The British Woman Who Fought For India’s Independence

The remarkable story of Freda Bedi

Freda Bedi (Left) and Freda Bedi and her husband BPL Bedi in Srinagar in 1948(Right)
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Freda Bedi was a British woman who moved to India in the 1940s and made a remarkable contribution to India’s freedom. She was the first European woman to be arrested as a Satyagrahi and became a strong believer in Mahatama Gandhi’s non-violence movement. In her later years of life, she adopted Buddhism and received the title of the first western woman who took her ordination as a Tibetan Buddhist nun.

The early life of Freda Bedi and her journey to Indian nationalism

Freda and BPL met as students at Oxford University
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Freda Houlston, born in a fairly modest middle-class family in the English midlands lost her father in World War 1. This event made her vigilant towards political activities and prompted her quest for activism.

Pursuing her masters from the Oxford Univerity in the 1930s and growing up in an era of the Great Depression made her ponder and view the world around her. Unemployment, fascism, and the cruelty of the British force on Indians made her rebellious and curious in nature. This curiosity drove her to join the Oxford Majilis, a group founded in…