Top 25 Most Famous Indian Women of All Time

India has been home to numerous influential and famous women who have made significant contributions in various fields. Today we are going to know about top 20 most famous Indian women of all time. These famous women of India are ranked by ‘Historical Popularity Index’ (HPI).

Great Daughters of India

Top 25 Most Famous Indian Women Ever
Top 25 Most Famous Indian Women Ever

Famous Female Personalities of India

International Women’s Day 2023. On this occasion let us know about the Top 25 most famous women in India till date. India has had many great and accomplished women who succeeded in different fields. Let us have a look at the famous female Indian personalities of all time. It is ranked according to Historical Popularity Index (HPI) 2022 of Pantheon.

 

Top 25 Famous Women of India

The following 25 individuals are the most famous female personalities of India of all time, according to the Historical Popularity Index (HPI) of 2022. The highest HPI is 100, and we have listed people with HPI over 56.65.
Famous Women Personalities of India with pictures

 

25. Shilpa Shetty (HPI – 56.65)

According to the Historical Popularity Index (HPI), Shilpa Shetty is the 25th most famous woman of India of all time. Her Historical Popularity Index (HPI) is 56.65 out of 100. Her biography is available in 52 different languages on Wikipedia. She is the second most famous Indian actress, and the third most famous actress in Bollywood.

25 Most famous Indian actors of all time
Shilpa Shetty (Getty Images)

Shilpa Shetty Kundra (born 8 June 1975) is an Indian actress, film producer, dancer, author, businesswoman and former model who predominantly appeared in Hindi-language films. Shetty made her screen debut in the thriller Baazigar (1993) which garnered her two Filmfare Awards nominations.

She followed it with a leading role in the highly successful action comedy Main Khiladi Tu Anari (1994), in which she played a dual role. Shetty’s career saw a resurgence as a leading lady by the turn of the millennium with the romantic drama Dhadkan (2000), marking a turning point in her career.

 

24. Kalpana Chawla (HPI – 57.15)

According to the Historical Popularity Index (HPI), Kalpana Chawla is the 24th most famous woman in India of all time. Her Historical Popularity Index (HPI) is 57.15 out of 100. Her biography is available in 62 different languages on Wikipedia.

Kalpana Chawla is a famous Indian woman of all time
Kalpana Chawla is a famous Indian woman (Google images)

Kalpana Chawla (17 March 1962 – 1 February 2003) was an Indian-born American astronaut and aerospace engineer who was the first woman of Indian origin to go to space. She first flew on Space Shuttle Columbia in 1997 as a mission specialist and primary robotic arm operator.

Her second flight was on STS-107, the final flight of Columbia, in 2003. Chawla was one of the seven crew members who died in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster when the spacecraft disintegrated during its re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere on 1 February 2003.

Chawla was posthumously awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor, and several streets, universities, and institutions have been named in her honor. She is regarded as a role model in India.

 

23. Mata Amritanandamayi (HPI – 56.98)

According to the Historical Popularity Index (HPI), Mātā Amritānandamayī is the 23rd most famous Indian woman of India. Her Historical Popularity Index (HPI) is 56.98 out of 100. Her biography is available in 30 different languages on Wikipedia.

Mata Amritanandamayi
Amritanandamayi is one of the most famous Indian women

Mātā Amritānandamayī Devī (born 27 September 1953), often known as Amma (“Mother”), is an Indian Hindu spiritual leader, guru and humanitarian,who is revered as ‘the hugging saint’ by her followers.

In 2018, she was felicitated by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for largest contribution to the Government of India’s Clean India Campaign Swachh Bharat Mission. She was the first recipient of Vishwaratna Puraskar (Gem of the World Award) by Hindu Parliament.

 

22. Amrita Sher-Gil (HPI – 57.15)

According to the Historical Popularity Index (HPI), Amrita Sher-Gil is ranked 22nd among the most famous Indian women of all time. Her Historical Popularity Index (HPI) is 57.61. Her biography is available in 51 different languages on Wikipedia.

