Mahadevi Verma

Biography

Mahadevi Verma (26 March 1907 – 11 September 1987) was an Indian Hindi-language poet, essayist, sketch story writer, and an eminent personality of Hindi literature. She is considered one of the four major pillars of the Chhayawadi era in Hindi literature.

She has been also addressed as the Modern Meera.  Poet Nirala had once called her "Saraswati in the vast temple of Hindi Literature". Varma had witnessed India both before and after independence. She was one of those poets who worked for the wider society of India.

 Not only her poetry but also her social upliftment work and welfare development among women were also depicted deeply in her writings. These largely influenced not only the readers but also the critics, especially through her novel Deepshikha.

She developed a soft vocabulary in the Hindi poetry of Khadi Boli, which before her was considered possible only in Braj bhasha. For this, she chose the soft words of Sanskrit and Bangla and adapted them to Hindi.

 She was well-versed in music. The beauty of her songs lies in the tone that captures the euphemistic style of sharp expressions. She started her career by teaching. She was the Principal of Prayag Mahila Vidyapeeth. 

She was married, but she chose to live an ascetic life. She was also a skilled painter and creative translator. She had the distinction of receiving all the important awards in Hindi literature. 

As the most popular female litterateur of the last century, she remained revered throughout her life. The year 2007 was celebrated as her birth centenary. Later, Google also celebrated the day through its Google Doodle.

Varma was born on 26 March 1907 in a Hindu Chitraguptavanshi Kayastha family of Farrukhabad, Uttar Pradesh, India. Her father Govind Prasad Varma was a professor in a college in Bhagalpur. 

Her mother's name was Hem Rani Devi. Her mother was a religious, passionate, and vegetarian woman with a keen interest in music. Her mother would recite for many hours of Ramayana, Gita, and Vinay Patrika. 

On the contrary, her father was a scholar, music lover, atheist, hunting enthusiast, and cheerful person. Sumitranandan Pant and Suryakant Tripathi Nirala were close friends of Mahadevi Varma. It is said that for 40 years Varma kept tying Rakhis to Nirala.