| Chapter : | Editor’s Introduction |
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Editor’s Introduction
Mahadevi Varma (1907–1987): Between Tradition and Feminist Emancipation1
Beloved! I have been nurtured within limits
But have sported with the limitless as well!2
The purpose of life is not merely to ramble in an imaginary heaven, but also to make the thorny, stony path of life more bearable. Unless external and internal progress co-relate and balance perfectly, we will not know how to live.3
Biographical Sketch
Mahadevi Varma is a household name in India even today, and her legacy to the world of Hindi poetry has for long been securely established. She was born in 1907 to parents of the Kayastha caste in Farukhabad, a small town near Allahabad, and grew up to become one of the prominent poets of modern Hindi.
Her father was Western educated, having earned a graduate degree in English literature from the University of Allahabad. He worked for the