Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay (Aged 85) born on April 3, 1903 in Mangalore, Karnataka, India. She was an Indian social reformer and freedom activist. She is most remembered for her contribution to the Indian independence movement, for being the driving force behind the renaissance of Indian handicrafts, handlooms, and theatre in independent India, and for uplifting the socio-economic standard of Indian women by pioneering co-operation.
She was the first woman in India to stand in elections from the Madras Constituency. Although she lost the elections, she paved the way for women in India. Her rebellious streak was visible even as a child when young Kamaladevi questioned the aristocratic division of her mother’s household and preferred to mingle with her servants and their children, wanting to understand their life as well. She was a great freedom fighter.
While still in London, Kamaladevi came to know of Mahatma Gandhi’s Non-Cooperation Movement in 1923, and she promptly returned to India to join the Seva Dal, a Gandhian organization set up to promote social upliftment. Soon she was placed in charge of the women’s section of the Dal, where she got involved in recruiting, training, and organizing girls and women of all ages across India to become voluntary workers, ‘sevikas’.
Later, she was a part of the seven-member lead team, announced by Mahatma Gandhi, in the famous Salt Satyagraha (1930) to prepare salt at the Bombay beachfront. The only other woman volunteer of the team was Avantikabai Gokhale. Later, in a startling move, Kamaladevi went up to a nearby High Court and asked a magistrate present there whether he would be interested in buying the “Freedom Salt” she had just prepared.
On January 26, 1930, she gained widespread media attention when, in a scuffle, she clung to the Indian tricolor to protect it. When World War II broke out, Kamaladevi was in England, and she immediately began a world tour to represent India’s situation to other countries and drum up support for Independence after the war. She passed away on October 29, 1988, in Bombay, Maharashtra, India.
Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay
(1903 – 1988) – (Karnataka)
Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay (Aged 85) born on April 3, 1903 in Mangalore, Karnataka, India. She was an Indian social reformer and freedom activist. She is most remembered for her contribution to the Indian independence movement, for being the driving force behind the renaissance of Indian handicrafts, handlooms, and theatre in independent India, and for uplifting the socio-economic standard of Indian women by pioneering co-operation.
She was the first woman in India to stand in elections from the Madras Constituency. Although she lost the elections, she paved the way for women in India. Her rebellious streak was visible even as a child when young Kamaladevi questioned the aristocratic division of her mother’s household and preferred to mingle with her servants and their children, wanting to understand their life as well. She was a great freedom fighter.
While still in London, Kamaladevi came to know of Mahatma Gandhi’s Non-Cooperation Movement in 1923, and she promptly returned to India to join the Seva Dal, a Gandhian organization set up to promote social upliftment. Soon she was placed in charge of the women’s section of the Dal, where she got involved in recruiting, training, and organizing girls and women of all ages across India to become voluntary workers, ‘sevikas’.
Later, she was a part of the seven-member lead team, announced by Mahatma Gandhi, in the famous Salt Satyagraha (1930) to prepare salt at the Bombay beachfront. The only other woman volunteer of the team was Avantikabai Gokhale. Later, in a startling move, Kamaladevi went up to a nearby High Court and asked a magistrate present there whether he would be interested in buying the “Freedom Salt” she had just prepared.
On January 26, 1930, she gained widespread media attention when, in a scuffle, she clung to the Indian tricolor to protect it. When World War II broke out, Kamaladevi was in England, and she immediately began a world tour to represent India’s situation to other countries and drum up support for Independence after the war. She passed away on October 29, 1988, in Bombay, Maharashtra, India.
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