Eugenie V. Peterson, widely known as Indra Devi, was an early disciple of Sri Tirumalai Krishnamacharya, and became a renowned yoga teacher.
Background
Born in Riga, Russian Empire, to Vasili Peterson, a Swedish bank director and Alejandra Labunskaia, a Russian noblewoman, Eugenie attended drama school in Moscow as a girl and escaped to Berlin with her mother as Bolsheviks came to power in 1917.
Career
Born in Riga, she also acted in some Hindi films. In Berlin, she became an actress and dancer. There were many Americans and Russians among her pupils.
More and more people began to call her Mataji, which means mother.
She taught Greta Garbo, Eva Gabor, and Gloria Swanson. Contrary to popular belief, there is no record of her ever teaching Marilyn Monroe.
While Monroe did own her book "Forever Young, Forever Happy", there is no proof that the two women met in person. A popular photo that shows Eva Gabor training with Devi in 1960 is commonly mistaken for Monroe.
In 1953 Indra married the well-known German physician Doctor Sigfrid Knauer.
In the mid-1950s she was granted American citizenship and put her Indra Devi pseudonym in her new passport. In 1961 Indra Devi opened the Indra Devi Fundation in Tecate, in Rancho Cuchumá. In 1982 she moved to Argentina.
She died in Buenos Aires.