Hindu Guru and Arya Samaj activist
Swami
Shraddhanand
|
---|
|
Born
| (
1856-02-22
)
22 February 1856
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Died
| 23 December 1926
(1926-12-23)
(aged 70)
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Cause of death
| Assassination
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Known for
| Social worker
Freedom Fighter
Independence Activist
Teacher
Religious Leader
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Swami Shraddhanand
(22 February 1856 ? 23 December 1926), also known as
Mahatma Munshi Ram Vij
,
[1]
was an
Arya Samaj
sannyasi
and an Indian Independence activist who propagated the teachings of
Dayananda Saraswati
. This included the establishment of educational institutions, like the
Gurukul Kangri University
, and played a key role on the
Sangathan
(consolidation and organization) and the
Shuddhi
(purification), a
Hindu reform movement
in the 1920s.
Early life and education
[
edit
]
He was born on 22 February 1856 in the village of Talwan in the
Jalandhar District
of the
Punjab
Province of
India
. He was the youngest child in the family of Lala Nanak Chand, who was a
Police Inspector
in the
United Provinces
(now
Uttar Pradesh
), then administered by the
East India Company
. His given name was Brihaspati Vij, but later he was called Munshi Ram Vij by his father, a name that stayed with him till he took
sanyas
in 1917, variously as Lala Munshi Ram Vij and Mahatma Munshi Ram.
He adopted
atheism
after a few incidents, such as when he was prevented from entering the temple while a noble woman was praying. He also was witness to a "compromising" situation involving a church's father with a
nun
,
[2]
the attempted rape of a young
devotee
by
pontiffs
of the
Krishna
cult
, and the suspicious death of a little girl at the home of a
Muslim
lawyer. All of these events cemented his
atheism
. He eventually passed mukhtari exams and began studying law from
Punjab University Law College
to become a lawyer.
[2]
Meeting Dayanand
[
edit
]
He first met
Dayanand Saraswati
when Dayanand visited
Bareilly
to give lectures. His father was handling arrangements and security at the events, due to the attendance of some prominent personalities and British officers. Munshiram attend the lectures at his father's request. He originally went with the intent of spoiling the arrangements, then claimed to be strongly influenced by Dayanand's courage, skill, and strong personality. After completing his studies Munshiram started his practice as
lawyer
.
[2]
[3]
Career
[
edit
]
Schools
[
edit
]
In 1892
Arya Samaj
was split into two factions after a controversy over whether to make
Vedic
education the core curriculum at the
DAV
College Lahore. He left the organization and formed the Punjab
Arya Samaj
. The Arya Samaj was divided between the Gurukul Section and the DAV Section. Shraddhanand headed for Gurukuls. In 1897, when
Pandit Lekh Ram
was assassinated, Shraddhanand succeeded him. He headed the 'Punjab Arya Pratinidhi Sabha', and started its monthly journal,
Arya Musafir.
[4]
In 1902 he established a
Gurukul
in
Kangri, India
near Haridwar. This school is now recognized as
Gurukul Kangri University
.
In 1917, Mahatma Munshi Ram took sanyas as "Swami Shradhanand Saraswati".
Shraddhanand established Gurukul Indraprashtha in
Aravali
near Faridabad, Haryana.
[4]
Activism
[
edit
]
In 1917, Shraddhanand left Gurukul to become an active member of the
Hindu reform movements
and the
Indian Independence movement
.
[3]
He began working with the
Congress
, which he invited to hold its session at Amritsar in 1919. This was because of the Jalianwala massacre, and no one in the Congress Committee disagreed to have a session at Amritsar.
Motilal Nehru
presided over the session.
He also joined the nationwide protest against the
Rowlatt Act
. The same year he protested in front of a posse of Gurkha soldiers at the
Clock Tower
in
Chandni Chowk
, then was allowed to proceed.
[3]
In the early 1920s he emerged as an important force in the Hindu Sangathan (consolidation) movement, which was a by product of the now revitalised
Hindu Mahasabha
.
[5]
Swami Shradhanand was the only
Hindu
Sanyasi
who addressed a huge gathering from the minarets of the main
Jama Masjid
New Delhi, for national solidarity and
Vedic
dharma starting his speech with the recitation of
Vedic
mantras
.
[3]
He wrote on religious issues in both
Hindi
and
Urdu
. He published newspapers in the two languages as well. He promoted Hindi in the
Devanagri
script, helped the poor and promoted the education of women. By 1923, he left the social arena and plunged whole-heartedly into his earlier work of the
shuddhi
movement (re-conversion to
Hinduism
), which he turned into an important force within Hinduism.
[6]
In 1922, Dr. Ambedkar called Shraddhanand “the greatest and most sincere champion of the Untouchables”.
[7]
In late 1923, he became the president of
Bhartiya Hindu Shuddhi Sabha
, created with an aim of reconverting Muslims, specifically 'Malkana Rajputs' in the western
United Province
. This brought him into direct confrontation with Muslim clerics and leaders of the time.
[4]
[8]
1,63,000 Malkana Rajputs were converted back to Hindu fold due to this movement.
[9]
Assassination
[
edit
]
On 23 December 1926, Shraddhanand was assassinated by Abdul Rashid who said he murdered Shraddhanand over his comments on Islamic prophet
Muhammad
. Rashid was hanged to death in 1927.
Gandhi
objected to the hanging of Rashid.
