'Droupadi Not My Original Name...': President Murmu's Big Revelation
India's first tribal President has revealed in an interview that 'Droupadi' was not her original name. Read on to know who gave her present name and what was her original name.
India's first tribal President has revealed in an interview that "Droupadi" was not her original name and it was given given by her school teacher based on a character of the epic Mahabharata. In an interview with an Odia magazine, Murmu revealed that her Santhali name "Puti" was changed to Droupadi by a teacher in school.
"Droupadi was not my original name. It was given by my teacher who hailed from another district, not from my native Mayurbhanj,” Murmu told the magazine.
"The teacher did not like my previous name and changed it for good," she said when the magazine asked why she is called Droupadi.
READ | Droupadi Murmu Lost Her Husband, Two Sons Within Six Years. Know About Her Family Life
Teachers in the tribal-dominated Mayurbanjh district used to travel from either Balasore or Cuttack in the 1960s, Murmu claimed. Droupadi Murmu was born on June 20, 1958, in a simple Santhal tribal family in Rairangpur.
Murmu further said that her name was changed several times -- from “Durpadi” to “Dorpdi”. She stated that names do not die in Santhali culture.
"If a girl is born, she takes the name of her grandmother, while a son carries grandfather’s nomenclature," Murmu said in the interview.
After Droupadi married Shyam Charan Tudu, a bank officer, she started using the title Murmu instead of her previous surname Tudu, which she had used in schools and colleges.
On Monday, Murmu took the oath as the 15th President of India in a ceremony held in Parliament's Central Hall. Chief Justice of India N V Ramana administered her the oath.
Murmu has overcome several personal tragedies in her life. The soft spoken tribal leader from Odisha's Rairangpur lost her husband, two sons, mother and brother in just six years between 2009-2015.
Murmu married Shyam Charan Murmu and had three children -- two sons and a daughter -- with him. According to news reports, one of her sons, Laxman Murmu (25), died in 2009. Her second son passed away in a road accident a few years later in 2012.
Two years later, Murmu faced another personal loss as her husband passed away due to cardiac arrest. Murmu's daughter Itishree works at UCO bank in Odisha.
"I have encountered tsunami in my life and seen three deaths of my family members in a span of six months," Murmu said in another interview with Brahmakumari Godlywood Studio on February 18, 2020.
Narrating her ordeal after the death of her 25-year-old eldest son Laxman, Murmu said, "I was completely shattered and broken following the death of my son. I was depressed for about two months. I stopped meeting people and remained confined at home. Later I joined Ishwariya Prajapati Brahmakumari, underwent yoga and meditation."
"There was a time when I thought I might die anytime," she had said in the interview.
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