{{Infobox writer | embed = | honorific_prefix = | name = Nirupama Devi | honorific_suffix = | image = NirupamaDeviPic.jpg | image_size = | image_upright = | alt = | caption = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | pseudonym = | birth_name = Nirupama Devi | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1883|05|05}} | birth_place = Berhampore, Bengal Presidency, British Raj | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1951|01|07|1883|05|05}} | death_place = | resting_place = | occupation = | language = | residence = | nationality = | citizenship = | education = | alma_mater = | period = | genre = <!-- or: | genres = --> | subject = <!-- or: | subjects = --> | movement = | notableworks = <!-- or: | notablework = --> | spouse = <!-- or: | spouses = --> | partner = <!-- or: | partners = --> | children = | relatives = | awards = | signature = | signature_alt = | years_active = | module = | website = <!-- {{URL|example.org}} --> | portaldisp = <!-- "on", "yes", "true", etc; or omit --> }} '''Nirupama Devi''' (7 May 1883 – 7 January 1951)<ref>{{cite book|title=Women Writing in India: The twentieth century|year=1993|publisher=Feminist Press at CUNY|isbn=9781558610293|page=106|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OjZYf9Xf9bcC&dq=Nirupama+Devi&pg=PA106}}</ref> was a Bengali novelist and short story writer of the early 20th century from Berhampore in Murshidabad district. She also wrote under the pseudonyms Srimati Devi and Anupama Devi.<ref name="ZMitra">{{cite journal |last=Mitra |first1=Dr. Zinia |date=December 2020 |title=Women, Leisure and a Room of Their Own: a Brief Appraisal |journal=Journal of Women's Studies: University of North Bengal |volume=IX |access-date=31 October 2024 |url=https://ir.nbu.ac.in/server/api/core/bitstreams/f4ca57d9-0188-4bdf-8b5b-ede383fddb09/content}}</ref>
==Early life and education== Nirupama Devi's father was Nafar Chandra Bhatta who was a judicial employee. Married at the age of ten, and widowed at fourteen,<ref name="TheyDared">{{cite book |last=Bandyopadhyay |first=Aparna |editor-last=Sen |editor-first=Simonti |year=2011 |chapter=The Politics of Reading: A Study of the Critical Responses to Nirupama Devi's Novels |chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/7559625/The_Politics_of_Reading_A_Study_of_the_Critical_Responses_to_Nirupama_Devis_Novels |title=They Dared: Essays in Honour of Pritilata Wadder |publication-place=Kolkata |publisher=Gangchil |oclc=785802232 |isbn=9789381346143}}</ref> she was educated at home.<ref name="ZMitra" />
Immediately after being widowed, Devi lived with her brother Bibhutibhusan Bhatta in Bhagalpur, where she met Saratchandra Chattopadhyay who went on to become a renowned Bengali author. Chattopadhyay fell in love with Devi, who spurned him, ultimately leading him to leave for Burma.<ref name="Radharani">{{cite book |last=Devi |first=Radharani |year=2000 |chapter=Saratchandra: Manush o Shilpa |trans-chapter=Saratchandra: The Man and His Art |title=Radharani Devir Rachana Sankalan |language=Bangla |trans-title=Collected Works of Radharani Devi |volume=2 |publication-place=Calcutta |publisher=Dey's Publishing and School of Women's Studies |editor-last1=Sen |editor-first1=Abhijit |editor-last2=Bhadury |editor-first2=Anindita |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.265855}}</ref><ref name="GCRay">{{cite book |last=Ray |first=Gopal Chandra |year=2003 |chapter=Ekti Hriday-Dourbalyer Kahini |trans-chapter=A Story of a Heart's Weakness |title=Saratchandra |language=Bangla |publication-place=Calcutta |publisher=Ananda Publishers |isbn=9788177563344}}</ref>
Devi also met Anurupa Devi, another noted Bengali female author, in Bhagalpur and their mutual encouragement was to grow into a friendship that lasted until her death.<ref name="FictionResistance">{{cite journal |last=Bandyopadhyay |first1=Aparna |year=2016 |title=Fiction as Resistance: Perspectives from Colonial and Contemporary Bengal |journal=Vidyasagar University Journal of History |access-date=31 October 2024 |url=https://www.academia.edu/download/55893664/Fiction_as_resistance_Perspectives_from_Colonial_and_Contemporary_Bengal.pdf }}{{Dead link|date=January 2026 |bot=InternetArchiveBot }}</ref>
==Work== Nirupama Devi was encouraged to write by both Bibhutibhusan Bhatta - himself a litterateur - and Saratchandra Chattopadhyay. Bhatta and his friends put together a hand-written magazine in which Devi's first stories appeared. She used the pseudonym Srimati Devi for them, and later submitted stories under the pseudonym Anupama Devi to the ''Kuntalin'' magazine started by Hemendra Mohan Bose. She won the ''Kuntalin Award'' in both 1904 and 1905 for two of her stories in the magazine.<ref name="ZMitra" />
