Prabhavathi Devi Saraswathi (5 March1905- 14 May 1972) was an Indian Bengali writer and novelist.

Early life

Prabhavathi was born in 1905 in Khantura,

Gobardanga Gobardanga is a city and a municipality in North 24 Parganas district in the Indian state of West Bengal. Founded on 20 April 1870, it is one of the oldest municipalities of West Bengal. Etymology The word ''Gobardanga'' derives from Sanskrit. I ...

North 24 Parganas district North 24 Parganas (abv. 24 PGS (N)) or sometimes North Twenty Four Parganas is a district in southern West Bengal, of eastern India. North 24 Parganas extends in the tropical zone from latitude 22° 11′ 6″ north to 23° 15′ 2″ north and f ...

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

. Her father was Gopalchandra Bandyopadhyay. He was a lawyer based in

Dinajpur Dinajpur ( bn, দিনাজপুর ) is a city and the District headquarters of Dinajpur district situated in Rangpur Division, Bangladesh. It was founded in 1786. It is located 413 km north-west of Dhaka in Bangladesh. It is bounde ...

East Bengal ur, , common_name = East Bengal , status = Province of the Dominion of Pakistan , p1 = Bengal Presidency , flag_p1 = Flag of British Bengal.svg , s1 = East ...

. She married Bibhutibhushan Chowdhury when she was nine years old. She studied at the Brahma Girls' Training College, where she trained to be a teacher.

Career

Prabhavathi joined the Calcutta City Corporation School as a teacher. She founded the Savitri School in North Kolkata. She wrote in journals as The Mohammadi, Bharatvarsa, Upasana, Banshri, and Sarathi among others. In 1923 she published her first novel, Bijita. Her novel was made into a Bengali movie, Bhanga Gora. It was also made into a 1956 Tamil Language movie called

Kula Dheivam Kula Deivam (or Kuladeivam) may refer to: * Kuladevata, ancestral tulery deity among a clan in Hindu community * ''Kula Deivam'' (1956 film), a 1956 Tamil film * '' Kula Daivam'', a 1960 Telugu film * ''Kula Deivam'' (TV series), a Tamil TV serie ...

and a 1957 Hindi language film called

Bhabhi Bhabhi may refer to: * ''Bhabhi'' (1938 film) * ''Bhabhi'' (1957 film), a 1957 Hindi film * ''Bhabhi'' (1991 film), a 1991 Hindi film * ''Bhabhi'' (TV series), a 2002 Hindi TV series aired on StarPlus * ''Savita Bhabhi Savita Bhabhi is a ...

. The play Banglar Meye was based on her book, Pather Shese. She wrote more than 3 hundred books. She created first lady detective named Krishna in Bengali literature. Her notable works include Bratacharini, Byathita Dharitri, Bidhabar Katha, Dhular Dharani, Jagaran, Mahiyasi Nari, and Rabga Bau. She was a director of Jamsedpur All India Bengali Literary Society. In 1946 she was awarded the Leela Award by the

University of Calcutta 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 ...

. She was awarded Saraswati by the Navadwip Scholars Society.

Death

Prabhavathi died on 14 May 1972 in

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saraswathi, Prabhavathi Devi 1905 births 1972 deaths Bengali Hindus People from North 24 Parganas district Bengali writers Bengali novelists Indian women novelists Novelists from West Bengal Women writers from West Bengal 20th-century Indian novelists 20th-century Indian women writers Writers from Kolkata