Portraits from Memory – Mahadevi Varma

Portraits from Memory brings together two collections of pen-portraits, Ateet ke Chalchitra (Moving Pictures of the Past, 1941) and Smriti ki Rekhayen (Lines of Memory, 1943), written by Mahadevi Varma, perhaps the greatest Hindi woman poet of the twentieth century and a magnificent writer of prose.

The author tells the unforgettable life-stories of many people she knew. An agricultural labourer’s little son who exchanges his clothes for a watermelon to present to his teacher; poverty-stricken women who support their families single-handed, hoping for an education in the next birth; an unskilful potter who, inspired by calendar art, manages to produce a beautiful image of Saraswati. One gets glimpses, too, of Mahadevi’s own unusual life as a single woman who, in the early twentieth century, lived and travelled by herself, forging relationships across class, gender, age, nationality, occupation, and species.

Translated into English by the inimitable Ruth Vanita, these sketches are a testament to the courage, generosity, dignity, and striking individuality of the unsung Indians who built modern India, a poignant tribute to those who have left an indelible imprint on our present.