The Shanti Devi Reincarnation Case

Record summary

Shanti Devi, a child in Delhi, reportedly described a previous life as Lugdi Devi of Mathura, including family details and circumstances of death. A committee associated with Mahatma Gandhi examined the case in 1935, and later investigators, including reincarnation researchers, revisited the testimony. It remains a prominent South Asian case for comparing childhood memory, witness testimony and culturally shaped reincarnation narratives. The evidential record is retrospective, translations and interviews differ, and critics have raised information-leakage, reconstruction and selection concerns.