the movement and brought about a feeling of patriotism in the villagers. They soon began to participate in nationalist activities and joined the freedom struggle.
At the time of the Salt Satyagraha, she was arrested and imprisoned for a period of 2 years. She was also fined an amount of Rs. 300 which she refused to pay. Jayalakshmi was incarcerated for an extra 2½ months in the women’s jail located in Vellore.
When from 1940-42, T.B Keshavrao was kept in jail, Jayalakshmi continued to participate in all the freedom movements and agitations. She actively participated in the Quit India Movement. In the absence of her husband she took care of all the guests who would visit her home to discuss about the day to day activities of the freedom movement.
When India won her freedom from the cruel hands of the British, people remembered her devotion to the cause for freedom and her unconditional love for India. She was selected unconditionally to the Bellary Municipality and she was made a Member of the District Education Council and Bellary Work Welfare Committee.
Vimala Gulwadi & Hema Shinolkar (Dharward)
Vimala and Hema were eminent and dedicated freedom fighters. On 6th September 1942,an embarrassing incident occurred inside the court hall. The happenings that day stunned all the people in the courtroom and inspired the people to fight against the cruel British rule. According to me it was a mind blowing incident in the freedom movement era.
Lets go through the incident which occurred in the court hall.
On 6th September 1942, Vimala Gulwadi & Hema Shinolkar entered the court hall and sat on the judge’s seat waving the tiranga in their hands. As usual, at 11 am the Judge entered the court hall and was shocked by what he saw in front of him. He ordered the police officers to arrest the two women and take them out of the court hall. On hearing this, both Hema and Vimala got angry. They roared like lions and said,” We won’t move from here. We will move you permanently from this country! This is our motherland!” On hearing their words the judge was ashamed and quietly left the room.
The police officers, who were in charge, believed that they had to do their duty and they arrested both Vimala Gulwadi and Hema Shinolkar. The next day, the Indian police officer who had made the arrest resigned his post, and joined the freedom movement.
Women of Midnapore
ROLE OF THE WOMEN FREEDOM FIGHTERS
The enthusiasm, self-sacrifice and the mental set up of Indian women for facing danger and their bravery in dangerous situations is gloriously recounted in the history of the Indian freedom-movement. The willingness with which Indian women stepped out from the safe and secluded life behind the ‘pardah' to enter the turmoil of the noisy world outside, is a most remarkable phenomenon. The Indian women, who were brought up to remain in the background, who were well-known for their timid and shy ways, left their long-cherished conceptions behind and came forward at the call of the nation, to embrace the hard and pitiless lives of prison. Even the Home Secretary of the British Government had to confess that nothing had disturbed him, more than the great awakening among the Indian women and the part played by them in Indian politics. The enthusiasm of the women frightened the British Officials. This is proved from the secret report of Mr. Clarke, the Commissioner of Calcutta Police. A portion of the report is reproduced below.
‘Bhagini Sena’ - 1940
“The lady volunteers set out on the public road everyday and pick up male volunteers and other enthusiastic persons on the way ... The procession as it moves slowly along, augments in size until about three or four hundred persons are moving in a body. Traffic being hindered and often entirely blocked... If no steps are taken now it is inevitable that the movement will be encouraged and grow and the inevitable will happen, that is there is bound, sooner or later to be a collision between these parties of feminine agitators and the subordinate police”.
Police trying to throw Susila Samanta’s only son into the fire – But she didn’t reveal the hideout of the freedom fighters.
In the circumstances the Chief Secretary to the Government of Bengal wrote a letter to the commissioners of all divisions. A portion of the letter:
“One particular problem has arisen recently which is difficult of solution and about which Government would desire to have the advice of commissioners, viz. and the problem of how to deal with women who are taking an increasing part in public demonstrations on behalf of Civil Disobedience. The problem is how to maintain law and order and freedom of movement in public places... It is obvious that Government cannot allow Government business to be brought to a standstill and Courts and Treasuries to be closed merely because the force used for obstruction consists of women instead of men. I shall be glad if you will consult Indian Officers and non-officials and suggest any measures for general use in dealing with this problem”
Patriotic show of Mukunda Das – Women are breaking their bangles and throwing. – “rejection of ‘reshmi churi’ (bangles)”
The Karachi Congress in March1931 specially congratulated the women of India “that rose in their thousands and assisted the nation in the struggle for freedom”.
