Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay (3 April 1903 – 29 October 1988) was an Indian social reformer. She worked for the promotion of Indian handicrafts, handlooms, and theatre in independent India to uplift the socio-economic standard of Indian women. She was the first woman in India to contest in elections from Madras Constituency, but lost.
She headed the National School of Drama and Sangeet Natak Akademi. In 1974, she was awarded the Sangeet Natak Academy Fellowship, the highest honour conferred by the Sangeet Natak Academy, India's National Academy of Music, Dance & Drama. She was conferred with Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan by Government of India in 1955 and 1987 respectively. She is known as Hatkargha Maa for her works in handloom sector.
Born in a Saraswat Brahmin family on 3 April 1903 in Mangaluru, Karnataka, Kamaladevi was the fourth and youngest daughter of her parents. Her father, Ananthayya Dhareshwar, was the District Collector of Mangalore, and her mother, Girijabai, from whom she inherited an independent streak, belonged to a land-owning Chitrapur Saraswat brahmana family from coastal Karnataka. Kamaladevi's paternal grandmother was well-versed in the ancient Indian epics and puranas, and Girijabai was also well-educated, although mostly home-tutored. Together, their presence in the household gave Kamaladevi a firm grounding and provided benchmarks to respect for her intellect as well as her voice, something that she came to be known for in the future.
Kamaladevi was an exceptional student and also exhibited qualities of determination and courage from an early age. Her parents befriended many prominent freedom fighters and intellectuals such as Mahadev Govind Ranade, Gopal Krishna Gokhale, and women leaders like Ramabai Ranade, and Annie Besant. This made young Kamaladevi an early enthusiast of the swadeshi nationalist movement.
She studied about the ancient Sanskrit drama tradition of Kerala - Kutiyattam, from its greatest Guru and authority of Abhinaya, Nātyāchārya Padma Shri Māni Mādhava Chākyār by staying at the Guru's home at Killikkurussimangalam.
She was married in 1917 at the age of 14, but was widowed two years later.
Meanwhile, studying in Queen Mary's College in Chennai, she came to know Suhasini Chattopadhyay, a fellow student and the younger sister of Sarojini Naidu, who later introduced Kamaladevi to their talented brother, Harindranath Chattopadhyay (née Harin), by then a well-known poet-playwright-actor. It was their mutual interest in the arts, which brought them together.
Finally, when she was twenty years old, Kamaladevi married Harin, much to the opposition of the orthodox society of the times, which was still heavily against widow marriage. L
Harin and Kamaladevi stayed together to pursue common dreams, which wouldn't have been possible otherwise, and in spite of many difficulties, they were able to work together, to produce plays and skits.
Later she also acted in a few films, in an era when acting was considered unsuitable for women from respectable families. In her first stint, she acted in two silent films, including the first silent film of Kannada film industry, Vasantsena (1930), based on the famous play by Shudraka, also starring Enakshi Rama Rao, and directed by pioneering director, Mohan Bhavnani. In her second stint in films she acted in a 1943 Hindi film, Tansen, also starring K. L. Saigal and Khursheed, followed by Shankar Parvati (1943), and Dhanna Bhagat (1945).
Shortly after their marriage, Harin left for London, on his first trip abroad, and a few months later Kamaladevi joined him, where she joined Bedford College, University of London, and later she received a diploma in Sociology.
While still in London, Kamaladevi came to know of Mahatma Gandhi's Non-Cooperation Movement in 1923, and she promptly returned to India, to join the Seva Dal, a Gandhian organisation set up to promote social upliftment. Soon she was placed in charge of the women's section of the Dal, where she got involved in recruiting, training and organising girls and women of all ages women across India, to become voluntary workers, 'sevikas'.
In 1926, she met the suffragette Margaret E. Cousins, the founder of All India Women's Conference (AIWC), who inspired her to run for the Madras Provincial Legislative Assembly. Thus she became the first woman to run for a legislative seat in India. Though she could campaign for only a few days, she lost by a small margin of 55 votes.
The All-India Women's Conference
In the following year, she became a founding member of the All-India Women's Conference (AIWC) and was its first Organizing Secretary. In the following years, AIWC grew to become a national organisation of repute, with branches and voluntary programs run throughout the nation, and work steadfastly for legislative reforms. During her tenure, she travelled extensively to many European nations and was inspired to initiate several social reform and community welfare programs, and set up educational institutions, run for and by women. It contributed to the formation of Lady Irwin College for Home Sciences in New Delhi.
Later she was a part of the seven-member lead team, announced by Mahatma Gandhi, in the famous Salt Satyagraha (1930), to prepare Salt at the Bombay beachfront, the only other woman volunteer in the team was Avantikabai Gokhale. Later in a startling move, Kamaladevi went up to a nearby High Court, and asked a magistrate present there whether he would be interested in buying the "Freedom Salt" she had just prepared.
On 26 January 1930 she gained widespread media attention when in a scuffle, she clung to the Indian tricolour to protect it.
When World War II broke out Kamaladevi was in England, and she immediately began a world tour to represent India's situation to other countries and drum up support for Independence after the war.