Amrita Sher-Gil is one of the famous female personalities
Amrita Sher-Gil is one of the famous female personalities

Amrita Sher-Gil (30 January 1913 – 5 December 1941) was a Hungarian-Indian painter. She has been called “one of the greatest avant-garde women artists of the early 20th century” and a pioneer in modern Indian art. Drawn to painting from an early age, Sher-Gil started formal lessons at the age of eight. She first gained recognition at the age of 19, for her oil painting Young Girls (1932). Sher-Gil depicted everyday life of the people in her paintings.

Sher-Gil traveled throughout her life to various countries including Turkey, France, and India, deriving heavily from precolonial Indian art styles as well as contemporary culture. Sher-Gil is considered an important painter of 20th-century India, whose legacy stands on a level with that of the pioneers from the Bengal Renaissance. She was also an avid reader and a pianist. Sher-Gil’s paintings are among the most expensive by Indian women painters today, although few acknowledged her work when she was alive.

 

21. Tarabai (HPI – 57.61

According to the Historical Popularity Index (HPI), the Queen Tarabai is ranked 21st among the most famous women personalities of India. Her Historical Popularity Index (HPI) is 57.61. Her biography is available in 26 different languages on Wikipedia. She is ranked 5th among the most famous women of Maharashtra.

Queen Tarabai is a famous indian queen

Tarabai Bhosale (1675 – 1761) was the regent of the Maratha Empire of India from 1700 until 1708. She was the queen of Rajaram Bhonsale, and daughter-in-law of the empire’s founder Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. She is acclaimed for her role in keeping alive the resistance against Mughal occupation of Maratha territories after the death of her husband, and acting as the regent during the minority of her son, Shivaji II.

 

20. Pandita Ramabai (HPI – 57.63)

According to the Historical Popularity Index (HPI), Pandita Ramabai is ranked 20th among the most famous women personalities of India. Her Historical Popularity Index (HPI) is 57.63. Her biography is available in 29 different languages on Wikipedia. She is ranked 5th among the most famous female personalities of Maharashtra.

Famous female personalities in Maharashtra
Famous female personalities in Maharashtra

Pandita Ramabai Sarasvati (23 April 1858 – 5 April 1922) was an Indian Social Reformer. She was the first woman to be awarded the titles of Pandita as a Sanskrit scholar and Sarasvati after being examined by the faculty of the University of Calcutta. She was one of the ten women delegates of the Congress session of 1889.

During her stay in England in early 1880s she converted to christianity.After that she toured extensively in the United states to collect funds for destitute Indian women.With the funds raised she started Sharada sadan for child widows. In the late 1890s, she founded Mukti Mission, a christian charity at Kedgaon village, forty miles east of the city of Pune. The mission was later named Pandita Ramabai Mukti Mission.

 

# Katrina Kaif (HPI – 58.29)

According to the Historical Popularity Index (HPI), Katrina Kaif is the 20th most famous woman in India. Her Historical Popularity Index (HPI) is 58.29 out of 100. Her biography is available in 75 different languages on Wikipedia. Katrina is the second most famous actress in Bollywood.

Most famous Indian actress
Katrina Kaif (WireImage)

Katrina Kaif (born 16 July 1983) is a British actress who works in Hindi-language films. One of the highest-paid actresses in India, she has received accolades, including four Screen Awards and four Zee Cine Awards, in addition to three Filmfare nominations. Though reception to her acting has varied, she is noted for her dancing ability in various successful item numbers. She is the wife of actor Vicky Kaushal. She is one of the most famous actors in Bollywood.

 

19. Mariam-uz-Zamani (HPI – 58.95)

With an HPI of 59.04, Mariam-uz-Zamani (Jodha) is ranked 19th among the most Famous Women of India of all time. Her biography has been translated into 28 different languages of Wikipedia.

Mariam-uz-Zamani - Jodha Bai
Mariam-uz-Zamani – Jodha

Mariam-uz-Zamani (c. 1542 – 19 May 1623), commonly known by the misnomer ‘Jodha Bai‘, was the chief consort and principal Rajput empress consort as well as the favourite wife of the third Mughal emperor, Akbar. She was also the longest-serving Hindu empress of the Mughal Empire with a tenure of forty-three years (1562 –1605).

