>AnomieBOT at 18:15, 10 October 2021

2021-10-10T18:15:03Z

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{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2019}}
{{Use Indian English|date=June 2019}}
{{Orphan|date=January 2017}}

{{Infobox person
| name = Dokka Seethamma
| native_name_lang = te
| other_names = ''Andhrula Annapurna''<br/>''Apara Annapurna''
| birth_date = October 1841
| birth_place = [[Mandapeta]], Rajahmundry District [[Madras Presidency]] (now [[East Godavari District]], [[Andhra Pradesh]], [[India]])
| death_date = 28 April 1909
| nationality = [[India]]n
| occupation = [[Social Work]]er, [[Educationalist]],
| spouse = Dokka Joganna
| image = Statue of Dokka Seethamma at Vivekananda park in Kakinada.jpg
| caption = Statue of Dokka Seethamma at Vivekananda Park in [[Kakinada]], [[Andhra Pradesh]], India
}}

'''Dokka Seethamma''' (or '''Sithamma'''; 1841–1909) was an Indian woman who gained recognition by spending much of her life serving food for poor people and travellers.

Seethamma was born in October 1841 in the then village of [[Mandapeta]], in [[Andhra Pradesh]],<ref name=Telugu>{{cite web |author=టీవీయస్. శాస్త్రి |url=http://www.gotelugu.com/issue26/711/telugu-columns/smt-dokka-seethamma-biography/ |title=ఆంధ్రుల అన్నపూర్ణ శ్రీమతి డొక్కా సీతమ్మ గారు |website=gotelugu.com |language=Telugu |access-date=23 August 2016 |type=with photograph }}</ref> and lost her mother during her childhood.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Subrahmanyam|first=Velcheti|date=2016-12-15|title=Play Dokka Seethamma: On a life well lived|language=en-IN|work=The Hindu|url=https://www.thehindu.com/entertainment/theatre/Play-Dokka-Seethamma-On-a-life-well-lived/article16834071.ece|access-date=2020-08-31|issn=0971-751X}}</ref>

Dokka Joganna, a rich farmer, married her, and this allowed her to offer food to the poor, which she did for more than 40 years, much of it after her husband's death.<ref name="pride">{{cite web |author=Jai Hind |url=http://www.mynationpride.com/biographies/smt-dokka-seethamma-a-true-motherhood-to-the-poor-and-sick-in-19th-century/ |title=Smt. Dokka Seethamma, A women served for Hunger and Needy |website=My Nation Pride |date=29 November 2015 |access-date=23 August 2016 }}</ref>

At the end of her life, she gave away her possessions and hired a [[bullock cart]] driver to take her to [[Varanasi]] to die in accordance with her [[Hindu]] beliefs, but turned back and hastily cooked a meal with begged ingredients after hearing a family in the next room at the pilgrims' inn talking of being on their way to ask her for food.{{fact|date=October 2021}}

The British government recognized her charity, and [[King Edward VII]] invited her to the celebration of his anniversary along with other guests from India. He ordered the chief secretary of Madras to bring her to Delhi with honor, but Seethamma politely declined the invitation, saying that she was not providing her services for publicity. The Madras chief secretary instead gave King Edward a photograph of her, which he then enlarged to place on the chair where she was to sit during the celebration.<ref name=pride/>

Seethamma was honored as a Hindu saint and called ''Apara Annapurna'', a reincarnation of the goddess [[Annapoorna devi|Annapurna]].<ref name="Beliefnet">{{cite book|author1=Doug Glener|author2=Sarat Komaragiri|year=2002|title='The Guest Is God': The Hospitality of a Hindu Saint|url=http://www.beliefnet.com/faiths/hinduism/2000/03/the-guest-is-god-the-hospitality-of-a-hindu-saint.aspx|access-date=23 August 2016|work=Wisdom's Blossoms: Tales of the Saints of India|publisher=Shambhala|location=Boston, Massachusetts|via=Beliefnet|isbn=9781570628849}}</ref> An aqueduct over the Vynateya river was named for her in 2000 and is marked with a bust depicting her.<ref name=Telugu/><ref name=pride/><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-andhrapradesh/aqueduct-cries-for-attention/article599572.ece|title=Aqueduct cries for attention |author=B. V. S. Bhaskar |date=28 August 2010 |newspaper=[[The Hindu]] |access-date=23 August 2016}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Seethamma, Dokka}}
[[Category:1841 births]]
[[Category:1909 deaths]]
[[Category:Women educators from Andhra Pradesh]]
[[Category:Educators from Andhra Pradesh]]
[[Category:People from East Godavari district]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian women]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian people]]
[[Category:Social workers from Andhra Pradesh]]
[[Category:Social workers]]
[[Category:Women from Andhra Pradesh]]
[[Category:People from Andhra Pradesh]]

Dokka Seethamma - Revision history

>AnomieBOT at 18:15, 10 October 2021