Mahadevi Varma

Mahadevi Varma (1907-1987) is the greatest woman poet to have written in Hindi in the twentieth century. She did an MA in Sanskrit from Allahabad University and became residential principal (later, vice chancellor) of the pioneering women’s institution, Prayag Mahila Vidyapeeth. She worked in the Gandhi-led movement for independence, and edited several journals, most notably the women’s magazine Chand. She was one of the four pillars of the Chhayavad movement in Hindi poetry and the author of several collections of poems, such as Nihar (1930), Rashmi (1932), Nirja (1933), Yama (1939), and Deepshikha (1942). She wrote several prose works, including reminiscences, pen portraits, essays on women’s predicament, and works of literary criticism, such as Sahityakar ki Astha (1962). She translated numerous works from Sanskrit to Hindi.

Mahadevi founded a trust to support writers in need. In 1979, she was the first woman to be made a fellow of the Sahitya Akademi. Among other awards, she received the Jnanpith in 1982, the Padma Bhushan in 1956, and the Padma Vibhushan posthumously in 1988.