Born a Rajput princess, she was married to Akbar by her father, Raja Bharmal of Amer due to political exigencies. Her marriage to Akbar led to a gradual shift in the latter’s religious and social policies. She is widely regarded in modern Indian historiography as exemplifying both Akbar’s and the Mughals’ tolerance of religious differences and their inclusive policies within an expanding multi-ethnic and multi-religious empire. She was an extremely beautiful woman and was said to possess uncommon beauty. She was presumed to have possessed a strong, sinewy frame and was widely known for both her grace and intellect. In the words of Akbar, she’s described as ‘a piece of the moon’.

She was a senior-ranking wife of Akbar who in the words of Abu’l-Fazl ibn Mubarak, commanded a high rank in the imperial harem. She is stated as the favourite and an influential consort of Akbar, having a considerable influence in the matters of the court. Described as an intelligent, amiable, kind and liberal woman, she was often consulted by Akbar on important matters. She was the mother of Akbar’s eldest surviving son and eventual successor, Jahangir, and grandmother of Shah Jahan.

 

18. Mahadevi Varma (HPI – 59.04)

With an HPI of 59.04, Mahadevi Varma is ranked 18th among the most Famous Women in India of all time. Her biography has been translated into 35 different languages of Wikipedia.

most popular persons on hindi wiki
Mahadevi Varma

Mahadevi Varma (26 March 1907 – 11 September 1987) was an Indian Hindi-language poet, essayist, sketch story writer and an eminent personality of Hindi literature. She is considered one of the four major pillars of the Chhayawadi era in Hindi literature. She has been also addressed as the Modern Meera. Poet Nirala had once called her “Saraswati in the vast temple of Hindi Literature”.

Varma had witnessed India both before and after independence. She was one of those poets who worked for the wider society of India. Not only her poetry but also her social upliftment work and welfare development among women were also depicted deeply in her writings. These largely influenced not only the readers but also the critics especially through her novel Deepshikha.

 

17. Kittur Chennamma (HPI 59.42)

With an HPI of 59.42, the Queen of Kittur Chennamma is ranked 17th among the most Famous Women of India of all time. Her biography has been translated into 20 different languages of Wikipedia. She is the 4th most popular Indian queen of all time.

Kittur Chennamma is a famous indian queen
Kittur Chennamma is the 4th famous indian queen

Kittur Chennamma (23 October 1778 – 21 February 1829) was the Indian Queen of Kittur, a former princely state in present-day Karnataka. She led an armed resistance against the British East India Company in 1824, in defiance of the Paramountcy, in an attempt to retain control over her dominion. She defeated the Company in the first revolt, but died as a prisoner of war after the second rebellion. As one of the first and few female rulers to lead rebel forces against British colonisation, she continues to be remembered as a folk hero in Karnataka, she is also an important symbol of the Indian independence movement.

 

16. Pratibha Patil (HPI – 59.71)

According to the Historical Popularity Index (HPI), Prathibha DeviSingh Patil is ranked 16th among the most famous women from India. Her Historical Popularity Index (HPI) is 59.71. Her biography is available in 86 different languages on Wikipedia. She is ranked 4th among the most famous female personalities in Maharashtra.

Famous female personalities in Maharashtra
Famous female personalities in Maharashtra

Prathibha DeviSingh Patil (born 19 December 1934) is an Indian politician and lawyer who served as the 12th president of India spanning from 2007 to 2012. She is the first woman to become the president of India. A member of the Indian National Congress, she previously served as the Governor of Rajasthan from 2004 to 2007, and was a member of Lok Sabha from 1991 to 1996. Patil was born in a Marathi family on 19 December 1934 in the British Raj Indian village of Nadgaon of Jalgaon of Maharashtra, India.

 

15. Nur Jahan (HPI : 62.04)

With an HPI of 62.04, the Mughal empress Nur Jahan is ranked 15th among the most Famous Indian women of all time. Her biography has been translated into 36 different languages of Wikipedia. She is the 3rd most popular Indian female ruler of all time.

