>Scorpions13256: Copying from Category:20th-century Indian women writers to Category:20th-century Indian writers non-diffusing subcategory using Cat-a-lot

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Copying from Category:20th-century Indian women writers to Category:20th-century Indian writers non-diffusing subcategory using Cat-a-lot

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[[File:Prajnasundari Bezbaroa.jpg|thumb|Pragyasundari Devi]]
'''Pragyasundari Devi''' (born before 1884 – died 1950), also seen as '''Pragyasundari Debi''', '''Pragya Sundari Devi''', '''Pragasundari Debi''', or '''Prajnasundari Bezbaroa''', was an Indian cookbook author and magazine editor. Her ''Amish O Niramish Ahar'' was a "significant" early cookbook in the [[Bengali language]].<ref>Utsa Ray, [https://books.google.com/books?id=fDXJBAAAQBAJ&lpg=PA63&ots=90R859jgYR&dq=Pragna%20Sundari%20Devi&pg=PA63#v=onepage&q&f=false ''Culinary Culture in Colonial India''] (Cambridge University Press 2015): 63. {{ISBN|9781107042810}}</ref>

==Early life==
Pragyasundari Devi was the daughter of scientist [[Hemendranath Tagore]] and the sister of [[Purnima Devi]]. Her grandfather was philosopher [[Debendranath Tagore]] and her great-grandfather was industrialist [[Dwarkanath Tagore]]. Nobel laureate and poet [[Rabindranath Tagore]] was her uncle. Other kin in the extended [[Tagore family]] included her aunt, novelist [[Swarnakumari Devi]], her uncle, philosopher [[Dwijendranath Tagore]], another uncle, civil servant [[Satyendranath Tagore]], and another uncle, artist [[Jyotirindranath Tagore]]. Indian feminist [[Sarala Devi Chaudhurani]] was her first cousin.<ref name="Roy">Devapriya Roy, [http://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/books/cooking-with-pragyasundari-a-woman-of-the-tagore-household-tells-you-how-to-make-bhapa-ilish-4878079/ "Cooking with Pragyasundari: A woman of the Tagore household tells you how to make bhapa ilish"] ''The Indian Express'' (October 8, 2017).</ref>

==Career==
Her first cookbook, sometimes called "the first cookbook in Bengali",<ref>Ronojoy Sen, [https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/sunday-times/Tagores-we-didnt-know-about/articleshow/5906382.cms "Tagores We Didn't Know About"] ''Times of India'' (May 8, 2010).</ref> ''Amish O Niramish Ahar'', was published in 1902.<ref>Pragyasundari Devi, [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.336370 ''Amish O Niramish Ahar''] (1902), via Archive.org {{open access}}</ref> She warned readers in this first volume the home cook that “Spending a lot of money is no guarantee for good food," as she encouraged the efficient use of inexpensive vegetables.<ref>Sudeshna Banerjee, [https://www.telegraphindia.com/1120511/jsp/saltlake/story_15473869.jsp "Kitchen Queens"] ''The Telegraph'' (May 11, 2012).</ref> She published a second vegetarian cookbook, and later two more cookbooks that included some meat dishes. Her later cookbooks focused on the cookery of [[Assam]] and on pickles and preserves.<ref name="Roy" />

Beginning in 1897, Pragyasundari Devi edited a women's magazine, ''Punya'', which included recipes.<ref>Utsa Ray, [https://doi.org/10.1080/19472490903387217 "Aestheticizing Labour: An affective discourse of cooking in colonial Bengal"] ''South Asian History and Culture'' 1(1)(January 2010): 60-70.</ref>

==Personal life==
Pragyasundari Devi married [[Lakshminath Bezbaroa]], an Assamese-language writer and literary agent. They had four daughters, one whom died very young, five granddaughters and one grandson, and eleven great-grandchildren.<ref>Chitra Deb, [https://books.google.com/books?id=HvU6CwAAQBAJ&lpg=PT292&dq=Pragyasundari%20Devi&pg=PT290#v=onepage&q=Pragyasundari%20Devi&f=false ''Women of the Tagore Household''] (Penguin UK 2010). {{ISBN|9789352141876}}</ref> He encouraged her to publish her recipes in book form. Pragyasundari Devi died in 1950. Ira Ghosh, her granddaughter, wrote a biographical introduction to a recent edition of ''Amish O Niramish Ahar'', and updated it with more current measurements and directions.<ref name="Roy" /><ref>Uttara Debi, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Vn9JDAAAQBAJ&lpg=PA244&ots=PsgmRURFaN&dq=Ira%20Ghosh%20Pragya%20Sundari&pg=PA244#v=onepage&q=Ira%20Ghosh%20Pragya%20Sundari&f=false "Women, Community, and the Material Culture of Food"] in Nandana Dutta, ed., ''Communities of Women in Assam: Being, Doing and Thinking Together'' (Routledge 2015): 244. {{ISBN|9781317328704}}</ref> Another granddaughter, [[Ritha Devi]], was a well-known Odissi dancer.<ref>Rupalim Patgiri, [http://www.enajori.com/?p=497 "Ritha Devi: Carrying forward the Legacy"] ''Enajori''.</ref><ref>Amisha Padnani, "Ritha Devi, Who Revived Indian Classical Dance, 92" ''New York Times'' (September 24, 2017): 24N. via [[ProQuest]]</ref>

==References==
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{{Tagore family}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Devi, Pragyasundari}}
[[Category:1950 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian writers]]
[[Category:Indian women editors]]
[[Category:Indian editors]]
[[Category:Bengali cuisine]]
[[Category:Tagore family]]
[[Category:Indian food writers]]
[[Category:Bengali-language writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian journalists]]
[[Category:Indian women journalists]]
[[Category:Year of birth uncertain]]

Pragyasundari Devi - Revision history

>Scorpions13256: Copying from Category:20th-century Indian women writers to Category:20th-century Indian writers non-diffusing subcategory using Cat-a-lot