Important Personalities (Updated)

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Important Personalities
Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan.................................................................................................................................. 4
Dhondo Keshav Karve ..................................................................................................................................... 4
Subhas Chandra Bose ..................................................................................................................................... 5
Pandita Ramabai ................................................................................................................................................ 6
Raja Ram Mohan Roy (1772 – 1833) ............................................................................................................. 7
Sachindra Nath Sanyal .................................................................................................................................... 9
E.V. Ramaswamy Naicker ..............................................................................................................................10
Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar ..........................................................................................................................11
Balshastri Jambhekar .....................................................................................................................................11
Acharya Vinoba Bhave .................................................................................................................................... 12
Sir Syed Ahmed Khan ..................................................................................................................................... 13
Chaudhary Charan Singh .............................................................................................................................. 14
Swami Vivekananda ........................................................................................................................................ 14
Bal Gangadhar Tilak ......................................................................................................................................... 16
Savitri Bai Phule ............................................................................................................................................... 17
Dayanand Saraswati ........................................................................................................................................18
Lala Lajpat Rai (Punjab Kesari /Lion of Punjab)................................................................................... 19
Bhagat Singh ..................................................................................................................................................... 20
Ashfaqulla Khan ................................................................................................................................................ 21
Dr B.R. Ambedkar ............................................................................................................................................. 21
Sarojini Naidu.................................................................................................................................................... 23
Thakkar Bapa ....................................................................................................................................................24
Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray ...................................................................................................................24
Alluri Sitharama Raju..................................................................................................................................... 25
Thiruvalluvar ..................................................................................................................................................... 26
Guru Ravidas ..................................................................................................................................................... 26
Ramanujacharya .............................................................................................................................................. 27
Naoroji and his Drain Theory ...................................................................................................................... 28
Pandit Bhimsen Joshi .................................................................................................................................... 28
Abanindranath Tagore ................................................................................................................................... 29
https://t.me/prelimbits
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Acharya Narendra Dev .................................................................................................................................. 29

Rani Gaidinliu .................................................................................................................................................... 30
Pingali Venkayya .............................................................................................................................................. 30
Rani Laxmibai .................................................................................................................................................... 31
Jhalkari Bai ......................................................................................................................................................... 31
Durga Bhabhi ...................................................................................................................................................... 31
Rani Chennamma ............................................................................................................................................ 32
Begum Hazrat Mahal ...................................................................................................................................... 32
Velu Nachiyar / Veeramangai ..................................................................................................................... 33
Sri Aurobindo .................................................................................................................................................... 33
Sardar Ajit Singh..............................................................................................................................................34
Pandurang Khankhoje.................................................................................................................................... 35
Veerapandiya Kattabomman ....................................................................................................................... 36
Master Amir Chand ......................................................................................................................................... 37
Anand Mohan Bose (1847-1906) .................................................................................................................38
Aruna Asaf Ali 1909-1996 ..............................................................................................................................38
Badruddin Tyabji (1844-1906) ...................................................................................................................... 39
Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay (1833- 1894) ......................................................................................40
Barindra Kumar Ghosh 1880-1959............................................................................................................. 41
Behramji M Malabari (1853-1912) ...............................................................................................................42
Bhulabhai Desai (1877-1946) ........................................................................................................................43
Chandra Shekhar Azad 1906-1931 ..............................................................................................................43
Chhakravarti Rajagopalachari aka. Rajaji (1879-1972).......................................................................43
CR Das (1870-1925)......................................................................................................................................... 44
Dr Rajendra Prasad (1884-1963) ................................................................................................................45
Dr Zakir Hussain (1897-1969).......................................................................................................................45
Dinbandhu Mitra (1830-1873) ....................................................................................................................... 46
Durgabai Deshmukh (1909-1981) ................................................................................................................ 47
Gopal Krishna Gokhale (1886-1915) ........................................................................................................... 47
Lachit Borphukan ........................................................................................................................................... 48
Gopal Hari Deshmukh ‘Lokahitwadi’ (1823-1892) ................................................................................ 48
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Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan

 He was a Pashtun leader and ardent follower of Mahatma Gandhi and was known for his
non-violent opposition to British Rule.
 He was known as Badshah Khan and ―Sarhadi Gandhi‖ (Frontier Gandhi).
 He had started the first Pushto political monthly Pukhtoon.
 He also Participated in opposing the Rowlatt Act.
 He also played an active part in the Khilafat movement, and as a result, he was arrested in
1921 under the Frontier Crimes Regulations for spreading nationalistic ideas among the
Pathans. He was kept in solitary confinement, with his hands and feet tied. After his release
in 1924 he came to be known as Fakhr-e-Afghan.
 He was offered the presidency of the Indian National Congress in 1931 which he refused
saying that ―I am a simple soldier and Khudai Khidmatgar, and I only want to serve.‖
 He remained a member of the Congress Working Committee for many years, resigning only
in 1939 because of his differences with the Party‘s War Policy. He rejoined the Congress
Party when the War Policy was revised.
 He strongly opposed the All-India Muslim League‘s demand for the partition of India.
When the Indian National Congress declared its acceptance of the partition plan without
consulting the Khudai Khidmatgar leaders, he felt very sad and told the Congress ―you have
thrown us to the wolves. He was against the partition of India and he was many times
targeted for being Anti-Muslim.
 Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan formed a clan of non-violent revolutionaries, the Khudai
Khidmatgars (known as Red Shirts), who played an active role in the Civil Disobedience
Movement. Initially, his Khudaikhidmatgar movement was a social reform organization
focusing on education and elimination of bloodfeuds from Afghan society but turned more
political later.
Dhondo Keshav Karve

 He was a social reformer in India in the field of women‘s welfare. [Pioneer of Widows
Education in India.]
 He was popularly known as Maharishi Karve. In honor of Karve, Queen‘s Road in Mumbai
(Bombay) was renamed to Maharishi Karve Road.
 He was inspired by Japan Women‘s University and established the first
university for women in India.
 He worked for the upliftment of the status of the widows and himself
married to a widow.
 He established the Widow Marriage Association in 1893. Maharishi
Karve founded an educational institution, Hindu Widows Home, in
1896, in Poona to help widows support themselves, in case they were unable to remarry.
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 In 1958, the Government of India issued stamps commemorating the birth centenary of him,
it was the first time a living person was pictured on the issued stamps.
 The Government of India awarded him with the highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna, in
1958, the year of his 100th birthday.
Subhas Chandra Bose

 Subhas Chandra Bose was born on 23rd January 1897, in Cuttack, Orissa Division, Bengal
Province, to Prabhavati Dutt Bose and Janakinath Bose.
 His Jayanti is celebrated as 'Parakram Diwas' on 23rd January.
 Education and Early Life:
o In 1919, he had cleared the Indian Civil Services (ICS) examination. Bose, however,
resigned later.
o He was highly influenced by Vivekananda's teachings and considered him as his
spiritual Guru.
o His political mentor was Chittaranjan Das.
o He worked as the editor for Das‘s newspaper–Forward, and later started his own
newspaper, Swaraj.
 Association with Congress:
o He stood for unqualified swaraj (independence), and opposed the Motilal Nehru
Report which spoke for dominion status for India.
o He actively participated in the Salt Satyagraha of 1930 and vehemently opposed
the suspension of Civil Disobedience Movement and signing of the Gandhi-Irwin
Pact in 1931.
o In the 1930s, he was closely associated with left politics in Congress along
with Jawaharlal Nehru and M.N. Roy.
o Bose won the congress presidential elections at Haripura in 1938.
o Again in 1939 at Tripuri, he won the presidential elections against Gandhi's
candidate Pattabhi Sitarammayya. Due to ideological differences with Gandhi, Bose
resigned and left congress. Rajendra Prasad was appointed in his place.
o He founded a new party, 'the Forward Bloc'. The purpose was to consolidate the
political left and major support base in his home state Bengal.
 Indian National Army:
o He reached Japanese-controlled Singapore from Germany in July 1943, issued from
there his famous call, ‗Delhi Chalo‘, and announced the formation of the Azad Hind
Government and the Indian National Army on 21st October 1943.
o The INA was first formed under Mohan Singh and Japanese Major Iwaichi Fujiwara
and comprised Indian prisoners of war of the British-Indian Army captured by Japan
in the Malayan (present-day Malaysia) campaign and at Singapore.
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o The INA included both the Indian prisoners of war from Singapore and Indian
civilians in South-East Asia. It's strength grew to 50,000.
o The INA fought allied forces in 1944 inside the borders of India in Imphal and in
Burma.
o In November 1945, a British move to put the INA men on trial immediately sparked
massive demonstrations all over the country.
 Death:
o He is said to have died in 1945 when his plane crashed in Taiwan. However, there are
still many conspiracy theories regarding his death.
 The annual Subhas Chandra Bose Aapda Prabandhan Puraskar has been instituted to
recognize and honour the invaluable contribution and selfless service rendered by
individuals and organisations in India in the field of disaster management.
 The award is announced every year on 23rd January. It carries a cash prize of Rs. 51 lakh and
a certificate in case of an institution and Rs. 5 lakh and a certificate in case of an individual.
Pandita Ramabai
 Pandita Ramabai was born Rama Dongre to a Marathi Brahmin family in 1858. Her father
was a Sanskrit scholar and Ramabai learnt Sanskrit from him initially.
 The University of Calcutta invited her to give a lecture and also awarded her the title
of ‗Pandita‘ because of her erudition in Sanskrit.
 She was also conferred with the title of ‗Saraswati‘ owing to her knowledge and
interpretations of the various Sanskrit texts.
 Renowned reformer Keshub Chandra Sen gave her a copy of the Vedas.
 In 1880, Ramabai married Bipin Behari Medhvi, a Bengali lawyer. This was a bold move for
that era as it was an inter-caste marriage. It was, therefore, a civil wedding.
 After her husband‘s death, Ramabai started Arya Mahila Samaj (Arya Women‘s Society) at
Pune.
 The purpose of the Society was to provide education to women and to discourage and
fight against the practice of child marriage.
 The government of India appointed a commission to look into the matter of education in
1882. Ramabai gave evidence before the commission. She recommended that women
school inspectors be appointed. She also suggested that Indian women be taken into
medical colleges since women doctors were needed to treat women.
 This event created a ripple effect and even reached the ears of the British monarch Victoria.
The result was the establishment of the Women‘s Medical Movement by Lady
Dufferin.
 She left for England in 1883 to study medicine. During her stay, she converted to
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Christianity.
 She also travelled to the USA to attend the graduation of Anandibai Joshi, the first Indian
woman doctor. Between her travels, she also wrote and translated a vast number of books.
 Returning to India in 1889, she started the ‗Sharada Sadan‘. She founded the Mukti
Mission for the education of child widows.
 Many accused her of using these organisations as a front for conversions.
 The British government presented her with the Kaiser-i-Hind medal in 1919.
 In October 1989, the Indian government issued a commemorative stamp in her honour.
Raja Ram Mohan Roy (1772 – 1833)

 Born in Radhanagar, Hooghly District, Bengal Presidency in May 1772 into an orthodox
Bengali Hindu family.
 Education of Ram Mohan – He was sent to Patna for higher studies where he studied
Persian and Arabic. He read the Quran, the Arabic translation of the works of Plato and
Aristotle and the works of Sufi mystic poets. By the age of fifteen, Raja Rammohun Roy had
learnt Bangla, Persian, Arabic and Sanskrit. He also knew Hindi and English.
 He went to Varanasi and studied the Vedas, the Upanishads and Hindu philosophy deeply.
 He studied Christianity and Islam as well.
 At the age of sixteen, he wrote a rational critique of Hindu idol worship.
 From 1809 to 1814, he served in the Revenue Department of the East India Company also
worked as a personal Diwan to Woodforde and Digby.
 From 1814 onwards he devoted his life to religious, social and political reforms.
 In his address, entitled ‗Inaugurator of the Modern Age in India,‘ Tagore referred to Ram
Mohan as ‗a luminous star in the firmament of Indian history‘.
 He visited England as an ambassador of the Mughal king Akbar Shah II (father of Bahadur
Shah) where he died of a disease. He died in September 1833 in Bristol, England.
 He was given the title ‗Raja‘ by the Mughal Emperor of Delhi, Akbar II whose grievances he
presents before the British king.
Economic and Political Contributions
 He was impressed and admired the civil liberties given to people under the British System of
Constitutional Government. He wanted to extend the benefits of that system of government
to the Indian people.
 Reforms for Taxes
o He condemned the oppressive practices of Bengali zamindars.
o He demanded fixation of minimum rents.
o He called for a reduction of export duties on Indian goods abroad and demanded
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the abolition of taxes on tax-free lands.

