In 1978, a 20-year-old Friederike Irina Bruning arrived in India from Berlin as a tourist. She had finished her education in Germany and was travelling, but India was not simply another stop on her journey. She was looking for something she could not quite define at the time. Her search eventually took her to Radha Kund in Mathura, where she was looking for a guru. More than four decades later, the German woman would be known as ‘Sudevi Mataji’ and would receive the Padma Shri for social work after spending years caring for sick, injured and abandoned cows.But the story did not begin with a gaushala. It began with a young traveller, a spiritual search and a decision to stay.
From Berlin to India at 20
Early days of Bruning in her gaushala. (Photo credit: Radha Surabhi Gaushala)
According to the official website of Radha Surabhi Gaushala’s (Bruning’s gaushala), she was born in Berlin in 1958 and grew up in a Christian family. After finishing school, she began travelling to explore the world. The gaushala says she travelled overland from Germany through Turkey, Iran and Afghanistan before reaching India.Her travels did not end with India. She later travelled through Sri Lanka, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, and returned to India via Nepal. During these travels, she became increasingly interested in yoga, spiritual traditions and religious texts. It was during this period that she came across the Bhagavad Gita. Reading the Gita had a profound effect on her and led her to believe that she needed a guru to pursue a spiritual life.That search brought her to Radha Kund, near Govardhan in Mathura, where she eventually found her guru. Bruning has told in many interviews that she had come to India as a tourist but realised that, in her view, she needed a guru to progress in life. She therefore went to Radha Kund in search of one. She did not arrive in Mathura planning to run a cow shelter This is an important part of Bruning’s story because her work with cows came much later.She took diksha from Shri Shri 108 Shri Kishorikishoranand Goswami Babaji Maharaj, also known as Shri Tinkodi Baba Ji Maharaj. It says she then spent about 20 years doing bhajan according to her guru’s instructions. In other words, the young German who came to India in 1978 did not immediately become known for animal welfare. For years, her life was primarily connected with her spiritual practice in Radha Kund.
An advice by a neighbour was a turning point in her life
Then came a much simpler turning point. A neighbour suggested that she buy a cow. Bruning followed the suggestion. She bought a cow, began reading books about cows and taught herself Hindi. The decision gradually changed the direction of her life. She began noticing something that was difficult for her to ignore. It was that the cows who had become old and stopped producing milk were sometimes abandoned.“I saw that people of late abandon their cows when they grow old and stop giving milk,” she told PTI in an old interview. At one point, she came across a sick or injured calf and brought it home. The calf had an injured leg and was infested with maggots. That experience changed the direction of her life.
From one cow to a shelter in Radha Kund
She said she used money from her parents to establish the shelter.
Bruning eventually established a cowshed in Radha Kund called Surbahi, or Surabhi, Gauseva Niketan. Over the years, the small effort grew into a large shelter for cows in distress. In a 2019 interview with TOI, she recalled that she had started the work in a small courtyard before building the gaushala. She said she used money from her parents to establish the shelter. The shelter gradually became a place for cows that had been abandoned, injured, starved or were otherwise in need of care.
In 2017, she was already caring for 1,200 cows
When Bruning’s story was widely reported in 2017, the scale of the shelter was already remarkable. She was caring for around 1,200 cows and calves, most of them abandoned, sick or injured, according to PTI. She had about 60 workers at the time, while the monthly expenditure on workers, food grains and medicines was reported at around Rs 22 lakh.Bruning said she could not always turn an animal away even when the shelter was full. “If somebody leaves a sick or injured cow outside my ashram,” she told PTI. She described the cows and calves as being like her children.
The number crossed 1,800 and later reports put it above 2,500
By January 2019, Bruning was caring for more than 1,800 cows and calves. More recent coverage continues to put the figure at more than 2,500 sick, injured and abandoned cows. The Better India reported in September 2026 that Bruning, now known as Sudevi Dasi or Sudevi Mataji, cares for more than 2,500 cows at Radha Kund.
She used income from her German property to keep the shelter running
She said her father had initially helped financially but was later too old to continue doing so.
Bruning’s German background also remained connected to the practical challenge of financing the gaushala. In 2017, she told PTI that she received rental income from property in Berlin and used it to support the shelter. She said her father had initially helped financially but was later too old to continue doing so. Bruning received around Rs 6-7 lakh each month from inherited property, while the gaushala’s monthly expenditure was around Rs 35 lakh. Her parents’ money had also been used to establish the gaushala.
Her German citizenship became a problem
Even after spending decades in India, Bruning remained a German citizen and had to deal with visa issues. In 2019, shortly after receiving the Padma Shri, her visa extension application was rejected. She publicly expressed concern about what would happen to the cows if she had to leave India. She wanted a long-term visa or Indian citizenship so that she would not have to renew her visa every year.The visa episode brought national attention to the problem. The woman looking after thousands of animals was herself struggling to secure permission to remain in the country.
Padma Shri came 41 years after she first arrived
Then-President of India Ramnath Kovind presenting Padma Shri to Friederike Irina Bruning for Social Work.
In January 2019, the Government of India announced Bruning as a Padma Shri awardee for social work. The award came 41 years after she had first arrived in India as a tourist. By then, the young German traveller who had come to Radha Kund looking for a guru had spent decades building a life around animal care.