Shanti Devi: The Girl Who Remembered Her Past Life

A story that challenged the world’s understanding of memory, soul, and identity

A Child with Memories Beyond This Life

In 1930s India, a young girl named Shanti Devi from Delhi began describing vivid memories of another life. At just four years old, she spoke of a home in Mathura, a husband named Kedar Nath Chaubey, and a son she had lost during childbirth. She insisted her real name was Lugdi Devi.

Her family was astonished — but when investigators checked the details, they found that a woman named Lugdi Devi had indeed lived in Mathura, married to a man by that name, and had died shortly after giving birth.

The Investigation that Caught Gandhi’s Attention

Word spread across India. The claims were so precise that Mahatma Gandhi appointed a commission in 1935 to investigate. When taken to Mathura, Shanti recognised streets, homes, and relatives she had never seen before. She greeted people by name, knew private details of Lugdi’s marriage, and even pointed out hidden belongings.

The commission’s report concluded that there was “no rational explanation” for her knowledge (Lönnerstrand 1998).

A Case That Redefined Reincarnation Research

Shanti Devi’s story remains one of the best-documented cases of alleged reincarnation. Researchers and scholars — both believers and sceptics — have cited it as a key example of “xenoglossy” (speaking in another dialect) and spontaneous past-life recall.

Parapsychologists such as Ian Stevenson later referenced her case in academic studies exploring the continuity of consciousness beyond death (Rawat & Rivas 2021).

Interpreting Shanti Devi's Past Life Experience Today

For spiritual seekers and intuitives, Shanti’s life offers more than proof or disbelief — it’s a mirror for inquiry.

• Identity and Continuity – What truly defines the “self” across lifetimes?

• Memory and Symbolism – Are such memories literal, or could they represent the psyche’s deeper symbolic patterns?

• Scepticism and Integrity – Her case reminds us to balance open-mindedness with discernment — especially in psychic and mediumship work.

Even without scientific certainty, Shanti’s story continues to inspire thoughtful conversation about what consciousness might really be.

A Reflection

Whether one views her account as evidence of reincarnation or an extraordinary intuitive experience, Shanti Devi invites us to look inward — to question what memory, identity, and spirit truly mean.

Her calm conviction, unwavering since childhood, remains one of the most poignant mysteries in modern spiritual history.

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Bibliography

These titles are available to purchase where possible by clicking the links.

Lönnerstrand, S. I Have Lived Before: The True Story of the Reincarnation of Shanti Devi. White Crow Books, 1998.

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I Have Lived Before: The True Story of the Reincarnation of Shanti Devi | Rahni Intuitive Consulting

Rawat, K. S., and Rivas, T. Reincarnation as a Scientific Concept: Scholarly Evidence for Past Lives. White Crow Books, 2021.

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Reincarnation as a Scientific Concept: Scholarly Evidence for Past Lives | Rahni Intuitive Consulting

Reincarnation as a Scientific Concept focuses on the question of whether reincarnation should be recognized as a serious subject by the contemporary scientific community.After a historical overview of the psychical research into reincarnation memories, the authors present well-documented cases that have been studied by scholars from East and West.The authors place themselves in the tradition of American psychiatrists Ian Stevenson and Jim Tucker and their Indian predecessors, as well as colleagues such as the late Dr. Erlendur Haraldsson, Dr. Satwant Pasricha and anthropologist James Matlock.Dr. Rawat has independently studied many children with memories of a past life in Asia, including classic cases in India such as Shanti Devi, Jagdish Chandra and Swarn Lata Mishra.Rivas has investigated cases in the Netherlands that show the same basic pattern, even though most of them remain unsolved.The authors address alternative psychological and parapsychological hypotheses for the findings in the field and demonstrate why reincarnation of a personal psyche offers the best explanation. Based on this assumption, they look at the possible future of parapsychological reincarnation research.

Stevenson, I. “Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation.” University Press of Virginia, 1974.

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Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation | Rahni Intuitive Consulting

Can anyone speak a language he or she has not learned normally, in childhood or later? Claims to have accomplished this are made from time to time, but only rarely do they receive support when carefully examined. In this volume, Dr. Stevenson presents detailed reports of two cases that seem authentic.Authentic instances of speaking a language that has not been learned normally (responsive xenoglossy) suggest that another personality (perhaps one of a previous life) had learned the langauge. Cases of responsive xenoglossy thus add to the evidence concerning the survival of human personality after death.

PSI Encyclopaedia. “Shanti Devi (Reincarnation Case).” London: Society for Psychical Research, 2020. https://psi-encyclopedia.spr.ac.uk/articles/shanti-devi-reincarnation-case

Wikipedia – Shanti Devi. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanti_Devi