Tallest Female In South Asia And India Siddiqa Parvin Or Urmila Kumari Chaudhari, 8 Feet Tall Or 7 Feet Tall?

Me: This is the fourth in a series I will do on India. This one is a little harder to validate because the person being profiled has a height that is very hard to verify.

On the one hand the article below says that she is claimed to be 8 feet tall. Her mother states in the article that Siddiqa was 7′ 6″ four months ago and that she has since grown more height since then.

From the Tallest Man website, Siddiqa is listed at just 7′ 0″ which seems more reasonable. The Guinness World Records have been contacted to verify Siddiqa’s height to gain her popularity so she can help her family financially. 

What I would note that the girl is Bengali, which is technically in  South Asia but not a part of India. The article says that she is from the South Dinajpur District. 

It is worth noting that althought Svetlana Singh has claimed to be 7′ 2″ she was measured at some point to be only 6′ 8″ which would make her one of the tallest but not the tallest female in India. 

Also if we decide to include the country of Nepal as a part of South Asia then the title of tallest female would actually go to Urmila Kumari Chaudhari who is from Nepal standing at either 7′ 1″ or 7′ 3″. Her profile at the Tallest Man website can be found HERE.

From The Tallest Man

Siddiqa Parvin – over 7 feet 0 inches. (over 213.4 cm)

Siddiqa Parvin (also known as Siddika Parvin) first came into the news when she was hospitalized following a respiratory disorder in July 2012. She stood over 7 feet tall and weighed nearly 120 kg. She was born in 1987.

Siddiqa started growing abnormally at the age of 10. The doctor treating Siddika said a tumour in her pituitary gland has caused higher secretion of hormones resulting in her abnormal growth in height and weight.

From NDTV

Seven-foot tall woman draws crowds in Bengal

Indo-Asian News Service | Updated: July 03, 2012 20:23 IST

Kolkata: Standing at over seven feet and weighing nearly 120 kg, 25-year-old Siddika Parvin from West Bengal’s South Dinajpur district is hogging the limelight, specially after being hospitalised following a respiratory disorder.

After she was admitted to the Balurghat district hospital late on Monday night, people have been thronging the hospital to see the “giant”.

Unable to control the crowds, hospital authorities had to call police to disperse them.

Resident of Srirampur village under Banshihari block in the district which is some 462 km from Kolkata, Siddika’s daily intake of food consists of nearly six kgs of rice, besides a big basket of puffed rice.

At the hospital, Siddika is being served with six bananas, four pounds of bread and two litres of milk as breakfast, two kg of boiled rice along with vegetables and fish for lunch and dinner.

The eldest of three daughters of daily wagers Afasuddin Mandal and Mansura Bibi, Siddika started growing abnormally since the age of 10, before which she was like any other girl going to school and doing regular chores.

Ever since her abnormal growth, she had to skip school as people started making fun of her, making it difficult to continue her studies, says her mother.

Sarthak Sensharma, the doctor treating Siddika, said a tumour in her pituitary gland has caused higher secretion of hormones resulting in her abnormal growth in height and weight which in medical parlance is called “gigantism”.

“Gigantism refers to abnormally high linear growth due to excessive action of insulin-like growth factor while the epiphyseal growth plates are open during childhood,” said Sensharma adding that she needs to go for an immediate surgery as her obesity was leading to other health problems including a respiratory disorder.

Contrary to reports that her daily wager parents were unable to feed her resulting to her hospitalisation, district magistrate Durga Das Goswami as well as Sensharma claimed Siddika was admitted due to health problems caused by her obesity.

“Though she has not been admitted due to starvation or lack of food, but if the administration is approached seeking help for her, we may provide it under any of the food schemes,” Goswami said.

The most remarkable example of a person with gigantism was Robert Wadlow from the USA called the “Alton Giant” who stood 8 feet 11 inches tall and weighed almost 200 kg at the time of his death in 1940.

In India, Sharad Kulkarni stands at over 7 feet 1.5 inches and his wife Sanjot is 6 feet 2.6 inches tall. Their daughters Mruga and Sanya are 6 feet 1 inch and 6 feet 4 inches respectively.

The family’s combined height is a staggering 26 feet. The couple was crowned India’s tallest couple by Limca Book of Records after they married in 1989.

From the website for the Online newspaper The Sunday Indian located HERE

Is Siddiqa the tallest woman in the world?


CS BHATTACHARJEE | Kolkata, July 4, 2012 16:53

Is Siddiqa the tallest woman in the world?Siddiqa Parvin, the 8ft Bengali girl from South Dinajpur district, is the ‘Tallest Indian Women’, available reports suggest so. Records available with Guinness Book of World Records indicate that 25-year-old Siddiqa should be declared as the ‘Living Tallest Woman of the World’. In January 2010, Yao Defen of China recorded an average height of 233.3 cm (7 ft 7 in). Earlier to this, another Chinese woman Zeng Jinlian was declared as the all time ‘Tallest Woman of The World’ with 8ft 1 ¾ inch height. She passed away in 1982.

Siddiqa is currently admitted in Balurghat Hospital for hormone treatment as she is suffering from irregular secretion of the somatotropic hormone from the pituitary gland. The 8 feet tall lady weighs 160 kgs at present. “Siddiqa is still growing,” said her mother Monsura Bibi and adding, “She was 7.6 feet four months ago when her weight was 140 kg. She has gained another 20 kg and grown four inches more.”

Daughter of a daily wage labourer, Siddiqa takes six kg of rice which is really tough for the family, her helpless mother admits. But, her recognition may keep her agony and troubles away, provided they can approach the Guinness Book of World Records authorities. Siddiqa’s continuing growth seems not to be abnormal as the Guinness Book notes about Defen, “There is evidence that suggests Defen may still be growing, as a portion of tumour remains on her pituitary gland, the organ that regulates the production of growth hormone. She is currently too ill to be re-measured.”

While Jinlian was considered as the tallest, Jane Bunford (26 July 1895 – 1 April 1922) was considered as the second tallest woman with 7 feet 11 inch height at the time of her death. According to Guinness Book, Sandy Allen of Indiana State of the United States appeared in the Guinness Book of World Records since 1976 to 2008 when she died, as the tallest woman in the world. She was 7′ 7¼ ” (232 cm).

According to available information about tall Indian women, one Babita is the ‘Tallest’ with her 7 feet height. Earlier to her, Tiliya, an Indian eunuchcoidal giantess of 7 feet 5 inch height was considered as the tallest Indian woman. There is an unconfirmed claim that Tiliya was the tallest woman of the world at her time. But, Tiliya as well as Babita remained enigmas. Though Babita’s photo is available on web, but there is no definite information about her.

Information is also available about one Indian woman, Svetlana Singh with 7 feet 2 inches height. Apart from Svetlana Singh, former basketball player of India Gitika Srivastava, with her 6′ 11″ (211 cm) height was once considered as the tallest. But, Siddiqa surpassed all and is a serious contender for the title of the ‘Guinness Book of World Records’.

2 thoughts on “Tallest Female In South Asia And India Siddiqa Parvin Or Urmila Kumari Chaudhari, 8 Feet Tall Or 7 Feet Tall?

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  2. Brahma

    I WANT TO GET MARRIED TO AN INDIAN WOMAN AT LEAST 5 FEET 11 INCHES OR TALLER, IRRESPECTIVE OF AGE, RELIGION,CASTE OR WHATEVER. THE TALLER THE BETTER AND THE SOONER SHE CONTACT ME THE BEST.

    I LIVE IN THE UK.

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