I am beholden to write a few lines in a book which speaks of the self-less life and living of a great freedom fighter and noble woman leader of our country, Late Parbati Giri. She was born in a village called "Samalai Padar" in the Bargarh sub-division of undivided Sambalpur district on 19th January, 1926. She belonged to a middle-class family, but her father was a Gountia, the headman of the village. Parbati Giri was born at a time when the Freedom Movement of the country was gaining momentum under the charismatic leadership of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. Parbati came to prominence when she left home at a very young age and joined "Gandhibadi Parivar". During Quit India Movement, she captured the court of the S.D.O., Bargarh and was imprisoned for two years. She refused to write a bond not to partici-pate in the freedom movement while in jail. In Sambalpur Jail, she came in contact with another dedicated freedom fighter Late Prabhabati Devi. Her association with this great lady resulted in tremendous transformation in their personalities paving the path towards self-less social service. After independence, Parbati Giri stayed in Wardha Ashram of Mahatma Gandhi for some time and learnt the quality of self-abnegation.
Samalai Padar village in which Parbati was born had a great name during the period of Freedom Movement. At that time the voice of freedom struggle has reached countless villages of the country and she could hear that voice at a very young age. While reading in class three Parbati Giri came in contact with great freedom fighters like Bhagirathi Pattanayak, his wife Jamboobati Pattanayak, Laxminarayan Mishra, Durga Prasad Guru and de-veloped keen interest in the Freedom Movement of the country. In the years 1937 and 1938, the Indian National Congress organized two consecutive meetings in Samalai Padar village in which distinguished freedom fighters like Pranakrushna Padhiari and Malati Choudhury delivered patriotic speeches. Parbati Giri was emotionally moved by their speeches and came to a firm determination to jump to Freedom Movement. These great leaders pressur-ized Parbati's father to allow her to participate in the organizational work of Congress. With much difficulty, Parbati Giri was allowed to go to Bari Ashram of Gopabandhu Choudhury and Rama Devi. Young Parbati was greatly in-spired by this couple. She learned many things at Bari Ashram and had done commendable work to enrich the Ashram life. In those days an Ashram was regarded as a "SANGRAMI SIBIRA."
In 1940, direct Satyagraha started against British Raj and the free-dom fighters staying in the Ashrams took active part in it. Parbati Giri came back to her village from Bari Ashram and participated in Congress work in Bargarh, Padampur, Panimora, Ghens etc in the undivided Sambalpur district of Orissa. An unique feature of her style of functioning was that she did not stay at home but moved from village to village and created awareness cam paign against British Rule. She gave training of weaving and thread making in many villages.
While in jail Parbati discussed with Prabhabati Devi about their future course of action after being released from the jail. Another renowned freedom fighter, Ghanashyam Panigrahi used to tell them that after indepen dence they should wholeheartedly devote to social work. Strictly adhering to this advice, she tried her best to fulfill the aspirations of the downtrodden people during the post-independence period. After release from jail, she joined Kasturba Memorial Trust under the advice of Rama Devi. Named after the sacred memory of Kasturba Gandhi, the Trust worked for the develop. ment of rural women and children. Rama Devi was highly satisfied with the work of Parbati and sent her to Wardha for further training. She stayed at Wardha till 1949 and thereafter proceeded to Allahabad for higher education She worked in many all-India organizations. She had a restless soul for relief work and service for destitute. She returned to Orissa in 1953 and joined a project conducted by American Friends Society at Barpali. She came in con-tact with Binova Bhave and participated in Bhoodan and Sarvodaya Move-ment.
In 1975 severe drought conditions affected Western Orissa for which children in large numbers became destitute. To save the life of these doomed children, the government established several asylums in different droughtaffected areas. These asylums were functioning as foster homes. parbati Giri remained in charge of the foster home at Paikmal now in Bargarh district. This great lady played a key role in Freedom movement and after independence devoted her life in the service of poor, needy and destitute. In this small write up, it is not possible to describe the life-long achievement of such a great personality. She is regarded as mother Teresa of Western Orissa. Some describe her as "Banhi Kanya"; the daughter fire. She was unique in all respects. She left home at a very young age and stayed in Ashram for the cause of freedom of the country. She was not married but gave motherly affection and care to many children. Her life style, behaviour and thought all reflected the grass-root conditions of society.
Sambalpur University has always given great importance to immor-tal souls of Western Orissa. This book on Late Parbati Giri is a humble effort in this direction. I take this opportunity to thank Prof. G.P. Guru for writing the biography of this illustrious daughter of Orissa. I hope, the students of Sambalpur University will draw inspiration from the multi-dimensional activi-ties of this great patriot and devote themselves for nation building.
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