Meet Padma Shri Awardee Mangala Kapoor: She Was Just 12 When An Acid Attack Shattered Her World—After 37 Surgeries, How She Became ‘Kashi Ki Lata’

In the narrow lanes of Varanasi, where temple bells punctuate the day and music flows as naturally as the Ganga, there are stories that refuse to be forgotten. Some are whispered, some sung. And then there are those

that sit quietly for decades before the world finally pauses to listen. The life of Mangala Kapoor, fondly known as Kashi ki Lata, belongs to the last kind. It is a story that begins with unthinkable violence, moves through years of pain and public scrutiny, and ends—if such a life can ever truly “end”—with music, dignity and a Padma Shri that feels less like an award and more like a reckoning. At 11, Kapoor was a child with no inkling that her face, her confidence and her childhood were about to be taken from her. In 1965, she became the unintended target of an acid attack rooted in a business feud. The assault happened at night. By morning, her world had changed beyond recognition. What followed were not just scars on skin but fractures in every idea of normalcy she had known. For years, hospitals became more familiar than playgrounds. Classrooms turned hostile. Mirrors, unbearable. Yet, in a city that reveres sound almost as much as sight, Mangala Kapoor would eventually find her salvation in the one place no acid could reach—her voice.

Mangala Kapoor: A Childhood Interrupted, A Life Rewritten

Kapoor was the only daughter in a family with three children, born into a business household where education and discipline were deeply valued. After the attack, her injuries were so severe that doctors across cities attempted reconstruction after reconstruction. By the time she reached adulthood, she had undergone 37 surgeries, an almost unfathomable number that hints at the physical endurance demanded of her. School was no refuge. Children were frightened of her appearance; some mocked her openly. Loneliness became routine. There were moments when despair felt heavier than recovery, when thoughts of ending her life crept in uninvited. What stopped her, time and again, was her father. His unwavering belief that his daughter’s life still held purpose became the emotional scaffolding on which she rebuilt herself.

Mangala Kapoor: When Music Became a Lifeline

If pain shaped her early years, music reshaped everything that followed. Kapoor trained in the Gwalior gharana, the oldest and one of the most rigorous traditions in Hindustani classical music. Known for its emphasis on clarity, discipline and emotional restraint, the gharana demands total surrender—perhaps why it suited her so perfectly. As her body healed slowly and imperfectly, her voice grew surer. Music was not just expression; it was survival. She pursued her studies relentlessly, earning her graduation, post-graduation and eventually a PhD in music from Banaras Hindu University. Academic excellence followed artistic mastery: she secured gold medals in both B.Mus and M.Mus, achievements that silenced many who had once doubted her place in public life.

Mangala Kapoor: From Performer to Professor

In 1989, Kapoor joined BHU’s Mahila Mahavidyalaya as a lecturer in vocal music, later becoming an associate professor. She would go on to teach there for nearly three decades, retiring in 2019. Her classroom was known not just for raga and taal, but for quiet lessons in resilience. Students remember a teacher who never romanticised suffering, yet never allowed it to define limits. Parallel to teaching, her public performances began drawing attention. Audiences came in large numbers, initially out of curiosity, but stayed for the sheer strength and purity of her voice. Over time, the gaze shifted—from her scars to her sur, from her face to her music.

Mangala Kapoor: The Birth of ‘Kashi ki Lata’

In 1982, the cultural organisation Tarang honoured her with the title Kashi ki Lata, a nod to both her vocal prowess and her deep association with the musical soul of Varanasi. The name stayed. So did the respect. Over the years, Kapoor received several honours, including a “Role Model” award from the Rajya Sabha, celebrating not just her art but her life. Trivia worth noting: in a city that has produced countless classical musicians, very few women have earned an honorific so closely tied to its cultural identity. Kapoor is one of them.

Mangala Kapoor: Another Fall, Another Rise

Just when life seemed to have settled into a hard-earned rhythm, fate intervened again. In 2007, an accident fractured both her thigh bones, leaving her immobile and forcing yet another long recovery. For many, it would have been the final curtain. For Mangala Kapoor, it was another intermission. “The world still hasn’t seen Dr Mangala Kapoor fully,” she reportedly told those around her at the time—a line that, in retrospect, reads less like bravado and more like prophecy.

Mangala Kapoor: Telling Her Own Story

In 2021, Kapoor published her autobiography Seerat, released in Hindi by Bodhi Prakashan. The book is unflinching. It documents the brutality of the attack, the long medical journey, the emotional toll of isolation, and the quiet courage required to keep living. She describes herself as a phoenix, rising daily from her own ashes—not once, but repeatedly.

Mangala Kapoor: The Padma Shri and a Quiet Full Circle

When the Government of India announced the Padma Shri for Mangala Kapoor in Literature and Education, the recognition felt overdue. Speaking to PTI, she admitted she initially struggled to believe the news. “I was very happy. It cannot be expressed in words. At first, I didn’t believe it. Then calls kept coming, and I realised it was true. I struggled a lot, but seeing the result today, I feel very happy,” she said. Today, Kapoor teaches music free of cost to students at her home, determined that talent should never be throttled by money. In doing so, she has come full circle—from a child whose future was almost stolen, to a teacher ensuring others are never denied theirs. In a country where survival itself is often mistaken for success, Mangala Kapoor’s life reminds us that true triumph lies elsewhere—in reclaiming joy, in insisting on dignity, and in letting one’s voice be heard, no matter how hard the world once tried to silence it.