Chandra Kanta Devi Malla (Nepali: चन्द्रकान्तदेवी मल्ल) was a Nepalese activist and teacher.
Chandra Kanta Devi Malla | |
|---|---|
 Malla in c. 1935 with her students | |
| Born | 1897 |
| Died | 1986 (aged 88–89) Nepal |
| Nationality | Nepali |
| Other names | Chandra Kanta Devi |
| Relatives | Shukraraj Shastri (brother) |
In 1897, Malla was born in Lalitpur, Nepal to Hindu reformist Madhavraj Joshi.[1][2] She is also the sister of Shukraraj Shastri, a democracy activist, and a martyr.[3][4]
At the age of 18, she married Umeshwar Lal Malla, later he left her.[1] She worked at Kaiser Mahal as a maid.[1]
In 1933, Malla received permission from the Ranas to open a girls' school.[5] She later recalled that "while walking to the school and coming back home, people used to stare at me, as if I was a princess".[1] The school was inaugurated by Juddha Shumsher Jung Bahadur Rana.[1] In 1941, her brother Shukraraj was sentenced to death by hanging by the state, which devastated Malla.[1]
In 1961, she opened Shukraraj Shastri School, named after her brother.[1] She died in 1986.[1]
Malla is also referred to as the first guruama (feminine guru) in Nepal.[6][7]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f g h Rana, Jagadish (1 January 2011). Women Writers of Nepal Profiles and Perspectiver. Rajesh Rana Publications. p. 49. ISBN 9788184654189.
- ^ Einsiedel, Sebastian von; Malone, David M.; Pradhan, Suman (12 March 2012). Nepal in Transition: From People's War to Fragile Peace. Cambridge University Press. p. 133. ISBN 978-1-107-00567-9.
- ^ Nepal Press Digest. Regmi Research Project. 2001. p. 130.
- ^ Subedi, Prativa (1993). Nepali Women Rising. Women Awareness Centre. p. 111.
- ^ Asian Women. Research Center for Asian Women, the Sookmyung Women's University Press. 1995. p. 186.
- ^ "Voices that Nobody Heard". The Indian Express. 24 February 2020. Retrieved 31 October 2021.
- ^ "The public life of women". The Kathmandu Post. Archived from the original on 11 February 2021. Retrieved 31 October 2021.