![SHAKUNTALA DEVI
Shakuntala Devi was born in Bengaluru, India,]
to an orthodox Kannada Brahminfamily.]
Her father
rebelled against becoming a temple priestand instead joined a circus where he worked as
a trapeze artist, lion tamer, tightrope walker andmagician.He discovered his daughter's ability to
memorise numbers while teaching her a card trick when she was about three years old.Her father
left the circus and took her on road shows that displayed her ability at calculation.She did this
without any formal education.By the age of six she demonstrated her calculation and memorisation
abilities at the University of Mysore.
In 1944, Devi moved to London with her father.
She returned to India in the mid-1960s and married Paritosh Banerji, an officer of theIndian
Administrative Service from Kolkata.They were divorced in 1979. In 1980 she contested in the Lok
Sabha elections as an independent, from Bombay South and from Medak in Andhra Pradesh. In
Medak she stood against Indira Gandhi, saying she wanted to "defend the people of Medak from
being fooled by Mrs. Gandhi"; she stood ninth, with 6514 votes (1.47% of the votes).Devi returned to
Bengaluru in the early 1980s.
In addition to her work as a mental calculator, Devi was an astrologer and an author of several
books, including cookbooks and novels.
Death and legacy
In April 2013, Devi was admitted to a hospital in Bengaluru with respiratory problems.Over the
following two weeks she suffered from complications of the heart and kidneys. She died in the
hospital on 21 April 2013.She was 83 years old then.She is survived by her daughter, Anupama
Banerji.
On 4 November 2013, Devi was honoured with a Google Doodle for what would have been her 84th
birthda](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/shakuntaladevi-151105101259-lva1-app6892/85/Shakuntala-devi-1-320.jpg)
Shakuntala devi
- 1. SHAKUNTALA DEVI Shakuntala Devi was born in Bengaluru, India,] to an orthodox Kannada Brahminfamily.] Her father rebelled against becoming a temple priestand instead joined a circus where he worked as a trapeze artist, lion tamer, tightrope walker andmagician.He discovered his daughter's ability to memorise numbers while teaching her a card trick when she was about three years old.Her father left the circus and took her on road shows that displayed her ability at calculation.She did this without any formal education.By the age of six she demonstrated her calculation and memorisation abilities at the University of Mysore. In 1944, Devi moved to London with her father. She returned to India in the mid-1960s and married Paritosh Banerji, an officer of theIndian Administrative Service from Kolkata.They were divorced in 1979. In 1980 she contested in the Lok Sabha elections as an independent, from Bombay South and from Medak in Andhra Pradesh. In Medak she stood against Indira Gandhi, saying she wanted to "defend the people of Medak from being fooled by Mrs. Gandhi"; she stood ninth, with 6514 votes (1.47% of the votes).Devi returned to Bengaluru in the early 1980s. In addition to her work as a mental calculator, Devi was an astrologer and an author of several books, including cookbooks and novels. Death and legacy In April 2013, Devi was admitted to a hospital in Bengaluru with respiratory problems.Over the following two weeks she suffered from complications of the heart and kidneys. She died in the hospital on 21 April 2013.She was 83 years old then.She is survived by her daughter, Anupama Banerji. On 4 November 2013, Devi was honoured with a Google Doodle for what would have been her 84th birthda