Mahadevi Varma (1907 - 1987) was one of the most famous modern Hindi poets. She is widely regarded as the 'modern Meera. Her descriptions of pain and sadness are extremely moving. She won the Jnanpith award in 1982.

Mahadevi was born in Farukhabad , Uttar Pradesh in a family of lawyers. She was educated at Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh. Mahadevi was married at an early age, as was common in India, in her time. But she was not attracted to worldly pleasures and even tried to become a Buddhist bhikshuni, though unsuccessfully. She was widely influenced by the teachings of Buddhism. The death of her father-in-law made such an impression on her that she decided to learn further. After completing her M.A. in Sanskrit from the Allahabad University, she started working as the headmistress of Allahabad Mahila Vidyapeeth. Later, she became the chancellor of the institute.

Mahadevi is considered as one of the major poets of the Chhayavaadi school of the Hindi literature, others being Suryakant Tripathi 'Nirala', Jaishankar Prasad and Sumitranandan Pant. She was also a painter and sketched for her poetic works like Deepshikha. She is renowned for her book of memoirs, Atita Ke Chalcitra (The Moving Frames of the Past) and Smriti Ki Rekhayen (The Lines of Memory). Her poetic achievements boast Dipshikha (The Flame of an Earthen Lamp) 1942. She died in 1987.

Major works

Nihar, Rashmi, Neeraja, Saandhyageet, Yatra, Deepshikha, Yama, Sandhini