A Struggle Worth Remembering

"I have marvelled at how Smt. Rama Devi and her girls have discharged themselves during the tour, which was undoubtedly pleasant and easy, had undoubtedly its trials. But these ladies have not known what fatigue is? Nowhere have I seen anything quite like what Smt. Rama Devi and her little band have been found to do so gracefully and so naturally. They have never needed or claimed any special privilege." - Mahatma Gandhi

Ramadevi Choudhury: Redefining Freedom; Image Source: RD University

The nation is supported by two wings- men and women. History has witnessed many great examples of men who gave up their lives for the freedom struggle, but at the same time, some women effectively participated in the freedom struggle and led to the greater advancement of the nation. When we recall the days of freedom struggle, we see the entire country bound together with one dream in their hearts- the dream to see India free from the evil clutches of the Britishers. Out of all these people, some women broke off from all the boundaries and left their footprints in the honour of their respective states.

One such woman from the great land of Kalinga who not only inspired other women but also became an idol of womanhood, and whose revolutionary role in the freedom struggle made her one of the most revered freedom fighters of all, she is none other than the Mother Of Odisha, Ramadevi Choudhury. Gandhi's clarion call awakened many in different communities in different parts of India and one of the strongest communities was that of the women.

Women from Odisha too jumped into action and joined the Indian Independence Movement with tremendous courage and vigorous strength, abandoning all the luxuries and comforts of life. Perhaps it's their undaunted courage and uncountable sacrifices that make Indian history, rich and glorious.

When talking of the participation of women at the national level, names like Sarojini Naidu, Annie Besant, Sucheta Kripalini, Aruna Asaf Ali, Pandita Ramabai, and Bijayalaxmi Pandit, comes to our mind. At the same time, women like Rama Devi, Malati Choudhury, Shyamali Mohapatra, Sarala Devi, Sarojini Devi, and Kuntala Kumari Sawat, have fought for the freedom of Odisha, taking the lead in the freedom struggle.

Though some unknown stories are buried underneath the sand of time, we will try to unravel the life of Ramadevi, fondly known as "Maa of Odisha".

Born on 3rd December 1899 in the lap of Basanta Kumari Devi and Gopal Ballav Das in Cuttack district of Odisha, Rama was influenced by the work of people like Utkal Gaurav Madhusudan Das, Mahatma Gandhi, Vinoba Bhave, and Jayprakash Narayanan. Though she married Gopabandhu Choudhury at the tender age of fifteen, she could never retrain herself within the four walls of her in-law's house. While her father-in-law was quite supportive, her mother-in-law was a staunch and conservative woman who had a predefined notion of women being the housewives and men being the bread earners of the family.

However, Rama had quite a different perspective towards life. Seeing the hardships of the common men, she was driven by only one motive- to give selfless support and service to these people.

Getting out of the confines of her wifely duties, when Devi finally decided to start her journey through politics, it was her husband, Gopabandhu who stood like a pillar beside her, supporting her every step. In the year 1921, the couple joined the Non-Cooperation Movement conducted by the Indian National Congress. The entire Choudhury family including Rama's brother-in-law, Nabakrushna Choudhury, and his wife, Malati Choudhury, too joined the movement. Malati and Rama disposed of all of their expensive sarees, clothes, and pieces of jewellery and started wearing khadi sarees to support the NCM.

In her first meeting with Gandhi, Devi offered him a hand-woven cotton bundle which made him realise the extraordinary potential of the woman to fight off the Britishers.

By the year 1930, Choudhury had started participating in almost all the movements conducted by INC. She, along with several other women including Kiranbala Sen and Malati Devi, went to Inchudi and Srijang in the Balasore district to conduct Salt Satyagraha since the Britishers had strictly prohibited the movement in Cuttack. Their Salt Satyagraha was therefore known by the name of Inchudi Satyagraha. However, the very same year, police arrested her, Pranakrushna Padhiari, Sarala Devi, and Malati Devi and kept all of them in different jails. Later on, they were released when the Gandhi-Irwin Pact was signed. As soon as she came out of the jail, she met Simanta Gandhi in the Karachi Session of INC and requested Dr Rajendra Prasad to conduct the next INC session in Odisha.

Yet again, Ramadevi was arrested in 1932 and was sent to Hazaribagh jail. When released, she immediately started her work for the upliftment of the lower caste people of the society. She named the society Asprushyata Nibarana Samiti, upon Gandhi's instructions. She kept on moving from place to place and convinced people to treat the Harijans with equal respect and dignity. Mahatma started the movement from Puri and Devi too assisted him. When the INC finally conducted the meeting in the presence of Gandhiji, Kasturba, Maulana Azad, Rajendra Prasad, and Sardar Ballav Bhai Patel in Orissa, Rama too collected money from people and made the meeting a huge success.

Though everything was going well, it was in the August Revolution of 1942, that the entire Choudhury family was arrested.

After her release, Choudhury started an ashram at Bari, which was named Sewaghar. The basic concept behind this ashram was that its residents would do a variety of works like Khadi work, the awakening of women in different issues, Basic Education, Spreading the National Language, rendering services to Harijans, cleaning the toilets, Self Services, Adult Education, Drug De-addiction and increasing self-employment of common men through Dairy Development, Beekeeping, leather works and delivering health services to the patients, and earn for their livelihood. It was Rama's duty to supervise their work and look after the ashram as well.

After India got its independence, it was time for the citizens to rebuild a new India, based on new ideologies. On 21st August, the Utkal Khadi Mandal was set up in Odisha and Devi too became an active member of it. Later on, she also started a Teacher's Training Centre, established a Balwadi at Ramchandrapur, and also brought in the concept of Sishu Vihar Yojana for the welfare of the children. She and her sister-in-law, Malati went to different areas including Koraput, Balasore, Kendrapara, Cuttack, Dhenkanal, Mayurbhanj, and Phulbani, which were affected by natural calamities like famine, flood, and cyclone. They also took the help of Jayprakash Narayan and sought financial and material help from the Utkal Relief Committee. Taking an active part in Hindu-Muslim unity movements, she also supported the movements organised by students.

Devi and her husband were inspired by the Bhoodan Movement initiated by Vinoba and covered more than 2000 miles to spread awareness about this movement. On their way, they were also able to collect 1000 acres of land from people, which they later re-distributed among the landless people. When Bhave came to India, Madhusudan and Rama assisted him and she also headed the meeting of the All India Sarvodaya Convention held at Pandarpur. During the famous war between India and China in 1962, Choudhury along with several other women travelled to the borders to give their selfless services to the soldiers.

In 1975, when the Emergency was imposed by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, Devi came forward to protest against it along with others like Hare Krushna Mahatab and Nilamani Routray. When press freedom was curtailed, Rama introduced a newspaper with her signature to spread the words of press freedom among all the citizens. This newspaper was eventually declared unlawful by the government, but Rama stood strong and persuaded the common people to fight against this injustice.

Ramadevi also established a Cancer Detection Centre at Cuttack, and later on, she was honoured with several awards for her selfless devotion towards the country and countless sacrifices for its people. Apart from this, she also received a doctorate from Utkal University and was felicitated by the Jamunalal Bajaj Foundation.

It was on 22nd July 1985 that Choudhury took her last breath. Though she is no more with us, her motherly love and great ideologies will forever be etched in the glorious history of Odisha.