India's Freedom Struggle record some of the glorious episodes in the annals of the country's recent past. The story of this struggle has been told and retold through various media. A large number of postage stamps have been issued to honour the personalities and to commemorate the events connected with the Freedom Struggle. These stamps, however, do not narrate the complete story of the long drawn out struggle for Independence. An attempt is, therefore, being made, now to fill in the gaps through the issue of a series to depict the major landmarks in India's Struggle for Freedom. The present set of three stamps, on the themes of 'Quit India Revolution', 'Mahadev Desai' and 'Meera Behn' is the first issue in the proposed series.

This set, thus, marks the beginning of an ambitious project under which about 4-6 stamps will be will be issued, every year, till 1997- the 50th year of India's Independence, to complete the story of the struggle through stamps. MEERA BEHN (1892-1982) Meera Behn was born as Madeleine Slade in 1892 in England. Her father, admiral Sir Edmond Slade, came of a traditional aristocratic family. She read Romain Rolland's Book 'Mahatma Gandhi' at one sitting and it changed her life- "Now I knew what that something was, the approach of which I had been feeling". Gandhiji gave her name of Meera in view of her devotion to him and her dedication to the service of India.

Soon after she came to India, she was sent to the Kanya Gurukul, Dehra Dun, where she taught English, Spinning and Carding, and studied Hindi and the Scriptures. She accompanied Gandhiji to the Second Round Table Conference in 1932 and acted as his interpreter on the Continent on his way back home. She said that India was her home and she felt like a foreigner in England. She joined the Satyagraha movement later on and was in prison once with Kasturba, and twice by herself. She was arrested alongwith Bapu on the morning of 9 August, 1942 and was in the Aga Khan Palace Detention Camp from August, 1942 to May, 1944.

It was on 18 January, 1959 that she left India for good and settled in a small village about 30 miles from Vienna. She was awarded Padma Vibhushan in January, 1982. She passed away on 29 July, 1982.

Source : Information Folder issued by Indian Posts & Telegraph Department, Government of India