New Delhi: Google on Monday commemorated the famous Hindi poet Subhadra Kumari Chauhan to celebrate her 117th birthday. Subhadra Kumari Chauhan is known as a trailblazing writer and freedom fighter whose work rose to national prominence during a male-dominated era of literature.
Subhadra’s evocative poem “Jhansi ki Rani” is regarded as one of the most recited poems in Hindi literature. On this day in 1904, Subhadra was born in the Indian village of Nihalpur. She was widely known to write constantly even while traveling in the horse cart on the way to school. Her first poem was published at just the age of nine years old.
In her early adulthood, the call for Indian independence was at its height and as a participant in the Indian Nationalist Movement Subhadra used her poetry to spread the call to fight for their nation’s sovereignty.
Chauhan’s poetry and prose primarily centered around the hardships that Indian women overcame, such as gender and caste discrimination. Her poetry remained uniquely underscored by her resolute nationalism. In 1923, Chauhan’s unyielding activism led her to become the first woman satyagrahi, a member of the Indian collective of nonviolent anti-colonialists to be arrested in the struggle for national liberation. She continued to make revolutionary statements in the fight for freedom both on and off the page into the 1940s, publishing a total of 88 poems and 46 short stories.
Today, Chauhan’s poetry remains a staple in many Indian classrooms as a symbol of historical progress, encouraging future generations to stand up against social injustice and celebrate the words that shaped a nation’s history.