o He raised his voice for the abolition of the East India Company‘s trading rights.
 Press freedom: he spoke against the unjust policies of the British government especially
the restrictions on press freedom. Through his writings and activities, he supported the
movement for free press in India.
 When press censorship was relaxed by Lord Hastings in 1819, Ram Mohan found three
journals- The Brahmanical Magazine (1821); The Bengali weekly, Samvad Kaumudi
(1821); and the Persian weekly, Mirat-ul-Akbar.
 Administrative reforms: He demanded equality between Indians and Europeans. He
wanted the Indianisation of superior services and separation of the executive from the
judiciary.
Social Contributions by Raja Ram Mohan Roy
 In 1814 he formed Atmiya Sabha, the Calcutta Unitarian Association in 1821, and in 1828
the Brahmo Sabha or Brahmo Samaj in 1828.
 He campaigned for rights for women, including the right for widows to remarry, and the
right for women to hold property.
 His efforts led to the abolition of Sati in 1829 by Lord William Bentinck, the then Governor-
General of India and opposed the practice of polygamy.
 Raja Ram Mohan Roy campaigned against the caste system, untouchability, superstitions
and use of intoxicants.
 He attacked child marriage, polygamy, illiteracy of women and the degraded state of
widows.
 He stressed on rationalism and modern scientific approach
 He fought against the perceived ills of Hindu society at that time.
 Sambad Kaumudi regularly denounced Sati as barbaric and against the tenets of Hinduism.
Educational Contribution by Raja Ram Mohan Roy
 He started many schools to educate Indians in Western scientific education in English.
 He believed that English-language education was superior to the traditional Indian
education system.
 He supported David Hare‘s efforts to find the Hindu College in 1817, while Roy‘s English
school taught mechanics and Voltaire‘s philosophy.
 In 1822, he founded a school based on English education.
 In 1825, he established Vedanta college where courses in both Indian learning and
Western social and physical sciences were offered.
Religious Contribution by Raja Ram Mohan Roy
 Raja Ram Mohan Roy‘s first published work Tuhfat-ul-Muwahhiddin (a gift to deists)
published in 1803 exposed irrational religious beliefs.
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 He opposed idolatry, and corrupt practices of the Hindus as the belief in revelations,
prophets, miracles etc.
 He was against the perceived polytheism of Hinduism. He advocated monotheism as given
in the scriptures.
 In 1814, he founded Atmiya Sabha in Calcutta to campaign against idolatry, caste rigidities,
meaningless rituals and other social ills.
 He criticized the ritualism of Christianity and rejected Christ as the incarnation of God. In
Precepts of Jesus (1820), he tried to separate the moral and philosophical message of the
New Testament, which he praised, from its miracle stories.
 He translated the Vedas and five of the Upanishads into Bengali.
 It is because of his contributions in Social, Religious, Political, Economical and educational
spheres that Raja Ram Mihan Roy is known as the ‗Father of Modern India‘ and Father of
Indian Renaissance‘.
Literary Works of Raja Ram Mohan Roy
 Tuhfat-ul-Muwahhidin (1804)
 Vedanta Gantha (1815)
 Translation of an abridgement of the Vedanta Sara (1816)
 Kenopanishads (1816)
 Ishopanishad (1816)
 Kathopanishad (1817)
 A Conference between the Advocate for, and an Opponent of Practice of Burning Widows
Alive (Bengali and English) (1818)
 Mundaka Upanishad (1819)
 A Defence of Hindu Theism (1820)
 The Precepts of Jesus- The Guide to Peace and Happiness (1820)
 Bengali Grammar (1826)
 The Universal Religion (1829)
 History of Indian Philosophy (1829)
 Gaudiya Vyakaran (1833)
Sachindra Nath Sanyal

 He was the Co-founder of the Hindustan Republican Association. HRA was created to
carry out armed resistance against the British Empire in India.
o Other founder were : Ram Prasad Bismil, Ashfaqulla Khan, Sachindra Nath Bakshi,
Jogesh Chandra Chatterjee.
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 Sanyal founded a branch of the Anushilan Samiti in Patna in 1913.
 In 1912 Delhi Conspiracy Trial, Sanyal with Rashbehari Bose attacked the then Viceroy
Hardinge.
 He was extensively involved in the plans for the Ghadar conspiracy, and went underground
after it was exposed in February 1915. He was a close associate of Rash Behari Bose.
 After Bose escaped to Japan, Sanyal was considered the most senior leader of India‘s
revolutionary movement.
 He was a mentor for revolutionaries like Chandrashekhar Azad and Bhagat Singh.
 Sanyal and Mahatma Gandhi engaged in a famous debate published in Young India
between 1920 and 1924. Sanyal argued against Gandhi‘s gradualist approach.
 He sentenced to jail in the Cellular prison in Andaman & Nicobar Island. There he wrote his
famous book titled Bandi Jeevan (A Life of Captivity, 1922). He was briefly released from
the jail since then.
 Sanyal was once again incarcerated in 1925 and sent to the Cellular prison in the Andamans
for being allegedly involved in Kakori conspiracy. His ancestral home in Varanasi was
seized by the British authorities. Sachindra Nath Sanyal died while serving his second term
in cell prison on February 7, 1942.
E.V. Ramaswamy Naicker

 E.V. Ramaswamy Naicker, popularly known as Periyar (Great Sage).
 Naicker was active in the Congress-led Freedom Struggle for sometime. He participated in
the non- cooperation movement, offered satyagraha and defended khadi.
 Naicker‘s growing dissatisfaction with Gandhi and the Congress, which he began to express
from 1925 onwards in the journal Kudi Arasu, led him and his followers to found the Self
Respect Association in 1926.
 In 1925, he organised the ―Self Respect Movement‖, designed as Dravidian Uplift.
 He was a radical social reformer. His determined campaign against Hindu orthodoxy
accompanied by rationalism and social reform, transformed the social landscape of Tamil
Nadu.
 In 1938, Naicker was elected President of the Justice Party. The Party resolved that
Tamilnadu should be made a separate state, loyal to the British Raj and ―directly under the
Secretary of State for India.‖
 In 1939, Naicker organised the ―Dravida Nadu Conference‖ for the advocacy of a separate
and independent Dravidasthan.
 In 1944, the justice Party was reorganised as Dravida Kazagham (DK). A number of
present-day political parties in Tamil Nadu, such as Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and
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All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) owe their origins to the Self-respect
movement.
 Publications: ―Kudi Arasu‖ (1925), ―Revolt‖ in 1928, ―Family Planning‖ (1930), ‗Puratchi‘
(Revolution) (1933), Tamil weekly ‗Pagutharivu‘ (Rationalism) in 1934, ‗Ponmozhigal‘ (Golden
sayings) (1950).
Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar

 Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, proved to be the best defender of human rights.
 He pleaded for such social reforms as widow remarriage, education to all, and help to the
needy and deserving.
 Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar worked for the cause of women by promoting the education of
girls.
 Due to his constant opposition Lord Dalhousie personally finalised the bill and the
Hindu Widows‘ Remarriage Act, 1856 was passed.
 He rejected the line of the Bhakti movement espoused by one of his contemporaries, Ram
Krishna Paramhans.
 He is considered the ―Father of Bengali prose‖.
 Publications: Betaal Panchabinsati (1847); Jeebancharit (1850); Bodhadoy (1851); Borno
Porichoy (1854); Sitar Bonobash (1860).
 He was associated with prestigious journalistic publications like ‗Tattwabodhini Patrika‘,
‗Somprakash‘, ‗Sarbashubhankari Patrika‘ and ‗Hindu Patriot‘.
Balshastri Jambhekar
 Balshastri Jambhekar (1812-1846) was a pioneer of social reform through journalism in
Bombay
 A Marathi-English forthnightly Darpan was published in 1832 from
Maharashtra by Bal Shastri Jambhekar. The objective of the newspaper was to
inform people about the happening on social, political and cultural areas and
suggesting ways for the progress of the society.
 After eight years, the weekly was named United Service Gazette Journal. It ceased
publication two years after the death of Jambhekar in 1846.
 In 1840, Jambhekar started publishing the first Marathi monthly, Digdarshan, and
edited it for five years.
 Jambhekar, considered the Father of Marathi Journalism.
 Bal Shastri Jambhekar after successfully publishing Mumbai Darpan encouraged his friend
Vittal Kunte alias Bhau Mahajan to publish a weekly in Marathi called Prabhakor in 1841
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Acharya Vinoba Bhave

 One of India‘s best-known social reformers and a widely venerated disciple of Mohandas
K. (Mahatma) Gandhi. Founder of the Bhoodan Yajna (―Land-Gift Movement‖).
 Association with Gandhi:
o Attracted towards the principles and ideologies of Mahatma
Gandhi and considered Gandhi his guru, from both a political and spiritual point
of view.
o Abandoned his high school studies in 1916 to join Gandhi‘s ashram (ascetic
community) at Sabarmati, near Ahmedabad.
o Gandhi‘s teachings led Bhave to a life of austerity dedicated to improving Indian
village life.
 Role in Freedom Struggle:
o Took part in programs of non-cooperation and especially the call for use of
Swadeshi goods instead of foreign imports.
o In 1940, he was chosen as the first Individual Satyagrahi (an Individual standing up
for Truth instead of a collective action) against British Raj by Gandhi in India.
o Bhave was imprisoned several times during the 1920s and ‘30s and served a five-year
prison sentence in the ‘40s for leading nonviolent resistance to British rule. He was
given the honorific title acharya (―teacher‖).
 Role in Social Work:
o Worked tirelessly towards eradicating social evils like inequality.
o Influenced by the examples set by Gandhi, he took up the cause of people who
were referred to as Harijans by Gandhi.
o He adopted the term Sarvodaya from Gandhi which simply means ―Progress for
All‖.
o The Sarvodaya movement under him implemented various programs during the
1950s, the chief among which is the Bhoodan Movement.
 Bhoodan Movement:
o In the year 1951, the Harijans of the Pochampalli village of Telangana requested
him to provide them with around 80 acres of land to make a living.
o Vinoba asked the landlords of the village to come forward and save the Harijans and
a landlord got up and offered the required land. This incident added a new chapter
in the history of sacrifices and non-violence.
o It was the beginning of the Bhoodan (Gift of the Land) movement.
o The movement continued for thirteen years and Vinoba toured the length and
breadth of the country, a total distance of 58741 Km.
 Religious Work:
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o In 1923, he brought out 'Maharashtra Dharma', a monthly in Marathi, which had his
essays on the Upanishads.
o He set up a number of Ashrams to promote a simple way of life, devoid of luxuries
that took away one‘s focus from the Divine.
o Established the Brahma Vidya Mandir in 1959, a small community for women,
aiming at self-sufficiency on the lines of Mahatma Gandhi‘s teachings.
o He took a strong stand on cow slaughter and declared to go on fast until it was
banned in India.
 Literary Work:
o Swarajya Sastra, Geeta Pravachane, Teesri Shakti or The Third Power etc.
 Awards
o Vinoba Bhabe was the first Indian figure to receive the Ramon Magsaysay
Award in 1958. He was awarded Bharat Ratna posthumously in 1983.
Sir Syed Ahmed Khan

