Durgavati Devi was an Indian freedom fighter, and is known for fighting against British rule in India through armed struggle. She actively participated in the Indian revolutionary movements along with her husband Bhagwati Charan Vohra, who was an active member of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA) and that was the reason why she was popularly known as Durga Bhabhi in various revolutionary groups. He is remembered for helping Bhagat Singh and Rajguru escape from police arrest soon after the assassination of JP Saunders in 1928.
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Wiki/Biography
Durgavati Devi was born on Monday, 7 October 1907 (age 92 years at death) in Allahabad, United Province, British India (present-day Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, India). His zodiac sign was Libra. He received formal education till fifth grade.
Physical Appearance
Hair Color: Salt and Pepper
Eye colour: black
Family
parents and siblings
His father’s name is Pandit Banke Bihari who was a court officer in Allahabad Collectorate. His grandfather’s name is Pandit Shivshankar, who was a landlord in Shahjapur. She was the only child of her parents.
husband and children
Durgavati Devi was married to Bhagwati Charan Vohra in 1918. Charan Vohra was a revolutionary freedom fighter. The couple had a son named Sachinanda.
Durgavati Devi with her husband and child
Caste
She belonged to a Gujarati Brahmin family.
revolutionary activities
After marriage with Bhagwati Charan Vohra, Durgavati Devi joined Naujawan Bharat Sabha. She is known for organizing the funeral procession of freedom fighter Jatin Das from Lahore to Calcutta after his death while he was protesting against British rule during his 63-day hunger strike in Lahore jail, and the procession. A huge crowd had participated. Revolutionary organizations often gave the responsibility of purchasing weapons to Durgavati Devi and in a secret meeting in Delhi in 1930, JN Sawhney, the then editor of Hindustan Times, saw her hiding a pistol in her clothes. Soon after Bhagat Singh’s surrender on charges of assembly bomb throwing case, he tried to kill Lord Hailey in 1929. Lord Halley escaped safely in the bomb blast, but many of his companions were killed. Later the British police sent him to jail for three years. During the freedom struggle movements, a bomb manufacturing factory, Himalayan Toilets, was run by Vimal Prasad Jain with the help of Durgavati Devi and her husband on Qutub Road, Delhi. Picric acid, nitroglycerin and fulminate mercury were some of the elements he used to make bombs against the British Empire in India. On 19 December 1928, soon after the assassination of John P. Saunders, to escape from the British police force, Bhagat Singh and Shivram Rajguru called upon Durgavati Devi for their help and the next day, they boarded a train, hiding their identity and physical appearance. I climbed in. From Lahore to Bhatinda. Durgavati introduced herself as Bhagat Singh’s wife and Rajguru as his servant. He bought two first class and one third class tickets. She also took her newborn son with her. Bhagat Singh shaved his beard and cut his long hair and wore western attire during his escape. Traveling with loaded guns, they reached Howrah, where Durgavati and Bhagat Singh disembarked. Rajguru left for Banaras station. After a few days, Durgavati Devi went back to Lahore.
lamington road outrage
Durga Devi was involved in a firing incident that took place outside the police office at Lamington Road, South Bombay, at midnight on 8 October 1930. In this firing, Durgavati Devi had targeted a European couple. This incident was later considered the first instance in Indian revolutionary activities of a woman taking part in a terrorist outcry. A police sergeant and his wife were two victims of the shooting. During the shooting, Sergeant Taylor was hit in the hand and his wife was hit by three bullets in the leg. Eyewitnesses to the shooting told police that three men sitting in a moving car opened fire from more than one gun. Later, the police traced the car, which led to its driver JB Bapat, who, after five days of interrogation, told the British police that one of the shooters in the car was a Gujarati woman, dressed in male attire. From this statement the police concluded that a woman was traveling in the car with her husband and eight-year-old son. This assumption of the police was wrong; However, the police started searching for the woman named Sharda Devi based on the description of the witness, who described her as a young, fair, good looking woman wearing Khaddar. Later, he was caught and sentenced to imprisonment for two months under the Special Powers Ordinance till 28-9-1932. Furthermore, he was sent to Lahore jail and the British police extended his imprisonment by one year under the Preventive Detention of Suspects Act. In 1935, he was released from prison and immediately after his release, he continued his matriculation education. In 1936, Durgavati Devi started teaching at Pyare Lal Girls School, Ghaziabad. Later, all charges against him were dropped after the British government issued an amnesty to political prisoners.
President of Congress Party
In 1937, Durgavati Devi started participating in revolutionary activities and joined the Congress Party as president of the Delhi Congress Committee meeting in 1938. During this meeting, Durgavati Devi helped arrange a reception for the released prisoners of the Kakori conspiracy case. The same year, for the second time, Durgavati Devi was arrested for her involvement in a ‘strike’ or protest as a leader of the Congress Party. He was kept in custody for a week.
Death
Durgavati Devi died natural death on 15 October 1999 in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, India. She was 92 years old at the time of her death.
Facts/General Knowledge
- In the history of the Indian freedom struggle, she is also known as Durga Bhabhi.
- Durgavati Devi was very young when her mother died and her father left Durgavati Devi with her aunt who raised her. Soon after his mother’s death his father went into Tiratha Sannyasa.
- Bhagwati Charan Vohra married Durgavati Devi when she was only eleven years old. They welcomed a child named Sachinanda in 1925. Later, she started teaching at a girls’ college in Lahore and taught there till 1929.
- During the court proceedings of Bhagat Singh and his comrades, Durgavati Devi sold her jewelery worth Rs. Rs 3000 to save them.
- Durgavati Devi started a school for underprivileged children in 1935.
- In Indian history he is remembered as ‘Fire of India’. He fought against British rule during India’s freedom struggle.
- Professor Bhagwati Charan Vohra planned to free Bhagat Singh from Lahore jail and died while testing the bomb on the banks of river Ravi.
- While escaping from the British police in 1928, Bhagat Singh changed himself in such a way that even Durgavati Devi could not recognize him. Talking about this form of Bhagat Singh, Shivram Rajguru had once said,
If Devi could not recognize Singh despite knowing him well because of his changed clean shaven look, then surely the police would not be able to recognize him either as they would be looking for a bearded Sikh.
- In the 2006 film Rang De Basanti directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, the minor reference character of Durgavati Devi was played by Indian actress Soha Ali Khan.
- The character of Durgavati Devi was featured in the seventh episode of the television show Invisible, which was broadcast on EPIC channel in 2014.
Categories: Biography
Source: vcmp.edu.vn