Sarala Devi Chaudhurani

 “How can we attain rights? By the strength of our agitation."

Sarala Devi Chaudhurani, nee Sarala Ghosal, (9 September 1872 – 18 August 1945) was an Indian educationist and political activist, who founded the first women’s organization in India, the Bharat Stree Mahamandal, in Allahabad in 1910. One of the primary goals of the organization was to promote female education. The organization opened several offices across (the then unpartitioned) India to improve the situation of women all over India.

Sarala was born in Jorasanko, Kolkata on 9 September 1872 to a prominent intellectual Bengali family - her father Janakinath Ghosal was one of the first secretaries of the Bengal Congress and her mother Swarnakumari Devi, a noted author, was the daughter of Debendranath Tagore, an eminent Brahmo leader and father of poet Rabindranath Tagore. Her older sister, Hironmoyee, was an author and founder of a widow's home. Sarla Devi's family was a follower of Brahmoism, a religion founded by Ram Mohan Roy and later developed by Sarala's grandfather Debendranath Tagore. Thus, Sarala grew up surrounded by powerful and educated women who each contributed to the their society in unique and inspiring ways.

In 1890, Sarala earned her BA in English literature from Bethune College. She was awarded the college's first Padmavati Gold Medal for being the top female candidate in her BA examinations. She was one of the few women of her time to participate in the Indian independence movement. During anti partition agitation she spread the gospel of nationalism in Punjab and maintained a secret revolutionary society. I wish I could find out more info about this but the records as slim – I guess proof of her success at keeping it a secret society! 

““Come and see for yourself before making up your mind either way. Do not thoughtlessly reject this proposal which will hasten our mother’s end.” A time-tested pretext of raising the specter of threats to parents’ lives to get around recalcitrant children to agree to marry! This ploy was used to trap me.”

Upon finishing her formal education, Sarala became a teacher at the Maharani Girls’ School in the Mysore State. She returned home after a year and started writing for Bharati, a Bengali journal. This also marked the start of her political involvement too. From 1895 to 1899, she edited Bharati jointly with her mother and sister, and then on her own from 1899 to 1907. Sarala’s goal was to stir up patriotism and improve the literary standard of the journal.

In 1904, she started the Lakshmi Bhandar (women's store) in Kolkata to popularize native handicrafts produced by women, providing not only acknowledgement of their talent but also vital income for the women.

 In 1910, she founded the Bharat Stree Mahamandal (All India Women's Organization), which is regarded by many historians as the first All-Indian organization for women. With several branches around the country, it promoted education and vocational training for women – crucially, without consideration of class, caste and religion.

In 1905, under increasing pressure to marry, Sarala married Rambhuj Dutt Chaudhary (1866–1923), a lawyer, journalist, nationalist leader and follower of the Hindu reform movement Arya Samaj. While she may have been reluctant to take a husband, and while there is little evidence of whether it was a happy marriage, at least they were matched in their ideologies and ambition. After her marriage, she moved to Punjab where she helped her husband edit the nationalist Urdu weekly Hindusthan, which was later converted into an English periodical. 

When her husband was arrested for his involvement in Non-cooperation movement, Mahatma Gandhi visited her home in Lahore as a guest. He was most taken with Sarala and their closeness became much gossiped about in Lahore. Gandhi loved her poems and writings, and used them in his speeches, and in Young India and other journals. She travelled with him all over India, and when apart, they frequently exchanged letters.  Despite the rumours, most agree that their relationship was only ever platonic, and was based on mutual admiration of each other’s spirit, views, and nationalism. Her only son, Dipak, married Gandhi's granddaughter Radha, cementing the bond between the two families.

In 1923, Rambhuj died and Sarala Devi returned to Kolkata to resume editing responsibilities for Bharati from 1924 to 1926. In 1930, she established a girls' school, Siksha Sadan in Kolkata.

She retired from public life in 1935 and indulged religion, accepting Bijoy Krishna Goswami, a Gaudiya Vaisnava, as her spiritual teacher, and died OTD (18 August) 1945 in Kolkata, two years before her goal of Indian independence would come true.

Her autobiography Jivaner Jhara Pata was serialized in Desh, a Bengali literary magazine, during the later period of her life, in 1942–1943. It was later translated into English in 2011 by Sikata Banerjee as The Scattered Leaves of My Life (brb, adding this to my amazon basket rn).

What I love most about this story is that it highlights the prominence of Indian women in colonial India – while everyone talks of Gandhi, Nehru, Jinnah, and Tagore, there were just as many female freedom fighters, writers, teachers, and leaders who played their part in standing up against the British and fostering freedom from colonial rule.  (3/3)