Indian independence activist and wife of Jawaharlal Nehru
Kamala Nehru
(
nee
Kaul
;
pronunciation
ⓘ
; 1 August 1899 ? 28 February 1936) was an Indian independence activist and the wife of
Jawaharlal Nehru
, the first
prime minister of India
. Their daughter
Indira Gandhi
was the first female prime minister of India.
Early life and marriage
[
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]
Kamala Kaul was born on 1 August 1899 to Rajpati and Jawahar Mull Atal-Kaul, who were from a
Kashmiri Pandit
family of
Old Delhi
.
[1]
: 9?11
She was the eldest child and had two brothers, Chand Bahadur Kaul and the botanist,
Kailas Nath Kaul
, and a sister, Swaroop Kathju.
Kamala married
Jawaharlal Nehru
at the age of 16
[1]
[
page needed
]
at the historic Haskar Haveli in Sitaram Bazar.
[2]
Her husband went to a trip in the
Himalayas
shortly after their marriage.
[3]
In his autobiography, Jawaharlal Nehru, referring to his wife, stated "I almost overlooked her."
[3]
Nehru gave birth to a girl in November 1917,
Indira Priyadarshini
, who later succeeded her father as prime minister and head of the Congress party.
[3]
Contribution to the Indian Independence Movement
[
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]
Kamala was involved with the Nehrus in the national movement, that she emerged into the forefront. In the Non Cooperation movement of 1921, she organized groups of women in
Allahabad
and picketed shops selling foreign cloth and liquor. When her husband was arrested to prevent him delivering a "seditious" public speech, she decided to go in his place and read it out to a large crowd of onlookers (filled with her supporters). The British soon realized the threat that Kamala Nehru posed to them and how popular she had become with women's groups all over India. She was arrested on two additional occasions for her involvement in Independence struggle activities, along with
Sarojini Naidu
, Kamala Nehru's mother, and many other women of the Indian freedom struggle.
[4]
[5]
During this period she started a dispensary in her house
Swaraj Bhavan
, converting few rooms into a Congress Dispensary to treat wounded activists, their families, and other residents of Allahabad(now Prayagraj). After her death,
Mahatma Gandhi
with the help of other prominent leaders converted this dispensary into a proper hospital known as
Kamla Nehru Memorial Hospital
in her memory.
[6]
Kamala Nehru spent some time at Gandhi's ashram with
Kasturba Gandhi
where she built a close friendship with
Prabhavati Devi
? the wife of freedom fighter
Jayaprakash Narayan
.
[1]
: 90?92
They were also freedom fighters for Indian freedom from the British.
Death
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]
Kamala Nehru died from
tuberculosis
in
Lausanne
, Switzerland, on 28 February 1936, with her daughter and mother-in-law by her side. During her last few years, Kamala Nehru was frequently ill and taken to a
sanatorium
in Switzerland for treatment, though she returned to India as she got well. In early 1935, as Kamala Nehru's health again deteriorated, she was taken to
Badenweiler
in Germany by
Subhash Chandra Bose
and admitted to a sanatorium for treatment. Her husband
Jawaharlal Nehru
was in prison in India at that time. As her health worsened, Jawaharlal Nehru was released from prison and rushed to Germany in October 1935. While Nehru's health improved initially, it started to deteriorate again in 1936, and she died on 28 February. In the prologue to his autobiography, in a chapter added after Kamala's death, Jawaharlal Nehru recounts that he was devastated and remained in mourning for months.
[7]
Legacy
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]
A number of institutions in India, and a road in Pakistan, have been named in Kamala Nehru's honor, including:
India
[
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]
Pakistan
[
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]
In
Karachi
, a road is still named after her, near the
Mazar-e-Quaid-e-Azam
.
[8]
[9]
In popular culture
[
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]
Kamala Nehru
is a 1986 Indian
documentary film
directed by Ashish Mukherjee. Produced by the
Government of India
's
Films Division
, it provides an overview of her life and contributions.
[10]
References
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]
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