Google doodle today honours Subhadra Kumari Chauhan, India's first woman satyagrahi who wrote Jhansi ki Rani poem

An illustrated Google Doodle released today has honoured Subhadra Kumari Chauhan India's first woman satyagrahi who also wrote the iconic Jhansi ki Rani poem. This is her 117th birth anniversary. The Google doodle today shows Chauhan in a white sari with a brown stripe at the edges sitting with a pen and paper in a contemplative pose. Chauhan took to poetry at an early age, publishing her first one at the age of just 9. Google, in a statement, called her a "trailblazing writer and freedom fighter". Chauhan became a prominent poet and freedom fighter in an age that was dominated by males, it added. While Chauhan used her poetry to boost the morale of the countrymen in their fight for freedom, she also highlighted the hardships faced by Indian women including "gender and caste discrimination". 

The Google doodle on Subhadra Kumari Chauhan shows the young Jhansi ki Rani on her white horse, while there is a huge crowd of satyagrahis in the background carrying banners. Jhansi ki Rani had died fighting in a valiant attempt to overthrow British rule in India. Her valiant deeds are an inspiration for everyone even today.

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Subhadra Kumari Chauhan was born on August 16, 1904, in Nihalpur village, Prayagraj where she attended the Crosthwaite Girls' School and passed middle-school in 1919 when she married Thakur Laxman Singh Chauhan of Khandwa at the age of just 16. They had 5 children.

Both Subhadra Kumari Chauhan and her husband became a part of Mahatma Gandhi's Non-cooperation movement in 1921. During the struggle, she became the first woman satyagrahi to court arrest and was subsequently jailed in Nagpur.

Subhadra Kumari Chauhan continued to participate in the freedom struggle and joined Mahatma Gandhi's movements in 1923 as well as in 1942.

In between this period she also became a member of the legislative assembly in what was formerly known as Central provinces.

As a freedom fighter, her struggle continued till India won her freedom in 1947. However. Subhadra Kumari Chauhan died in 1948 in a car accident in Madhya Pradesh. She was going to Jabalpur from Nagpur after attending a session of the assembly. The country had honoured her by naming a coast guard ship after her and the state did so by putting up a statue in Jabalpur.   

Google doodle today was created by Prabha Mallya, who is a New Zealand-based artist.