 He emerged on the Indian scene as one of the great reformers, educationist and
moderniser within the Muslim community.
 Syed Ahmed Khan started the Aligarh Movement and wanted to remove the bitter enmity
between Muklims and the British Government.
 He also wanted a proper interpretation of Islam and modem education to Muslims. He
prepared Muslims to meet the challenge before them and strove for
Hindu-Muslim unity.
 Sir Syed devoted his entire life to bring about reconciliation between the
British and the Muslims.
 He founded the Scientific Society in 1863 at Ghazipur, in Uttar
Pradesh. The basic objective was to translate scientific literature, into
Urdu.
 He founded Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental (MAO) College in 1875/ 1877. This later
became the Aligarh Muslim University. It was proposed that here, while modern
education would be imparted to the Muslims, they would abo have some training in the
preservation of their cultural heritage.
 On the contrary he maintained that Hindu - Muslim communities would have distinct
political options separate from each other. This was the driving force which made him argue
that the Indian National Congress was not in the best interest of the community of Muslims.
 Publications and writings: He produced an important work Asar-us Sanadeedd, a
monumental work on the monuments of Delhi. His writing also includes Tmikh-i-
Sarkashiye Bijnor, with a narrative of the developments as regards the Revolt. However
more important was his Asbab-iBaghawat-i- Hind published in 1858. The Loyal
Mohummedans of India in 1860. In 1866, Sir Syed started a journal on behalf of the
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Society called the Indian Institute Gazette. A magazine called Tahzib-ul Akhlaq was
published in 1888 and 1889.
Chaudhary Charan Singh

 The 'Kisan Diwas' or National Farmers Day is observed across the country on 23rd
December to celebrate the birth anniversary of Chaudhary Charan Singh, the former Prime
Minister of India.
 He was given the nickname ‗Champion of India‘s Peasants‘ for his work towards the
upliftment of farmers and the development of agriculture throughout the country.
 He took a leading part in formulation and finalisation of the Debt Redemption Bill
1939, in order to give relief to the peasantry from moneylenders.
 He was instrumental in bringing about the Land Holding Act, 1960 which was aimed at
lowering the ceiling on land holdings to make it uniform throughout the State.
 He was the author of several books and pamphlets:
o Abolition of Zamindari‘
o Co-operative Farming X-rayed
o India‘s Poverty and its Solution
o Peasant Proprietorship or Land to the Workers
o Prevention of Division of Holdings Below a Certain Minimum‘
Swami Vivekananda
 He was a true luminary, credited with enlightening the western world about Hinduism.
 He was an ardent disciple of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa and a major force in the
revival of Hinduism in India.
 He pushed for national integration in colonial India, and his famous speech remains as
the one that he gave in Chicago in 1893.
 Early life- contributions:
o Born in Kolkata on January 12, 1863 in Kolkata, Swami Vivekananda was known
as Narendra Nath Datta in his pre-monastic life.
o He is known to have introduced the Hindu philosophies of Yoga and Vedanta to

the West.
o Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose had called Vivekananda the ―maker of modern India.‖
o In 1893, he took the name ‗Vivekananda‘ after Maharaja Ajit Singh of the Khetri
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State requested him to do so, changing from ‗Sachidananda‘ that he used before.
o He formed the Ramakrishna Mission in 1897 ―to set in motion a machinery which
will bring noblest ideas to the doorstep of even the poorest and the meanest.‖
o In 1899, he established the Belur Math, which became his permanent abode.
o He preached ‗neo-Vedanta‘, an interpretation of Hinduism through a Western lens,

and believed in combining spirituality with material progress.
 Books written by him:
o Raja Yoga, Jnana Yoga, Karma Yoga
 National Youth Day is 12 jan. to mark his birthday
Key-highlights of the Speech in Chicago
 Swami Vivekananda is best known in the United States for the speech given by him in
1893 World‘s Parliament of Religions.
 In this speech he Introduced Hinduism to America and called for religious tolerance and
an end to fanaticism
 He mentioned the basic yet most important things that one should follow in life. These
things included:
 being patriotic
 loving all religions
 analysing religion
 being acquainted with science
 knowing importance and necessity of rituals
 being aware of roots of Hinduism
 being aware of the goal of science
 being aware of the cause of downfall of India
 being against religious conversations
Prabuddha Bharata
 It is a monthly magazine of the Ramakrishna Order.
 This magazine was founded in the year 1896 by P. Aiyasami, B. R. Rajam Iyer, G. G.
Narasimhacharya, and B. V. Kamesvara Iyer under the guidance of Swami Vivekananda.
 Prabuddha Bharata magazine was of great significance in spreading the message of the
ancient spiritual wisdom of the country.
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 The magazine comprises of the articles and translations by monks, scholars and other
writers on humanities and social sciences.
Bal Gangadhar Tilak

 Freedom fighter and lawyer, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, is also known as Lokmanya Tilak.
 Educationist:
o Founder of the Deccan Education Society (1884) along with his associate Gopal
Ganesh Agarkar and others.
o One of the founders of the Fergusson College (1885) in Pune through the Deccan
Education Society.
 Ideology:
o He was a devout Hindu and used Hindu scriptures to rouse people to fight
oppression.
o Stressed on the need for self-rule and believed that without self-rule or swarajya, no
progress was possible.
 Slogan: ―Swaraj is my birthright and I shall have it!‖
 A book ‗Indian Unrest‘ written by Valentine Chirol, an English journalist,
stated Tilak the ‗father of Indian unrest‘.
o Emphasised the importance of a cultural and religious revival to go with the political
movements.
 Popularised the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in the Maharashtra region.
 Propounded the celebration of Shiv Jayanti on the birth anniversary of the
monarch Chhatrapati Shivaji.
 Political Life: He was one of the earliest and the most vocal proponents of complete
independence or swarajya (self-rule).
o Along with Lala Lajpat Rai and Bipin Chandra Pal, he was part of the Lal-Bal-Pal
trio of leaders with extremist outlooks.
o Joined the Indian National Congress (INC) in 1890.
 Surat Split: It was the splitting of the INC into two groups - the Extremists and the
Moderates - at the Surat session in 1907.
o Reason: The extremists wanted either Tilak or Lajpat Rai to be president, so
when Rasbehari Ghose was announced as president, the extremist resorted to
violence. Hence Surat Split happened.
o While extremists wanted to end the tyranny rule of British through
protest, Moderates were aimed at administrative and constitutional reforms.
o The Extremist camp was led by Lal Bal and Pal and the moderate camp was led
by Gopal Krishna Gokhle.
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 Contribution to Freedom Movement:

o Propagated swadeshi movements and encouraged people to boycott foreign
goods.
o Indian Home Rule Movement:
 It was a movement in British India on the lines of Irish Home Rule movement.
 Started in 1916, it is believed to have set the stage for the independence
movement under the leadership of Annie Besant and Bal Gangadhar
Tilak for the educated English speaking upper class Indians.
 All India Home Rule League: Founded by Tilak in April 1916 at Belgaum. It
worked in Maharashtra (except Bombay), the Central Provinces,
Karnataka and Berar.
o Lucknow Pact (1916): Between the INC headed by Tilak and All-India Muslim
League led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah for hindu-muslim unity in nationalist struggle.
 Jail: Between 1908 and 1914, he spent 6 years in Mandalay Prison for defending the actions
of revolutionaries Khudiram Bose and Prafulla Chaki.
o Khudiram Bose and Prafulla Chaki had tried to assassinate the District Judge, Mr.
Kingsford by throwing bombs at the carriage in which he was supposed to travel.
 Newspapers: Weeklies Kesari (Marathi) and Mahratta (English)
 Books: Gita Rhasya and Arctic Home of the Vedas.
 Death: He died on 1st August 1920.
Savitri Bai Phule

 Social reformer of the 19th century who worked in the field of women education
 At the age of 9, she was married to 13-year-old Jyotirao Phule
o Jyotirao Phule, better known as Jyotiba, was also a social reformer who worked in
the field of women education.
o Jyotirao educated Savitribai at home after their marriage
 Jyotiba, at the age of 21, and Savitri, 17, opened a school for women in 1848. It was the
country‘s first school for women started by Indians.
 By the end of 1851, the Phules were running three schools in Pune with around 150
girl students. The teaching methods at their schools were believed to be better than
government schools and soon the number of girls enrolled in Phule‘s schools outnumbered
that of the boys in government schools.
 In the 1850s, the Phule couple initiated two educational trusts—the Native Female
School, Pune and The Society for Promoting the Education of Mahars,
Mangs and Etceteras—which came to have many schools under them
 She published Kavya Phule in 1854 and Bavan Kashi Subodh Ratnakar in 1892. In her
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poem, Go, Get Education, she urges the oppressed communities to get an education and
break free from the chains of oppression.
 In 1852, Savitribai started the Mahila Seva Mandal to raise awareness about women‘s
rights.
 She simultaneously campaigned against child marriage, while supporting widow
remarriage
 Together with her husband opened a care centre called Balhatya Pratibandhak
Griha (Child-killing Prohibition Home) for pregnant rape victims and helped deliver and
save their children.
 After Jyotiba‘s death in 1890, Savitribai carried forward the work of the organization Satya
Shodhak Samaj and also chaired the annual session held at Saswad in 1893.
 She initiated the first Satyashodhak marriage - a marriage without a
dowry, Brahmin priests or Brahminical rituals in 1873.
Dayanand Saraswati
 He was an Indian philosopher, social leader and founder of the Arya Samaj
 He was a self-taught man and a great leader of India leaving a significant impact on
Indian society. During his life, he made a prominent name for himself and was known
among a wide array of Prices and the public.
 The first Arya Samaj unit was formally set up by him at Mumbai (then Bombay) in
1875 and later the headquarters of the Samaj were established at Lahore.
 He stressed on One God and rejected idol worship. He also advocated against the
extolled position of priests in Hinduism.
 His vision of India included a classless and casteless society, a united India (religiously,
socially and nationally), and an India free from foreign rule, with Aryan religion being the
common religion of all.
 He took inspiration from the Vedas and considered them to be ‗India‘s Rock of Ages‘, the
infallible and the true original seed of Hinduism. He gave the slogan ―Back to the Vedas‖.
 He subscribed to the Vedic notion of chaturvarna system in which a person was not born
in any caste but was identified as a brahmin, kshatriya, vaishya or shudra according to
the occupation the person followed.
 He introduced a complete overhaul of the education system and is often considered

as one of the visionaries of modern India.
 The DAV (Dayanand Anglo Vedic) schools came into existence in 1886 to realize the
vision of Swami Dayanand Saraswati.
 The first DAV School was established at Lahore with Mahatma Hansarj as the headmaster.
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 Books : His major contribution is the Satyartha Prakash. Other books include the
Sanskarvidhi, Rigved Bhashyam, etc.
Lala Lajpat Rai (Punjab Kesari /Lion of Punjab)

 Was influenced by Swami Dayananda Saraswati and joined the Arya Samaj in Lahore.
 He believed that the ideals in Hinduism combined with nationalism will lead to the
establishment of a secular state.
 Along with Bipin Chandra Pal and Bal Gangadhar Tilak, he formed the Lal-Bal-Pal trio of
extremist leaders.
 He was also involved with the Hindu Mahasabha.
 He fought against untouchability.
 Political Contribution
o He joined the INC and participated in many political agitations in Punjab.
o For his political agitation, he was deported to Burma without trial in 1907 but
returned after a few months because of lack of evidence.
o He was opposed to the partition of Bengal.
o He founded the Home Rule League of America in 1917 in New York. In the USA,
he worked to get moral support for the Indian independence movement from the
international community.
o He was also elected President of the All India Trade Union Congress.
o He supported the non-cooperation movement of Gandhi at the Nagpur session of
the Congress in 1920.
o He protested against the Rowlatt Act and the Jallianwala Bagh massacre that
followed.
o He was elected deputy leader of the Central Legislative Assembly in 1926.
o In 1928, he moved a resolution in the assembly refusing cooperation with the
Simon Commission since the Commission had no Indian members.
o He wrote biographies of Mazzini, Garibaldi, Shivaji, and Shrikrishna.
 Social Contribution
o He founded Hindu Relief movement in 1897 to provide help to the famine -
stricken people and thus preventing them falling into the clutches of the
missionaries.
o He founded the Servants of People Society in 1921.
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 Institutional Contribution
o He founded several institutions and organizations such as Hisar Bar Council, Hisar
Arya Samaj, Hisar Congress, National DAV Managing Committee.
o He was the editor of the Arya Gazette, which he had founded.
o He co-founded the Punjab National Bank in 1894.
 Death: In 1928, he was leading a silent protest against the Simon Commission in Lahore
when he was brutally lathi-charged by Superintendent of Police, James Scott. He died of
injuries sustained a few weeks later.
Bhagat Singh
 His rejection of Gandhian philosophy of non-violence, his antipathy towards the
reformist attitude of the Congress, his belief in Marxian Communism, his atheism, his
belief in terrorism as a mode to uphold the dignity of a suppressed and humiliated people,
his claim of revolution as a Birth right, were all ideas typical of the Indian youth in the
twenties and the thirties.
 Initially, he supported Mahatma Gandhi and the Non-Cooperation Movement.
 However, when Gandhi withdrew the movement in the wake of the Chauri Chaura
incident, Bhagat Singh turned to revolutionary nationalism.
 He was particularly affected by the Jallianwala Bagh massacre (1919) and the violence
against unarmed Akali protestors at Nankana Sahib (1921).
 In 1926, he founded the Naujawan Bharat Sabha. This organisation aimed to encourage
revolution against British rule by rallying the peasants and workers.
 In 1928, Bhagat Singh changed the name of Hindustan Republican Association to
Hindustan Socialist Republic Association (HSRA) along with Sukhdev, Chandrashekhar
Azad and others In 1930, when Azad was shot, the HSRA collapsed
o In 1924 in Kanpur, he became a member of the Hindustan Republican
Association, started by Sachindranath Sanyal a year earlier. The main organiser of
the Association was Chandra Shekhar Azad and Bhagat Singh became very close to
him.
 On 8th April 1929, Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt threw a bomb in the Central Assembly
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at Delhi, from the Visitors‘ Gallery.

