Sarala Devi Chaudhurani, born as Sarala Ghosal was an extraordinary female leader in action. She was a founder of the first women’s organisation in India, the Bharat Stree Mahamandal in Allahabad in 1910. One of the primary goals of the organization was to promote female education, which at that time was not well developed.
She was born in 1872. She was a niece of Rabindra Nath Tagore. In 1905, under family pressure, Sarala Devi married Rambhuj Dutt chaudhary a lawyer, journalist, nationalist leader and follower of Arya Samaj.
She joined active politics in 1915. In 1915 she organized ‘All India Revolutionary Party’ and secretly assisted the revolutionaries and continued her secrete activities through another group ‘Sohard Society’.
She was the first woman political leader from Bengal in the Indian independence struggle. She took active part in the Swadeshi movement and propagated the use of hand woven textiles. She sang the “Vande Martaram” at the Banaras Congress Session despite the ban on its singing by the British government. Mahatma Gandhi had a special liking for her.
Sarala Devi was an eminent feminist. She was a promoter of the female education. It is to be noted that the concept of female education was not much developed at that time. She worked for the uplift of the female of the country. She founded the Bharat Stri Shiksa Sadan, a school for girls in Calcutta. She also worked for women’s education in the villages around Lahore.
When her husband was arrested for his involvement in Non-cooperation movement, Mahatma Gandhi visited her home in Lahore as a guest; which resulted into profound friendship between the two, and she became a follower of Gandhi. Her only son, Dipak, married Gandhi’s granddaughter Radha.
She authored a book titled ‘Ahitagnika’ for school students to generate awareness concerning the freedom struggle and also launched an underground revolutionary group. She wrote her biography ‘Jiboner Jhora Pata’, the ‘Scattered Leaves of My Life’.
She died on August 18, 1945, at age 73.
191. Saraladebi Chaudhurani- Founder of the first women’s organisation in India
