Swarup Rani Nehru
Swarup Rani Nehru | |
---|---|
Born | c. 1868 |
Died | 10 January 1938 | (aged 70)
Nationality | Indian |
Political party | Indian National Congress |
Spouse | Motilal Nehru |
Children | Jawaharlal Nehru Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit Krishna Hutheesing |
Family | Nehru–Gandhi family |
Swarup Rani Nehru (
She played a prominent role in
Early life
Born into a
Later life
Until 1920, Swarup Rani resided in relative luxury. She lived with an extended family in a large house then known as
Early life
Swarup Rani Nehru was born in 1868 and came from
She was the second wife of Motilal Nehru, who had previously married as a teenager, Both his first wife and their son died in childbirth. Soon after Swarup Rani and Motilal married, they had a son who died in infancy. One legend recounts that they were informed by a yogi that they would never have a son, and ten months after the yogi's death, on 14 November 1889, a boy, Jawaharlal Nehru was born.[4] A few years into their marriage, Swarup Rani's health deteriorated.[3] For the rest of her life, during recurrent relapses of illness, her elder sister Rajvati took care of her.[5]
Family life before 1920 took place in the mansion then known as
On 18 August 1900, Swarup Rani gave birth to a daughter,
On 5 May 1905, Swarup Rani left Bombay and travelled to London with her husband, son and eldest daughter. Motilal's intentions were to place Jawaharlal in a good school, and also, as he noted to his nephew Brij Lal Nehru, who was in Oxford at the time, to "consult some specialists about the proper treatment and the most suitable watering place for [my] wife".[6] Following a tour of Europe, and a farewell to Jawaharlal at Harrow School, they arrived back in Allahabad in November 1905.[6] In the same month, and coincidentally on Jawaharlal's birthday, Swarup Rani gave birth to a third son, who they named Ratan Lal.[7] However, this son died in infancy. On 2 November 1907, Swarup Rani's second daughter and last child, Krishna, was born.[4]
Swarup Rani's daughters' names were anglicized from 'Nanhi' and 'Beti', to 'Nan' and 'Betty' by their English governesses, and Jawaharlal was tutored in English poetry,[4] but Swarup Rani was a key influence on him.[8] An early family portrait has Victorian-looking style, and Jawaharlal sits in a sailor suit, but Swarup Rani and the other Nehru women in the household exerted a traditional Hindu influence on him. Despite becoming increasingly unwell herself, Swarup Rani went to much effort to keep at bay 'the evil eye' from those who were envious or who excessively admired her only surviving son, by applying a black dot on his forehead.[4]
During the
A swami once recounted that Swarup Rani was "a devout, traditional Hindu whose one regret was that Jawaharlal and Kamala had no living son".[11] On the night of 19 November 1917, Swarup announced "Hua".[12] Unable to say "female", she simply announced that it has happened: a grandchild (later known as Indira Gandhi) had been born while her husband was drinking Haig.[12] She had wanted a grandson.[13] Later, Indira would refer to her grandmother as "Dol Amma",[14][15] the grandmother who would give her sweets from the "doli", the food cupboard.[14]
Later life
In 1920, with
On 7 December 1921, shortly after the
In 1930, with the launch of the civil disobedience movement and Gandhi's
In 1932, on a visit to Calcutta for Kamala's treatment, Swarup Rani expressed concern over Kamala's strict adherence to self-discipline and refraining from all forms of luxuries, wishing for her to wear at least a "necklace and a pair of bangles".[11] During another incident, a day after visiting her son in prison, Swarup Rani was found by a swami to be sitting in a room in the sweltering heat and without the fan switched on. The swami reported "the mother's heart was touched, and henceforth she refused to enjoy the comfort of an electric fan while her son rotted in the hot prison cell".[11] In the same year, she was beaten and injured in a lathi charge during a demonstration. She wrote to her son "the mother of a brave son is also somewhat like him".[25]
In his autobiography, Jawaharlal Nehru writes: "Though my admiration and affection for him (his father) remained as strong as ever, fear formed part of them. Not so with my mother. I had no fear of her, for I knew that she would condone everything I did, and because of her excessive and indiscriminating love for me, I tried to dominate over her a little. I saw much more of her than I did of father."[8]
Death and legacy
She died on 10 January 1938,[26] with her sister, son Nehru and daughters Sarup and Betty beside her.[1][21] Her sister died the following day.[21]
As well as the wife of Indian National Congress leader Motilal Nehru and mother of India's first prime minister Pandit Nehru, Swarup Rani was the mother of
The Swarup Rani Nehru Hospital in
See also
References
- ^ a b c "The Nehru-Gandhi family tree". Msn.com. Retrieved 28 April 2019.
- ^ a b Thapar, Suruchi (1993). "The Nehru Women" (PDF). Retrieved 16 August 2019.
- ^ a b Nanda, B. R. The Nehrus Motilal and Jawaharlal (1962). p.24-25
- ^ a b c d e f Tharoor, Shashi Nehru (2003). Chapter 1. "With Little to Commend Me: 1889–1912. p.1-9
- ^ Nanda, B. R. The Nehrus Motilal and Jawaharlal (1962). p.42
- ^ a b Nanda, B. R. The Nehrus Motilal and Jawaharlal (1962). p.69
- ^ Nanda, B. R. The Nehrus Motilal and Jawaharlal (1962). p.76
- ^ ISSN 2394-6296.
- ^ Nanda, B. R. The Nehrus Motilal and Jawaharlal (1962). p.126
- ^ Tharoor, Shashi Nehru (2003). Chapter 2. Greatest is being thrust upon me: 1912–1921. p.21-22
- ^ a b c Kalhan, Promilla Kamala Nehru (1973) p.88-92
- ^ ISBN 9780007372508.
- ^ Kalhan, Promilla Kamala Nehru (1973) p.14
- ^ ISBN 9780143032458.
- ISBN 9780756518851.
- ^ Nehru and Sahgal, Before Freedom. p.25-30
- ^ Kalhan, Promilla Kamala Nehru (1973) p.28
- ^ Nanda, B. R. The Nehrus Motilal and Jawaharlal (1962). p.184-191
- ^ Nanda, B. R. The Nehrus Motilal and Jawaharlal (1962). p.195-196
- ISBN 9788124109397. Retrieved 28 April 2019.
- ^ a b c Nehru and Sahgal, Before Freedom. p.197-198
- ^ a b Nehru and Sahgal, Before Freedom. p.87-88
- ^ ISBN 9789352803484.
- ^ Nanda, B. R. The Nehrus Motilal and Jawaharlal (1962). p.338
- ^ Tharoor, Shashi Nehru (2003). Chapter 5. "In Office but not in Power": 1931–1937. p.90
- ^ Tharoor, Shashi Nehru (2003). Chapter 6. "In the Name of God, Go!": 1937–1945. p.112
- ^ "Moti Lal Nehru Medical College, Allahabad". UPASICON. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
- PMID 9069711. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
Cited sources
- Nanda, B. R. The Nehrus Motilal and Jawaharlal. The John Day Company (1962). New York
- Kalhan, Promilla. Kamala Nehru; An Intimate Biography. Publishing House Pvt Ltd (1973). Delhi
- Tharoor, Shashi. Nehru: The Invention of India. Arcade Publishing (2003). New York. First edition. ISBN 9781559706971
- Jawaharlal Nehru and OCLC 85772500