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{{Short description|Indian poet (1930–2026)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2025}}
{{Use Indian English|date=July 2025}}
{{Infobox writer 
| name = Rajkumari Indira Devi Dhanrajgir
| image = Indira_Devi_Dhanrajgir.png
| caption =
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1930|8|17}}
| birth_place = [[Hyderabad]], Hyderabad State, India
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|2026|1|13|1930|8|17}}
| death_place = Hyderabad, [[Telangana]], India
| occupation =
| movement =
| awards =
| nationality = Indian
| spouse = Srikishen Seth<br/>[[Gunturu Seshendra Sarma]]
| notableworks = ''Return Eternity'' (1965)<br>''Partings in Mimosa'' (1968)<br>''Memories of the Deccan'' (2008)
}}

'''Indirā Dēvi Dhanarājgīr''' ({{langx|te|ఇందిరా దేవి ధనరాజ్గీర్}}; 17 August 1930 – 13 January 2026), better known as '''Rajkumari Indira Devi''',<ref name=ex/> was an Indian-English poet, painter, socialite and photography enthusiast from [[Hyderabad]]. She was nominated for the [[1973 Nobel Prize in Literature]].<ref name="nobel73">{{Cite web|url=https://sa-admin.lb.se/assets/a97cceda-c3ff-499c-b248-1c25c91fb23f.pdf/F%C3%B6rslagslista%201973.pdf|title=Nobelarkivet-1973|website=svenskaakademien.se|access-date=2 January 2024}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nomination/archive/show_people.php?id=16776|title=Nomination Archive - Indira Devi Dhanrajgir|website=NobelPrize.org|date=March 2024|access-date=14 March 2024}}</ref>

==Life and career==
===Early life===
Indira was born to Raja Dhanrajgirji Bahadur, a philanthropist, and his wife, Rani Premila Devi.<ref name=ex/> Her father was noted for having introduced many Western ideas and the game of [[cricket]] in [[Hyderabad]], and was of service to the court of [[Mir Osman Ali Khan]], the [[Nizam of Hyderabad]].<ref name=ex/> She was the eldest daughter of four and was tutored at home by an English governess.<ref name=si>{{cite web|url=https://www.siasat.com/exploring-a-royal-past-in-conversation-with-a-princess-2453991/|title=Exploring a royal past: In conversation with a Princess|date=20 November 2022|access-date=2 January 2024|website=The Siasat Daily|author=Zeenath Khan}}</ref> Her paternal grandfather, Raja Saheb Narsinghji Bahadur, was regarded "as the Rockefeller of the South."<ref name=si/> The Dhanrajgirs owned palaces in [[Bombay]], Hyderabad, and [[Poona]].<ref name=si/><ref name=dec>{{cite web|url=https://www.deccanchronicle.com/lifestyle/culture-and-society/080520/we-had-cooks-guards-butlers-says-rajkumari-indira-devi-dhanrajgir.html|title=We had cooks, guards, butlers, says Rajkumari Indira Devi Dhanrajgir|access-date=2 January 2024|website=Deccan Chronicle|date=8 May 2020|author=Swati Sharma}}</ref>

Initially, she studied high school at [[Mahbub College High School|Mahbub School for Girls]] but was later [[Homeschooling|homeschooled]].<ref name=and/> At a young age, Indira met influential people: she played [[carrom]] with [[Kishen Pershad]] who served twice as [[Prime Minister of Hyderabad]], [[Mir Yousuf Ali Khan, Salar Jung III]] gave her a [[Shetland pony]] on her first birthday, and listened to recitations of noted poet [[Allama Iqbal]] which inspired her to engage herself with poetry.<ref name=si/><ref name=dec/>

===Literary career===
Since her father was a literary enthusiast, Rajkumari Indira came into contact with English, Hindi, Urdu and Maratha literary figures from childhood.<ref name=and/> She taught herself how to [[Typewriter|type]] and started composing [[couplets]] in [[Urdu language|Urdu]] on the lawns of Gyan Bagh Palace, having been inspired by the works of [[Allama Iqbal]], [[Ghalib]] and [[Sri Aurobindo]].<ref name=si/> From her teenage years, Indira was also a photography enthusiast and started making a good collection of photographs, which she said, are worth being shared in the book.<ref name=ex/>

