Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi was born on the day of the Spring equinox, 21 March 1923, at noon in Chindwara, a small town in the geographical centre of India, into a Christian family. Her father, Prasad Rao Salve, was a direct descendant of the Indian royal dynasty of the Shalivahanas who ruled from 230 B.C. to 230 A.D. in the province of Maharashtra in western India. He was a brilliant lawyer and had mastered fourteen languages. Well-versed in the arts, literature and the sciences, this great erudite man translated the Koran into Hindi and knew the Bhagavad Gîta by heart. Even today, many people still recall this exceptional defender of liberty, the only Christian member of the first legislative assembly of India.

In 1920, Prasad Rao Salve married Lady Cornelia, who had received an excellent education and had a profound knowledge of Sanskrit, Urdu and Hindi. Lady Cornelia was the first woman graduate in mathematics at the University of Ferguson; she discovered new methods of scaling down algebraic equations, which became recognised. She studied law. In spite of her academic success, Shri Mataji's mother gave priority to her home. She gave her eleven children a strict but loving education.