Shakuntala Devi was an Indian writer and a mathematical genius popularly known as the “human computer”. She was reputed to make complicated mathematical calculations in her head and effortlessly speak out the results! Shakuntala Devi was born on November 4, 1929, in Bangalore, Karnataka. Her father joined a circus instead of becoming a priest in the temple and worked as a trapeze artist, lion tamer, tightrope walker, and magician. When Shakuntala was 3 years old, he discovered her ability to memorize the numbers while teaching her a card trick. Soon after this discovery, her father left the circus and walked down the streets with his daughter to display her ability to the rest of the world. Without receiving any formal education, Shakuntala at the age of 6, demonstrated her arithmetic abilities at the University of Mysore. In the year 1944, she moved to London with her father. With time she became an internationally known name and she moved to London with her father in 1944. She travelled widely all over the world and demonstrated her skills in several countries including the United States, Hong Kong, Japan, Sri Lanka, Italy, Canada, Russia, France, Spain, Mauritius, Indonesia and Malaysia.
In 1950, Shakuntala Devi toured Europe to demonstrate her arithmetic skills. In the 1960s, after returning to India, Shakuntala Devi married an IAS Officer Paritosh Banerji. In 1976, she gave another performance in New York. In the year 1977, Shakuntla Devi authored a book on mental calculations– Figuring: The Joy of Number. The same year, she wrote the first book on homosexuality in India titled ‘The World of Homosexuals’. In a documentary titled ‘For Straights Only’, Shakuntala revealed that she was married to a homosexual man and this shifted her interest in the topic to understand it more closely.
Shakuntala contested 1980 Lok Sabha elections as an independent candidate from Mumbai South and from Medak. In Medak, she contested against Indira Gandhi and lost the elections. In the year 1988, Shakuntala Devi visited professor Arthur Jensen in the US to get her abilities tested. Arthur Jensen was a professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley.
In 1990, in an academic journal, Jenson published his findings of Shakuntala Devi. He reported that calculations like cube root of 61,629,875 and the seventh root of 170,859,375 were given to her to solve the problem which she solved before Jensen could copy them down in his notebook.
She was also a successful astrologer and authored several books on the subject. In addition, she also wrote texts on mathematics for children and puzzles. Devi was a prolific writer, dabbling in various topics. Books written by her include a thriller novel titled “Perfect Murder,” cookbooks, and various others on numbers and puzzles, meant to help both children and adults.
She started the Shakuntala Devi Education Foundation Public Trust to provide quality education to children from underprivileged backgrounds. She also helped spread global awareness about India’s contribution towards mathematics. In 1969, she was awarded the title of the ‘Most Distinguished Woman of the Year’ by the University of Philippines. She received the ‘Ramanujan Mathematical Genius’ Award in Washington D.C in 1988. Her talents also earned her a place in the Guinness Book of World Records.
In April 2013, Shakuntala Devi was admitted to a hospital after she complained about respiratory problems. Within two weeks of getting admitted, After getting she suffered from complications of the heart and kidneys. On April 21, 2013, Shakuntala died at the age of 83 years old.
In May 2019, a biopic about her life was announced, helmed by director Anu Menon and with Vidya Balan in the role of Shakuntala Devi. The ‘Shakuntala Devi’ movie has been getting a lot of hype, with Devi’s daughter stating that she was extremely happy with the film and its portrayal. This adaptation will hopefully serve to remind us, especially the younger generation of the extraordinary Shakuntala Devi, whose life and actions serve as a role model for all of us. A tireless achiever, Shakuntala Devi’s life and accomplishments have continued to inspire millions around the world till this day.
