Mahadevi Verma (26 March 1907 – 11 September 1987) was an Indian Hindi-language poet, essayist, sketch story writer and an eminent personality of Hindi literature.

[5] She developed a soft vocabulary in the Hindi poetry of Khadi Boli, which before her was considered possible only in Braj Bhasha.

She was also well-versed in music, and her songs were characterised by a tone that conveyed sharp expressions in a nuanced and euphemistic style.

[10] Verma was born on 26 March 1907[11] in a Hindu Chitraguptavanshi Kayastha[12][13][14][15][16] family of Farrukhabad, Uttar Pradesh, India.

Her mother's name was Hem Rani Devi; a religious, passionate, and vegetarian woman with a keen interest in music.

In contrast, her father was a scholar, music lover, atheist, hunting enthusiast, and cheerful person.

Her grandfather reportedly had the ambition of making her a scholar; although he insisted that she comply with tradition and marry at the age of nine.

[25] Having been wed as a child, Mahadevi was expected to go live with her husband following her graduation in 1929, which she refused[26] as she found his hunting and meat-eating offensive.

In the year 1955, Varma established the Literary Parliament in Allahabad with the help of Ilachandra Joshi, and took up the editorship of its publication.

Under the influence of Mahatma Gandhi, she took up public service and worked in Jhansi alongside the Indian freedom struggle.

[38] In 1937, Mahadevi Varma built a house in the village of Umagarh, Ramgarh, Uttarakhand, 25  km from Nainital.

Through poems like Cha, she explored themes and ideas of female sexuality, while her short stories such as Biblia, discuss the subject of experiences of women's physical and mental abuse.

(English translation)[53] On the other hand, Hazari Prasad Dwivedi considered her poetry to be a collective criterion of emotions.

[c] Poetic works like Deep from (Nihar), Madhur Madhur Mere Deepak Jal from (Neerja) and Mome Sa Tan Gal Hai, concludes that these poems not only explain Mahadevi's self-centeredness but also to be considered a representative form of general posture and texture of her poems.

Satyaprakash Mishra says about her philosophy of metaphysics related to cinematography: Mahadevi did not only differentiate and distinguish from the earlier poetry of the object craft of Shadowism and Mysticism under rationalism and examples but also showed in what sense it is human.

(English translation)[54]American novelist David Rubin has said the following about her works: What arrests us in Mahadevi's work is the striking originality of the voice and the technical ingenuity which enabled her to create in her series of mostly quite short lyrics throughout her five volumes a consistently evolving representation of total subjectivity measured against the vastness of cosmic nature with nothing, as it were, intervening—no human social relationships, no human activities beyond those metaphorical ones involving weeping, walking the road, playing the Veena, etc.

[24] Prabhakar Shrotriya believes that those who consider her a poet of anguish and despair do not know how much fire there is in that suffering which exposes the truth of life.

[57] In 1979, the famous Indian filmmaker Mrinal Sen produced a Bengali film on her memoir Woh Chini Bhai,[61] titled Neel Akasher Neechey.

[62] On 14 September 1991, the Postal Department of the Government of India issued a doubles stamp of ₹2 honouring her and Jaishankar Prasad.

[63] The emergence of Mahadevi Varma in literature happened at a time when the shape of Khadi Boli was being refined.

She created a unique rhythm and simplicity in the composition and language of her songs, as well as the natural use of symbols and images that draw a picture in the mind of the reader.

A such lively and tangible manifestation of the subtlest subtle expressions of the heart makes 'Varma' among the best Chhayavadi poets.