Life
Mahadevi was born in Farrukhabad, United Provinces in a family of lawyers. She was educated at Jabalpur- Madhya Pradesh. She was the eldest child of Govind prasad and Hem rani and had two brothers and a sister, Shyama. She was married in 1914, at the age of 7, to Dr Swarup Narain Varma in Indore. She stayed with her parents while her husband studied in Lucknow to complete his education, during which time, she received her higher education at the Allahabad University and passed her B.A. examination in 1929 and completed her Master's degree-M.A. in Sanskrit in 1933. She later joined her husband in the princely state of Tamkoi around 1920 and later moved to Allahabad to pursue her interest in poetry with agreement from her husband, as she refused to accept her marriage with him in childhood. Mahadevi Varma and her husband mostly lived separately pursuing their respective interests and used to meet occasionally.
After the death of her husband in 1966, she moved permanently to Allahabad and lived there until her death. Mahadevi Varma was deeply affected by Buddhism and also contributed to the Indian freedom movement. She even tried to become a Buddhist bhikshuni.
Mahadevi was appointed as the first headmistress of Allahabad (Prayag) Mahila Vidyapeeth, which was started with a view to imparting cultural and literary education to girls through Hindi medium. Later, she became the chancellor of the institute.
She died on September 11, 1987 at 9:27 pm. Her bunglow still stands at Ashok Nagar colony in Allahabad. It is under possession of descendants of her deceased secretary, Pt. Ganga Prasad Pandey. On her birth centenary year (2007), they have recreated a room dedicated to her memory.
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