[10]
Today, the 'Swami Shraddhanand Kaksha' at the archeological museum of the
Gurukul Kangri University
in
Haridwar
houses a photographic journey of his life.
[11]
A statue of him was placed in front of
Delhi Town Hall
after
independence
, replacing a statue of
Queen Victoria
.
[12]
This location in
Old Delhi
is termed
ghantaghar
because the old clock tower stood here until the 1950s.
[13]
Personal life
[
edit
]
Shraddhanand and his wife Shiva Devi had two sons and two daughters. His wife died when Shraddhanand was only 36 years old. His granddaughter
Satyavati
was a prominent opponent of the British rule in India.
[14]
See also
[
edit
]
Bibliography
[
edit
]
- The Arya Samaj and Its Detractors: A Vindication
, Rama Deva. Published by s.n, 1910.
- Hindu Sangathan: Saviour of the Dying Race
, Published by s.n., 1924.
- Inside Congress
, by Swami Shraddhanand, Compiled by Purushottama R?macandra Lele. Published by Phoenix Publications, 1946.
- Kalyan Marg Ke Pathik
(Autobiography:Hindi), New Delhi. n.d.
- Autobiography
(English Translation), Edited by M. R. Jambunathan. Published by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, 1961
Further reading
[
edit
]
Wikisource
has original text related to this article:
Wikisource
has original text related to this article:
- Swami Shraddhanand
, by Satyadev Vidyalankar, ed. by Indra Vidyavachaspati. Delhi, 1933.
- Swami Shraddhanand (Lala Munshi Ram)
, by Aryapathik Lekh Ram. Jallandhar. 2020 Vik.
- Swami Shraddhanand
, by K.N. Kapur. Arya Pratinidhi Sabha, Jallandhar, 1978.
- Swami Shraddhanand: His Life and Causes
, by J. T. F. Jordens. Published by Oxford University Press, 1981.
- Section Two:Swami Shraddhanand
.
Modern Indian Political Thought
, by Vishwanath Prasad Varma. Published by Lakshmi Narain Agarwal, 1961. Page 447.
- Chapt XI: Swami Shraddhanand
.
Advanced Study in the History of Modern India : 1920?1947
. by G. S. Chhabra. Published by Sterling Publishers, 1971. Page 211
- Pen-portraits and Tributes by Gandhiji
: '(Sketches of eminent men and women by Mahatma Gandhi)', by Gandhi, U. S. Mohan Rao. Published by National Book Trust, India, 1969. Page 133
- Swami Shraddhanand ? Indian freedom fighters: struggle for independence
. Anmol Publishers, 1996.
ISBN
81-7488-268-5
.
- Telegram to Swami Shraddhanand
, (2 October 1919) ?
Collected Works
, by Gandhi. Published by Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Govt. of India, 1958. v.16. Page 203.
- An article on Swami Shraddhanand in "The Legacy of The Punjab" by R M Chopra, 1997, Punjabee Bradree, Calcutta,
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Swami Shraddhanand"
.
www.aryasamajhouston.org
. Retrieved
16 January
2020
.
- ^
a
b
c
Autobiography
http://www.vedpedia.com
Archived
2 February 2011 at the
Wayback Machine
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
G.S. Chhatra (2007).
Some Indian Personalities of the Time: Swami Shraddhanand
Advanced Study in the History of Modern India
Lotus Press.
ISBN
81-89093-08-8
p. 227.
- ^
a
b
c
G. R. Thursby (1975).
Controversy
Hindu-Muslim Relations in British India: A Study of Controversy, Conflict, and Communal Movements in Northern India 1923?1928
, BRILL.
ISBN
90-04-04380-2
. p. 15.
- ^
Chetan Bhatt (2001).
Shraddhanand
Hindu Nationalism: Origins, Ideologies and Modern Myths
Berg Publishers.
ISBN
1-85973-348-4
. p. 62.
- ^
R. K. Ghai. (1990)
Shuddhi Movement in India: A Study of Its Socio-political Dimensions
, Commonwealth Publishers.
ISBN
9788171690428
, p. 43.
- ^
Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Writings & Speeches Vol. 9
. Dr. Ambedkar Foundation. 1991. pp. 23?24.
ISBN
978-93-5109-064-9
.
- ^
Kenneth W. Jones (1987).
Socio-Religious Reform Movements in British India: Socio-Religious Reform Movements in British India, Volume III
Cambridge University Press.
ISBN
0-521-24986-4
. p. 194.
- ^
Gupta, Charu (1998).
"Articulating Hindu Masculinity and Femininity: 'Shuddhi' and 'Sangathan' Movements in United Provinces in the 1920s"
.
Economic and Political Weekly
.
33
(13): 727?735.
ISSN
0012-9976
.
JSTOR
4406586
.
- ^
V. V. Nagarkar (1975).
Genesis of Pakistan
. Allied Publishers. p. 164.
ISBN
978-0-88386-711-2
.
- ^
Archaeological Museum
Gurukul Kangri University
.
- ^
"Stories in stone"
,
The Hindu
, 20 October 2014
- ^
Clock Tower Chandni Chowk, Delhi, Early 1900s
. Columbia.edu. Retrieved on 17 December 2018.
- ^
Geraldine Forbes (1999).
Women in Modern India, Volume 4
. Cambridge University Press. p. 148.
ISBN
9780521612401
.
External links
[
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]
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