9. Justice Anna Chandy: First Female High Court Judge (1905 – 1996)
Well known: She was also the first woman in India to become a High Court judge, the first woman judge in the Anglo-Saxon world, decades before Elizabeth Lane.
Chandy was born in 1905 and raised in Trivandrum. After obtaining a post-graduate degree in 1926, she then became the first woman in her state to get a law degree. She practiced as a barrister from 1929. She promoted the cause of women’s rights, most notably in Shrimati, a magazine that she both founded and edited.
10. Mahaswetah Devi: Fiction Writer and Tribal Activist (1926-2016)
Well known: She was an Indian Bengali fiction writer and socio-political activist.
Her notable literary works include Hajar Churashir Maa, Rudali, and Aranyer Adhikar. She was a self-recognized communist. She worked for the rights and empowerment of the tribal people of West Bengal, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh. She was honoured with various literary awards such as the Sahitya Akademi Award (in Bengali), Jnanpith Award and Ramon Magsaysay Award along with India’s civilian awards Padma Shri and Padma Vibhushan.
“Time was the arch fugitive, always on the run.” ― Mahasweta Devi, Mother of 1084
11. Kalpana Chawla: Astronaut (1962 – 2003)
Kalpana Chawla was born on 17 March 1962 in Karnal, India. She obtained a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Aeronautical Engineering from Punjab Engineering College, India. She moved to the United States in 1982 and obtained a Master of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington in 1984. Chawla earned a second Masters in 1986 and a Ph.D. in aerospace engineering in 1988 from the University of Colorado Boulder. She first flew on Space Shuttle Columbia in 1997 as a mission specialist and primary robotic arm operator. In 2003, Chawla was one of the seven crew members who died in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster when the spacecraft disintegrated during its re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere.
12. Kamala Das: Poetess and Columnist (1934 – 2009)
Well known: She is known by pen name Madhavikutty, an Indian English poet and a leading Malayalam author from Kerala, India.
She was a widely read columnist and wrote on diverse topics including women’s issues, child care, politics among others. She was born in a conservative Hindu Nair family having royal ancestry. She converted to Islam on December 11, 1999, at the age of 65 and assumed the name Kamala Surayya. Her open and honest treatment of female sexuality, free from any sense of guilt, infused her writing with power and she got hope after freedom, but also marked her as an iconoclast in her generation. On 31 May 2009, aged 75, she died at a hospital in Pune.
13. Lakshmi Sahgal: Freedom Fighter (1914 – 2012)
Well known: Sahgal is commonly referred to in India as “Captain Lakshmi”, a reference to her rank when taken prisoner in Burma during the Second World War.
She studied at Queen Mary’s College. She studied medicine and received an MBBS degree from Madras Medical College in 1938. A year later, she received her diploma in gynecology and obstetrics. She was a doctor in the Government Kasturba Gandhi Hospital, Chennai. In 1942, during the surrender of Singapore by the British to the Japanese, Sahgal aided wounded prisoners of war.
She was a revolutionary of the Indian independence movement, an officer of the Indian National Army. She was the Minister of Women’s Affairs in the Azad Hind government.
14. Lata Mangeshkar: Voice of the Millennium (1929 – )
Well known: Singer and music director in over thirty-six regional Indian languages and foreign languages, though primarily in Marathi, Hindi, and Bengali.
The Dadasaheb Phalke Award was bestowed on her in 1989 by the Government of India. In 2001, in recognition of her contributions to the nation, she was awarded the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian honour. France conferred on her its highest civilian award (Officer of the Legion of Honour) in 2007.
She is the recipient of 3 National Film Awards, 15 Bengal Film Journalists’ Association Awards, 4 Filmfare Best Female Playback Awards, 2 Filmfare Special Awards, Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award and many more. In 1974, she became the first Indian to perform in the Royal Albert Hall.
15. Laxmibai: Rani of Jhansi (1828 – 1858)
Well known: as Rani Of Jhansi.
Rani Lakshmibai was born on 19 November 1828, Varanasi into a Marathi Karhade Brahmin family. She was one of the leading figures of the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and became a symbol of resistance to the British Raj for Indian nationalists. On 17 June in Kotah-ki-Serai near the Phool Bagh of Gwalior, a squadron of the 8th (King’s Royal Irish) Hussars, under Captain Heneage, fought the large Indian force commanded by Rani Lakshmibai she was unhorsed and also wounded leading to her death.
Do you know any other powerful women from Indian history we should add in this list, let us know in the comments section!
