Indira Devi Chaudhurani (29 December 1873 – 12 August 1960) was an Indian literary figure, author and musician. Born to the

Tagore family The Tagore family (also spelled as ''Thakur''), with over three hundred years of history,Deb, Chitra, pp 64–65. has been one of the leading families of Calcutta, India, and is regarded as one of the key influencers during the Bengali Renaissa ...

, Indira was the younger child of

Satyendranath Tagore Satyendranath Tagore (1 June 1842 – 9 January 1923) was an Indian Bengali civil servant, poet, composer, writer, social reformer and linguist from Kolkata, West Bengal. He was the first Indian who became an Indian Civil Service officer in 186 ...

and

Jnanadanandini Devi Jnanadanandini Tagore (''née'' Mukhopadhyay; 26 July 1850 – 1 October 1941;''Gyanodanondinee Debi'') was a social reformer who pioneered various cultural innovations and influenced the earliest phase of women's empowerment in 19th century Beng ...

and younger sister of

Surendranath Tagore Surendranath Tagore (1872–1940) was a Bengali author, literary scholar, and translator. He is particularly noted for translating a number of works of Rabindranath Tagore to English. Early life and background A member of the Tagore family of ...

. She is noted for her work in scoring the music for a number of songs by her uncle Rabindranath, with whom she was particularly close. Indira Devi Chaudhurani died in 1960.

Biography

Indira Devi was born on 29 December 1873 to

and Jnanadanandini Devi in 1873, at Bijapur. She spent her childhood in England, in Brighton where her family owned the ''Medina Villas''. At this time she and her brother Surendranath came to be very close to her uncle Rabindranath who joined them a year later, and the brother and sister were said to have been the favourite of among the poet's nephews and nieces, and the author's letters to Indira were later published as ''Chinnapatra''. Her early education was in India, at Auckland House in

Simla Shimla (; ; also known as Simla, the official name until 1972) is the capital and the largest city of the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. In 1864, Shimla was declared as the summer capital of British India. After independence, th ...

and the Loreto Convent in

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 ...

. In 1892, Indira graduated from

Calcutta University The University of Calcutta (informally known as Calcutta University; CU) is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate State university (India), state university in India, located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Considered ...

with a

First Class Honours The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading structure for undergraduate degrees or bachelor's degrees and integrated master's degrees in the United Kingdom. The system has been applied (sometimes with significant variati ...

in French. Indira translated into Bengali the works of

John Ruskin John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English writer, philosopher, art critic and polymath of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as geology, architecture, myth, ornithology, literature, education, botany and pol ...

, as well as French literature, and translated published translations of Rabindranath's works in English. Indira was a strong proponent of women's issues, and authored a number of works on the position of women in India. Indira took an early interest in music, achieving proficiency in piano, violin and the

sitar The sitar ( or ; ) is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in medieval India, flourished in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form ...

and training in both Indian classical music as well as

Western classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" ...

, later earning a diploma from Trinity College of Music. She is noted to have scored the music for almost two hundred of Tagore's songs. She was a composer of ''Brahmosangeet'', and also authored a number of essays on music. In later life, Indira Devi was instrumental in the establishment of

Sangit Bhavana Sangit Bhavana (Institute of Dance, Drama and Music), of Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan, started functioning as a part of Kala Bhavana in 1919 and as a separate institution in 1933. It was established by the Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tag ...

Visva-Bharati University Visva-Bharati () is a public central university and an Institution of National Importance located in Shantiniketan, West Bengal, India. It was founded by Rabindranath Tagore who called it ''Visva-Bharati'', which means the communion of the ...

, and served as the chancellor of the University for a brief period of time. Indira was awarded Bhuvanmohini Gold Medal from Calcutta University in 1944, and received ''Desikottam'' (D.Litt.) from Visva Bharati University in 1957, she was also the inaugural awardee of

Rabindra Award The Rabindra Puraskar (also Rabindra Smriti Puraskar) is the highest honorary literary award given in the Indian state of West Bengal. This award is named after the famous Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore and is administered by the Government of W ...

in 1959. Indira wed

Pramatha Chaudhury Pramathanath Chaudhuri ( bn, প্রমথনাথ চৌধুরী; 7 August 1868 – 2 September 1946), known as Pramatha Chaudhuri, ''alias'' Birbal, was a Bengali writer and an influential figure in Bengali literature. He was the nephe ...

in 1899.

References

External links

Indira Devi Chaudhurani, from Scottish Centre for Tagore studies
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chaudhurani, Indira Devi 1873 births 1960 deaths University of Calcutta alumni Bengali writers Bengali Hindus Writers from Kolkata Tagore family Women writers from West Bengal Musicians from Kolkata Women musicians from West Bengal 19th-century Indian women musicians 19th-century Indian musicians 20th-century Indian women musicians 20th-century Indian musicians 20th-century Indian translators Indian women translators 20th-century women writers