Google honors India’s first woman Satyagrahi and writer of ‘Jhansi ki Rani’ poem Subhadra Kumari Chauhan

Google honored India’s first woman Satyagrahi Subhadra Kumari Chauhan with a special graphic on her 117th birth anniversary on August 16.

Subhadra Kumari Chauhan was a trailblazing writer and freedom fighter whose work rose to national prominence during a male-dominated era of literature.

On the occasion of the Indian activist and author’s 117th birth anniversary, the doodle recreated the iconic image of the trailblazer, sitting with a pen and paper, in a saree. The doodle is created by New Zealand-based guest artist Prabha Mallya.

Her evocative nationalist poem “Jhansi ki Rani” is widely regarded as one of the most recited poems in Hindi literature.

On August 16, 1904, Subhadra Kumari Chauhan was born in Nihalpur, Tamil Nadu. She was known to write constantly, even in the horse cart on the way to school, and her first poem was published at just nine years old. The call for Indian independence reached its height during her early adulthood. As a participant in the Indian Nationalist Movement, she used her poetry to call others to fight for their nation’s sovereignty.

The Google Doodle page described her poetry as, “In 1923, Subhadra Kumari Chauhan’s unyielding activism led her to become the first woman satyagrahi, a member of the Indian collective of nonviolent anti-colonialists to be arrested in the struggle for national liberation. She continued to make revolutionary statements in the fight for freedom both on and off the page into the 1940s. She published a total of 88 poems and 46 short stories.”

Subhadra Kumari Chauhan passed away on February 15 in 1948. Today, Chauhan’s poetry remains a staple in many Indian classrooms as a symbol of historical progress, encouraging future generations to stand up against social injustice and celebrate the words that shaped a nation’s history.