Nur Jahan is one of the Most Famous Indian rulers
Nur Jahan was the most powerful empress in the Mughal Empire

Nur Jahan (c. 1577 – 18 December 1645) was the wife and chief consort of the Mughal emperor Jahangir from 1620 until his death in 1627. She was the most powerful empress in the Mughal Empire. More decisive and proactive than her husband, she is considered by historians to have been the real power behind the throne for more than a decade. Nur Jahan was granted certain honours and privileges which were never enjoyed by any Mughal empress before or after like having coinage struck in her name. Jahangir’s addiction to alcohol and opium made it easier for Nur Jahan to exert her influence over him and exercise power. She was granted the privilege to issue farmāns (sovereign mandates).

 

14. Razia Sultana (HPI : 63.03)

With an HPI of 63.03, Razia Sultan is ranked 14th among the most Famous Indian Women of all time. Her biography has been translated into 50 different languages of Wikipedia. Razia Sultan is ranked 2nd among the most Famous Indian Queens of all time.

Famous Indian Kings
Razia Sultan is one of the Famous Indian rulers (google image)

Razia Sultana (died 15 October 1240, r. 1236–1240) was a ruler of the Delhi Sultanate in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent. She was the first female Muslim ruler of the subcontinent, and the only female Muslim ruler of Delhi. A daughter of Mamluk Sultan Shamsuddin Iltutmish, Razia administered Delhi during 1231–1232 when her father was busy in the Gwalior campaign. According to a possibly apocryphal legend, impressed by her performance during this period, Iltutmish nominated Razia as his heir apparent after returning to Delhi. Iltutmish was succeeded by Razia’s half-brother Ruknuddin Firuz, whose mother Shah Turkan planned to execute her. During a rebellion against Ruknuddin, Razia instigated the general public against Shah Turkan, and ascended the throne after Ruknuddin was deposed in 1236.

 

13. Mahaprajapati Gautami (HPI – 63.46

According to the Historical Popularity Index (HPI), Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī is ranked 13th among the most famous women of India of all time. Her Historical Popularity Index (HPI) is 63.46. Her biography is available in 28 different languages on Wikipedia. She is ranked 20th among the most famous Buddhists from India.

Prince Siddhartha (Buddha) with Mahaprajapati Gautami
Mahaprajapati Gautami with Prince Siddhartha (Buddha)

Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī was the foster-mother, step-mother and maternal aunt (mother’s sister) of the Buddha. She was sister of Maya, the birth mother of the Buddha.

In Buddhist tradition, she was the first woman to seek ordination for women, which she did from Gautama Buddha directly, and she became the first bhikkhuni (Buddhist nun).

 

12. Sarojini Naidu (HPI – 63.51

According to the Historical Popularity Index (HPI), Sarojini Naidu is ranked 12th among the most famous Indian women of all time. Her Historical Popularity Index (HPI) is 63.51. Her biography is available in 53 different languages on Wikipedia. She is ranked 2nd among the most famous women from Bengal.

Sarojini Naidu
Sarojini Naidu

Sarojini Naidu (13 February 1879 – 2 March 1949) was an Indian political activist, feminist and poet. A proponent of civil rights, women’s emancipation, and anti-imperialistic ideas, she was an important person in India’s struggle for independence from colonial rule.

She was also the first Indian woman to be the president of the Indian National Congress and to be appointed as governor of an Indian state (United Provinces). Naidu’s literary work as a poet earned her the nickname the “Nightingale of India”, or “Bharat Kokila” by Mahatma Gandhi because of the colour, imagery and lyrical quality of her poetry.

 

# Annie Besant (HPI – 64.38

According to the Historical Popularity Index (HPI), Annie Besant is ranked 12th among the most famous women in India. Her Historical Popularity Index (HPI) is 64.38. Her biography is available in 50 different languages on Wikipedia.

Annie Besant
Annie Besant

Annie Besant (1 October 1847 – 20 September 1933) was a British socialist, theosophist, freemason, women’s rights and Home Rule activist, educationist, and campaigner for Indian nationalism. Regarded as a champion of human freedom, she was an ardent supporter of both Irish and Indian self-rule. She was also a prolific author with over three hundred books and pamphlets to her credit.

