Sarala Devi

{{Infobox person

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| name = Sarala Devi

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| image = Sarala Devi.jpg

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| native_name = ସରଳା ଦେବୀ

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| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1904|08|9}}

| birth_place = Narilo village, Orissa Division, Bengal Presidency, British India

| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1986|10|04|1904|08|9}}

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| nationality = Indian

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| party = Indian National Congress

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| spouse = {{marriage |Bhagirathi Mahapatra
|1917}}

| children = 1

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| relatives = {{plainlist|

Nityanand Kanungo (brother)
Bidhu Bhusan Das (nephew)

}}

Sarala Devi (9 August 1904 – 4 October 1986) was an Indian independence activist, feminist, social activist, politician and writer. She was the first Odia woman to join the Non-cooperation movement in 1921 and the first Odia woman delegate of the Indian National Congress. She became the first woman to be elected to the Odisha Legislative Assembly on 1 April 1936.{{Cite web |last=Shinwari |first=Nazo |date=2017-11-06 |title=Sarala Devi Chaudhurani: Founder Of India's First Women's Organisation {{!}} #IndianWomenInHistory |url=https://feminisminindia.com/2017/11/07/sarala-devi-chaudhurani/ |access-date=2022-11-28 |website=Feminism in India |language=en-GB}}

She was also the first female Speaker of the Odisha Legislative Assembly But only for one day and in the absence of that time speaker Mukunda Prasad Das and there are no official records present in the Odisha Legislative Assembly, the first woman Director of Cuttack Co-operative Bank, and the first female Senate member of Utkal University. She was the only representative from Odisha on President Dr S. Radhakrishnan's Education Commission.{{Cite web |last=Mahotsav |first=Amrit |title=Sarala Devi |url=https://amritmahotsav.nic.in/unsung-heroes-detail.htm?6872 |access-date=2022-11-28 |website=Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, Ministry of Culture, Government of India |language=English}}

Early life

File:Sarala_Devi 1938.jpg

Sarala Devi was born on 9 August 1904 in Narilo village, near Balikuda, in what was then the Orissa Division of the Bengal Presidency (now in Jagatsinghpur district, Odisha) to a very wealthy, aristocratic Zamindar Karan family.{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ffOADwAAQBAJ&dq=sarala+devi+karana&pg=PA165 |title=Orissa Society of Americas 30th Annual Convention Souvenir: For Annual Convention Held in 1999 at Toronto, Canada |publisher=Odisha Society of the Americas |language=en}}{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=keMrAQAAIAAJ&q=karana |title=The Quarterly Review of Historical Studies |date=1993 |publisher=Institute of Historical Studies. |language=en}} Her father was Dewan Basudev Kanungo, and her mother was Padmavati Devi. She was adopted and raised by her father's elder brother, Balamukunda Kanungo, a Deputy Collector.{{cite web|title=Sarala Devi: A centenary tribute|url=http://www.thehindu.com/lr/2004/11/07/stories/2004110700400600.htm|archive-url=https://archive.today/20150826142500/http://www.thehindu.com/lr/2004/11/07/stories/2004110700400600.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=26 August 2015|date = 7 November 2004|website=The Hindu|access-date=18 December 2016}}{{cite web|last1=Mohanty|first1=Sachidananda|title=Sarala Devi: The Biplababi of Orissa|url=http://www.manushi-india.org/pdfs_issues/PDF%20file%20109/3.%20Sarala%20Devi.pdf|website=Manushi|access-date=18 December 2016}}{{cite web|last1=Mohanty|first1=Sachidananda|title=Sarala Devi: The Biplababi of Orissa|url=http://www.manushi.in/docs/683.%20Sarala%20Devi.pdf|website=Manushi|access-date=18 December 2016}}{{cite web|last1=Jena|first1=Bijaya Lakhmi|title=Sarala Devi, An Inspiration for Women|url=http://odisha.gov.in/e-magazine/Orissareview/2014/Jan/engpdf/77-80.pdf|website=Government of Odisha|access-date=18 December 2016|date=January 2014}}{{cite web|last1=Prabhukalyan|first1=Mohapatra|title=Oriya Women in National Movement|url=http://odisha.gov.in/e-magazine/Orissareview/2008/jan-2008/engpdf/10-12.pdf|website=Government of Odisha|access-date=18 December 2016|date=January 2008}}{{cite web|last1=Dhyanimudra|first1=Kanungo|title=Sarala Devi as a Freedom Fighter|url=http://odisha.gov.in/e-magazine/Orissareview/2014/August/engpdf/43-45.pdf|website=Government of Odisha|access-date=18 December 2016|date=August 2014}}

