Pragyasundari Devi (1872–1950), also seen as Pragyasundari Debi, Pragya Sundari Devi, Pragasundari Debi, or Prajnasundari Bezbaroa, was an Indian cookbook author and magazine editor. Her ''Amish O Niramish Ahar'' was a "significant" early cookbook in the

Bengali language Bengali, also known by its endonym and exonym, endonym Bangla (, , ), is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language belonging to the Indo-Iranian languages, Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. ...

Early life

Pragyasundari Devi was the daughter of scientist

Hemendranath Tagore Hemendranath Tagore (1844–1884), Debendranath Tagore's third son, is notable for being the first Brahmo as the first child born in 1844 to any of the original 21 Brahmos who swore the First Brahmo Covenant on 21 December 1843 at Calcutta ...

and the sister of Purnima Devi. Her grandfather was philosopher

Debendranath Tagore Debendranath Tagore (15 May 1817 – 19 January 1905; birth name: Debendronath Thakur) was an Indian philosopher and religious reformer, active in the Brahmo Samaj (earlier called Bhramho Sabha) ("Society of Brahma", also translated as ''Socie ...

and her great-grandfather was industrialist

Dwarkanath Tagore Dwarkanath Tagore (also spelled Dwarakanath Thakur; 1794–1846), popularly known as Prince Dwarkanath Tagore, was one of the first Indian industrialists to partner with the British. He was the son of Rammoni Tagore, and was given in adoption to ...

. Nobel laureate and poet

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Thakur (; anglicised as Rabindranath Tagore ; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengalis, Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer, and painter of the Bengal Renai ...

was her uncle. Other kin in the extended

Tagore family The Tagore family ( ) has been one of the leading families of Kolkata, West Bengal, India, and is regarded as one of the key influencers during the Bengali Renaissance. The family has produced several people who have contributed substantially ...

included her aunt, novelist

Swarnakumari Devi Swarnakumari Devi (1855 or 1856 – 1932), also known as Swarnakumari Tagore, Swarnakumari Ghosal, Svarṇakumārī Debī and Srimati Svarna Kumari Devi, was an Indian Bengali writer, editor, essayist, poet, novelist, playwright, composer, an ...

, her uncle, philosopher

Dwijendranath Tagore Dwijendranath Tagore (11 March 1840 – 19 January 1926) was an Indian poet, song composer, philosopher, mathematician and painter. He was one of the pioneers of shorthand and notation in Bengali script. He was the eldest son of Debendranath Ta ...

, another uncle, civil servant

Satyendranath Tagore Satyendranath Tagore (1 June 1842 – 9 January 1923) was an Indian civil servant, poet, composer, writer, social reformer and linguist from Calcutta, Bengal. He was the first Indian who became an Indian Civil Service officer in 1863. He was a ...

, and another uncle, artist

Jyotirindranath Tagore Jyotirindranath Tagore (; 4 May 1849 – 4 March 1925) was a Bengali playwright, musician, editor, and painter. He played a major role in the flowering of the talents of his younger brother, the first non-European Nobel Prize winner, Rabindran ...

. Indian feminist

Sarala Devi Chaudhurani Sarala Devi Chaudhurani (born Sarala Ghosal; 9 September 1872 – 18 August 1945) was an Indian educationist and political activist, who founded Bharat Stree Mahamandal in Allahabad in 1910. This was the first national-level women's organiza ...

was her first cousin.Devapriya Roy
"Cooking with Pragyasundari: A woman of the Tagore household tells you how to make bhapa ilish"
''The Indian Express'' (8 October 2017).

Career

Her first cookbook, sometimes called "the first cookbook in Bengali", ''Amish O Niramish Ahar'', was published in 1902. She warned readers in this first volume for the home cook that "Spending a lot of money is no guarantee for good food," as she encouraged the efficient use of inexpensive vegetables. She published a second vegetarian cookbook, and later two more cookbooks that included some meat dishes. Her later cookbooks focused on the cookery of

Assam Assam (, , ) is a state in Northeast India, northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra Valley, Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . It is the second largest state in Northeast India, nor ...

and on pickles and preserves. Beginning in 1897, Pragyasundari Devi edited a women's magazine, ''Punya'', which included recipes.

Personal life

Pragyasundari Devi married

Lakshminath Bezbaroa Lakshminath Bezbarua (; 14 October 1864 - March 26,1938) was an Indian poet, novelist and playwright of modern Assamese literature. Commonly known as the father of the Assamese short story. He was one of the literary stalwarts of the Jonaki Era ...

, an Assamese-language writer and literary agent in 1891. They had four daughters, one of whom died very young, five granddaughters and one grandson, and eleven great-grandchildren. He encouraged her to publish her recipes in book form. Pragyasundari Devi died in 1950. Ira Ghosh, her granddaughter, wrote a biographical introduction to a recent edition of ''Amish O Niramish Ahar'', and updated it with more current measurements and directions. Another granddaughter, Ritha Devi, was a well-known Odissi dancer.

Amisha Padnani Amisha "Amy" Padnani is an American journalist who is an editor on the obituaries desk at ''The New York Times''. She is the creator of the ''Times'' series '' Overlooked,'' which features obituaries that tell the stories of individuals whose de ...

, "Ritha Devi, Who Revived Indian Classical Dance, 92" ''New York Times'' (24 September 2017): 24N. ]

Family tree

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Devi, Pragyasundari 1950 deaths 1872 births 19th-century Bengalis Bengali Hindus 20th-century Bengalis Indian women editors Indian editors Bengali cuisine Tagore family Indian cookbook writers Bengali-language writers 20th-century Indian journalists Indian women journalists Indian magazine editors 20th-century Indian writers 20th-century Indian women writers Women writers from West Bengal Writers from British India