She was an early feminist in Hindi literature and one of the four pillars of the Chhayawadi or Neo-Romanticism movement (1918-1938). She was Mahadevi Verma and she was born #OnThisDay in 1907. 
Verma was fearless. She walked out of her child marriage and lived as an ascetic. Her works, such as Shrinkhla Ki Kadhiyaan and Neerja, mirrored the pitiable social status of Indian women. In her essay Hindu Stree Ka Patnitva, she compared marriage to slavery.
Verma was called a ‘Modern Meera’, who expressed the beauty of romance in her work. She laid the foundation of the Neo-Romanticism era of Hindi literature, along with Suryakant Tripathi ‘Nirala’, Jaishankar Prasad and Sumitranandan Pant.
Winner of top national honours like the Padma Vibhushan and Jnanpith Puruskar, Verma was the first Indian woman to be awarded a Sahitya Akademi fellowship in 1979.
#DidYouKnow that the 1958 Bengali film Neel Akasher Neechey is based on the short story Chini Feriwala/ Woh Chini Bhai written by Verma? It was the first film to be banned in independent India due to its political theme.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