 Bhagat Singh was arrested and charged in the Saunders murder case, along with
Rajguru, Sukhdev and others. This trial commenced in July 1929.
 The trio was ordered to be hanged on 24 March 1931. 23rd March is observed as
‗Martyrs‘ Day‘ or ‗Shaheed Diwas‘ or ‗Sarvodaya Day‘ in honour of Bhagat Singh,
Rajguru and Sukhdev.
 Publications: Why I Am An Atheist: An Autobiographical Discourse, The Jail Notebook And
Other Writings, Ideas of a Nation
Ashfaqulla Khan
 Ashfaqulla Khan (1900 – 1927) was a freedom fighter in the Indian independence
movement. He was born in Shahjahanpur, Uttar Pradesh.
 He was involved in the NCM. After the withdrawal of NCM he was greatly disappointed and
joined revolutionaries.
 In the mid-1920s, Khan and Bismil went on to found the Hindustan Socialist Republican
Association (HSRA), with the aim of winning freedom for the country through an armed
revolution.
 The immediate object of the revolutionary party in the domain of politics was to establish a
federal Republic of the United State of India by an organized and armed revolution.
 In August 1925, an armed robbery took place on board the Kakori Express, going from
Shahjahanpur to Lucknow, whose objective was to fund the activities of HSRA.
 The trial for robbery ended in April 1927, with Bismil, Khan, Rajendra Lahiri and Roshan
Singh sentenced to death, and the others being given life sentences.
 He was put to death by hanging on 19 December 1927 at Faizabad jail
Dr B.R. Ambedkar
 Popularly known as Baba Saheb. He was the Chairman of the Drafting Committee of
the Constituent Assembly and is called the ‗Father of the Indian Constitution‘.
 He was a jurist and an economist. Born into a caste that was considered untouchable, he
faced many injustices and discrimination in society.
 He was a brilliant student and had doctoral degrees in economics from Columbia
University and the London School of Economics.
 Ambedkar was against the caste-based discriminations in society and advocated for the
Dalits to organise and demand their rights.
 He promoted the education of Dalits and made representations to the government in
various capacities in this regard. He was part of the Bombay Presidency Committee that
worked with the Simon Commission in 1925.
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 He established the Bahishkrit Hitakarini Sabha to promote education and socio-economic

improvements among the Dalits. He started magazines like Mooknayak, Equality Janta
and Bahishkrit Bharat.
 In 1927, he launched active agitation against untouchability. He organised and agitated
for the right of Dalits to enter temples and to draw water from public water resources.
He condemned Hindu scriptures that he thought propagated caste discrimination.
 He advocated separate electorates for the Depressed Classes the term with which Dalits
were called at that time. He was in disagreement with Mahatma Gandhi at that time since
Gandhi was against any sort of reservation in the electorates. When the British
government announced the ‗Communal Award‘ in 1932, Gandhi went on a fast in
Yerwada Jail. An agreement was signed between Gandhi and Ambedkar in the jail
whereby it was agreed to give reserved seats to the depressed classes within the general
electorate. This was called the Poona Pact
 Ambedkar founded the Independent Labour Party (later transformed into the Scheduled
Castes Federation) in 1936.
 He also worked as Minister of Labour in the Viceroy‘s Executive Council. After
independence, Ambedkar became the first Law Minister in 1947. Later he resigned due to
differences with Jawaharlal Nehru on the Hindu Code Bill.
 He was appointed to the Rajya Sabha in 1952 and remained a member till his death.
 He advocated a free economy with a stable Rupee. He also mooted birth control for
economic development. He also emphasised equal rights for women.
 A few months before he died, he converted to Buddhism in a public ceremony in Nagpur
and with him, lakhs of Dalits converted to Buddhism.
 He authored several books and essays. Some of them are The Annihilation of Caste,
Pakistan or the Partition of India, The Buddha and his Dhamma, The Evolution of
Provincial Finance in British India, Administration and Finance of the East India
Company, etc.
 Ambedkar considered the Right to Constitutional Remedy as the soul of the
Constitution.
 He was cremated according to Buddhist rites in Dadar and a memorial is constructed there.
The place is called Chaitya Bhoomi. His death anniversary is observed as Mahaparinirvan
Din. His birth anniversary is celebrated as Ambedkar Jayanti or Bhim Jayanti on 14 April
every year.
 Chairman of the Drafting Committee + Called the ‗Father of the Indian Constitution‘.
 Was a jurist and an economist + Doctoral degrees in econoy
 Against the caste-based discriminations
 Advocated for the Dalits to organise and demand their rights + promoted the
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education of Dalits
 Was part of the Bombay Presidency Committee that worked with the Simon
Commission in 1925.
 Established the Bahishkrit Hitakarini Sabha to promote education and socio-economic
improvements among the Dalits
 Started magazines like Mooknayak, Equality Janta and Bahishkrit Bharat.
 In 1927, he launched active agitation against untouchability. Agitated for the right of
Dalits to enter temples and to draw water from public water resources.
 He condemned Hindu scriptures
 Advocated separate electorates for the Depressed Classes
 He was in disagreement with Mahatma Gandhi at that time since Gandhi was against
any sort of reservation in the electorates. Gandhi went on a fast in Yerwada Jail. An
agreement was signed between Gandhi and Ambedkar. It was agreed to give reserved
seats to the depressed classes called the Poona Pact
 Founded the Independent Labour Party
 Became the first Law Minister in 1947
 Was appointed to the Rajya Sabha in 1952
 Advocated a free economy with a stable Rupee
 He converted to Buddhism in a public ceremony in Nagpur and with him, lakhs of Dalits
converted to Buddhism
 Authored several books : The Annihilation of Caste, Pakistan or the Partition of India,
The Buddha and his Dhamma, The Evolution of Provincial Finance in British India,
Administration and Finance of the East India Company, etc.
 Considered the Right to Constitutional Remedy as the soul of the Constitution
Sarojini Naidu
 Following the partition of Bengal in 1905, Sarojini Naidu began to play an active role in the
Indian independence movement. Her meeting with leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi, Gopal
Krishna Gokhale (Born on May 9 1866) and Rabindranath Tagore spurred her on to work
against the British Colonial government and towards social reform
 Between 1915 and 1918 she travelled the length and breadth of the country to deliver
lectures on social welfare, the emancipation of women etc
 In 1917 she helped in the formation of the Women‘s Indian Association (WIA). Later that
year she would accompany her colleague Annie Besant, the president of the Home Rule
League, in presenting the universal suffrage for India in front of the Joint Select
Committee in London.
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 In 1925, Naidu was the first female president of the Indian National Congress
 Sarojini Naidu took part in the Salt March with Mahatma Gandhi and was arrested by the
British authorities along with all the Congress leaders in 1930.
 Naidu was one of the significant figures to have led the Civil Disobedience Movement and
the Quit India Movement led by Gandhi. She faced repeated arrests by the British
authorities during the time and even spent over 21 months in jail
 Following the Indian independence, Sarojini Naidu became the first governor-general of
Uttar Pradesh
 Her work as a poet earned her the title of ‗Nightingale of India‘ from Mahatma Gandhi.
 Important work: The Golden Threshold (1905), Feather of Dawn – collection of poems
written by her in 1927. The Gift of India is iconic for its patriotism and describing the
political environment of the 1915 India
Thakkar Bapa
 Amritlal Vithaldas Thakkar, popularly known as Thakkar Bapa (29 November 1869 – 20
January 1951) was an Indian social worker who worked for upliftment of tribal people in
Gujarat state
 He became a member of the Servants of India Society founded by Gopal Krishna
Gokhale in 1905.
 In 1922, he founded the Bhil Seva Mandal. Later, he became the general secretary of the
Harijan Sevak Sangh founded by Mahatma Gandhi in 1932 .
 The Bharatiya Adimjati Sevak Sangh was founded on 24 October 1948 on his initiative.
 He was appointed the chairman of "Excluded and Partially Excluded Areas (Other than
Assam), a sub committee of the constituent assembly. Mahatma Gandhi would call him
'Bapa'
Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray

 Known as ―Father of Indian Chemistry‖, Prafulla Chandra Ray (1861-1944) was a well-
known Indian scientist and teacher and one of the
first ―modern‖ Indian chemical researchers.
 Originally trained at the University of Edinburgh, he worked for
many years at Presidency College in Calcutta and then at Calcutta
University.
 He discovered the stable compound Mercurous Nitrite in 1895.
 The British Government first honored him with the imperial title
of CIE (Companion of the Indian Empire), and then with
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the Knighthood in 1919.

 In 1920, he was elected General President of the Indian Science Congress.
 As a nationalist he also wanted the Bengalis to come up in the world of enterprise.
 He himself set an example by establishing a chemical firm called the Bengal Chemical
and Pharmaceutical Works (1901).
 He was a true rationalist and was completely AGAINST THE CASTE SYSTEM and
other irrational social systems. He persistently carried on this work of social reformation
till he passed away.
 A postage stamp was issued on him by India Post on 2nd August 1961 to commemorate
his Birth Anniversary.
Alluri Sitharama Raju

