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Malati Choudhury

(1904 – 1998) – (Bihar)

Malati Devi Choudhury (Aged 94) was born on July 26, 1904 in Bikrampur, Odisha, India. She belonged to an upper middle class Brahmo family and was an Indian civil rights and freedom activist who followed the principles of Gandhi. Her father, Barrister Kumud Nath Sen, passed away when she was only two and a half years old, and she was brought up by her mother Snehalata Sen.

Malati Choudhury’s life changed drastically after she joined Rabindranath Tagore’s Vishva-Bharati. Her mother wrote in an article titled “Reminiscences of Santiniketan” that “Malati was very happy and benefited much from her residence at Viswa-Bharati as a student. The personal influence of Gurudev and his teachings, his patriotism and idealism, have influenced and guided Malati throughout her life.”

Malati was fortunate to have been deeply influenced by both Tagore and Mahatma Gandhi. She learned rare values and principles of education, development, art and culture from Tagore and got inspired by Gandhi’s magic spell, and thus, she plunged herself into the freedom struggle.

Malati was arrested several times (in 1921, 1936, and 1942) with other women independence activists like Sarala Devi, Ramadevi Choudhury, and others and was sent to jail. Even before India’s independence, she had established the Bajiraut Chhatravas at Angul in Odisha in 1946, and the Utkal Navajeevan Mandal, also at Angul, in 1948. She passed away on March 15, 1998.