Durgavati Devi (7 October 1907 – 15 October 1999), popularly known as ''Durga Bhabhi'', was an Indian revolutionary and freedom fighter. She was one of the few women revolutionaries who actively participated in armed revolution against the ruling
British Raj
The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent;
*
* it is also called Crown rule in India,
*
*
*
*
or Direct rule in India,
* Quote: "Mill, who was him ...
. She is best known for having accompanied
Bhagat Singh
Bhagat Singh (27 September 1907 – 23 March 1931) was a charismatic Indian revolutionary*
* who participated in the mistaken murder of a junior British police officer
*
* in what was to be retaliation for the death of an Indian national ...
on the train journey in which he made his escape in disguise after the
killing of John P. Saunders.
Since she was the wife of another
Hindustan Socialist Republican Association
Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA), previously known as the Hindustan Republican Army and Hindustan Republican Association (HRA), was an Indian revolutionary organisation founded by Ram Prasad Bismil, Ashfaqulla Khan, Sachindra ...
(HSRA) member
Bhagwati Charan Vohra
Bhagwati Charan Vohra (15 November 1903 – 28 May 1930) was an Indian revolutionary, associated with Hindustan Socialist Republican Association. He was an ideologue, organiser, orator and a campaigner.
Early life
Bhagwati was born in 1903 in ...
, other members of HSRA referred to her as ''Bhabhi'' (elder brother's wife) and became popular as "''Durga Bhabhi''" in Indian revolutionary circles.
Life
Devi was born into
Gujarati
Gujarati may refer to:
* something of, from, or related to Gujarat, a state of India
* Gujarati people, the major ethnic group of Gujarat
* Gujarati language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them
* Gujarati languages, the Western Indo-Aryan sub ...
Brahmin
Brahmin (; sa, ब्राह्मण, brāhmaṇa) is a varna as well as a caste within Hindu society. The Brahmins are designated as the priestly class as they serve as priests (purohit, pandit, or pujari) and religious teachers (gur ...
family in
Allahabad. She was married to
Bhagwati Charan Vohra
Bhagwati Charan Vohra (15 November 1903 – 28 May 1930) was an Indian revolutionary, associated with Hindustan Socialist Republican Association. He was an ideologue, organiser, orator and a campaigner.
Early life
Bhagwati was born in 1903 in ...
when she was eleven.
She was an active member of the
Naujawan Bharat Sabha
Naujawan Bharat Sabha (NBS, sometimes spelled Nau Jawan Bharat Sabha, with the acronym NJBS) ( Youth Society of India) was a left-wing Indian association that sought to foment revolution against the British Raj by gathering together worker and pe ...
, Devi came into prominence when the Sabha decided to observe the 11th anniversary of
Kartar Singh Sarabha
Kartar Singh Sarabha (24 May 1896 — 16 November 1915) was an Indian revolutionary. He was 15-years old when he became a member of Ghadar Party; he then became a leading luminary member and started fighting for the independence movement. H ...
’s martyrdom on 16 November 1926 in
Lahore
Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city ...
. Devi was instrumental in helping
Bhagat Singh
Bhagat Singh (27 September 1907 – 23 March 1931) was a charismatic Indian revolutionary*
* who participated in the mistaken murder of a junior British police officer
*
* in what was to be retaliation for the death of an Indian national ...
and
Shivaram Rajguru
Shivaram Hari Rajguru (24 August 1907 – 23 March 1931) was an Indian revolutionary from Maharashtra (then Bombay State), known mainly for his involvement in the assassination of a British police officer named John Saunders. He was an active ...
escape after the killing of John P. Saunders, a
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
police officer in Lahore who, on the instructions of James Scott, killed
Lala Lajpat Rai
Lala Lajpat Rai (28 January 1865 - 17 November 1928) was an Indian author, freedom fighter, and politician. He played a vital role in the Indian Independence movement. He was popularly known as Punjab Kesari. He was one of the three members of ...
during a
''lathi'' charge.
She led the funeral procession of
Jatin Das
Jatindra Nath Das ( bn, যতীন্দ্রনাথ দাস; 27 October 1904 – 13 September 1929), better known as Jatin Das, was an Indian independence activist and revolutionary who worked to make India independent from the Bri ...
from Lahore to
Calcutta
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...
after his death in a 63-day
jail hunger strike
A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke a feeling of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most ...
. All along the way, huge crowds joined the funeral procession.
Revolutionary activities
After
Bhagat Singh
Bhagat Singh (27 September 1907 – 23 March 1931) was a charismatic Indian revolutionary*
* who participated in the mistaken murder of a junior British police officer
*
* in what was to be retaliation for the death of an Indian national ...
surrendered himself for the 1929 Assembly bomb throwing incident, Devi attempted to assassinate Lord Hailey; he escaped, but many of his associates died. She was caught by the
police
The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and th ...
and imprisoned for three years. She had also sold her ornaments worth
₹3,000 to rescue Singh and his comrades under trial.
Devi, along with her husband, helped Vimal Prasad Jain, an HSRA member, in running a bomb factory named 'Himalayan Toilets' (a smokescreen to hide the agenda of making bombs) at Qutub Road,
Delhi
Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders ...
. In this factory, they handled
picric acid,
nitroglycerine
Nitroglycerin (NG), (alternative spelling of nitroglycerine) also known as trinitroglycerin (TNG), nitro, glyceryl trinitrate (GTN), or 1,2,3-trinitroxypropane, is a dense, colorless, oily, explosive liquid most commonly produced by nitrating ...
and
fulminate of mercury
Mercury(II) fulminate, or Hg(CNO)2, is a primary explosive. It is highly sensitive to friction, heat and shock and is mainly used as a trigger for other explosives in percussion caps and detonators. Mercury(II) cyanate, though its chemical formula ...