When Nirupama Devi wrote her first novel, ''Annapurnar Mandir'', her friend Anurupa Devi sent its manuscript to Swarnakumari Devi, writer and editor. Impressed by it, the latter serialized it in her journal ''Bharati'' in 1911-12 to critical and popular acclaim.<ref name="FictionResistance" />
==Critical reception== In 2013, Swapna Dutta writes for ''The Hindu'' that Nirupama Devi was an author who "wrote fearlessly about the social ills of the time: polygamy, forced marriages, dowry-related torture, and the heartbreak of widowhood or of being discarded by the husband for no fault of theirs," "wrote about society’s ruthless attitude to widows who dared to fall in love and, most of all, the utter helplessness of women in a male-dominated world," and "told the stories from a woman's perspective."<ref name="Dutta 2013">{{cite news |last1=Dutta |first1=Swapna |title=The home and the world |url=https://www.thehindu.com/books/books-authors/the-home-and-the-world/article4985438.ece |access-date=21 June 2021 |work=The Hindu |date=August 3, 2013}}</ref>
==Works== Uchchhrinkhal was her first novel. Her other works include: * Annapurnar Mandir (1913), a same name film was made by Naresh Mitra in 1954. * Didi (1915)<ref name="Dutta 2013"/><ref>{{cite book|title=Women Writing in India: 600 B.C. to the early twentieth century|year=1991|publisher=Feminist Press at CUNY|isbn=9781558610279|page=[https://archive.org/details/womenwritinginin00thar/page/363 363]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/womenwritinginin00thar}}</ref> * Aleya (1917) * Bidhilipi (1919)<ref name="Dutta 2013"/> * Shyamali (1919)<ref name="Dutta 2013"/> * Bandhu (1921) * Amar Diary (1927) * Yugantarer Katha (1940) * Anukarsa (1941)<ref name="Dutta 2013"/>
==Screen adaptations== Nirupama Devi's novel ''Annapurnar Mandir'' was adapted twice for Tamil films, first in 1941 as ''Gumasthavin Penn''<ref name="Penn">{{cite news |last=Vamanan |author-link=Vamanan |date=23 April 2018 |title=Tamil cinema's Bong connection |work=The Times of India |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/tamil-cinemas-bong-connection/articleshow/63873364.cms |url-status=live |access-date=26 March 2019 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20180923110436/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/tamil-cinemas-bong-connection/articleshow/63873364.cms |archive-date=23 September 2018}}</ref> and then in 1974 as ''Gumasthavin Magal''.<ref name="Magal">{{Cite web |date=1 February 2012 |title=ஜெயலலிதாவும் கமலும் இணைந்து நடித்த ஒரே படம் |trans-title=The only film where Jayalalithaa and Kamal acted together |url=http://cinema.dinakaran.com/oldisgold-cinema-Detail.aspx?id=6247&id1=16 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180220073851/http://cinema.dinakaran.com/oldisgold-cinema-Detail.aspx?id=6247&id1=16 |archive-date=20 February 2018 |access-date=11 November 2022 |website=Dinakaran |language=ta}}</ref>
Devi's novel ''Shyamali'' was adapted for the screen, in Bengali as ''Shyamali''<ref name="Shyamali">{{cite magazine |last=Ramachandran |first=T. M. |date=2 April 1966 |title=Some Recent Releases |url=https://archive.org/details/dli.bengal.10689.20950/page/n725 |magazine=Sport and Pastime |volume=20 |page=52}}</ref> in 1956 and in Tamil as ''Kodimalar''<ref name="Kodimalar">{{cite web |date=10 June 2019 |title=வங்கம் தந்த 'கொடிமலர்!' |url=http://www.dinamalarnellai.com/web/news/72410 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://archive.today/20190820085747/http://www.dinamalarnellai.com/web/news/72410 |archive-date=20 August 2019 |access-date=20 August 2019 |website=Dinamalar |language=ta |location=Nellai}}</ref> in 1966.
==Awards and honours== Nirupama Devi received the 'Bhubanmohini Gold Medal' in 1938 and 'Jagattarini Gold Medal' in 1943 from the University of Calcutta in recognition of her contribution to literature.
==See also== * List of Indian writers
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{authority control}} {{Portal bar|Biography|India|Literature|Books}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Devi, Nirupama}} Category:1883 births Category:1951 deaths Category:20th-century Indian novelists Category:Women writers from West Bengal Category:Novelists from West Bengal Category:People from Murshidabad district Category:20th-century Indian women novelists