In 1964, her first volume of poetry was published under the title ''The Apostle'', followed later on by ''Return to Eternity'' and ''Yearnings and Other Poems'' in 1965 and 1966 respectively.<ref name=ex/> During these times, she created a group of poets around her and turned the Gyan Bagh Palace a place for local poets, which included her future husband [[Gunturu Seshendra Sarma]], [[Aziz Qaisi]], [[Makhdoom Mohiuddin]] and [[Jwalamukhi (poet)|Jwalamukhi]], to meet, read, discuss and translate poetry.<ref name=azam>{{cite web|url=https://api.pageplace.de/preview/DT0400.9781351394000_A30633038/preview-9781351394000_A30633038.pdf|title=Language and Literary Cultures in Hyderabad|editor=Kousar J. Azam|publisher=Routledge|access-date=3 January 2024}}</ref>
{{Quote box|salign=|width=|align=|title=Excerpt from ''Partings in Mimosa''|<poem>
Time, a singing continuity, sings it way,
Cutting back at unhealed wounds. Into this
Wounded dawn we sigh a pain,
To be lifted by the arms of a summer madness
And watch the echo retract, renunciate,
Disclaim and give up bordering away from proximity
Into the yesterday...
</poem>}}
She later gained recognition among literary circles with her fourth publication, ''Partings in Mimosa''. Literary critic Usharbudh Arya described it as "a really promising talent demonstrably conscious of the restraint which the use of [[free verse]] demands... [she] gives to her 483 lines a sense of enactive rhythm, a lingering, thoughtful gusto, [and] a corresponding control of structure."<ref name=js>{{cite web|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40874395#:~:text=Partings%20in%20the%20fleeting%20seasons,broke%20on%20the%20mimosa%20tunes.&text=Again%20to%20vanish%20in%20my%20mimosa%20season.&text=existential%20virtue%20of%20the%20Platonic%20premise.|title=Mahfil Vol. 6, No. 4 (Winter 1970)|pages=80-83 (4 pages)|publisher=Asian Studies Center of Michigan State University|website=JSTOR|access-date=3 January 2024}}</ref>

At a time of increasing literary success, she suddenly gave up writing poetry after marrying [[Gunturu Seshendra Sarma]] in 1970. She did this, affirming: "There can't be two poets in one family."<ref name=si/> For that, [[Osmania University]] professor Kousar Azam said of her "as a poet belonging to the Aurobindo School of Poetry, she received some critical attention but now remains known, sadly, only to a select few."<ref name=azam/>

In 1987, together with Seshendra, she attended a literary conference in [[Greece]] and had the privilege of acquainting the poets [[Yiannis Ritsos]] and [[Nikiforos Vrettakos]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFK0BGmyq7o|title=Rajkumari Indira Devi and Seshendra Sarma Visit to Greece|date=26 October 2021|website=YouTube|author=Indiraseshendra}}</ref> Throughout her life, she was well acquainted with people like [[Lord Mountbatten]], [[Ali Sardar Jafri]] and [[Kaifi Azmi]], and maintained close friendships with [[Javed Iqbal (judge, born 1924)|Javed Iqbal]], [[Jawaharlal Nehru]], [[Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan]], [[Viswanatha Satyanarayana]] and the descendants of Nizam's family members.<ref name=and/>

The latest publication she wrote was a [[coffee table book]] about her family and the palace titled ''Memories of the Deccan'' which was dedicated to the eighth Nizam, Prince [[Mukarram Jah]] on his 7th birthday and Princess [[Esra Birgen]], Princes [[Azmet Jah]] and Shehkar, in October 2008.<ref name=ex/>

===Paintings===
In 1968, while chairperson of the Hindi Academy of Andhra Pradesh, she visited [[Mauritius]] and established a strong friendship with the Mauritian writer and painter, [[Malcolm de Chazal]], from whom she acquired a dozen of his valuable paintings.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://pahladramsurrun.com/shop/indradhanush-magazine-raj-kumari-indira-devi-dhanraj-gorji/|title=Indradhanush Magazine: Raj Kumari Indira Devi Dhanraj Gorji|website=Pahlad Ramsurrun|access-date=2 January 2024}}</ref> A painter herself, an exhibition of her artworks was held under the leadership of [[M. F. Husain]] in the 1970s in [[Mumbai]].<ref name=and/>

