Annapurna Devi

BY ABBURI RAMAKRISHNA RAU

In common with many others who are to-day mourning the passing away of Srimathi Annapurna Devi, I had not the privilege of her acquaintance. Ten years ago, a slender manuscript in Telugu-prose was sent to me by a friend for revision. It was by Annapurna. It was a translation of a few letters written byAurobindo Ghose from his exile to his wife. I was myself learning Bengali and was sufficiently advanced in that language to be able to appreciate the lucid rendering of Annapurna into Telugu. The letters made a deep impression on me. The translator must have been even more deeply impressed. Now that she is dead, I realise how steadfastly and devoutly she must have cherished the great ideals held up in those letters of Aurobindo, which gave her the strength to dedicate herself to Gandhi and his great cause.

Annapurna was born in 1900 of a middle class Telugu family, Kamma by caste. The Kammas were once a ruling class, and are even to-day a highly respected section of the Andhra aristocracy. Annapurna's mother, who still lives to mourn her noble daughter's loss, is an ideal mother who never once tried to set any limits to the desire for service that was slowly growing in Annapurna. She was for sometime secretary, and is even now an active worker, in the local Prarthana Samaj and many other institutions doing social service. Annapurna was the only daughter of her parents, and their indulgence to her was unbounded, as can be seen from her answer to Mahatma Gandhi on the occasion of her great sacrifice. When, in the memorable year 1921, Gandhi came on a tour to this province, she gave away her rich ornaments, bangles, and a heavy gold chain. Asked if she had the permission of her parents, she replied, ‘My parents do not interfere with me. They let me do as I like.’ In these days when women themselves exaggerate the frailties of women, it was no small advantage for Annapurna to have had such high-minded and indulgent parents.

She showed great promise even while a girl of seven. Dr. Govindarajulu, a friend who had watched the short and sweet drama of her life from beginning to end, says that her sweet temper and rare intelligence won the admiration of all that came into contact with her at that early age. Raly Seshagiri Rao Garu of Ellore, a pious and devout seeker, was at that impressionable age, her guide, philosopher, and friend. He left so deep and abiding an impression on her, that she would very often in later years attribute all her strength and courage to the dynamic teaching of this Guru of her youth. Later, she also came under the influence .of Adipudi Somanatha Rao Garu, a great social reformer and poet.

Owing to her pronounced disinclination to go to school, Annapurna received her first lessons from her parents and was subsequently sent to the Mission School at Guntur. Having remained there for a little over two years, she was sent up to Calcutta on the advice of friends to study in the Brahmo Girls' School. To meet her expenses, the parents managed to lay a little sum every month for their beloved daughter, the father by trading and the mother by sewing. While at Calcutta, she resided along with Srimathi Sakuntala Devi, now an M.A. and private tutor to the Maharani of Pithapur, in the house of Mr. Hemachandra Sirkar, the well-known Brahmo preacher. Mrs. Sirkar seems to have imposed upon her young wards a stern discipline -although by no means sterner than what Annapurna voluntarily imposed upon herself later-which had a chastening and purifying effect on them. While engaged in her school studies, she found real pleasure in cultivating the beautiful Bengali language with great enthusiasm. Her note-books of those school days which have been preserved, contain many noble sayings written in dainty Bengali script by herself and friends at school, who seem to have been a sort of intellectual family gathered together by happy circumstance. She could herself write an elegant hand in Bengali, and her many translations from that language testify to her fine sense of selection in trying to convey to her Telugu readers some of the finest things in the Bengali language.

ANNAPURNA-DEVI

AGED 13

After more than five years of study, her health broke down under the strain of an alien discipline and she came to Ellore. An year later, she went up privately for the Matriculation examination of the Madras University, and being in great want, resolved to earn by her pen all the money she required for prosecuting higher studies. In 1917, she published a book of prose Sitarama, which was prescribed as a Text Book for the High School classes. While she was planning to pursue her literary labours with greater zeal, she again fell ill and had to go in 1919 to Madanapalle and remain there for an year. She came healthy and strong. In 1920, she married Mr. Maganti Bapineedu (now B. Sc. of Cornell and M. Sc. of California) who was then studying in the City College, Calcutta. The marriage was a memorable event in the history of social reform in Andhra Desa. The mantras were recited in Telugu and a Kamma scholar was chosen as the officiating priest. The marriage was celebrated in the distinguished presence of Mr. Umesh chandra Vidyaratna, the famous Bengali reformer, and Mr. Adipudi Somanatha Rao.

Soon after marriage, Mr. Bapineedu having obtained the Satyalingam Charities Scholarship, started for America leaving his wife behind to play her destined part in the great struggle for Swaraj. While her husband was in India, Annapurna had planned to accompany him to America. But Mr. Needu, in obedience to the wishes of the trustees, had to suddenly start away on his journey, and young Annapurna had to make her own arrangements for money. No one was willing to help, and the intercession of big men and the entreaties of friends proved futile. She bravely fought for over an year, and when help was actually coming, heard the call of Gandhi and resolved to lay her all-too-imperfect life at the feet of the Mother.

