Bhabini Mahato (Bengali: ভাবিনী মাহাতো, c. 1925–24 June 2014) was a Bengali freedom fighter and activist who participated in the Quit India Movement of 1942[1] and the Bengali Language Movement (Manbhum).[2]
Bhabini Mahato | |
|---|---|
ভাবিনী মাহাতো | |
_Bhabini_Mahato.jpg) | |
| Born | c. 1925 Majhihira, Purulia, British India |
| Died | 24 June 2014 Manbazar, West Bengal |
| Occupations | Bengali freedom fighter and activist |
| Children | 3 |
Biography
editMahato was born about 1925 in Majhihira village, Purulia, West Bengal, British India to a Kurmi family.[3] She was married to Baidyanath Mahato when aged eight or nine.[1][3] Three decades after she married, her husband Baidyanath married her younger sister Urmila as his second wife. Each sister had three children.[4]
During the Quit India Movement, her husband Baidyanath was imprisoned for 13 months in Bhagalpur camp jail.[3] Mahato cooked and fed fugitive revolutionaries hiding in Purulia's jungles[5] and collected funds for the cause.[6]
After Indian independence, Mahato participated in the Bengali Language Movement, which demanded the establishment of Bengali as one of the official languages. She was arrested after a march to Dalhousie, Kolkata in 1956 and spent 11 days in jail.[1]
In 1972, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, on behalf of the Government of India, awarded her a Tamrapatra.[1]
References
edit- 1 2 3 4 Pal, Soumen. "Bhabini Mahato". Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, Government of India. Retrieved 9 February 2025.
- ↑ ইশতিয়াক, আহমাদ (21 February 2023). "এক পলাশ রাঙা অধ্যায়". The Daily Star Bangla. Archived from the original on 4 November 2024. Retrieved 9 February 2025.
- 1 2 3 Sainath, P. (30 November 2022). "Bhabani Mahato: feeding the revolution in Puruliya". The Last Heroes: Foot Soldiers of Indian Freedom. Penguin Random House India Private Limited. ISBN 978-93-5492-827-7.
- ↑ Sainath, P (18 April 2022). "When Bhabani Mahato fed the revolution". People's Archive of Rural India. Retrieved 9 February 2025.
- 1 2 Sainath, P (30 August 2024). "The humble heroism of Bhabani Mahato passes". People's Archive of Rural India (in Bengali). Retrieved 9 February 2025.
- ↑ Ghosh, Niranjan (1988). Role of Women in the Freedom Movement in Bengal, 1919-1947: Midnapore, Bankura, and Purulia District. Tamralipta Prakashani. p. 310. ISBN 978-0-8364-2428-7.