 Indian Prime has unveiled a 30-foot-tall bronze statue of Alluri
Sitharama Raju at Bhimavaram in Andhra Pradesh as the year-
long celebrations of the freedom fighter‘s 125th birth anniversary
began on Monday.
Alluri Sitharama Raju
 Raju is believed to have been born in present-day Andhra Pradesh in 1897 or 1898.
 At a very young age, Raju channelled the discontent of the hill people in
Ganjam, Visakhapatnam, and Godavari into a highly effective guerrilla resistance against
the British.
 Colonial rule threatened the tribals‘ traditional podu (shifting) cultivation, as the
government sought to secure forest lands. The Forest Act of 1882 [Madras FA] banned
the collection of minor forest produce such as roots and leaves, and tribal people were
forced into labour for the colonial government.
 While the tribals were subjected to exploitation by muttadars, village headmen
commissioned by the colonial government to extract rent, the new laws and systems
threatened their way of life itself.
 Strong anti-government sentiment, shared by the Muttadars who were aggrieved by the
curtailment of their powers by the British, exploded into armed resistance in August 1922.
 Several hundred tribals led by Raju attacked the Chintapalle, Krishnadevipeta and
Rajavommangi police stations in the Godavari agency.
 The Rampa or Manyam Rebellion continued in the form of a guerrilla war until May
1924, when Raju, the charismatic ‗Manyam Veerudu‘ or Hero of Jungle, was finally
captured and executed.
 The Rampa Rebellion coincided with Mahatma Gandhi‘s Non-Cooperation Movement.
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 He is said to have become a sanyasi at the age of 18, and gained a mystical aura among the
hill and tribal peoples with his austerity, knowledge of astrology and medicine, and his
ability to tame wild animals.
 S S Rajamouli‘s 2022 Telugu blockbuster RRR is a fictional account of the friendship
between Raju and tribal leader Komaram Bheem, with actor Ram Charan portraying
Raju‘s role.
Thiruvalluvar
 Thiruvalluvar, also called Valluvar, was a Tamil poet-saint.
 The period when he lived is debated, as is his religious identity.
 He is believed to have lived between the 3rd-4th century or 8th-9th

century.
 He is thought to be linked to Jainism. However, Hindus have also

claimed that Thiruvalluvar belonged to hinduism.
 Dravidian groups also count him as a saint, as he dismissed the caste system.
 He had contributed the Tirukkural or ‗Kural‘ to the Sangam literature.
 Tirukkural is comprised of 133 sections of 10 couplets each is divided into three books:
o Aram (virtue),
o Porul (government and society), and
o Kamam (love).
 The Tirukkural has been compared to the great books of the world‘s major religions.
Guru Ravidas
 Guru Ravidas was a mystic poet saint of the Bhakti Movement from the 15th and
16th centuries, and founded the Ravidassia religion.
 It is believed that he was born in Varanasi in a cobbler‘s family.
 He gained prominence due to his belief in one God and his unbiased religious poems.
 He dedicated his whole life to the abolition of the caste system and openly despised the
notion of a Brahminical society.
 His devotional songs made an instant impact on the Bhakti Movement and around 41 of his
poems were included in ‗Guru Granth Sahib‘, the religious text of the Sikhs.
Ravidassias
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 The Ravidassias are a Dalit community and Dera Sachkhand Ballan is their largest dera
with 20 lakh followers worldwide (founded in the early 20th century by Baba Sant Pipal
Das).
 Once closely connected with Sikhism, the dera severed these decades-old ties in 2010, and
announced they would follow the Ravidassia religion.
 From 2010, the Dera Sachkhand Ballan started replacing the Guru Granth Sahib with its own
Granth, Amritbani, carrying 200 hymns of Guru Ravidas, in Ravidassia temples and
gurdwaras.
Ramanujacharya
 Born in 1017 in Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu, Ramanujacharya is revered as a Vedic
philosopher and social reformer.
 He was named Lakshmana at the time of his birth. He was also referred to as Ilaya Perumal
which means the radiant one.
 He traveled across India, advocating equality and social justice.
 He revived the Bhakti movement, and his preachings inspired other Bhakti schools of
thought. He is considered to be the inspiration for poets like Annamacharya, Bhakta
Ramdas, Thyagaraja, Kabir, and Meerabai.
 He is famous as the chief proponent of Vishishtadvaita subschool of Vedānta.
o VishishtAdvaita (literally "Advaita with uniqueness; qualifications") is a non-dualistic

school of Vedanta philosophy.
o It is non-dualism of the qualified whole, in which Brahman alone is seen as the

Supreme Reality, but is characterized by multiplicity.
 He went on to write nine scriptures known as the navaratnas, and composed numerous
commentaries on Vedic scriptures.
 Ramanuja‘s most important writings include his commentary on the Vedanta Sutras (the
Sri Bhasya, or "True Commentary"), and his commentary on the Bhagavad-Gita (the
Gitabhasya, or "Commentary on the Gita").
 His other writings include the Vedartha Samgraha ("Summary of the Meaning of the
Veda"), the Vedantasara ("Essence of Vedanta"), and Vedantadipa ("Lamp of Vedanta").
 Ramanuja was an advocate of social equality among all sections of people centuries
ago, and encouraged temples to open their doors to everyone irrespective of caste or
position in society at a time when people of many castes were forbidden from entering
them.
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YiN: Statue of Equality, a statue of Ramanujacharya, has been inaugurated in Hyderabad.
Naoroji and his Drain Theory

 Dadabhai Naoroji, known as the ‗Grand Old Man of Indian Nationalism‘, was a prominent
early nationalist. He was also ―Unofficial Ambassador of India‖ in England.
 He was elected to the Bombay Municipal Corporation and Town Council during the 1870s.
Elected to the British Parliament in 1892[1st Asian], he founded the India Society (1865)
and the East India Association (1866) in London. He was elected thrice as the President of
the INC.
 After his death, Dadabhai Naoroji was referred to as the ―Father of the Nation‖ by Gandhiji
and as ―Father of the Indian National Congress‖ by Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru.
 His major contribution to the Indian nationalist movement was his book Poverty and Un-
British Rule of the British in India (1901). In this book, he put forward the concept of
‗DRAIN OF WEALTH‘.
 He stated that in any country the tax raised would have been spent for the wellbeing of the
people of that country. But in British India, taxes collected in India were spent for the
welfare of England.
 Naoroji argued that India had exported an average of 13 million pounds worth of goods to
Britain each year from 1835 to 1872 with no corresponding return. The goods were in lieu of
payments for profits to Company shareholders living in Britain, guaranteed interest to
investors in railways, pensions to retired officials and generals, interest for the money
borrowed from England to meet war expenses for the British conquest of territories in India
as well as outside India. All these, going in the name of Home Charges, Naoroji asserted,
made up a loss of 30 million pounds a year.
Pandit Bhimsen Joshi

 Bhimsen Joshi was one of the greatest Indian vocalists from Karnataka, in the Hindustani
classical tradition.
 He is known for the Khayal form of singing and belongs to the Kirana Gharana tradition
of Hindustani Classical Music.
 Pandit Bhimsen Joshi has been awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship. He also
received the Bharat Ratna award in 2009.
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Abanindranath Tagore
 Abanindranath Tagore was the principal artist and creator of the "Indian Society of
Oriental Art".
 He was also the first major exponent of Swadeshi values in Indian art.
 He founded the influential Bengal school of art, which led to the development of modern
Indian painting.
 He was also a noted writer, particularly for children. Popularly known as 'Aban Thakur'.
 His Books Rajkahini, Buro Angla, Nalak, and Khirer Putul were landmarks in Bengali
language children's literature and art.
Acharya Narendra Dev

 Was one of the leading theorists of the Congress Socialist Party in India.
 His democratic socialism renounced violent means as a matter of
principle and embraced the satyagraha as a revolutionary tactic.
 Dev was first drawn to nationalism around 1915 under the influence of
B G Tilak and Aurobindo Ghosh.
 As a teacher he became interested in Marxism and Buddhism.
 In May 1934, at Patna, the First All India Congress Socialists‘ Conference was convened
by Jayaprakash Narayan and was presided by Acharya Narendra Dev. The Conference
passed a resolution asking the Congress to adopt a socialist program. Henceforth, the
Congress socialists made great efforts in organising an All India Congress Socialist Party.
 He was a key leader of the Congress Socialist Party from its founding in October 1934
o Congress Socialist Party (CSP) in October 1934, at Bombay, under the leadership
of Jayaprakash Narayan, Acharya Narendra Dev and Minoo Masani. The first
annual session of the All India Congress Socialist Party was held under the
presidentship of Sampurnananda. Congress socialists Nehru and Bose did not
join the CSP.
 Imprisoned Several times during the freedom struggle.
 He was at times a member of the Uttar Pradesh legislative assembly.
 He served as Vice Chancellor of University of Lucknow from 1947-195 and then served
as Vice Chancellor of Banaras Hindu University from December 1951 to 31 May 1954.
 Narendra Dev advocated the abolition of poverty and exploitation not just through the
Marxist materialist dialectic but especially on moral and humanistic grounds.
 He remained associated with the Socialist Party [1948] and its successor, the Praja
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Socialist Party, until his death in 1956.

o Socialist Party was founded not long after India's independence when Jayprakash
Narayan, Rambriksh Benipuri, Basawon Singh (Sinha), Acharya Narendra Dev
led the CSP out of Congress.
Rani Gaidinliu
 Rani Gaidinliu was a Naga spiritual leader.
 Gaidinliu belonged to the Rongmei clan of the Zeliangrong tribe in the Tamenglong district
of western Manipur.
 Born on January 26, 1915.
 At 13, she became associated with freedom fighter and religious leader, Haipou
Jadonang, and became his lieutenant in his social, religious and political movement.
 Jadonang, who was also a Rongmei, started the ‗Heraka movement‘, based on ancestral
Naga religion, and envisioned an independent Naga kingdom (or Naga-Raja).
 Rani Gandiliu‘s association with Jadonang prepared her to fight the British. After the
execution of Jadonang, she took up the leadership of the movement — which slowly turned
political from religious.
 Rani started a serious revolt against the British and was eventually imprisoned for life. She
was released after 14 years, in 1947.
 Acknowledging her role in the struggle against the British, Jawaharlal Nehru called her
the ―Daughter of the Hills‖ and gave her the title ―Rani‖ or queen.
Pingali Venkayya
 He was born in a Telugu Brahmin family at Bhatlapenumarru, near Machilipatnam, in what is
now the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.
 Designer of India‘s National Flag: Pingali Venkayya, a freedom fighter and the designer
of India‘s National Flag was a follower of Gandhian principles, and it was upon the
request of Mahatma Gandhi that he designed the Indian National Flag with saffron,
white and green colours with chakra in the middle.
o Initially, Venkayya came up with saffron and green colours, but it later evolved
with a spinning wheel at the centre and a third colour-white. (LALA HANS RAJ
SONDHI SUGGESTED ADDING A SPINNING WHEEL — SHOWING THE INDEPENDENT
INDIANS WHO CAN SPIN THEIR OWN CLOTHING FROM LOCAL FIBRES.)
o The flag was officially adopted by the Indian National Congress in 1931.
 Educational institution in Machilipatnam: He was an agriculturist and also an
educationist who set up an educational institution in Machilipatnam.
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 A postage stamp was issued to commemorate him in 2009

 He wrote a book titled ―National Flag for India,‖ which was published in 1916.
o The book showcased thirty designs of what could make the Indian flag.
Rani Laxmibai
 Rani Laxmibai was the queen of the princely state of Jhansi.
 She is known for her role in the First War of India‘s Independence in 1857.
 She was born in 1835. Her original name was Manikarnika Tambe.
 She was married to the king of Jhansi.
 The couple adopted a son before the king‘s death.
 The British East India Company refused to accept the son as legal heir and decided to
annex Jhansi.
 Refusing to cede her territory, the queen decided to rule on behalf of the heir and later
joined the uprising against the British in 1857.
 Cornered by the British, she escaped from Jhansi fort.
 She was wounded in combat near Gwalior‘s Phool Bagh, where she later died.
 Sir Hugh Rose, who was commanding the British army, is known to have described her as
―personable, clever and one of the most dangerous Indian leaders‖.
Jhalkari Bai
 Jhalkari Bai was a soldier in Rani Laxmibai‘s women‘s army.
 She rose to become one of the queen‘s most trusted advisers.
 She put her own life at risk to keep the queen out of harm‘s way.
 To date, the story of her valour is recalled by the people of Bundelkhand, and she is
often presented as a representative of Bundeli identity.
 The region looks up to her as an incarnation of God and also celebrates Jhalkaribai Jayanti
every year in her honour.
Durga Bhabhi
 Durgawati Devi, popularly known as Durga Bhabhi, was a revolutionary who joined the
armed struggle against colonial rule.
 She was born in Allahabad in 1907 and married to Hindustan Socialist Republican
Association (HSRA) member Bhagwati Charan Vohra
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 She was a member of the Naujawan Bharat Sabha.

