Subhadra Kumari Chauhan on postage stamp

Subhadra Kumari Chauhan was one of the prominent poets of Hindi literature, whose poems based on Veer Ras are most popular. Her most famous composition is Jhansi Ki Rani for which she is remembered most. Her other popular poems are – Veeron Ka Kaisa Ho Basant, Rakhi Ki Chunauti and Vida. Her poems have triggered patriotic feelings among freedom fighters during Indian freedom struggle movement. She joined Non-Cooperation Movement in 1921 and was the first woman Satyagrahi to court arrest in Nagpur. She has been jailed twice – in 1923 and 1942 in response to her protest against British rule. Her position is one among the greatest female writers of Hindi all time.

Chauhan was born in 1904 in Nihalpur Village, Allahabad District,Uttar Pradesh  She studied in the Crosthwaite Girls School in Allahabad  where she passed the middle-school examination in 1919. She got married the same year and moved to Jabalpur. The couple had 5 children of whom Mamta Chauhan is currently residing at Buffalo. The rest have deceased. Subhadra Kumari Chauhan’s poems are filled with Veer Ras, one of the nine Ras termed as Nava rasa. They told the brave stories of great Indian freedom fighters and are filled with patriotism also. Her most popular poem is Jhansi ki rani which has been one of the most recited and sung poems in Hindi literature. Her poems have always inspired youth to join freedom struggle movement.

She wrote in the Khariboli dialect of Hindi, in a simple, clear style. Her anthologies include – Seedhe-Saade Chitra (1946), Mera naya bachpan (1946), Tridhara, Mukul (1930) and Yeh Kadamb Ka Ped. She has also written short stories and poems for children. She died in a car accident in Seoni, Madhya Pradesh on May 15, 1948. She was only in her middle 40. An Indian Coast Guard ship has been named after her.