Mahadevi Varma

Mahadevi Verma was born on 26 March 1907 in Farrukhabad.[4] her education was at Crossthwaite Girls' School in Allahabad.[5] At this school, she met fellow student Subhadra Kumari Chauhan, who would later go on to become a prominent Hindi writer and poet, like Verma herself.[5]

Mahadevi was originally admitted to a Convent school, but upon protests and an unwilling attitude, she took admission in Crosthwaite Girls College in Allahabad. According to Mahadevi, she learned the strength of unity in the hostel at Crosthwaite, where students of different religions lived together and the mess was also according to the religious requirement. Mahadevi started to write poems secretly; but upon discovery of her hidden stash of poems by her roommate and senior Subhadra Kumari Chauhan (known in the school for writing poems), her hidden talent was exposed. Mahadevi and Subhadra now started to write poems together in their free time.

While others used to play outside, me and Subhadra used to sit on a tree and let our creative thoughts flow together...She used to write in Khariboli, and soon I also started to write in Khariboli...this way, we used to write one or two poems a day...

— Mahadevi Varma, Mere Bachpan Ke Din

She and Subhadra also used to send poems to publications such as weekly magazines and managed to get some of their poems published. Both poets also attended poetry seminars, where they met eminent Hindi poets, and read out their poems to the audience. This partnership continued till Subhrada graduated from Crosthwaite.[6]

In her childhood biography Mere Bachpan Ke Din (My Childhood Days),[7] Mahadevi Verma has written that at a time when a girl child was considered a burden upon the family, she was very fortunate to be born into a liberal family. Her grandfather reportedly had the ambition of making her a scholar; although he insisted that she comply with tradition and marry at the age of nine,[5] her mother was fluent in Sanskrit and Hindi, and very religious. Mahadevi credits her mother for inspiring her to write poems, and to take an interest in literature.[8]

Following her graduation in 1929, Mahadevi Verma's husband Dr. Swarup Narain Verma refused to live with her as she was not that good looking; she even unsuccessfully tried to convince him to remarry.[9] She is reported to have considered becoming a Buddhist nun but eventually chose not to, although she studied Buddhist Pali and Prakrit texts as part of her master's degree.[5]

In 1930 Verma began teaching at village schools around Allahabad.[5] Although she did not actively participate in political activities, particularly in Gandhian civil disobedience campaigns in Allahabad at this time, she adopted Gandhian ideals, including giving up speaking in English, and dressing primarily in khadi.[5] She was appointed as the first headmistress of Allahabad (Prayag) Mahila Vidyapeeth in 1933, a private college which was started with a view to imparting cultural and literary education to girls through the Hindi medium.[5] Later, she became the chancellor of this institute. During her time at the Prayag Mahila Vidyapeeth, she organised several conferences of poets, or Kavi Sammelans, as well as a conference for writers of short stories (Galpa Sammelan) in 1936, that was presided over by writer Sudakshina Varma.[5]

She also continued to write extensively while teaching, including editorials for the Hindi magazine Chand, which she contributed to, edited, and also illustrated. in the value of their literary contributions.[5] These editorials were later collected and published in a volume titled Srinkhala ke Kariyan (The Links of Our Chains) in 1942.[5]

After the death of her husband in 1966, she moved permanently to Allahabad and lived there until her death.