As an educationist, her contributions included being one of the founders of the Banaras Hindu University. For fifteen years, Besant was a public proponent in England of atheism and scientific materialism. Besant’s goal was to provide employment, better living conditions, and proper education for the poor. Jiddu Krishnamurthy, Annie Besant’s adopted son, is ranked 29th among India’s most famous personalities of all time.

 

11. Lata Mangeshkar (HPI – 64.47)

According to the Historical Popularity Index (HPI), Lata Mangeshkar is ranked 11th among the most famous Indian women of all time. Her Historical Popularity Index (HPI) is 64.47. Her biography is available in 73 different languages on Wikipedia. She is ranked 2nd among the most famous singers of India. Lata Mangeshkar is ranked 7th among the most famous people from Maharashtra.

lata mangeshaka is the most famous singer in india
One of the Most Famous Personalities of Maharashtra

Lata Mangeshkar (28 September 1929 – 6 February 2022) was an Indian playback singer and occasional music composer. She is widely considered to have been the greatest and most influential singers in India. Her contribution to the Indian music industry in a career spanning eight decades gained her honorific titles such as the “Queen of Melody”, “Nightingale of India”, and “Voice of the Millennium”.

Lata recorded songs in over thirty-six Indian languages and a few foreign languages. She received several accolades and honors throughout her career. In 1989, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award was bestowed on her by the Government of India. In 2001, in recognition of her contributions to the nation, she was awarded the Bharat Ratna; she is only the second female singer, after M. S. Subbulakshmi, to receive this honour. France conferred on her its highest civilian award, Officer of the National Order of the Legion of Honour, in 2007.

 

Top 10 Famous Female Personalities of India

10. Mumtaz Mahal (HPI – 64.52

According to the Historical Popularity Index (HPI), Mumtaz Mahal is ranked 10th among the most famous Indian women of all time. Her Historical Popularity Index (HPI) is 64.52. Her biography is available in 61 different languages on Wikipedia. Mumtaz Mahal is the most famous Muslim woman of India.

Mumtaz Mahal
Mumtaz Mahal

Mumtaz Mahal (29 October 1593 – 17 June 1631) was the empress consort of Mughal Empire from 19 January 1628 to 17 June 1631 as the chief consort of the fifth Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan. The Taj Mahal in Agra, often cited as one of the Wonders of the World, was commissioned by her husband to act as her tomb.

 

9. Kasturba Gandhi (HPI – 65.21

According to the Historical Popularity Index (HPI), Kasturbai Gandhi is ranked 9th among the most famous Indian women of all time. Her Historical Popularity Index (HPI) is 65.21. Her biography is available in 37 different languages on Wikipedia. She is the most famous Gujarati woman.

Kasturbai Gandhi is ranked 9th among the most famous Indian women of all time
Kasturbai Gandhi is ranked 9th among the most famous Indian women of all time

Kasturbai Mohandas Gandhi (11 April 1869 – 22 February 1944) was an Indian political activist. She was married to Mohandas Gandhi, more commonly known as Mahatma Gandhi, in 1883. With her husband and her eldest son, Harilal, she was involved in the Indian independence movement in British India. National Safe Motherhood Day is observed on April 11 every year in India, coinciding with Kasturbai Gandhi’s birthday. Mohandas affectionately called her Baa and in letters referred to her as Mrs. Gandhi.

 

8. Savitribai Phule (HPI – 66.77

According to the Historical Popularity Index (HPI), Savitribai Phule is ranked 8th among the most famous Indian women of all time. Her Historical Popularity Index (HPI) is 66.77. Her biography is available in 28 different languages on Wikipedia. Savitribai Phule is ranked 6th among the most famous people from Maharashtra.

famous people in marathi wiki
Famous Personalities of Maharashtra

Savitribai Phule (3 January 1831 – 10 March 1897) was an Indian social reformer, educationalist and poet from Maharashtra. Along with her husband Jotirao Phule, in Maharashtra, she played an important and vital role in improving women’s rights in India. She is considered to be the pioneer of India’s feminist movement. Savitribai and her husband founded one of the first modern Indian girls’ school in Pune, at Bhide wada in 1848. She worked to abolish the discrimination and unfair treatment of people based on caste and gender.