.
[
Two days after killing John P. Saunders, on 19 December 1928, Sukhdev Thapar called on Devi for help, which she agreed to do. They decided to catch the train departing from Lahore for ]Bathinda
Bathinda is a city and municipal corporation in Punjab, India. The city is the administrative headquarters of Bathinda District. It is located in northwestern India in the Malwa Region, west of the capital city of Chandigarh and is the fifth l ...
''en route'' to Howrah (Calcutta
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...
) early the next morning. She posed as the wife of Singh and put her son Sachin in his lap while Shivaram Rajguru
Shivaram Hari Rajguru (24 August 1907 – 23 March 1931) was an Indian revolutionary from Maharashtra (then Bombay State), known mainly for his involvement in the assassination of a British police officer named John Saunders. He was an active ...
carried their luggage as their servant. To avoid recognition, Singh had shaved off his beard and cut his hair short the previous day and dressed in Western attire. In fact, when Singh and Sukhdev came to her house on the night of 19 December 1928, Sukhdev introduced Singh as a new friend. Devi could not recognize Singh at all. Then, Sukhdev told Devi the truth and said that if Devi could not recognise Singh in his changed clean-shaved appearance despite knowing him well, surely the police
The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and th ...
would also not recognize him as they would be looking for a bearded Sikh.[
They left the house early the next morning. At the station, Singh, with his concealed identity, bought three tickets to ]Cawnpore
Kanpur or Cawnpore (Help:IPA/English, /kɑːnˈpʊər/ pronunciation (Wikipedia:Media help, help·:File:Kanpur.ogg, info)) is an industrial city in the central-western part of the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. Founded in 1207, Kanpur became one ...
— two first-class tickets for Devi and himself and a third class one for Rajguru. Both men had loaded revolvers with them to deal with any unanticipated incident. They avoided raising the suspicions of the police and boarded the train. Breaking the journey at Cawnpore, they boarded a train for Lucknow
Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...
since the CID at Howrah railway station usually scrutinised passengers on the direct train from Lahore
Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city ...
. At Lucknow, Rajguru left separately for Benares
Varanasi (; ; also Banaras or Benares (; ), and Kashi.) is a city on the Ganges river in northern India that has a central place in the traditions of pilgrimage, death, and mourning in the Hindu world.
*
*
*
* The city has a syncretic tra ...
while Singh, Devi and the infant went to Howrah. Devi returned to Lahore a few days later with her infant child.
Later life
Unlike other freedom fighters, after Indian independence, Devi started living as a common citizen in quiet anonymity and exclusion in Ghaziabad
Ghaziabad () is a city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and a part of Delhi NCR. It is the administrative headquarters of Ghaziabad district and is the largest city in western Uttar Pradesh, with a population of 1,729,000. Ghaziabad Mun ...
. She later opened a school
A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes comp ...
for poor children in Lucknow
Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...
. Devi died in Ghaziabad on 15 October 1999 at the age of 92.
A small reference to her character was seen in Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra
Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra (born 7 July 1963) is an Indian film director, occasional actor and screenwriter. He is best known for writing and directing ''Rang De Basanti'' (2006) and ''Bhaag Milkha Bhaag'' (2013). He is the writer and director of ...
’s 2006 film ''Rang De Basanti
''Rang De Basanti'' () is a 2006 Indian drama film written, produced and directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, and co-written by Rensil D'Silva. The film features an ensemble cast consisting of Aamir Khan, Siddharth, R. Madhavan, Atul Kulkar ...
'', where Soha Ali Khan
Soha Ali Khan Pataudi Khemu (born 4 October 1978) is an Indian actress who has worked in Hindi, Bengali and English films. She is the daughter of veteran actress Sharmila Tagore and former Indian cricket captain Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, and t ...
played her part.[
The seventh episode of the 2014 Indian ]Epic TV
Epic TV is an Indian television channel that airs action, drama, comedy and narrative non-fiction and fictional programming with a focus on Indian history, folklore and epic genre. Launched by In10 Media Pvt. Ltd. on 19 November 2014, a compa ...
anthology television series, '' Adrishya'', is about Devi.
See also
*Ram Prasad Bismil
Ram Prasad Bismil ( Hindi: राम प्रसाद "बिस्मिल") (11 June 1897 — 19 December 1927) was an Indian poet, writer, revolutionary and an Indian freedom fighter who participated in the Mainpuri Conspiracy of 1918, a ...
*Kakori Train Robbery
The Kakori Train robbery (''prapt'' of Kakori Conspiracy) was a train robbery that took place at Kakori, a village near Lucknow, on 9 August 1925, during the Indian Independence Movement against the British Raj. It was organised by Hindustan R ...
*Revolutionary movement for Indian independence
The Revolutionary movement for Indian Independence was the part of the Indian independence movement comprising the actions of violent underground revolutionary factions. Groups believing in armed revolution against the ruling British fall into t ...
* Manmath Nath Gupta
*Delhi Conspiracy Commission
The Delhi Conspiracy Commission was created dated 9 April 1930 by an order of the Chief Commissioner of Delhi, exercising his special powers under section 3(1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The commission was directed that certain persons ...
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Devi, Durgawati
Indian revolutionaries
Hindustan Socialist Republican Association
1907 births
1999 deaths
People from Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh