Annapurna Maharana

Annapurna Maharana (née Choudhury 3 November 1917 – 31 December 2012) was an India pro-independence activist active in the Indian independence movement. She was also a prominent social and women's rights activist. Maharana was a close ally of Mahatma Gandhi.

Personal life Annapurna was born in Orissa Province, British India (now Odisha, India) on 3 November 1917 in an aristocratic Zamindar Karan family, the second child of Ramadevi Choudhury and Gopabandhu Choudhury. Both of her parents were active in the Indian independence movement from the United Kingdom.

Role during independence Annapurna began actively campaigning for independence when she was fourteen years old, becoming a supporter of Mohandas Gandhi. In 1934, she joined Gandhi on his "Harijan Pada Yatra" march through Odisha from Puri to Bhadrak. Choudhury was arrested several times by British and British Raj, including August 1942 during the Quit India Movement civil disobedience campaign.

The Central University of Odisha awarded Annapurna Choudhury an Honoris Causa (honorary degree) in a ceremony held at her Cuttack home on 19 August 2012.

Death Annapurna Choudhury died of lengthy illnesses related to old age, at her home in Bakharabad, Cuttack, Odisha, at 10:30 p.m. on 31 December 2012, aged 96. Her late husband, Sarat Maharana, died in 2009. She was cremated with honors at the Khannagar crematorium in Cuttack on 2 January 2013.

Governor of Odisha Murlidhar Chandrakant Bhandare and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik described her death as "irreparable loss" to India and Odisha.