The consciousness of the women in the whole of India took a unique shape and the women of Midnapore did not lag behind. Rani Siromani of Karnagar of Midnapore Police Station area had already earned the glory of being the first lady prisoner for leading the Chuar Rebellion in 1794. Again in 1781 Rani Krishnapriya of Tamluk had shown the courage to contest the English East India Company in order to protect her rights. So no wonder that women of Midnapore in general came forward during the freedom - movement, when their services were considered to be essential. Uneducated women of Midnapore, even women not related to letters, plunged into the movement with their heart and soul. They became the source of unyielding power and constant source of energy and inspiration behind the resistance movement. Though engaged deeply in household works, the women of Midnapore furthered the great national work in various ways. They were the primary source of energy, motivating their men and filling them with strength and energy. Mothers and sisters encouraged their sons and brothers to serve the country; the wives, as the real partners of life, followed their husbands to the four walls of prisons.
1930 – Narghat, Salt-Satyagrah – Police torturing.
In the battle for freedom the contribution of the Midnapore women, starting from well-to-do to beggars, was wonderful and praiseworthy. Even ladies belonging to socially outcast community, like the professional prostitutes also helped the movement in many ways. They used to give shelter to the Congress volunteers in their bedrooms, feed them and nurse the injured workers. The distinguished Congress leaders of Midnapore had to confess that the hospitality of this class of women, their cordial behaviour and their arrangements for food and lodging for the workers, irrespective of caste and creed, also helped indirectly in rooting out the curse of untouchability, at least partially. It also became possible for the villagers, during the Union Board Barjan Movement, to allow their metal vessels and other belongings to be seized solely due to the active support of the ladies. Again, during the No-Chowkidari-Tax Movement it would have been impossible for the male members of participant families to take the risk of having their crops and granaries burnt, their houses plundered and their moveable properties seized, without the consent of the women. The role of traditionally home-centred village-ladies and girls in this resistance movement was actually incomparable. The housewives, daughters, mothers and sisters of even peasant householders became the partners of the male members in this movement. They even used to distribute Congress bulletins secretly and communicate secret news to the workers. They also helped the Congress organization by going from door to door collecting funds for the movement.
1945 - Mahisadal
These types of activities or any act that might be helpful to the freedom-fighters in any way, directly or indirectly, were considered to be unlawful and naturally they fell in the category of punishable offence. But the women did not hesitate to accept punishment including imprisonment. As a result, the number of women prisoners went on increasing rapidly. In Midnapore district the rate of increase was so high that the prison authorities had to face the problem of space for accommodating the female prisoners.
1945, 27th December – Dr. Susila Nayar and Abha Ghandhi making report from 49 raped women (That barbaric incident took place on 9th January 1983.)
From the “Nihar” Patrika we come to know that— due to increase in the number of female prisoners, the sub-jail attached to the Hijli Prison had to be converted to a women’s prison.
But the way leading to the jail as well as the prison life itself was not at all smooth; it was invariably preceded by and followed by oppression of inhuman nature. But oppressions by the police and the jail-guards, sentences of imprisonment by the trying Magistrates and the hardships of prison life failed to dishearten them. On the contrary, their enthusiasm often surpassed that of men. They went on taking active part in picketings before shops dealing in foreign goods. In this way they prevented the shopkeepers from selling foreign clothes, liquor and other foreign goods. They marched shoulder to shoulder, with men in procession. They also conveyed prior information to the workers and volunteers of the surrounding areas by means of conch-shell signals, about the arrival of government forces.