 She helped Bhagat Singh escape in disguise from Lahore after the 1928 killing of British
police officer John P Saunders.
 As revenge for the hanging of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, and Sukhdev, she made an
unsuccessful attempt to kill the former Punjab Governor, Lord Hailey.
 Durgawati, along with other revolutionaries, also ran a bomb factory in Delhi.
Rani Chennamma
 The queen of Kittur, Rani Chennamma, was among the first rulers to lead an armed
rebellion against British rule.
 Kittur was a princely state in present-day Karnataka.
 She fought back against the attempt to control her dominion in 1824 after the death of
her young son.
 She had lost her husband, Raja Mallasarja, in 1816.
 She is seen among the few rulers of the time who understood the colonial designs of the
British.
 Rani Chennamma defeated the British in her first revolt but was captured and imprisoned
during the second assault by the East India Company.
Begum Hazrat Mahal

 Her maiden name was Muhammadi Khanum.
 She was born at Faizabad, Awadh.
 Later in life, she performed a mutah marriage with Nawab Wajid Ali Shah.
 Awadh was annexed by the British East India Company in 1856.
 Her husband, Nawab of Awadh Wajid Ali Shah, was sent to exile to Calcutta after the
1857 revolt.
 But she decided to stay back in Lucknow along with her son Birjis Qadir.
 Lucknow: it was the capital of Awadh. Begum Hazrat Mahal, one of the begums of the ex-
king of Awadh, took up the leadership of the revolt.
 Along with her supporters, she took on the British and wrested control of Lucknow.
o She took the leadership of the 1857 revolt.
 Begum Hazrat Mahal often called meetings to encourage soldiers, asking them to be brave
and fight for the cause.
 But she was forced into a retreat after the colonial rulers recaptured the area.
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Velu Nachiyar / Veeramangai

 Many years before the revolt of 1857, Velu Nachiyar [1st indian Queen] waged a war
against the British and emerged victorious.
 Rani Velu Nachiyar was a queen of Sivaganga estate [in Madras
Presidency]
 After her husband was killed in battle with the East India
Company, she entered the conflict and won with the support of
neighbouring kings.
 She went on to produce the first human bomb as well as
establish the first army of trained women soldiers in the late
1700s.
 Her army commander Kuyili is believed to have set herself ablaze and walked into a British
ammunition dump.
 She was succeeded by her daughter in 1790 and died a few years later in 1796.
Sri Aurobindo
 Aurobindo Ghose was born in Calcutta on 15th August 1872. He was a yogi, seer,
philosopher, poet, and Indian nationalist who propounded a philosophy of divine life on
earth through spiritual evolution.
 He died on 5th December 1950 in Pondicherry.
 Aurobindo‘s pragmatic strategies to get rid of British rule marked him as ―the Prophet of
Indian Nationalism‖.
Indian Revolutionary Movement
 From 1902 to 1910 he partook in the struggle to free India from the British.
 The partition of Bengal in 1905 provoked Aurobindo to leave his job in Baroda and plunge
into the nationalist movement. He started the patriotic journal Bande Mataram to
propagate radical methods and revolutionary tactics instead of supplication.
 He was arrested thrice by the British — twice for sedition and once for conspiring to
―wage war‖.
o He was imprisoned in 1908 (Alipore Bomb case).
 Two years later he fled British India and found refuge in the French colony of
Pondichéry (Puducherry), gave up overt political activities and embraced spiritual
pursuits, soon to emerge as one of the most original thinkers, philosophers and
spiritual masters.
 He met Mirra Alfassa in Pondicherry, and their spiritual collaboration led to ―Integral
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Yoga‖.
o Integral Yoga, is a yoga of Earth transformation. The aim of this yoga is not an escape
from life or a shunning of worldly existence, but a radical change in our life even
while living amidst it.
Aurobindo‘s Ideas on Second World War
 Several Indians saw the Second World War as an opportune moment to get rid of colonial
occupation; Aurobindo, asked his compatriots to support the Allies and ensure Hitler‘s
defeat.
Spirituality
 In Pondichéry he founded a community of spiritual seekers, which took shape as the Sri
Aurobindo Ashram in 1926.
 He believed that the basic principles of matter, life, and mind would be
succeeded through terrestrial evolution by the principle of supermind as an intermediate
power between the two spheres of the infinite and the finite.
Literary Works
 The Life Divine
 An English newspaper called Bande Mataram (in 1905)
 Bases of Yoga
 Bhagavad Gita and Its Message
 The Future Evolution of Man
 Rebirth and Karma
 Savitri: A Legend and a Symbol
 Hour of God
Sardar Ajit Singh

 He organised agitation by Punjabi peasants against anti-farmer laws known as the
Punjab Colonisation Act (Amendment) 1906 and administrative orders increasing water
rate charges.
 He was an early protester in the Punjab region of India who challenged British rule, and
openly criticized the Indian colonial government.
 In 1907, he was deported to Mandalay Jail in Burma along with Lala Lajpat Rai. Ajit was
arrested for leading an agitation for peasant rights, popularly known as Pagri Sambhal
Jatta.
 Form a revolutionary organisation called the Bharat Mata Society in 1907. He later
launched the Bharat Mata Book Agency.
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 Later he fled to Iran, rapidly developed as a centre for revolutionary activities by groups
led by Sardar Ajit Singh and Sufi Amba Prasad who had worked there since 1909.
 In Paris, Singh built a network of solidarity with people who were struggling for India‘s
liberation in different parts of Europe. He also founded in this period the Indian
Revolutionary Association (Bharatiya Krantikari Sangh).
 In 1918, he came in close contact with the Ghadar Party in San Francisco.
 In 1939, he returned to Europe and later on helped Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose in his
mission in Italy.
 In 1946, he came back to India at the invitation of Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru. After
spending some time in Delhi, he went to Dalhousie & Singh died on 15 August 1947
Pandurang Khankhoje
 Pandurang Khankhoje was born in Wardha, Maharashtra, in the late 19th century.
Revolutionary Connections
 Pandurang Khankhoje came in contact with other revolutionaries early on.
 Hindu reformer Swami Dayanand and his Arya Samaj movement, which called for a spirit
of reform and social change, became the hero to a young student group led by
Khankhoje.
 Khankhoje was an ardent admirer of the French Revolution and of the American War of
Independence.
 Before leaving India for training in abroad, he visited Bal Gangadhar Tilak, by who he was
inspired.
Life Abroad
 Khankhoje decided to go abroad for further training in revolutionary methods and

militaristic strategy.
 After spending time with nationalists from Japan and China, Khankhoje eventually moved
to the US, where he enrolled in college as a student of agriculture.
 A year later, he joined the Mount Tamalpais Military Academy in California to fulfil his
original purpose of leaving India.
How he is associated with the Indian Independence Movement?
Khankhoje & Ghadar Party
 In the US, Khankhoje met Lala Har Dayal, an Indian intellectual teaching at Stanford
University.
o Har Dayal had begun a propaganda campaign, publishing a newspaper that

36
featured patriotic songs and articles in the vernacular languages of India.
 This was the seed from which the Ghadar Party would emerge.
 Khankhoje was one of the founding members of the Ghadar Party, established by
Indians living abroad in 1913, mostly belonging to Punjab.
Connection between Khankhoje and Mexico
Connections with Mexicans in the US
 At the military academy in the US, Khankhoje met many people from Mexico.
o Khankhoje was inspired by ―The Mexican Revolution of 1910‖ which led to the
overthrow of the dictatorial regime.
 While he was reaching out to Indians working on farms in the US with the aim of
discussing the idea of Indian independence with them, he met with Mexican workers as
well.
 He reached out to Bhikaji Cama in Paris, and met with Vladimir Lenin in Russia among
other leaders, seeking support for India's Independence.
o He was facing deportation from Europe and he could not go to India, so he

sought shelter in Mexico.
Life in Mexico
 With the help of some friends in Mexico, he was appointed a professor at the National
School of Agriculture in Chapingo, near Mexico City.
 He researched corn, wheat, pulses and rubber, developing frost and drought-resistant
varieties, and was part of efforts to bring in the Green Revolution in Mexico.
o Later on in the 20th Century, the American agronomist Dr Norman Borlaug, called
the Father of the Green Revolution in India, brought the Mexican wheat variety
to Punjab.
 Khankhoje was revered as an Agricultural Scientist in Mexico.
o The renowned Mexican artist Diego Rivera painted murals that featured Khankhoje,
including one titled ‗Our Daily Bread‘ that prominently depicted him breaking
bread with people seated around a table.
Veerapandiya Kattabomman
 Was a Palayakarrar or Polygar from Panchalankurichi, Thoothukudi District (then
Tirunelveli area) in Tamil Nadu.
 Polygars were feudal lords who were appointed as military chiefs and administrative
governors from the time of the Vijayanagara Empire in parts of Southern India. They were
37
given the charge of a Palayam or a group of villages, hence called Palayakarrar or its
anglicised version Polygar.
 Polygars collected taxes from the peasants and in time, they almost acted as
independent chieftains.
 When the EIC started wresting control of the region, they came in conflict with the
polygars on the question of who should collect taxes. The Company wanted to control
the polygars and secure the rights to collect taxes as well as control territory.
 Kattabomman refused to bow down to the British and waged a war against them. This
is often called the First Polygar War of 1799.
 A meeting with the British over the collection of pending rents ended in violence when a
British officer was killed by Kattabomman. Kattabomman escaped but the British put a
bounty on his head. This prompted many polygars to rebel openly.
 Kattabomman was ultimately captured after he was betrayed
 He was sentenced to death and publicly hanged at Kayatharu on 16 October 1799.
 His associate Subramania Pillai was also hanged after which his head was displayed on a
spike at Panchalankurichi. Another associate Soundara Pandian was killed brutally by
smashing his head on a wall.
 There was another polygar rebellion in 1800 which lasted a whole year.
Master Amir Chand

 He was a school-teacher. He took active part in social reform and educational activities
such as widow re-marriage, temperance and spread of education.
 He was a prominent worker in the Swadeshi Movement.
 Contact with the famous revolutionary leader, Lala Har Dayal, brought him into the
revolutionary movement. He became leader of the Ghadr Party.
 He worked in close collaboration with Rash Behari Bose and directed revolutionary
activities in the whole of northern India.
 He was arrested in February 1914 on the charge of conspiracy to kill Lord Hardinge, the
Viceroy of India, and also accused of complicity in the Lahore Bomb Case.
 Delhi Conspiracy Case
o It started with the throwing of a bomb on Lord Hardinge while he was passing on
an elephant through Delhi's Chandni Chowk in a State procession marking the
inauguration of Delhi as the capital of India.
o He was sentenced to death on October 5, 1914, along with his three compatriots –
Avadh Bihari, Bal Mokand and Basant Kumar Biswas.
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o He died on the gallows on May 8, 1915, in the Delhi Central Jail.
Anand Mohan Bose (1847-1906)

 He was the first Indian wrangler and received a First Class degree. Bose trained to
become a barrister in Britain and was admitted to the Bar in 1874.
 Bose was a member of the Brahmo Samaj and accompanied Keshub Chunder Sen to
Britain in February 1870.
 Indian Association of Calcutta 1876
o also known as the Indian National Association
o Was founded in 1876 by younger nationalists of Bengal led by Surendranath

Banerjea and Ananda Mohan Bose. The Indian Association was the most important
of pre - Congress associations. It later merged with the Indian National Congress
in 1886.
 Bose joined the INC when it was established in 1885. In 1898, he presided over the 14th
Session in Madras.
 Sadharan Brahmo Samaj
o In 1878, Keshab‘s inexplicable act of getting his thirteen-year-old daughter
married to the minor Hindu Maharaja of Cooch-Behar with all the orthodox Hindu
rituals caused split in Keshab‘s Brahmo Samaj of India.
o After 1878, the disgusted followers of Keshab set up a new organisation, the
Sadharan Brahmo Samaj.
o Started by Ananda Mohan Bose, Shibchandra Deb and Umesh Chandra Datta.
 He and a few other Indians founded "India Society" while in England.

