FallonMansom317: basic fixed intro per sources and cleaned formatting

2026-02-11T07:10:07Z

basic fixed intro per sources and cleaned formatting

>BD2412: Typo fixing for Wikipedia:Typo Team/moss, replaced: ,19 → , 19

2021-08-15T01:20:57Z

Typo fixing for Wikipedia:Typo Team/moss, replaced: ,19 → , 19

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{{Short description|Indian politician}}
{{distinguish|Sarala Devi Chaudhurani|Sarla Behn}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}
{{Use Indian English|date=August 2021}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix =
| name = Sarala Devi
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| image = Sarala Devi.jpg
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| native_name = ସରଳା ଦେବୀ
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| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1904|08|19}}
| birth_place = Narilo village, [[Orissa Division]], [[Bengal Presidency]], [[British India]]
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1986|10|04|1904|08|09}}
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| nationality = Indian
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| party = [[Indian National Congress]]
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| spouse = {{marriage |Bhagirathi Mohapatra |1917}}
| children = 1
| mother = Padmavati Devi
| father = Basudev Kanungo
| relatives = Balamukunda Kanungo (uncle) Nirmala Devi, award-winning poet (sister) Rai Bahadur Durga Charan Das, IAS (brother-in-law) [[Nityanand Kanungo]] (brother) [[Bidhu Bhusan Das]] (nephew) Jagdish Chandra Kanungo, painter (nephew)
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'''Sarala Devi''' (19 August 1904 – 4 October 1986) was an Indian independence activist, feminist, social activist, politician and writer. She was the first Odia woman to join the [[Non-cooperation movement]] in 1921 and the first Odia woman delegate of the [[Indian National Congress]]. She became the first woman to be elected to the [[Odisha Legislative Assembly]] on 1 April 1936. She was also the first female Speaker of the Odisha Legislative Assembly, the first woman Director of Cuttack Co-operative Bank, and the first female Senate member of [[Utkal University]]. She was the only representative from Odisha on President Dr S. Radhakrishnan's Education Commission.

==Early life==
Sarala Devi was born on 19 August 1904 in Narilo village, near Balikuda, in what was then the [[Orissa Division]] of the [[Bengal Presidency]] (now in [[Jagatsinghpur district]], [[Odisha]]) to a very wealthy, aristocratic [[Zamindar]] family. Her father was [[Dewan]] Basudev Kanungo, and her mother was Padmavati Devi. She was adopted and raised by her father's elder brother, Balamukunda Kanungo, a Deputy [[District collector|Collector]].<ref name="The Hindu">{{cite web|title=Sarala Devi: A centenary tribute|url=http://www.thehindu.com/lr/2004/11/07/stories/2004110700400600.htm|archive-url=https://archive.today/20150826142500/http://www.thehindu.com/lr/2004/11/07/stories/2004110700400600.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=26 August 2015|date = 7 November 2004|website=[[The Hindu]]|access-date=18 December 2016}}</ref><ref name="Manushi1">{{cite web|last1=Mohanty|first1=Sachidananda|title=Sarala Devi: The Biplababi of Orissa|url=http://www.manushi-india.org/pdfs_issues/PDF%20file%20109/3.%20Sarala%20Devi.pdf|website=Manushi|access-date=18 December 2016}}</ref><ref name="Manushi2">{{cite web|last1=Mohanty|first1=Sachidananda|title=Sarala Devi: The Biplababi of Orissa|url=http://www.manushi.in/docs/683.%20Sarala%20Devi.pdf|website=Manushi|access-date=18 December 2016}}</ref><ref name="OdishaGovt">{{cite web|last1=Jena|first1=Bijaya Lakhmi|title=Sarala Devi, An Inspiration for Women|url=http://odisha.gov.in/e-magazine/Orissareview/2014/Jan/engpdf/77-80.pdf|website=Government of Odisha|access-date=18 December 2016|date=January 2014}}</ref><ref name="National Movement">{{cite web|last1=Prabhukalyan|first1=Mohapatra|title=Oriya Women in National Movement|url=http://odisha.gov.in/e-magazine/Orissareview/2008/jan-2008/engpdf/10-12.pdf|website=Government of Odisha|access-date=18 December 2016|date=January 2008}}</ref><ref name="Freedom Fighter">{{cite web|last1=Dhyanimudra|first1=Kanungo|title=Sarala Devi as a Freedom Fighter|url=http://odisha.gov.in/e-magazine/Orissareview/2014/August/engpdf/43-45.pdf|website=Government of Odisha|access-date=18 December 2016|date=August 2014}}</ref> Sarala received her primary education in [[Banki, Odisha|Banki]], where her uncle was posted. Women had no access to higher education, at the time, so her uncle hired the services of a home tutor. Sarala learned Bengali, Sanskrit, Odia and basic English from her tutor. She lived with her uncle until the age of 13.

