Sophia Wadia, née Sophia Camacho, was a

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

n-born naturalized Indian

theosophist Theosophy is a religious movement established in the United States in the late 19th century. Founded primarily by the Russian Helena Blavatsky and based largely on her writings, it draws heavily from both older European philosophies such as Neo ...

, littérateur, the founder of ''

PEN PEN may refer to: * (National Ecological Party), former name of the Brazilian political party Patriota (PATRI) * PEN International, a worldwide association of writers ** English PEN, the founding centre of PEN International ** PEN America, located ...

All India Centre'' and the founder editor of its journal, ''The Indian PEN''. She also cofounded The Indian Institute of World Culture,

Bangalore Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

(now Bengaluru) and the Asian Book Trust, Bombay (now Mumbai). The

Government of India The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...

honoured Wadia in 1960, with the award of

Padma Shri The Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī'', lit. 'Lotus Honour'), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. In ...

, the fourth highest Indian civilian award, for her services to the nation.

Biography

Sophia Camacho was born in 1901 in Colombia and did her education in her motherland, Paris, London and New York. In 1927, she met B. P. Wadia, an Indian theosophist on tour to European countries, was influenced by his philosophy and married him in 1928. The next year, she went to India with her spouse and got involved in his activities. The Wadias founded several branches of the

United Lodge of Theosophists The United Lodge of Theosophists or ULT is an informal and wholly voluntary association of students of Theosophy. It was founded in 1909, mainly through the efforts of Robert Crosbie. The first parent lodge of the ULT was started in Los Angeles b ...

in various places in Europe and founded the first Indian branch in Mumbai in 1929. The couple founded the ''All India Centre of the International P.E.N.'' in Mumbai in 1930 and launched two journals, ''The India PEN'' and The Aryan Path. Sophia was the editor of ''The India Pen'' and remained in that position till her death. In 1945, she established ''The Indian Institute of World Culture'' in 1945 at

Basavanagudi Basavanagudi is a residential and commercial locality in the Indian city of Bengaluru. Basavanagudi is one of the oldest localities of Bangalore evidenced by the fact that it is home to four inscriptions, three Kannada and one Tamil and also on ...

, near

Bengaluru Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

in the South Indian state of

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

. During this period, she published two books, ''The Brotherhood of Religions'' in 1936 and ''Preparation for Citizenship'' in 1941, the latter with foreword by Nobel Laureate,

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 ...

. The second edition of ''The Brotherhood of Religions'' came out in 1944 with foreword written by

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethics, political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful Indian ...

. She was also instrumental in the establishment of ''Asian Book Trust'' in Mumbai which later published her husband's renowned work, ''The Gandhian Way''. Sophia Wadia continued her social life after her husband's death in 1958 and organized eleven All India Writers' Conferences. The

awarded her the civilian honour of

in 1960.

Global policy

She was one of the signatories of the agreement to convene a convention for drafting a world constitution. As a result, for the first time in human history, a

World Constituent Assembly The World Constitutional Convention (WCC), also known as the World Constituent Assembly (WCA) or the First World Constituent Assembly, took place in Interlaken, Switzerland and Wolfach, Germany, 1968. The convention aimed to foster global coopera ...

convened to draft and adopt the Constitution for the Federation of Earth.

Death

She died on 27 April 1986, at the age of 85.

Biography

Global policy

Death

See also

References

Further reading