 He was also involved with Sisir Kumar Ghosh's "Indian League."
 He spoke out against the Vernacular Press Act and the reduction of the Indian Civil Service
Examination's overall age limit.
 Ananda Mohan was dubbed "Saint Bose" by his friends and admirers.
 Sister Nivedita referred to him as "the forerunner of a new Knighthood of Civil Order."
 He presided over a protest meeting against Bengal partition held at Federation Hall in 1905
but due to his ill health, his address was read by Rabindranath Tagore.
Aruna Asaf Ali 1909-1996

 Freedom fighter who rose to prominence during the Quit India Movement. She is known as
the ‗Grand Old Lady of Indian Independence‘ for her role in the freedom struggle.
39
Role in the Indian Freedom Struggle

 Aruna Asaf Ali took part in many non-violent agitations during the Salt Satyagraha. For
this, she was promptly arrested by the colonial authorities.
 The Gandhi-Irwin Pact was made in 1931 which promised the release of all those
arrested during the Salt Satyagraha, but Aruna Asaf Ali was not among them. Only a
strong protest by other women freedom fighters and Mahatma Gandhi helped in securing
her release
 Upon release, she was not politically active but at the end of 1942, she became an active
member of the underground movement
 Quit India Movement
o Despite major leaders and many workers of the party being in jail, Aruna Asaf Ali
led the remainder of the party an unfurled the Congress flag at Gowalia Tank
Maidan, marking the beginning of the Quit India Movement
o While in hiding she edited the magazine Inquilab, a magazine of the Congress
party.
Post-Independence and Legacy
 She left the Congress Socialist Party to join the Communist Party of India
 Played a crucial role in the formation of the National Federation of Indian Women in
1954. This was the women‘s wing of the CPI.
 In 1958, Aruna Asaf Ali became the first mayor of Delhi
 She was awarded the Padma Vibhushan in 1992 and the Bharat Ratna posthumously in
1997. In her honour, the Dr Aruna Asaf Ali Sadbhawan Award is conferred annually by the
All India Minorities Front.
Badruddin Tyabji (1844-1906)

 First Muslim president of the Indian National Congress [after WC Bannerjee and
Dadabhai Naoroji ]
 In 1895, he became the first Muslim judge of the Bombay High Court and third Indian to
hold such a prestigious title.
 Badruddin was also the first Indian to hold the post of Chief Justice of the Bombay
High Court.
 Taking inspiration from his elder brother, Camruddin, who was the first Indian solicitor
admitted in England and Wales, Badruddin joined Newbury High Park College in London
in 1860.
 He came back to India in December 1867 and became the first Indian barrister in the
High Court of Bombay.
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 In 1885, he formed the Bombay Presidency Association along with Pherozeshah Mehta
and Kashinath Trimbak Telang.
 In 1885, he started working for the Indian National Congress [Mod. Leader]. In fact,
Badruddin and his brother Camruddin were among the core team members of Congress,
who have founded the party.
 He founded the Islam Club and the Islam Gymkhana to promote social interaction of the
Muslim community.
 Badruddin introduced Resolution No. XIII at the 1888 Allahabad Congress to conciliate
Muslims.
 He had also spoken against the zenana system.
 Badruddin founded the Indian Parliamentary Committee in England along with Naoriji
and Bonnerjee in 1893.
Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay (1833- 1894)

 He was one of the greatest novelists and poets of India.
 He was born on 27th June 1838 in the village of Kanthapura in the town of North 24
Parganas, Naihati, present day West Bengal.
 He composed the song Vande Mataram in Sanskrit, which was a source of inspiration to
the people in their freedom struggle.
 In 1857 Chatterjee continued his studies and passed his B.A. Examination in 1859. The
Lieutenant Governor of Calcutta appointed Bankim Chandra Chatterjee as Deputy
Collector in the same year.
 He was in Government service for thirty-two years and retired in 1891.
 He died on 8th April, 1894.
Contributions to India‘s Freedom Struggle
 His epic Novel Anandamath - set in the background of the Sanyasi Rebellion (1770-
1820), when Bengal was facing a famine too - made Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay an
influential figure on the Bengali renaissance.
 He also founded a monthly literary magazine, Bangadarshan, in 1872, through which
Bankim is credited with influencing the emergence of a Bengali identity and nationalism.
o The magazine stopped publication in the late 1880s, but was resurrected in 1901
with Rabindranath Tagore as its editor.
o While it carried Tagore‘s writings - including his first full-length novel Chokher Bali -
the ‗new‘ Bangadarshan retained its original philosophy, nurturing the nationalistic
spirit.
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o During the Partition of Bengal (1905), the magazine played a vital role in giving
an outlet to the voices of protest and dissent. Tagore‘s Amar Sonar Bangla - the
national anthem of Bangladesh now - was first published in Bangadarshan.
Other Literary Contributions:
 His famous novels include Kapalkundala (1866), Debi Choudhurani, Bishabriksha (The
Poison Tree), Chandrasekhar (1877), Rajmohan‘s wife and Krishnakanter Will.
Sanyasi Rebellion
 The Sanyasi Uprisings took place in Bengal between the periods of 1770- 1820s.
 The Sanyasis rose in rebellion after the great famine of 1770 in Bengal which caused acute
chaos and misery.
 However, the immediate cause of the rebellion was the restrictions imposed by the British
upon pilgrims visiting holy places among both Hindus and Muslims.
Barindra Kumar Ghosh 1880-1959

 Barindra Kumar Ghosh, the younger brother of Sri Aurobindo Ghosh, was an Indian
revolutionary and journalist.
 Being born in England, he received education in Deoghar and military
training from Baroda.
 He was highly influenced by Aurobindo and thus, joined the
revolutionary movement.
 He was actively associated with Jatindra Nath Banerjee (a
prominent freedom fighter, also known as Niralamba Swami).
 In the year 1906, Barindra Kumar published the Bengali weekly Jugantar. Later, the
secret revolutionary arm Jugantar was formed under the guise of a fitness club in Bengal.
 He, along with Jatindranath Mukherjee (or Bagha Jatin), was instrumental in recruiting
young revolutionaries.
 Maniktala, Kolkata, emerged as a secret place where the revolutionaries used to
manufacture bombs, and collected arms and ammunition.
 In the intensive police investigation following the murder attempt of Magistrate Douglas
Kingsford (1908 aka Alipore Bomb Case), Barindra and Aurobindo were arrested on 2nd
May 1908 along with other freedom fighters.
o A conspiracy was hatched there to kill Douglas Kingsford. Two young
revolutionaries - 18-year-old Khudiram Bose and 19-year-old Prafulla Chaki -
were entrusted with the task of carrying out the killing..
o On 30 April 1908, they mistakenly threw a bomb on a carriage, that, instead of

killing Kingsford, killed two English women. Prafulla Chaki committed suicide and
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Khudiram Bose was arrested and hanged for the murder.
 In the Alipore Bomb Case, Barindra Ghosh and Ullaskar Dutta (a member of the Jugantar
party) were sentenced to death. With the intervention of Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das,
the sentence was reduced to life imprisonment.
 In 1909, Barindra Kumar was deported to the Cellular Jail, Andaman. Upon his release
from jail, Barindra began his journalistic career and became associated with Dainik
Basumati and the Statesman.
Behramji M Malabari (1853-1912)

 Malabari became well-known in the United Kingdom for his work advocating for
women's rights, especially the rights of Hindu widows.
 Malabari wrote not only editorials in his own magazine, but also letters to the editors of
The Times, about the case of Rukhmabai, a child bride who was ordered to live with her
husband in 1885.
o The case piqued the attention of Florence Nightingale and Max Müller, who both
wrote commentary on it.
 He founded a social service organization known as Seva Sadan in 1885
 Malabari visited the United Kingdom in 1890. In 1893, he published ‗The Indian Eye on
English Life; or, Rambles of a Pilgrim Reformer‘, which chronicled his journey and
observations of British life.
 In 1875, he published ‗Nitivinod‘ (Pleasure of Morality), a compilation of Gujarati poems
he wrote and published.
 Alfred Tennyson, a brilliant and eminent English poet at the time, praised and appreciated
his literary work 'The Indian Muse in English Garb' in 1877.
 Malabari's Rukhmabai case editorials attracted widespread attention to the issue, and
o it was "largely due to his efforts" and William Thomas Stead's agitation in the
Pall Mall Gazette that the →
 Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1885 and
 Age of Consent Act (which governed the age of consent for females in
Britain and India) in 1891 were passed.
 Malabari was also instrumental in the translation of Max Müller's Hibbert Lectures into
Indian languages, as he believed the Hindu priesthood was misinterpreting the Vedas and
Upanishad.
 Malabari then tried to get the lectures translated into other languages (including Marathi,
Bengali, Hindi, and Tamil), and spent a lot of time searching for translators and funding.
 Malabari attended the Indian National Congress in Bombay in 1885, and "he was a
43
nationalist" and "had a close friendship with Dadabhai Naoroji," one of the Congress's
founders and leaders, despite his distancing himself from the organisation.
 Behramji Malabari was felicitated with the Kaiser-e-Hind gold medal in 1900 AD for his
immense services in social reforms
 Being a top journalist of that time, he served The East and Wesť paper as an editor.
 In 1880 he acquired the Indian Spectator paper and edited it for 20 years. Later the
Indian Spectator got merged in The Voice of India
Bhulabhai Desai (1877-1946)

 He participated in the Home Rule Movement (1916) and was imprisoned during Civil
Disobedience Movement.
 He represented INC in the Central Legislative Assembly for nine years.
 He formulated the Desai-Liaqat formula in 1944 for negotiations with the League.
 He advocated from the prisoners sides during the INA trials
o Indian National Army (INA) officers, Shahnawaz Khan, Prem Kumar Sahgal and
Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon were put on trial for treason
Chandra Shekhar Azad 1906-1931

 He was a famous revolutionary activist, member of the Hindustan Republican
Association and leader of the Hindustan Social Republican Army.
 He gained his title ―Azad‖ during the Non Co-operation Movement when he was arrested
and the court asked his name, he repeatedly answered ―Azad‖.
 He was involved in Kakori Conspiracy of 1925, Second Lahore Conspiracy, the Delhi
Conspiracy, the killing of Saunders in Lahore and Central Assembly bomb episode.
 He shot himself while fighting with the police at Alfred Park in Allahabad.
Chhakravarti Rajagopalachari aka. Rajaji (1879-1972)

 He was a politician and lawyer from Tamil Nadu.
 He gave up his practice during NCM.
 He held the post of the General-Secretary of the INC in
1921-1922 and was a member of Congress Working
Committee from 1922 to 1924.
 He defended Indian Independence activist, P. Varadarajulu Naidu against charges
of sedition in 1917.
44
 He hoisted the CDM in Tamil Nadu and was arrested for leading a Salt March from
Trichinopoly to Vedaranniyam on the Tanjore coast.
 He was also involved in the Vaikom Satyagraha movement against untouchability
 He was elected as the Chief Minister of Madras in 1937 Elections.
 He resigned from INC in 1942 for not accepting the Cripp‘s Proposal.
 He prepared the CR Formula for Congress-League Co-operation.
 He served as the Governor of Bengal (August-November 1947) and was the first and
last Indian Governor-General of India (1948-50).
 He became the Minister of Home Affairs in the country‘s first Cabinet.
 He founded the Swatantra Party in 1959.
 His rational ideas are reflected in the collection Satyameva Jayate.
 He was awarded the ‗Bharat Ratna' in 1954.
CR Das (1870-1925)
 In the 1908 Alipore Bomb Case, Das defended Aurobindo Ghosh and gained fame
among Indians.
 He also contributed to the English weekly ‗Bande Mataram‘ along with Aurobindo
and Bipin Chandra Pal
 He actively advocated the use of the Bengali language in university examinations.
 He championed the cause of Khadi and cottage industries and gave up his own western
clothes and luxurious lifestyle.
 He became involved with the Non-Cooperation Movement led by Mahatma Gandhi.
 When Gandhi withdrew the non-cooperation movement in 1922 owing to the incident
at Chauri Chaura, Das and others objected since the movement was going on in full swing.
He, along with Motilal Nehru, established the Swaraj Party in January 1923.
 He was a prolific writer and poet. He published his collection of poems in two volumes
titled ‘Malancha‘ and ‘Mala‘.
 Das‘s health started getting worse in 1925 and he went on to stay in Darjeeling to improve
his health.
 Gandhi was a great admirer of Das and called him a great soul. The people gave him the
honorific title ‘Deshbandhu‘. Subhas Chandra Bose also revered das
 Newspapers/Journal - Narayana (Bengali monthly) and Forward.
 He also presided 1922 INC session of Gaya.
 Das died of a severe fever on 16 June 1925 in Darjeeling.
45
Dr Rajendra Prasad (1884-1963)