===Personal life===
In 1945, Rajkumari Indira was married to Srikishen Seth, nephew of the [[Prime Minister of Hyderabad]] [[Kishen Pershad]], but their union was unlikely.<ref name=ga/> Immediately after marriage, she beat Srikishen and ran away from him, and told her families and relatives that he was an unsuitable man for marital life. She filed a divorce against him until it was finalized in 1970.<ref name=ga/>

In 1971, she was married to [[Gunturu Seshendra Sarma]], a [[Telugu language|Telugu]] poet who already had three children from his previous marriage.<ref name=ex>{{cite web|url=https://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/hyderabad/2020/mar/21/rare-glimpses-of-hyderabad-as-seen-by-rajkumari-indira-2119443.html|title=Rare glimpses of Hyderabad, as seen by Rajkumari Indira|date=21 March 2020|access-date=2 January 2024|website=The New Indian Express|author=Manjulatha Kalanidhi}}</ref> She resided for the rest of her life at the [[Gyan Bagh Palace]]. Their wedding took place at the [[Hoysaleswara Temple]] in Karnataka.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCP-jsYlRzs|title=Wedding of Rajkumari Indira Devi and Seshendra Sarma at Halebidu|date=24 October 2021|website=YouTube|author=Indiraseshendra}}</ref>

===Death===
Rajkumari Indira died at her residence on 13 January 2026, at the age of 95.<ref name=decca>{{cite news |title=Regal Nizam-era Socialite Indira Devi Passes Away |url=https://www.deccanchronicle.com/southern-states/telangana/regal-nizam-era-socialite-indira-devi-passes-away-1930348 |access-date=13 January 2026 |publisher=Deccan Chronicle |date=13 January 2026}}</ref> Anuradha Reddy described her passing as a loss that closes a chapter in the city"s social life, saying, "[She is] one of the last personalities who truly represented Hyderabad of that period."<ref name=decca/> [[Raunaq Yar Khan]], a Hyderabadi aristocrat and socialite, remembered her as sociable and generous with her time, "added glamour, style and warmth to any event... charming, well spoken and stylish."<ref name=decca/>

Her final rites were performed at [[Amberpet]] crematorium in a very simple manner according to Telugu Vedic tradition by Vishwanath Shobhanadri, nephew of the poet [[Viswanatha Satyanarayana]].<ref name=and>{{cite web|url=https://www.andhrajyothy.com/2026/telangana/famed-poet-and-princess-indira-devi-dhanrajgir-passes-away-1484881.html|title=Indira Devi Dhanrajgir: తిరిగిరాని లోకాలకు మన రాజకుమారి|date=14 January 2026|access-date=14 January 2026|language=te|website=Adrajyothay}}</ref><ref name=decca/>

==Legal issues==
In 2007, immediately after the death of her husband Seshendra, Rajkumari Indira created and submitted a false document to the court claiming that her husband delegated all the copyrights of his works to her, whereas Satyaki, her stepson, argued that in 1989, Seshendra promised all copyrights to his son as a birthday gift.<ref name=ga>{{cite web|url=https://www.greatandhra.com/movies/news/press-note-guntur-seshandras-son-seeking-justice-15090|title=Press Note: Guntur Seshandra's Son Seeking Justice|date=27 July 2009|website=greatandra.com|author=Venkat Arikatla|access-date=2 January 2024}}</ref><ref name=ia/> Rajkumari Indira eventually took control of Seshendra's published works by paying money, and after finding this out, Satyaki filed a petition in the city civil court of Hyderabad that a violation of rights had taken place.<ref name=ia/>

In 2018, after 10 years of investigation, the court declared that all copyrights rightfully belong to Satyaki and, with the help of Telangana Forensic Laboratory, the documents submitted by Rajkumari Indira were fake including a signature of her husband pasted therein.<ref name=ia>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/SeshendraCopyrights_201906|title=Seshendra Sarma's copyrights belongto his son Satyaki only: Indira Dhanrajgir submitted a fake document|date=23 June 2019|website=Internet Archive|access-date=2 January 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://indiankanoon.org/doc/38992607/|title=Telangana High Court – R Indira Devi vs G Satyaki on 25 January, 2024|author=G.Radha Rani|date=25 January 2024|website=indiankanoon.org|access-date=2 January 2024}}</ref>

