Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay
Complete set of 2 nos. of commemorative postage stamps on Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay (Hatkargha Maa), the founder Chairperson of the All India Handicrafts Board :
Issued by India
Issued on Oct 29, 1991
Issued for : Department of Posts considers it a privilege to commemorate the memory of Kamaladevi Chattopadhyaya by issuing special postage stamps. The set of two stamps depicts a puppet and a horse motif.
Description of Designs : The stamps are based on art material supplied by the Sangeet Natak Akademi & Smt. Vimla Varma. The FDC is designed by Shri Rajesh Sharma and cancellation is designed by Ms. Nenu Gupta.
Type : Information Brochure
Colour : Two Colour / Multi Colour
Denomination : 100 & 650 Paise
Overall size : 3.91 x 2.90 cms.
Printing size : 3.55 x 2.54 cms.
Perforation : 13 x 13
Paper : Indigenous/Imported Un W / M Gravure Coated stamp paper
Number Printed : 6,00,000
Number per issue sheet : 35
Printing Process : Photogravure
Printed : India Security Press
Name : Kamala Dhareshwar
Born on Apr 3, 1903 at Mangalore, Madras Presidency [now in Karnataka], British India
Died on Oct 29, 1988 at Mumbai, India
About :
- Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay was born on 3rd April, 1903, as the fourth child of Ananthiah Dhareshwar and Girja Devi, a wealthy Saraswat family of South Karnataka. She had her early education at a catholic convent and St. Mary’s College, Mangalore and later at Bedford College and London School of Economics. She was married young but became a widow during the marriage festivities itself. She broke from orthodoxy to assert her individuality when she married Hirindra Nath Chattopadhyaya, brother of Sarojini Naidu, and a man of her choice.
- The Rowlatt Act and the atrocities committed by the British in Punjab and other parts of the country, coupled with the influence of Gandhiji, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sarojini Naidu and Kasturba led her to politics and to an active participation in the freedom struggle. She even left her college education in England to join the Non-Cooperation movement, serving her first three terms of imprisonment at Terawada, Belgaum and Vellore Jails. In 1930 she was once again arrested for breaking the Salt Law. She was also jailed for participating in the Quit India Movement in 1942.
- Smt. Chattopadhyaya held many distinguished positions in public life. She was the founder Chairperson of the All India Handicrafts Board; Chairperson, Sangeet Natak Akademi and Vice-President, World Crafts Council. For her distinguished contribution to nearly every aspect of India’s social and cultural life, she received among other awards, the Padma Vibhushan, the Wattumull Foundation Award (1962) and the Ramon Magasaysay award.
- Smt. Chattopadhyaya played an important role in providing institutional protection for growth of handicrafts and folk arts. Her most noticeable contribution has been the setting up of an apex body of All India Handicrafts Board to oversee and foster the growth of Handicrafts in the country. Among the folk arts she collected are various items of interest particularly the puppets collected from all over the country which now are exhibited at the National Handicrafts Museum.
- Kamaladevi Chattopadhyaya passed away on 29th October, 1988.
- Text Courtesy : Freedom Fighters Relief Committee, Delhi Administration, Dictionary of National Biography edited by S. P. Sen, and Sangeet Natak Akademi, New Delhi.
