Maitreyi Devi
Maitreyi Devi (or Maitreyī Devī) (1 September 1914 – 29 January 1989[1]) was an Indian poet and novelist. She is best known for her Sahitya Akademi Award-winning novel, Na Hanyate (It Does Not Die).
Maitreyi Devi | |
|---|---|
| File:MaitreyiDeviPic.jpg | |
| Born | 1 September 1914 |
| Died | 29 January 1989 (aged 74)[1] |
| Occupation | Poet, Novelist |
| Known for | Na Hanyate |
| Spouse(s) | Dr. M.M. Sen |
| Children | 2 |
| Parent(s) | Surendranath Dasgupta (Father) Himani Madhuri Rai (Mother) |
Biography
Devi was born in 1914. Her father was the philosopher Surendranath Dasgupta, a protégée of Rabindranath Tagore.
She studied at St. John's Diocesan Girls' Higher Secondary School, Calcutta (now Kolkata) and graduated from the Jogamaya Devi College, an affiliated undergraduate women's college of the University of Calcutta.[2]
She married Quinologist Dr. M.M. Sen[3] when she was 20 and he was 34. They had two children together.
She was founder of the Council for Promotion of Communal Harmony in 1964, and vice-president of the All-India Women's Coordinating Council. Her first book of verse appeared when she was 16, with a preface by Rabindranath Tagore. She wrote Rabindranath—the man behind his poetry.[4] She was the basis for the main character in Romanian writer Mircea Eliade's 1933 novel Bengal Nights, a semi-autobiographical piece of literature based around the time Eliade spent in Calcutta at Maitreyi Devi's father's house. The book explores Eliade's affair with Maitreyi Devi and their "sexual relations" before she was kicked out after the affair was discovered. Devi was not aware of the book. Her 1974 novel, Na Hanyate was written as a response to Bengal Nights, and Maitreyi Devi described the romance and cultural tensions resulting from it. She denied claims of a sexual affair between her and Eliade.[5][6] The book was translated into various European languages including Eliade's mother tongue, Romanian.
In 1938 and 1939, she invited Rabindranath Tagore to stay at her and her husband's house in Mungpoo near Kalimpong, which later became the Rabindra Museum.[7]
Awards
She received the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1976 for her novel Na Hanyate.
Publications
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Maitraye Devi, 1914-1989, Library of Congress
- ↑ History of the College
- ↑ The Better India. This Little Known Himalayan Village Was the Much-Loved Summer Retreat of Rabindranath Tagore (19 July 2016).
- ↑ Devi, Maitreyi (1973). Rabindranath--the man behind his poetry. Sudhir Das at Nabajatak Printers.
- ↑ Firdaus Azim, The Journal of Asian Studies, Association for Asian Studies, Vol. 55, 1996, pp. 1035-103
- ↑ [1] A Terrible Hurt: The Untold Story behind the Publishing of Maitreyi Devi, by Ginu Kamani, accessed 30 January 2010
- ↑ Mungpoo.org. Mungpoo and Kabi Guru Rabindranath Tagore, Museum.
- ↑ Devi, Maitreyi (October 2002). Tagore by Fireside. ISBN 8171677258.
- ↑ Devi, Maitreyi. It Does Not Die: A Romance.