==Public life==
While in Banki, Sarala was inspired by stories of Suka Devi, the queen of Banki, to join the independence movement. She donated a sizeable part of her large collection of jewellery and vast tracts of real estate to the fight for India's independence. She married well-known lawyer Bhagirathi Mohapatra in 1917, and the latter joined the Indian National Congress in 1918. Sarala herself joined the Congress in 1921, following [[Mahatma Gandhi]]'s first visit to Orissa. She was the first woman Member of the [[Odisha Legislative Assembly]] as well as its first woman Speaker. She was very close to [[Mahatma Gandhi]], [[Jawaharlal Nehru]], [[Durgabai Deshmukh]], [[Acharya Kripalani]], [[Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay]] and [[Sarojini Naidu]].<ref name="Salt Satyagraha">{{cite web|last1=Giri|first1=Pradeep Kumar|title=The Role of Odia Women in Salt Satyagraha : Sarala Devi|url=http://www.orissa.gov.in/e-magazine/Orissareview/2016/August/engpdf/85-89.pdf|website=Government of Orissa|date=August 2016|access-date=18 December 2016}}</ref>
She was the Secretary of Utkal Sahitya Samaj at [[Cuttack]] from 1943 to 1946.<ref name="Reformer">{{cite web|last1=Ratha|first1=Prabodha Kumar|title=Sarala Devi : the Socio-Political Reformer of Odisha|url=http://odisha.gov.in/e-magazine/Orissareview/2013/aug-sept/engpdf/24-26.pdf|website=Government of Odisha|access-date=18 December 2016|date=August 2013}}</ref>

==Literary works==
Sarala wrote 30 books and 300 essays.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Dasgupta|first1=Sanjukta|title=More than just 'presiding deities in their kitchen'|url=http://www.thestatesman.com/supplements/more-than-just-presiding-deities-in-their-kitchen-173384.html|website=The Statesman|access-date=18 December 2016|date=30 October 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Mohanty|first1=Sachidananda|title=Early Women's Writings in Orissa, 1898-1950: A Lost Tradition|date=7 December 2004|publisher=SAGE Publications India|isbn=9788132101956|page=151|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5cCGAwAAQBAJ|access-date=18 December 2016|language=en}}</ref>

* Bishwa Biplabani, 1930
* Utkalaa Nari Samasya, 1934
* Narira Dabi, 1934
* Bharatiya Mahila Prasanga, 1935
* Rabindra Puja, 1935
* Beera Ramani, 1949
* {{cite book | last=Debi | first=Sarala | title=Raya Ramananda | publisher=Odisa Sahitya Ekademi | year=1963 | oclc=19014670 | language=Or}}
* {{cite book | author=Sarala Debi | last2=Mohanty | first2=Sachidananda | last3=Forbes | first3=Geraldine | title=The Lost World of Sarala Devi : Selected Works | year=2016 | isbn=978-0-19-946667-2 | oclc=992496394 }} Translated from Oriya.
* {{cite book | author=Sarala Debi | title=Nari Jagata | year=1935 | oclc=1046977239 | language=or}}
* {{cite book | author=Sarala Debi | last2=Rauta | first2=Bholanatha | last3=Acaryya | first3=Mahendra Kumara | title=Saraladebi Racanabali | year=2017 | oclc=1105736602 | language=or}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* [http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-sundaymagazine/how-gandhiji-influenced-my-life/article3232635.ece Sarala Devi's eye-witness account of Mahatma Gandhi in Orissa]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Devi, Sarala}}
[[Category:1904 births]]
[[Category:1986 deaths]]
[[Category:Odisha MLAs 1937–1945]]
[[Category:Indian National Congress politicians from Odisha]]
[[Category:Women in Odisha politics]]
[[Category:Women writers from Odisha]]
[[Category:Activists from Odisha]]
[[Category:Indian independence activists]]
[[Category:Indian feminists]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women politicians]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian politicians]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian non-fiction writers]]

Sarala Devi - Revision history

FallonMansom317: basic fixed intro per sources and cleaned formatting

>BD2412: Typo fixing for Wikipedia:Typo Team/moss, replaced: ,19 → , 19