 Prasad‘s involvement in the country‘s freedom movement started during his student days
when he attended an Indian National Congress session as a
volunteer in 1906.
 Formally, he joined the Indian National Congress in the year
1911, when the annual session was again held in Calcutta.
 During the Lucknow Session of Indian National Congress held in
1916 he met Mahatma Gandhi. During one of the fact-finding
missions at Champaran, Mahatma Gandhi asked him to come with
his volunteers.
 He was so greatly moved by the dedication, courage and conviction of Mahatma Gandhi
that as soon as the motion of Non-Cooperation was passed by Indian National
Congress in 1920, he retired from his lucrative career of lawyer as well as his duties in
the university to aid the movement.
 He wrote articles for the revolutionary publications Searchlight and the Desh and
collected funds for these papers.
 He took an active role in helping people affected by the 1914 floods that struck Bihar
and Bengal.
 He was elected as the President of the INC during the Bombay session in October 1934.
 He again became the president when Subhash Chandra Bose resigned in 1939.
 He spent almost 3 years in jail after the Quit India Movement
 After the formation of Interim Government of 12 nominated ministers under the
leadership of Jawaharlal Nehru on 2 September 1946, he was allocated the Food and
Agriculture department
 He was elected as the President of Constituent Assembly on 11 December 1946.
 On 17 November 1947 he became Congress President for a third time after J. B.
Kripalani submitted his resignation.
 He was re-elected for two consecutive terms in 1952 and 1957, and is the only
President of India to achieve this feat. [longest-serving president till date]
 He was awarded the Bharat Ratna in 1962.
Dr Zakir Hussain (1897-1969)

 He was a good student and academic, and also received his doctoral degree from the
University of Berlin in economics.
 Before he went to Germany for his PhD, he had established along with a few others, the
46
National Muslim University at Aligarh on 29 October 1920.

o This National Muslim University was shifted to Karol Bagh, New Delhi in 1925 and
then again shifted to Jamia Nagar, New Delhi in 1935. It was then renamed
Jamia Millia Islamia. It is now a central university and an ‗A‘ grade institution in the
country in higher education.
 Through the Jamia Millia Islamia, Husain was involved in the freedom movement in the
country. He believed in Mahatma Gandhi‘s value-based education and conducted
various reforms in the education sector.
 In 1937, he participated in the National Conference on Education in Wardha.
 In 1948, he became the Vice-Chancellor of the Aligarh Muslim University. He was also a
member of the Indian Universities Commission. He was a nominated member of the
Rajya Sabha.
 From 1956 to 1958, he was a member of the UNESCO. He was also a member of the
University Grants Commission (UGC) and also the chairman of the Central Board of
Secondary Education (CBSE).
 He was appointed as the Governor of Bihar in 1957.
 He served as the 3rd President of Indian Union and was honoured with Bharat Ratna in
1963.
 Zakir Husain died while in office (becoming the first president to die in office) on 3
May 1969.
Dinbandhu Mitra (1830-1873)

 He was a Bengali writer who highlighted the cause of Indigo planters through his play
Neel Darpan published in 1860.
 The play was translated in English by Madhu Sudan Dutt.
 The Indigo Revolt of 1859 – 60 in Bengal was one of the responses from the Indian farmer
to the oppressive policy of the British.
o Indian tenants were forced to grow indigo by their planters who were mostly
Europeans. Used to dye the clothes indigo was in high demand in Europe.
o Peasants were forced to accept meagre amounts as advance and enter into unfair
contracts. Once a peasant accepted the contract, he had no option but to grow
indigo on his land. The price paid by the planter was far lower than the market
price.
o Revolt was led by Digambar Biswas and Bishnu Biswas
47
Durgabai Deshmukh (1909-1981)

 She was popularly known as ―Iron Lady.‖
 She participated in Salt Satyagrah during CDM in Madras led by T. Prakasam and was
imprisoned.
 She was an Indian freedom fighter, lawyer, social worker
and politician. She was a member of the Constituent
Assembly (CA) of India and of the Planning
Commission of India.
o Deshmukh was the only female member of the
Panel of Chairmen in the CA
o She played a significant role in the enactment of many social welfare laws. She was
also the one who proposed Hindustani (Hindi+Urdu) as the national language of
India.
 She founded the Andhra Mahila Sabha (Andhra Women's Conference) in 1937.
 She was also the founder chairperson of the Central Social Welfare Board.
 In 1953, she married C.D. Deshmukh, the first Indian governor of the Reserve Bank of
India and Finance Minister in India's Central Cabinet from 1950 to 1956
 She also edited the journal Andhra Mahila
Gopal Krishna Gokhale (1886-1915)

 Between 1899 and 1902, he was a member of the Bombay Legislative Council followed
by work at the Imperial Legislative Council from 1902 till his death
(1915).
 At the Imperial legislature, Gokhale played a key role in framing
the Morley-Minto reforms of 1909.
Role in INC
 He was associated with the Moderate Group of INC (joined in 1889).
 He became president of INC in 1905 in Banaras session.
 This was the time when bitter differences had arisen between his group of ‗Moderates‘
and the ‗Extremists‘ led by Lala Lajpat Rai and Bal Gangadhar Tilak among others.
o The two factions split at the Surat session of 1907.
Related Societies and Other Works

 He established the Servants of India Society in 1905 for the expansion of Indian
education.
 He was also associated with the Sarvajanik sabha journal started by Govind Ranade.
48
 In 1908, Gokhale founded the Ranade Institute of Economics.

 He started english weekly newspaper, The Hitavada (The people's paper).
Mentor to Gandhi:
 As a liberal nationalist, he is regarded by Mahatma Gandhi as his political guru. Gandhi
wrote a book in Gujarati dedicated to the leader titled ‗Dharmatma Gokhale‘.
Lachit Borphukan
 Lachit Borphukan was a commander and councillor in the Ahom Kingdom.
 The Ahom Kingdom resisted the invasion of the Mughal
Empire several times and reigned in present-day Assam for
over 600 years.
 The Ahom Dynasty was founded in 1228 in Assam‘s
Brahmaputra Valley.
 The first King of the Ahom Kingd om was Chaolung
Sukaphaa, who crossed the Patkai mountainous region to
reach the Brahmaputra valley.
 In 1615, the Ahom Dynasty engaged in its first significant conflict with the Mughal
Empire.
 The Mughals conquered the Ahom capital of Garhgaon in 1662 but were defeated in
later battles.
 After the Ahoms enjoyed some initial victories, Aurangzeb dispatched Raja Ram Singh I
of Jaipur in 1669 to recapture the lost territory — eventually resulting in the Battle of
Saraighat in 1671.
 During the battle of Saraighat in 1671, the Ahoms led by Lachit Borphukan
successfully defeated the Mughals.
 Borphukan is mainly known for his leadership in this battle. By 1682, the Mughal
influence in the region was completely eradicated.
 Lachit was a brilliant military commander who knew the terrain of the Brahmaputra valley
and the surrounding hills like the back of his hand. He was chosen as one of the five
Borphukans of the Ahom kingdom by king Charadhwaj Singha, and given
administrative, judicial, and military responsibilities.
 He Preferred guerrilla tactics which provided an edge to his smaller, but fast moving and
capable forces. [Much like Shivaji]
Gopal Hari Deshmukh ‘Lokahitwadi’ (1823-1892)

 Deshmukh was an Indian activist, thinker, social reformer and writer from Maharashtra.
His original surname was Shidhaye.
49
 Because of 'Vatan' (right of Tax collection) that the family had received, the family was
later called Deshmukh.
 Deshmukh is regarded as an important figure of the Social Reform Movement in
Maharashtra.
Career [All this is imp for prelim]

 Deshmukh started his career as a translator for the government then under British Raj. In
 1867, the government appointed him a small cause judge in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.
 He worked as a Diwan also in Ratlam state.
 The government had commended him with the honorifics 'Justice of Peace' and
'Raobahadur' while he was still working.
 He retired as a sessions judge. He held many other important positions, including those of
the Assistant Inam Commissioner, Joint Judge of Nasik High Court, and Member of the
Law Council
Social work in Maharashtra

 At age 25, Deshmukh started writing articles aimed at social reform in Maharashtra in
the weekly Prabhakar under the pen name Lokhitawadi
 In the first two years, he penned 108 articles on social reform. That group of articles has
come to be known in Marathi literature as Lokhitawadinchi Shatapatre.
 He promoted emancipation (liberation) and education of women, and wrote
against arranged child marriages, dowry system, and polygamy, all of which
were prevalent in India in his times.
 Deshmukh founded a public library in Pune under the leadership of the then governor
of the state of Bombay, Henry Brown.
 He took a leadership role in founding Gyan Prakash, Indu Prakash, and Lokhitwadi
periodicals in Maharashtra.
Social work in Gujarat

 While Deshmukh was serving as a judge in Ahmedabad, he organized in that city annual
speech conferences on social issues under the sponsorship of Premabhai Institute, and
also himself delivered speeches.
 He established in Ahmedabad a branch of Prarthana Samaj, founded an institute
promoting remarriages of widows, and invigorated Gujarat Vernacular Society.
 He started a weekly Hitechchhu in both Gujarati and English.
 He also started " Gujarati Budhhi-Wardhak Sabha".
Books
 Deshmukh wrote 35 books on diverse topics, including religious, social, economic,
political, historic, and literary matters.
 He wrote Panipat war, Kalyog, Jatibhed, Lankecha Itihas.
 He also translated some English works into Marathi.

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Acharya Narendra Dev .................................................................................................................................. 29

Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan

Dhondo Keshav Karve

Subhas Chandra Bose

Raja Ram Mohan Roy (1772 – 1833)

the abolition of taxes on tax-free lands.

Sachindra Nath Sanyal

 Sanyal founded a branch of the Anushilan Samiti in Patna in 1913.

E.V. Ramaswamy Naicker

Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar

Acharya Vinoba Bhave

Sir Syed Ahmed Khan

Chaudhary Charan Singh

 He was the author of several books and pamphlets:

o Co-operative Farming X-rayed

o India‘s Poverty and its Solution

o Peasant Proprietorship or Land to the Workers

o Prevention of Division of Holdings Below a Certain Minimum‘

 Early life- contributions:

o He is known to have introduced the Hindu philosophies of Yoga and Vedanta to

o He preached ‗neo-Vedanta‘, an interpretation of Hinduism through a Western lens,

 Books written by him:

o Raja Yoga, Jnana Yoga, Karma Yoga

 National Youth Day is 12 jan. to mark his birthday

Key-highlights of the Speech in Chicago

 loving all religions

 being acquainted with science

 knowing importance and necessity of rituals

 being aware of roots of Hinduism

 being aware of the goal of science

 being aware of the cause of downfall of India

 being against religious conversations

Bal Gangadhar Tilak

 Contribution to Freedom Movement:

Savitri Bai Phule

 He introduced a complete overhaul of the education system and is often considered

Lala Lajpat Rai (Punjab Kesari /Lion of Punjab)

at Delhi, from the Visitors‘ Gallery.

 He established the Bahishkrit Hitakarini Sabha to promote education and socio-economic

Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray

the Knighthood in 1919.

Alluri Sitharama Raju

 The period when he lived is debated, as is his religious identity.

 He is believed to have lived between the 3rd-4th century or 8th-9th

 He is thought to be linked to Jainism. However, Hindus have also

 He had contributed the Tirukkural or ‗Kural‘ to the Sangam literature.

o Porul (government and society), and

 It is believed that he was born in Varanasi in a cobbler‘s family.

 He traveled across India, advocating equality and social justice.

 He is famous as the chief proponent of Vishishtadvaita subschool of Vedānta.

o VishishtAdvaita (literally "Advaita with uniqueness; qualifications") is a non-dualistic

o It is non-dualism of the qualified whole, in which Brahman alone is seen as the

YiN: Statue of Equality, a statue of Ramanujacharya, has been inaugurated in Hyderabad.

Naoroji and his Drain Theory

Pandit Bhimsen Joshi

Acharya Narendra Dev

Socialist Party, until his death in 1956.

 A postage stamp was issued to commemorate him in 2009

 She was a member of the Naujawan Bharat Sabha.

Begum Hazrat Mahal

Velu Nachiyar / Veeramangai

Sardar Ajit Singh