On 3 January 2017, the search engine Google marked the 186th anniversary of the birth of Savitribai Phule with a Google doodle. According to the Historical Popularity Index 2022, Savitribai Phule is the most famous female Maharashtrian Personality.

 

7. Meera (HPI – 67.64)

According to the Historical Popularity Index (HPI), Meera is ranked 7th among the most famous Indian women of all time. Her Historical Popularity Index (HPI) is 64.64. Her biography is available in 49 different languages on Wikipedia. She is the most famous female sant of India.

Sant Meera Bai
Sant Meera Bai (God HD Wallpapers)

Meera, better known as Mirabai and venerated as Sant Meerabai, was a 16th-century Hindu mystic poet and devotee of Krishna. She is a celebrated Bhakti saint, particularly in the North Indian Hindu tradition. Mirabai was born into a Rathore Rajput royal family in Kudki (modern-day Pali district of Rajasthan) and spent her childhood in Merta. She is mentioned in Bhaktamal, confirming that she was widely known and a cherished figure in the Bhakti movement culture by about 1600 CE.

 

6. Aishwarya Rai (HPI – 68.07)

According to the Historical Popularity Index (HPI), Aishwarya Rai is ranked 6th among the most popular Indian women of all time. Her Historical Popularity Index (HPI) is 68.07 out of 100. She is the most famous female actor in India of all time. Her biography is available in 106 different languages on Wikipedia. Aishwarya Rai is the 3rd most popular Indian actor (male or female) of all time.

25 Most famous Indian actors of all time
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan (Getty Images)

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan (born 1 November 1973) is an Indian actress and the winner of the Miss World 1994 pageant. Primarily known for her work in Hindi and Tamil films, she has established herself as one of the most popular and influential celebrities in India. Rai has received numerous accolades, including two Filmfare Awards, and was honoured with the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 2009 and the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the Government of France in 2012. She has often been cited in the media as “the most beautiful woman in the world”. According to the Historical Popularity Index, Ashwariya Rai Bachchan is the most famous Indian actress of all time.

5 Famous Female Personalities of India

5. Yashodhara (HPI – 68.11)

According to the Historical Popularity Index (HPI), Yasodharā is ranked 6th among the most famous Indian women of all time. Her Historical Popularity Index (HPI) is 68.11. Her biography is available in 34 different languages on Wikipedia. She is the 11th most famous Buddhist personalitiy of India.

wife Yashodhara and son Rahula watching the Buddha
Wife Yashodhara and son Rahula watching the Buddha

Yaśodharā was the wife of Prince Siddhartha — until he left his home to become a śramaṇa— the mother of Rāhula, and the sister of Devadatta. She later became a Buddhist Nun and is considered an arahatā.

Yaśodharā was the daughter of King Suppabuddha, and Amita. She was born on same day in the month of Vaishaka as prince Siddhartha. Her grandfather was Añjana a Koliya chief, her father was Suppabuddha and her mother, Amitā, came from a Shakya family. The Shakya and the Koliya were branches of the Ādicca (Sanskrit: Aditya) or Ikshvaku dynasty. There were no other families considered equal to them in the region and therefore members of these two royal families married only among themselves.

She was wedded to the Shakya prince Siddhartha, when they were both 16. At the age of 29, she gave birth to their only child, a boy named Rāhula. On the night of his birth, the prince left the palace. Yaśodharā was devastated and overcome with grief. Once prince Siddhartha left his home at night for enlightenment, the next day, everyone was surprised by the absence of the prince.

 

4. Lakshmibai (HPI – 68.91)

According to the Historical Popularity Index (HPI), Lakshmibai is ranked 4th among the most famous Indian women of all time. Her Historical Popularity Index (HPI) is 68.91. Her biography is available in 62 different languages on Wikipedia. She is the most famous female personality of Maharashtra, and is the most famous Indian Queen of all time.

Rani Lakshmibai (google image)

Lakshmibai, the Rani of Jhansi (19 November 1828 — 18 June 1858), was an Indian queen, the Maharani consort of the Maratha princely state of Jhansi from 1843 to 1853 as the wife of Maharaja Gangadhar Rao. She was one of the leading figures of the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and became a symbol of resistance to the British Rule In India for Indian nationalists. Rani Lakshmibai was born in the town of Varanasi into a Marathi Karhade Brahmin family.

