Saraswathi Gora

{{Infobox person

| name = Saraswathi Gora

| image =

| image_size =

| alt =

| caption =

| native_name =

| native_name_lang =

| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{birth date text|28 September 1912}}

| birth_place = India

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2006|08|19|1912|09|28|df=yes}}

| death_place = Vijayawada, India

| death_cause =

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| education =

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| occupation = Social worker

| known_for = Co-founder of the Atheist Centre

| spouse = Gora

| children = 9, including Lavanam
Chennupati Vidya

| parents =

| relatives = Hemalatha Lavanam (daughter-in-law)

| awards = Jamnalal Bajaj Award (1999)

}}

Saraswathi Gora (28 September 1912 – 19 August 2006) was an Indian social activist who served as leader of the Atheist Centre for many years, campaigning against untouchability and the caste system.

Biography

In the 1930s, Saraswathi championed and performed marriages of devadasis and of widows remarriages along with her husband Gora. After learning about their efforts to abolish untouchability and the caste system, and towards social reform, they were invited to Mahatma Gandhi's ashram in Sevagram in 1944, where they stayed for two weeks.{{cite news|title=Saraswathi Gora selected for Basava Puraskar|url=http://www.thehindu.com/2001/04/05/stories/0405402h.htm|access-date=31 January 2018|work=The Hindu|date=5 April 2001}}{{dead link|date=April 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}

Along with her husband, Saraswathi established the Atheist Center in 1940. Their goal was to promote human values based on atheism, rationalism and Gandhism.{{Citation needed|date= April 2018}}

A political activist of India's freedom movement, she was imprisoned during the Quit India movement. She went to jail carrying her two-and-half-year old son, Niyanta.{{Citation needed|date= April 2018}}

Personal life

Her autobiography My Life With Gora was published (in Telugu) in 2012. She died of lung infection on 19 August 2006 at Vijayawada.{{cite web | url = http://www.hindu.com/2006/08/20/stories/2006082015870900.htm | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121021123416/http://www.hindu.com/2006/08/20/stories/2006082015870900.htm | url-status = dead | archive-date = 21 October 2012 | title = Saraswathi Gora passes away | date = 20 August 2006 | work = The Hindu }}

Awards and recognition

In 2000, she was selected for the Basava Puraskar, conferred by the Karnataka Government. She is also the recipient of the G. D. Birla International Award for Humanism; the Jamnalal Bajaj Award (1999);{{cite web |title=Jamnalal Bajaj Awards Archive |url=http://www.jamnalalbajajfoundation.org/awards/archives/2010 |publisher=Jamnalal Bajaj Foundation}} the Janaki Devi Bajaj Award;{{cite news|title=Veteran freedom fighter Saraswathi Gora dies|url=http://www.oneindia.com/2006/08/19/veteran-freedom-fighter-saraswathi-gora-dies-1155971480.html|access-date=5 February 2017|work=Oneindia|date=19 August 2006}} and the Potti Sriramulu Telugu University Award.{{cite news|title=Saraswathi Gora selected for Basava Puraskar|url=http://www.thehindu.com/2001/04/05/stories/0405402h.htm|work=The Hindu|date=5 April 2001|access-date=5 February 2017}}{{dead link|date=April 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}

References

External links

[http://www.indian-skeptic.org/html/is_v03/3-10-2.htm A short biography of Saraswathi Gora] in Indian Skeptic by Sunanda Shet
[http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/Aug192006/update639462006819.asp Obituary] in Deccan Herald
[http://www.newsfix.de/news/321/detail.php?id=36871&item_start=0 Obituary at www.newsfix.de]

Category:1912 births

Category:2006 deaths

Category:Indian atheists

Category:Indian sceptics

Category:Telugu women writers

Category:Telugu writers

Category:Indian women activists

Category:People from Vijayawada

Category:Indian independence activists from Andhra Pradesh

Category:Prisoners and detainees of British India

Category:Women in Andhra Pradesh politics

Category:Writers from Andhra Pradesh