13 Facts About Purnima Devi

Purnima Devi was married to Sir Jwala Prasada, Zamindar of Shahjahanpur and an Imperial Civil Service officer.

Purnima Devi was later awarded the Kaiser-i-Hind Medal by the British Raj.

Purnima Devi's elder grandson, Jitendra Prasada, was a Congress politician and member 5th, 7th, 8th, 13th Lok Sabha.

Purnima Devi's younger grandson, Jayendra Prasada, was an agriculturalist and his family continues to live in the main ancestral house, Prasada Bhawan, in Shahjahanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India.

Purnima Devi's eldest great grandson, son of Jayendra Prasada, Jayesh Prasada, was a Member of Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Parishad from the Pilibhit-Shahjahanpur constituency.

Purnima Devi's youngest great grandson, son of Jitendra Prasada, Jitin Prasada is a member of the Bhartaiya Janata Party and Minister for Technical Education in the Uttar Pradesh government.

Purnima Devi was educated at the Loretto Convent, a school for European Girls at Park Street, Calcutta, as a day scholar and in addition to English she knew Bengali, Sanskrit, Urdu, Hindi, French, Piano and Violin.

Purnima Devi was an expert rider going round her villages on horse back and an expert hunter having taken part in big game shooting with her husband.

Purnima Devi helped in the establishment of the Hewett Model Girls' School at Muzaffarnagar, United Provinces, and founded Pardah Clubs at Shahjahanpur and Muzaffarnagar with a view to the improvement of Pardah ladies.

Sir Jwala Prasada and Purnima Devi constructed the Prasada Family's primary residence, known as Prasada Bhawan, which is located in Shahjahanpur and is currently occupied by the sons of her younger grandson Kunwar Jayendera Prasada.

Purnima Devi was the owner of several villages in Shahjahanpur District, a beautiful hill property at Nainital called Abbotsford, Prasada Bhawan [1], a house acquired by the army in 1947 in Badami Bagh, Srinagar, Kashmir now the official residence of the Army Head and a house beach in Jagannath Puri.

Purnima Devi is the author of a Hindi publication, "unki bunat ki PrathaiJi Siksha" adopted by the United Provinces Educational Text Book Committee for schools.

Purnima Devi is the holder of a Kaisar-i-Hind medal and was the first Indian lady exempted from the operation of the Arms Act.