 

3. Maya (HPI – 69.19)

According to the Historical Popularity Index (HPI), the Queen Maya is ranked 3rd among the most famous Indian women of all time. Her Historical Popularity Index (HPI) is 69.19. Her biography is available in 40 different languages on Wikipedia.

Mother Mahamaya giving birth to Buddha
Mother Mahamaya giving birth to the Buddha

Queen Māyā of Shakya (also known as Mahamaya and Māyādevī) was the birth mother of Gautama Buddha, the sage on whose teachings Buddhism was founded. She was the wife of King Shuddhodana and the sister of Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī, the first Buddhist nun ordained by the Buddha.

Maya died soon after the birth of Buddha, generally said to be seven days afterwards. Thus Maya did not raise her son who was instead raised by his maternal aunt Mahapajapati Gotami. The Buddha, the son of Maya, ranks first among the most famous personalities of India ever.

 

2. Indira Gandhi (HPI – 74.61

According to the Historical Popularity Index (HPI), Indira Gandhi is ranked 2nd among the most famous Indian women of all time. Her Historical Popularity Index (HPI) is 74.61. Her biography is available in 125 different languages on Wikipedia. Indira Gandhi is ranked 17th among the most famous personalities of India of all time.

Indira Gandhi is a famous people of India
Indira Gandhi (Photo by Nora Schuster/ Imagno/ Getty Images)

Indira Gandhi (19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and a central figure of the Indian National Congress. She was elected as third prime minister of India in 1966 and was also the first and, to date, only female prime minister of India. Gandhi was the daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of India.

She served as prime minister from January 1966 to March 1977 and again from January 1980 until her assassination in October 1984, making her the second longest-serving Indian prime minister after her father.

In 1999, Indira Gandhi was named “Woman of the Millennium” in an online poll organised by the BBC. In 2020, Gandhi was named by Time magazine among the world’s 100 powerful women who defined the last century. She is the first among the most famous female leaders in Indian history. In 2012, Gandhi was ranked number 7 in Outlook India’s poll of the Greatest Indian. According to the Historical Popularity Index, Indira Gandhi is the 2nd most famous “female” Indian of all time.

 

1. Mother Teresa (HPI – 80.90)

According to the Historical Popularity Index (HPI), Mother Teresa is ranked 1st among the most famous Indian women of all time. Her Historical Popularity Index (HPI) is 80.90. Her biography is available in 136 different languages on Wikipedia. Mother Teresa is ranked 5th among the most famous personalities of India of all time.

mother Teresa is one of the most famous Indian people
Mother Teresa is the most famous Christian in India (Photo by Tim Graham/Getty Images)

Mother Teresa (26 August 1910 – 5 September 1997) was an Albanian born Indian Catholic nun who, in 1950, founded the Missionaries of Charity. Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu was born in Skopje—at the time, part of the Ottoman Empire. After eighteen years, she moved to Ireland and then to India, where she lived most of her life. Saint Teresa of Calcutta was canonised on 4 September 2016. The anniversary of her death is her feast day. After Mother Teresa founded her religious congregation, it grew to have over 4,500 nuns and was active in 133 countries as of 2012. In 2012, Mother Teresa was ranked number 5 in Outlook India’s poll of the Greatest Indian.


About the Historical Popularity Index 2022

Pantheon aggregates information about individuals’ online popularity. HPI (Historical Popularity Index) is currently made of five components: the “age” of a biography’s character (e.g. the Queen Maya is more than 2,600 years old), number of Wikipedia language editions in which the biography has a presence (L), the concentration of the pageviews received by a biography across languages (L*), the stability of pageviews over time (CV), and the number of non-English pageviews received by that biography.


Note : The Modern women who are not “Indian citizens” are not included in this list. Annie Besant and Katrina Kaif both have “British” nationality. So Besant and Katrina were not included in the list.

Mother Teresa had accepted Indian citizenship. Although Kalpana Chawla had taken US citizenship, she spent much of her life as an “Indian”. Hence, Mother Teresa and Kalpana Chawla are listed as “Indians” in the list.


Summary

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