Ashapoorna Devi

Ashapoorna Devi Biography

Ashapoorna Devi, also known as Ashapurna Devi and Asha Purna Devi was one of the leading names of novelists and poets of Bengali language. In 1976 she received Jnanpith award for Pratham Pratisruti. She has also received Padma Shri by the Government of India in 1976. Universities of Jabalpur, Rabindra Bharati, Burdwan and Jadavpur had honoured her with doctorates and Vishwa Bharati University honoured her with Deshikottama in 1989. Sahitya Akademi conferred its highest honour, the Fellowship, in 1994.

Ashapoorna Devi was born on 8 January 1909 in Kolkata. Her real name was Asha Purna Devi and she belonged to a conservative family with a dominated grandmother. Only boys were allowed to go out and learn. Hence young Asha didn’t receive education and she used to listen to the readings of her brothers to learn language and alphabets. Due to shortage of space Asha’s father, Harendra Nath shifted with his family to a new house and she was set free. Ashapurna and her sisters had built up a love-relationship with books and though she didn’t have any formal education, she had good knowledge.

In 1922, she sent a poem to a magazine for publishing. She was only 13 then. The poem titled “Bairer Dak” was not published then. Two years later she got married and left to Krishna Nagar. In 1927 the whole family settled in Calcutta, her home town. She began with children books and later wrote novels and short stories. Ashapoorna Devi has been credited with 242 novels and novelettes, 37 collections of short stories, 62 books for children. The number of her short stories is above 3000, obviously a great contribution to Bengali literature.

She has received many accolades for her contributions to Bengali literature. Lila Prize from the University of Calcutta (1954), Bhutan Mohini Dasi Gold Medal (1966), Haranath Ghosh Medal from the Bangiya Sahitya Parishad (1988), Jagattarini Gold Medal from the University of Calcutta (1993) and Raindrop Memorial Prize from the Government of West Bengal (1966) are a few such.  

Published: N/A

Updated: November 19, 2013