Meera Behn

Meera Behn (1892 - 1982) was born as Madeleine Slade in an aristocratic family in England. She read Romain Rolland's book 'Mahatma Gandhi' at one sitting and this changed the course of her life. She came to India and remained with Gandhiji. Gagndhiji gave her the name Meera in view of her devotion to him and her dedication and service to India. In India she was sent to Kanya Gurukul at Dehradun where she studied Hindi and scriptures and taught English there.

She accompanied Gandhiji to the Round Table Conference in 1932 and acted as Gandhiji's interpreter in the continents on their way back. She joined the Satyagraha Movement and was imprisoned once with Kasturba and twice by herself. She was arrested along with Bapu on 9-8-1942 and was in the Aghakhan Palace Detention camp till May 1944.

On 18-1-1959 she left the shores of India and settled in a small village near Vienna and died there on 20-7-1982 . She was awarded Padma Vibhushan in January 1982.

Source: Indian Postal Service