1940 – Satyagrah by Lakshmimani Hazra (Kakima)
The deep feeling of love, affection, self-sacrifice and tolerance of the women of Midnapore were the source of inspiration to the Congress volunteers. Their patience and efficiency of work, their power of endurance and nursing capacity would remain ever bright in the memories of our countrymen who feel indebted to those freedom-fighters for the fruits of their toil and sufferings.
1942, 29th September – 72 years old, Matangini Hazra marching towards Tamluk Court.
But this participation of the women of Midnapore in the political upheaval did not take place within a day or two. In the beginning the women could not make their public appearance due to the disapproval of our male-dominated society. But the Congress leaders were careful and laborious about rousing the consciousness of the women. During the Non-cooperation Movement of 1920 to 1922, the male volunteers used to go personally to the ladies in their houses and keep them informed about the latest news on the progress of the movement. Subsequently most of the distinguished Congress leaders set an important precedence by bringing out the female members of their own families and engaging them in resistance movement. This had a stimulating effect on others, both male and female, and it paved the way for mass participation of women in the future years. Side by side processions and meetings were held everywhere to make the women conscious of the tense national situation and about their duties in such a situation. Importance was also given on introducing ‘Charka' (spinning wheel) and in order to make it attractive to the women, ‘Katuni Sanghas' were established in different places. Competitions were also held among the women spinners and at the end of the competition prizes were awarded to the winners.
1942 – Prabhabati Maity leading a huge numbers of volunteers and hosting flag in front of Moyna Police Station (She was arrested after this incident)
In addition to these, distinguished ladies like Jyotirmoyee Ganguli, the Dictator of the Bengal Provincial Congress Committee; Shantilata Das, wife of Humayun Kabir; Basanti Das, wife of Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das; Ashalata Das. Vice-President of Nari Satyagraha Samity of Calcutta and Sarala Devi Chowdhury, the founder of the Bharat Shree Mahamondal, the President of the Nikhil Bharat Samajik Mahasamity and the editor of the Bharati Patrika were invited to Midnapore for delivering speeches in different meetings in order to inspire the women. Other eloquent speakers like Dr. Pratap Chandra Guha Roy of Calcutta and Purushottam Nanda of Barisal enlightened the women of Midnapore about the principle of self-denial for the cause of the nation. Side by side, the famous, minstrel Mukunda Das travelled from village to village of Bengal singing his self-composed nationalistic and patriotic songs, which inspired the people, both men and women, to boycott everything foreign.
1942 – Midnight – Usha (Giribala) and Kumudini Dakua chasing police with daggers.
The demonstration of Magic Lanterns also played an important role in generating patriotic feelings in the minds of our people. This was first planned by Acharya Prufulla Chandra Roy and was subsequently implemented by Jnananjan Neogi. Various slides projecting the scenes of ships sailing from England to India loaded with refined salt, sugar, cloth, knives, scissors and other finished products and in their return journey carrying away materials like cotton and other ingredients from India with a view to greater production in their industries, were shown in order to appraise the people as to how the foreigners were enriching themselves at the cost of our countrymen. Slides showing savage repression, especially on village women, for their fault of preparing salt in their own soil were also shown. The sight of separation of right-hand thumbs of the world-famous Indian weavers, with a view to crush the handloom industry of our country and at the same time to open the Indian markets for foreign cloths horrified the viewers and filled their hearts with hatred and rage.
Village women’s attacking police
But side by side attempts were made to make the people self- reliant and self-supporting by projecting before them various remedial measures such as, use of handloom cloths made out of hand-spun threads, rejection of ‘reshmi churi' (bangles), sugar, liquor and other foreign goods. Stress was also laid on the preparation of molasses and processing of red sugar at home and on the use of indigenous goods only.
The programme also included taking out of processions consisting of both men and women with saline water, utensils, fuel and match box in hands with the aim of preparing salt publicly. For salt manufacturing was declared by the British Governments as an illegal act.
