10 Iron Willed Indian Women Who Refused To Bow Down. We Salute Them!

The heart of a lion.

When do we call a person with the heart of a lion? When he/she has presented themselves to the world in such a way that they can overcome anything with the confidence that touches the sky and a life of selfless greatness.

Here are a few Indian women of true grit who shunned their expected roles and became one of those whose names will forever be etched in bold in the pages of our history as well the generations to come.

1.

Ahilyabai Holkar was the Queen of the Holkars in Indore and is remembered as the sharp woman with a marble shivaling in her hands and a divine light in her eyes. She was in her childhood only recognised for her intelligence and took over the kingdom after her husband died and refused to go sati. Besides that she didn’t allow any of the daughter-in-laws to do so either when her sons died in battles against the British and decided to treat them as her own daughters.

 

2.

Irom Chanu Sharmila became the icon of public unrest after she went on a hunger strike after the army unit AFSPA took control of Manipur and demanded that its hold must be removed. And this went on for more than 15 years after that, and it still continues to this moment.

 

3.

Anandibai Joshi is one of those women we know very little about except that she gave India the honour of boasting that its women became one of the first doctors in the whole wide world even when the country was under the British rule. According to her letters to her family back home, specifically, her husband who was adamant that she studies show that she wanted to help the pregnant women who were not getting good health care because the wouldn’t see a male doctor and there were no female doctors. She couldn’t live her dream but she definitely inspired a lot of others to do what she wanted to.

 

4.

Reita Faria was the first woman to show the world the beauty of Indian women. Along with the demure humility, she showed how fiery Indian women can be by winning the Miss World title all while studying to be a doctor. However the title didn’t deter her from pursuing her studies and she did become a doctor and lead a glamourless life as a practising doctor.

 

5.

India’s first woman pilot was not only just 21 when she got her license, she was also married and had a daughter. She didn’t stop at just getting a license, she pursued a career in flying and became quite successful at it.

 

6.

Rupa Devi has fought all the odds that an Indian has to face, more so an Indian woman faces in her life and still has managed to deserve the honour of being FIFA’s International Referee and being a player herself.

 

7.

Dr. Tessy Thomas is the inspiration every young girl should idolise because she proved that no job is a man’s job and successfully spearheaded the Agni-III, IV and V projects subsequently and successfully and is fondly called as the Agniputri.

 

8.

She herself being a child bride, she opposed other girls of her age falling to the same fate and become widows due to the death of their old husbands. And that’s where it started. Along with her husband she fought to bring the light of education to girls, of all classes of the society and dedicated her entire life to the upliftment of women.

 

9.

She loved playing chess since a very tender age and att the age of 18 she became the Woman Grandmaster. By the time she turned 21, she was already the International Master with an Arjuna Award in her bag. She quite clearly proved beauty is not separate from brains.

 

10.

Tata Salt Plus has taken up a tremendous initiative in praising women displaying indomitable courage, who defy and conquer the world.

Premlata Agarwal, a native of Jharkhand and a housewife turned mountaineer is an inspiration to all of us. She started mountaineering when she was 37. At the age of 48, Premlata became the “oldest Indian woman” to scale the world’s tallest peak, Mount Everest. As of now, she has already conquered 7 summits of the world. She was awarded the Padma Shri in 2013. Her feats have earned her a listing in the Limca Book of Records. She also became the first Indian woman to scale the Seven Summits. This is indeed a proud thing for Premlata and our country!

These iron-willed women refused to bow down to any obstacle, even when the society and the peers were not in their support.

Strength comes from within. Therefore, ensure a healthy mind and body by getting the daily required iron dose from Tata Salt Plus, which is India’s first Iron fortified salt that fulfils up to 50% of our daily iron requirements.

~ Remain iron strong!

This story is brought to you in association with Tata Salt Plus.