==Honours==
She became the first President and Chairperson of Hindi Academy of Andhra Pradesh, and vice-president of the Telugu Writers Conference in 1968.<ref name=ex/> She has been also on the advisory panel of the Sahitya Academy, Urdu Committee, Andhra Pradesh and State Handicrafts Board, Government of Andhra Pradesh.<ref name=ex/>

In 1973, she was nominated for the [[Nobel Prize in Literature]] by [[Krishna Srinivas]], president of the World Poetry Society Intercontinental (WPSI).<ref name=nobel73/> She was the first Indian woman to receive such honour.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nomination/archive/search.php?prize=4&startyear=1901&endyear=1971&cname=&ccity=&cuniversity=&ccountry=99&cgender=F&nname=&ncity=&nuniversity=&ncountry=0&ngender=A|title=Nomination archive – Indian Female Nominees for Nobel Prize in Literature|access-date=6 January 2026|website=nobelprize.org}}</ref>

In November 2019, the Rajkumari Indira Devi Hall (originally the [[Golden Threshold]]) at [[University of Hyderabad]] was inaugurated in her honour, transforming it into a cultural and literary hub.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/uoh-to-convert-golden-threshold-into-cultural-hub/articleshow/71929684.cms|title=UoH to convert Golden Threshold into cultural hub|date=6 November 2019|access-date=2 January 2024|website=The Times of India}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/hyderabad/2019/nov/07/cultural-and-literary-hub-at-golden-threshold-2058063.html|title=Cultural and literary Hub at Golden Threshold|date=7 November 2019|access-date=2 January 2024|website=The New Indian Express|author=Saima Afreen}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Hyderabad/uoh-to-convert-golden-threshold-into-culture-hub/article29903033.ece|title=UoH to convert Golden Threshold into culture hub|website=The Hindu|access-date=2 January 2024|date=7 November 2019}}</ref> An autobiographical book entitled ''Alanati Kadha'' was published by D. Chandrasekhar Reddy in her honor.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://sahithibooks.com/book/695e51054fe2b35e3f139455|title=Alanati Kadha|access-date=6 January 2026|website=Sahithi Prachuranalu}}</ref>

==Publications==

===Poetry collections===
* ''The Apostle'' (Ajoykumar Mitra, 1964)
* ''Return to Eternity'' (Ajoykumar Mitra, 1965)
* ''Yearnings and Other Poems'' (N.P., 1966)
* ''Partings in Mimosa'' (M.L. Dhawan, 1968)<ref>Naik, M. K., [https://books.google.com/books?id=FcH2MUnlQjQC ''Perspectives on Indian poetry in English''], p. 230, (published by Abhinav Publications, 1984, {{ISBN|0-391-03286-0}}, {{ISBN|978-0-391-03286-6}}), retrieved via Google Books, 3 January 2024</ref>
* ''Poems of My National Memory'' (Indian Languages Forum, 1976)
* ''Wind Blows from the Scaffold'' (N.P., 1976)

===Private distributions===
* ''Commitment'' (1969){{efn|group=notes|name=dis|''Commitment'' and ''Tide'' were published for private distribution only.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://guides.lib.uw.edu/c.php?g=341864&p=2301848|title=Bibliographies for South Asian Studies: Poetry Written by South Asian Women|access-date=3 January 2024|website=University Libraries {{!}} University of Washington}}</ref>}}
* ''Tide'' (1974){{efn|name=dis}}

===Non-fiction===
* ''Memories of the Deccan'' (Visual Quest India, 2008)

===Translations===
* ''Seshajyotsna: Telugu Modern Indian Classic'' by Guṇṭūru Śēṣēndraśarma (Indian Languages Forum, 1974)<ref>Dhanrajgir, Indira Devi, [https://books.google.com/books?id=bNqZzQEACAAJ ''Seshajyotsna: Telugu Modern Indian Classic; English-Telugu Text – Guṇṭūru Śēṣēndraśarma''] (published by Indian Languages Forum, 1974), retrieved via Google Books, 3 January 2024</ref> (translated into English)

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Devi Dhanrajgir, Indira}}
[[Category:1930 births]]
[[Category:2026 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Hyderabad State]]
[[Category:English-language Indian poets]]
[[Category:Indian women poets]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women writers]]

Indira Devi Dhanrajgir - Revision history

Aryatheautistic at 00:02, 15 February 2026