Mobilisation of women in the resistance movement was also made through different articles, circulated through different bulletins. Most of these articles were based on the theme that until and unless the vital principle of ‘Shakti', lying imprisoned in women, is released, the great act of sacrifice will not attain perfection.
1931 – Mrs Hutait handing over stolen police arm to freedom fighter Ramesh Bhattacharya.
The arrival of Mahatma Gandhi in Midnapore in September 1921 and July 1925 and his appeal to the women to come out of their homes and to take part in the movement, shoulder to shoulder with men, had great effect on them.
Moreover, the Congress with its ceaseless activities became something like a parallel government in Midnapore Congress leaders and volunteers established themselves as the true friends of the people. They created an alternative concept of morality. As a result, participation in any movement organised by the Congress became like obedience to the properly constituted authority and its defiance was considered to be an illegal act. This idea became deep-rooted especially in the minds of the women and this new concept found its expression during the Civil Disobedience Movement, which marked a major advance in the emancipation of the women of Midnapore.
In this connection it is worth mentioning here that the cooperation and coordination of the women from 1920 to 1930 was an indirect one. In other words, they supported the movement and performed only those works which were found to be feasible but all from behind the ‘pardah' or curtain. From 1930 onwards, they began to take part in the movement openly by ignoring all sorts of social and customary prohibitions. The age-old pardah system was removed and all sorts of social barriers were thrown away. Women’s participation gave this movement a new spirit and a new vigour and enhanced its speed.
During the Civil Disobedience Movement the women of Midnapore proved beyond doubt that they were always mentally prepared to undergo any kind of suffering for the cause of our country and they were ready to take part in any movement standing side by side with their sons and brothers. Very often their counsel was considered to be of immense value. No wonder that at various levels the women held responsible positions in different committees.
As the resistance movement was gaining momentum day by day and as the numbers of women participants were increasing rapidly, the cruel police personnel also went on inventing new methods of torture for applying upon them. All sorts of filthy words were used to humiliate the ladies; merciless beating became a very common thing. Very often women volunteers were carried in police lorries to distant places in the dead of night and were abandoned, sometimes completely naked, in dense forests. The modesty of women became an object to be trodden under feet by the police and cases of rape became very frequent. But overlooking all sorts of disgrace and humiliation the women of Midnapore joined the movement in large numbers in the Civil Disobedience, Salt-Satyagraha, No-tax, and Quit India Movement.
1930 – Police torturing during the procession.
As resistance and repression reached new heights the women became increasingly important as fully matured political and active members in all such movements. In the face of barbarous persecution, assault, injury and physical humiliation the women did not lose their spirit, but on the contrary they added new strength and new vigour to the resistance movement becoming active and actual partners of men.
It is worth mentioning here that had that movement been simply a political affair, there is every doubt as to whether it would have been possible for the women to join the movement so spontaneously. But their inherent desire to get rid of their domestic slavery and the shackles of society prompted them to take part in the movement with the hope that in free India they will be free of their fetters. But at the same time they knew very well that the path they had chosen was a thorny one and there was the possibility of meeting with dangers at every step. So, in order to save themselves from danger and distress, they used to keep ‘Banthi' or vegetable cutters always ready at hand. The members of the Bhagini Sena also distributed about ten thousand sharp daggers among the ladies of different villages and towns of Tamluk Subdivision in order to protect their chastity. The ‘Congress Prachar Barta' wrote as a mark of admiration:
“The means adopted by the women to protect their chastity from the hands of the ruffians are perfectly correct. Well done! the women of Midnapore.”
The remark of Pratima Asthana that “One time a class movement, it assumed the shape of mass movement, centering round greater participation of women of all shades in the national movement”°—also holds good in the case of struggle for freedom in Midnapore.
The struggle has ultimately come to an end and we are enjoying the fruits of the struggle, strain, tears and blood of thousands and thousands of unknown men and women freedom- fighters. But it is a pity that most of them have sunk into oblivion and the same fate is awaiting the rest of them.
Prasanna Karthik S - Author
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