Her mind was by this time formed and her understanding equipped. Having freed herself from the vain terrors that sway the general run of human beings, she threw herself heart and soul into the new movement. She burnt all the costly saris, worth 1200 rupees, purchased for her American journey. She found from experience that some definite step should be taken to gather together the scattered energies of the nation into an institution, where lasting and silent work could be done, undisturbed by fleeting political enthusiasms. At great risk to her health, she toured the important places in Andhra Desa for money, and founded the Mohandas Khaddar Parisramalayam at Ellore. In 1923, when her husband returned from America, she met him as he got down from the steamer at Bombay, and implored him to throw his foreign dress into the sea and put on the coarse homespun she had brought for him. It is no wonder he obeyed willingly, for as Gandhi has said, she had already ‘acquired a gentle but commanding influence over her husband, by her purity and single-minded devotion.’ She sped like a meteor from place to place, holding up with her persuasive eloquence the great ideal of Swaraj before vast crowds, It was during this period that I saw her on many an occasion; dressed in her quaint Khaddar sari while she came either to deliberate in a committee or speak at a public meeting. Her person, her clothing, her attitude, bespoke a lofty disdain of earthly pleasures, and one felt that this woman had from all time had a quarrel with Nature. Owing to her great loyalty to Mahatma Gandhi, she followed the Health Guide to the very letter. Like her Master, she was always kind and courteous to her opponents and respected their convictions. She never betrayed herself into the narrow bigotry of the new enthusiast, but always held firmly to her convictions.

Towards the end of 1924, she again fell ill and travelled restlessly from one health-resort to another, always accompanied by her devoted husband who, true to the advice of Gandhi, was her best nurse all through this period. During these travels, she found time to finish a beautiful translation of Sri Ramakrishna's Teachings from Bengali and write an original prose work, Nari, dealing with the destiny of woman in future India. But the fell disease made rapid progress and defied the skill of the best doctors, but she managed through sheer power of will to live on till November 9^th 1927, when she passed away, mourned by a tender husband, disconsolate parents, and a whole nation whom she loved and served so well. She was happy in her resignation, retaining it to the last her patience and her peace of mind. In spite of painful bedsores, she refused to forsake Khaddar and was finally cremated with Khaddar on. Annapurna was one of those rare souls who have sacrificed their most cherished personal ambitions in life for the service of the Motherland, for assuredly her vocation was certainly not politics, but literature. She had an active, inquiring spirit, and a restless mind, which are so clearly mirrored in the scanty literary remains she has left behind. Her letters to her husband while he was away in America, are a priceless possession for the Andhras. They are spiritual discourses of extreme ardour, whose monotony might be fatiguing, did we not feel in them apart from the beauty of the language, the yearnings, of a great spirit. Whether from the Golden Threshold at Hyderabad, or from her own simple Parisramalayam, we are conscious on reading these letters, of a good faith and a sincerity which evoke admiration and sympathy. Her death has taken away from us not merely an honest and energetic political worker, but a creative artist whose powers were In the process of unfoldment. Surely there is a curse upon Andhra genius. Do the gods love the Andhra youth, that they die so young?

SRIMATHI ANNAPURNA AND ‘TRIVENI’

By K. ISWARA DUTT

I am highly thankful to the Editor of the' Triveni ' for allowing me the privilege of offering my humble meed of praise to the volume of tributes paid all over the country to the memory of Srimathi Annapurna Devi, the noble and devoted partner of Sjt. M. B. Needu. ‘Oh fairest flower, no sooner blown but blasted’ will be the epitaph carved by Time on her ‘green’ grave. The way in which she freed herself from time-dishonoured fetters and man-made tyrannies, and the zeal with which she worked for the emancipation of her Motherland according to the dictates of her conscience, is an imperishable example and an inspiring memory of the triumph of her youth and sex. She touched a richer note to the glory of Indian womanhood and lived in an atmosphere of lofty idealism, which is a standing rebuke to a nation lulled to dogmatic ‘oriental’ slumbers. Our task does not end with subscribing to her memorial fund. We have to make ourselves worthy of the legacy she has left behind, in creating a proud consciousness of woman's equality with man, and a realisation of woman's duty to her enthralled Motherland.

If the Triveni which is dedicated to the ideals for which this noble daughter of Andhra Desa gave her life, works for the equality of the sexes in all spheres of life, and invites leading women to enrich it with their contributions, it will be covering a wider field of journalistic endeavour. I am sure the Triveni will mirror alike the energy of man and the elegance of woman.

ANNAPURNA-DEVI AND HER HUSBAND

A BROTHER’S TRIBUTE

BY K. RAMAKOTISWARA RAO

To me, as to all those that threw themselves into the struggle for Indian Swaraj early in 1921, Annapurna is dearer than words can tell. Long years ago, while yet a boy, I lost a beloved sister whose name was also Annapurna. To-day, I feel I have been deprived of my sister once again for, without ever coming into intimate personal touch with ‘Devi,’ I lavished on her a brother's love. For her sake, and for the sake of the cause of woman's progress which she so worthily represented, I shall endeavour in all humility to make the Triveni a ‘mirror of the elegance of woman’ though I cannot agree with my friend, Mr. Iswara Dutt, that energy is the special attribute of man.

There is little that I can add to the many and eloquent tributes to the memory of this latest of the Andhra Heroines, -the successor in spirit of Gothami, Vasishti, Rudramadevi and Mallamma Devi. In her one-year-old daughter, she has left us an image of her dear self. May her spirit live on through young Jhansi, alas! too early orphaned, but infinitely blessed in a noble mother, and blessed too in the ever-memorable name that the mother chose for her!

ONE OF HIS DEAR DAUGHTERS

BY MAHATMA GANDHI

The esteem in which Mahatmaji held Annapurna Devi will be evident from his letter to her husband, which is given in facsimile overleaf.