ABSTRACT
A woman enriched by incomparable experience, her beauty transformed but undiminished, Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit would bring to a new and constructive purpose the inspiration of the ‘fiery girl’ who had raised the voice of revolutionary India outside the Conference Hall at San Francisco two decades ago. She took in her stride two important engagements made for her many months earlier in Oxford, where she had agreed to open a new house for graduates at Somerville College. From the time that she had reluctantly accepted the decorative but undynamic position of State Governor, she had persisted despite official discouragement in looking for more active political work. During November her hard-fought campaign involved huge election meetings attended by persistent crowds, in which many of the women wept for Jawaharlal’s memory. With her victory in the Phulpur by-election, she had lifted her brother’s torch from his ashes and held it aloft.
