Biography

Manabi Bandyopadhyay is the professor and first transgender person in India who has completed Doctor of Philosophy (PhD). Bandyopadhyay was associate professor in Bengali at Vivekananda Satobarshiki Mahavidyalaya and took charge as principal of Krishnagar Women's College on 7 June 2015. She is India's first openly transgender college principal, and began work as such in 2015 at the Krishnagar Women's College in Nadia district. Before being Manabi her name was Somnath Bandapadhya. Manabi is a devotee of Sarada Devi and she was initiated in spiritual life by Swami Atmasthananda.