Thread by @Paperclip_In

Motilal Bose was the elder brother of "Professor" Priyanath Bose - the founder of the Great Bengal Circus. Motilal was also involved in the circus and had a romantic liaison with a trapeze artiste named Rajabala (1/n)

It was a November 122 years ago in Amritsar, Punjab when a girl child was born to Rajabala. The mother and child were soon abandoned by Motilal and they arrived in Calcutta where Rajabala took up residence in the city's red light area (2/n)

Her daughter was named "Indubala." From a very young age, it was clear that Indu was blessed with a brilliant voice. She was trained by some of the well known musicians of the time like Gaurisankar Misra, Jamiruddin Khan & Elahi Bux (3/n)

When Indu was in her teens, the reigning prima donna of Indian singing, the venerable Gauhar Jaan took Indu under her wings and mentored her. Despite the difference in age, a friendship blossomed between the pair (4/n)

Gauhar not only taught music to Indu but also trained her in manners & etiquette. Her in-born talent combined with the grooming by the best of the best made Indu a singing sensation in Calcutta by the Great War years (5/n)

In 1915, Indubala recorded her first single. So powerful was her rendition that at the conclusion, the overwhelmed English recording engineer announced her name (Miss Indubala, Amateur) - an honor usually reserved only for top stars (6/n)

When the record was sent to her residence, Indubala couldn't listen to it as she didn't own a record player. In rage, she broke the record into pieces resulting in the recording co. sending her another record with a player this time! (7/n)

By the early 1920s, Indubala was at peak of her fame and was referred to as Sangeet Samragyee (an empress of the world of singing) (8/n)

Such was her fame that in the early 20s, Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay penned a short story titled "Einstein o Indubala": a humor-laced tale of how a performance by Indubala completely overshadowed a lecture by the celebrated physicist (9/n)

In 1933, Indubala starred in her first feature film "Jamuna Puliney." She acted in films made in Bengali, Hindi, Urdu, Tamil and Telugu, primarily in singing roles. In 1975, Indubala Devi was honored with the Sangeet Natak Academy Award (10/n)

One interesting aspect of Indubala was that she never shied away from her humble beginnings and thus became a beacon of hope for women who'd suffered ill fate. She also worked actively for upliftment of fallen women. Indubala passed away in 1984 (11/n)

Here is a recording of the song "Mohe Panghat Par" by Indubala Devi
(12/n)

And here is the translated version of the Bibhutibhushan story on Einstein and Indubala
parabaas.com/translation/da… (13/n)

Images sourced from: Indubala (last.fm) & Great Bengal Circus (Wikimedia Commons)