Rajashree Birla
| Rajashree Birla | |
|---|---|
| Born | 29th September 1948 (age Expression error: Unrecognized word "th".–Expression error: Unrecognized word "th".)Expression error: Unrecognized word "th". Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India |
| Occupation | Businessperson |
| Spouse(s) | Aditya Vikram Birla |
| Children |
Kumar Mangalam Birla (son), Vasavadatta Bajaj (daughter) |
| Awards |
Padma Bhushan Women Achievers Award Corporate Citizen of the Year Seva Shiromani Award Citizen of Bombay Award 2003 The Pride of India Award |
| Website | Official web page |
Rajashree Birla is an Indian philanthropist. Married young to Aditya Birla, scion of the Birla family of business magnates, Rajashree devoted herself to the care of a large India joint family and the nurture of two children. After they grew up, and some time after the untimely death of her husband in 1995, Rajashree directed her efforts towards CSR and charity, developing a very large philanthropic organization funded by her family. In 2011, the Government of India honoured her with the Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian award, for her services to society.
Rajashree was born in 1948, in Madurai, in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, in a family which hailed originally from Rajasthan in north-western India. Her father, Radhakishen Fomra, held a dealership agency for Burmah Shell. Her mother, Parvati Devi Fomra, was a home-maker. The family were Marwari Vaishyas and belonged to the Maheshwari sub-caste.
Rajashree and her sisters studied at St. Joseph's convent school in Madurai, Following the usual Indian custom, Rajshree's marriage was arranged by her parents into a family belonging to their specific Maheshwari sub-caste. The nuptials were celebrated in three stages, as per the Marwari tradition. The first stage, being the engagement, was performed when Rajashree was around 10 years old. Her fiancé was Aditya Vikram Birla, scion of the Birla family and grandson of the legendary business magnate Ghanshyam Das Birla. The second stage comprised the initial ceremony of marriage (essentially an irrevocable engagement), which was performed when Rajashree was 14, and the final ceremonies (gauna and vidaai) was performed in 1965, when she was 17 years old. At this point, she departed her parent's house in Madurai and moved into her in-law's house in Kolkata.
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