Author Feature of the Week - Mahadevi Verma
In every science there is a trace of creativity.
Good eve ya'll!
Hope you're having a healthy weekend. We're back with another amusing read for you, and today we're celebrating Shikha Goyal.
You might not recognize her at first. But being a student from the Indian Education system has given you ample chances to know her. You must have copied Wikipedia biographies under her name for your school projects. Today let us look beyond textbook chapters and school work to know her better.
I'm talking about Mahadevi Varma; One of our most beloved praised and revered Indian novelist cum poet. She is seen as one of the four pillars of the Chhayawadi era in Hindi literature. Addressed as "Modern Meera" she was a social reformer who strongly advocated the cause of women in India. She was a successful activist, freedom fighter, and educationist
Mahadevi was greatly inspired by her mother who was fluent in both Sanskrit and Hindi; a very religious pious lady, who built interest in her daughter for literature.
Born to Hem Rani and Govind Prasad, on 26 March 1907, Farrukhabad; Mahadevi throughout her lifespan promoted the spirit of motherhood and feminism in all its beautiful forms.
Being married at 9 and then left by her husband because he never considered her "beautiful enough", to being born in a relatively liberal family of a professor and housewife, Mahadevi had seen life as a teacher. Her frankness and resilience were visible in her works.
Mahadevi had started writing from the tender age of 7, but it was all in secret until one day her roommate outed them. Her childhood works also include a biography,
“Mere Bachpan Ke Din”. In this she writes when daughters were considered as burden, she had a good fortune that she was born in a different thinking family. Her grandfather wanted to make her savvy. Her mother was a religious person but had a deep knowledge of Sanskrit and Hindi. My mother only encouraged her to write poems and to take interest in literature.
She had lived her days as a Sanyasini. She wore white clothes throughout her life, slept on the wooden bed, and never saw a mirror. (Don't guess from where this might have come from) She accepted to be deeply influenced by Buddhism and was atheistic.
Our, Meera's work has earned numerous prestigious literary awards. In 1956, she was awarded the ‘Padma Bhushan’ by the Indian Government. The ‘Sahitya Akademi Fellowship’ in 1979, thus becoming the first Indian woman to have received the award. Further In 1982, her collection of poems ‘Yama’ won the ‘Jnanpith Award,’ India’s highest literary honor. And she won the ‘Padma Vibhushan’ in 1988.
Mahadevi left her legacy behind in 1987, on 11 September Prayagraj.
“It is difficult to talk about oneself because to see one’s fault is unpleasant and to ignore them is unpleasant for others.”