Sarala received her primary education in Banki, where her uncle was posted. Women had no access to higher education, at the time, so her uncle hired the services of a home tutor. Sarala learned Bengali, Sanskrit, Odia and basic English from her tutor. She lived with her uncle until the age of 13.

Public life

While in Banki, Sarala was inspired by stories of Suka Devi, the queen of Banki, to join the independence movement. She donated a sizeable part of her large collection of jewellery and vast tracts of real estate to the fight for India's independence. She married well-known lawyer Bhagirathi Mohapatra in 1917, and the latter joined the Indian National Congress in 1918. Sarala herself joined the Congress in 1921, following Mahatma Gandhi's first visit to Orissa. She was the first woman Member of the Odisha Legislative Assembly as well as its first woman Speaker for one day.

She was very close to Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Durgabai Deshmukh, Acharya Kripalani, Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay and Sarojini Naidu.{{cite web|last1=Giri|first1=Pradeep Kumar|title=The Role of Odia Women in Salt Satyagraha : Sarala Devi|url=http://www.orissa.gov.in/e-magazine/Orissareview/2016/August/engpdf/85-89.pdf|website=Government of Orissa|date=August 2016|access-date=18 December 2016}}

She was the Secretary of Utkal Sahitya Samaj at Cuttack from 1943 to 1946.{{cite web|last1=Ratha|first1=Prabodha Kumar|title=Sarala Devi : the Socio-Political Reformer of Odisha|url=http://odisha.gov.in/e-magazine/Orissareview/2013/aug-sept/engpdf/24-26.pdf|website=Government of Odisha|access-date=18 December 2016|date=August 2013}}

Literary works

Sarala wrote 30 books and 300 essays.{{cite web|last1=Dasgupta|first1=Sanjukta|title=More than just 'presiding deities in their kitchen'|url=http://www.thestatesman.com/supplements/more-than-just-presiding-deities-in-their-kitchen-173384.html|website=The Statesman|access-date=18 December 2016|date=30 October 2016}}{{cite book|last1=Mohanty|first1=Sachidananda|title=Early Women's Writings in Orissa, 1898-1950: A Lost Tradition|date=7 December 2004|publisher=SAGE Publications India|isbn=9788132101956|page=151|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5cCGAwAAQBAJ|access-date=18 December 2016|language=en}}

Bishwa Biplabani, 1930
Utkalaa Nari Samasya, 1934
Narira Dabi, 1934
Bharatiya Mahila Prasanga, 1935
Rabindra Puja, 1935
Beera Ramani, 1949
{{cite book | last=Debi | first=Sarala | title=Raya Ramananda | publisher=Odisa Sahitya Ekademi | year=1963 | oclc=19014670 | language=Or}}
{{cite book | author=Sarala Debi | last2=Mohanty | first2=Sachidananda | last3=Forbes | first3=Geraldine | title=The Lost World of Sarala Devi : Selected Works | year=2016 | publisher=Oxford University Press | isbn=978-0-19-946667-2 | oclc=992496394 }} Translated from Oriya.
{{cite book | author=Sarala Debi | title=Nari Jagata | year=1935 | oclc=1046977239 | language=or}}
{{cite book | author=Sarala Debi | last2=Rauta | first2=Bholanatha | last3=Acaryya | first3=Mahendra Kumara | title=Saraladebi Racanabali | year=2017 | oclc=1105736602 | language=or}}

Sarala Devi

Early life

Public life

Literary works

References

Further reading