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The First Women Devotees in England
by Malati devi dasi (ACBSP)

I would like to thank Bhakti Marg Maharaja for his thoughtful inclusion of three of the ladies who accompanied their husbands to the UK on the order of our Spritual Master, Srila Prabhupada. But still, the list is incomplete: there was a fourth mataji, six-month-old Saraswati, who underwent many austerities growing up "on the road" as we pioneered Krishna Consciousness in the UK (and later on in India).

The omission of feminine names does not surprise me. Elsewhere, in the Lilamrita, Saraswati is described as "Shyamasundar’s" daughter, as if she had no mother. Hopefully, that is a bygone mentality.

Hare Krishna.

Your servant,
Malati devi dasi (ACBSP)

© CHAKRA 10 December 2001