Swami Shraddhanand

2021-08-18T05:51:38Z

2405:201:300D:402A:147B:11A2:E323:8FDA:

{{EngvarB|date=September 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2018}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Swami Shraddhanand
| image = Swami shraddhanand.jpg
| caption =
| quotation =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1856|2|22}}
| birth_place = Talwan, [[Jalandhar]], [[Punjab Province (British India)|Punjab]], India
| dead =
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1926|12|23|1856|2|2}}
| death_place = [[Delhi]], India
| death_cause = [[Assassination]] by Abdul Rashid [[gunshot]]
| occupation = Social worker, Freedom Fighter, Teacher.
}}
'''Swami Shraddhanand''' (22 February 1856 – 23 December 1926), also known as '''Mahatma Munshi Ram Vij''',<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.aryasamajhouston.org/about-us/stalwarts-of-arya-samaj/swami-shraddhanand|title=Swami Shraddhanand|website=www.aryasamajhouston.org|access-date=2020-01-16}}</ref> was an Indian Independence activist and an [[Arya Samaj]] [[Sannyasa|sannyasi]] who propagated the teachings of [[Dayananda Saraswati]]. This included the establishment of educational institutions, like the [[Gurukul Kangri University]], and played a key role on the ''Sangathan'' (consolidation and organization) and the ''[[Shuddhi (Hinduism)|Shuddhi]]'' (purification), a [[Hindu reform movement]] in the 1920s.

==Early life and education==

He was born on 22 February 1856 in the village of Talwan in the [[Jalandhar District]] of the [[Punjab (British India)|Punjab]] Province of [[India]]. He was the youngest child in the family of Lala Nanak Chand, who was a [[Police Inspector]] in the [[United Provinces of Agra and Oudh|United Provinces]] (now [[Uttar Pradesh]]), then administered by the [[East India Company]]. His given name was Brihaspati Vij, but later he was called Munshi Ram Vij by his father, a name that stayed with him till he took [[sanyas]] in 1917, variously as Lala Munshi Ram Vij and Mahatma Munshi Ram.

He adopted [[atheism]] after a few incidents, such as when he was prevented from entering the temple while a noble woman was praying. He also was witness to a "compromising" situation involving a church's father with a [[nun]],<ref name=Auto>Autobiography http://www.vedpedia.com {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110202025625/http://vedpedia.com/ |date=2 February 2011 }}</ref> the attempted rape of a young [[worship|devotee]] by [[pontiffs]] of the [[Krishna]] [[cult]], and the suspicious death of a little girl at the home of a [[Muslim]] lawyer. All of these events cemented his [[atheism]]. He eventually passed mukhtari exams and began studying to become a lawyer.<ref name=Auto/>

===Meeting Dayanand===
He first met [[Dayanand Saraswati]] when Dayanand visited [[Bareilly]] to give lectures. His father was handling arrangements and security at the events, due to the attendance of some prominent personalities and British officers. Munshiram attend the lectures at his father's request. He originally went with the intent of spoiling the arrangements, then claimed to be strongly influenced by Dayanand's courage, skill, and strong personality. After completing his studies Munshiram started his practice as [[lawyer]].<ref name=Auto/><ref name=ad/>

==Career==
[[File:Mahatma Munshi Ram or Swami Shraddhanand Arya Samaj.jpg|thumb|Mahatma Munshi Ram or Swami Shraddhanand in early days]]


===Schools===
In 1892 [[Arya Samaj]] was split into two factions after a controversy over whether to make [[Vedic]] education the core curriculum at the [[Dayanand Anglo-Vedic Schools System|DAV]] College Lahore. He left the organization and formed the Punjab [[Arya Samaj]]. The Arya Samaj was divided between the Gurukul Section and the DAV Section. Shraddhanand headed for Gurukuls. In 1897, when Lala Lekh Ram was assassinated, Shraddhanand succeeded him. He headed the 'Punjab Arya Pratinidhi Sabha', and started its monthly journal, ''Arya Musafir.''<ref name=mus/> In 1902 he established a [[Gurukul]] in [[Kangri, India]] near Haridwar. This school is now recognized as [[Gurukul Kangri University]].

In 1917, Mahatma Munshi Ram took sanyas as "Swami Shradhanand Saraswati".

Shraddhanand established gurukul Indraprashtha in [[Aravali]] near Faridabad, Haryana.<ref name=mus/>

===Activism===
In 1917, Shraddhanand left Gurukul to become an active member of the [[Hindu reform movement]]s and the [[Indian Independence movement]].<ref name=ad>G.S. Chhatra (2007). [https://books.google.com/books?id=e08-yhBFfpAC&pg=PA227 Some Indian Personalities of the Time: Swami Shraddhanand] ''Advanced Study in the History of Modern India'' Lotus Press. {{ISBN|81-89093-08-8}} p. 227.</ref> He began working with the [[Indian National Congress|Congress]], which he invited to hold its session at Amritsar in 1919. This was because of the Jalianwala massacre, and no one in the Congress Committee agreed to have a session at Amritsar. Shraddhanand presided over the session.

He also joined the nationwide protest against the [[Rowlatt Act]]. The same year he protested in front of a posse of Gurkha soldiers at the [[Ghantaghar|Clock Tower]] in [[Chandni Chowk]], then was allowed to proceed.<ref name=ad/> In the early 1920s he emerged as an important force in the Hindu Sangathan (consolidation) movement, which was a by product of the now revitalised [[Hindu Maha Sabha]].<ref name=na>Chetan Bhatt (2001). [https://archive.org/details/hindunationalism00chet/page/62 Shraddhanand] ''Hindu Nationalism: Origins, Ideologies and Modern Myths'' Berg Publishers. {{ISBN|1-85973-348-4}}. p. 62</ref>

{{Quotation|Swami Shradhanand was the only [[Hindu]] [[Sanyasi]] who addressed a huge gathering from the minarets of the main [[Jama Masjid, Delhi|Jama Masjid]] New Delhi, for national solidarity and [[vedic]] dharma starting his speech with the recitation of [[vedas|ved]] [[mantras]].<ref name=ad/>}}

He wrote on religious issues in both [[Hindi]] and [[Urdu]]. He published newspapers in the two languages as well. He promoted Hindi in the [[Devanagri]] script, helped the poor and promoted the education of women. By 1923, he left the social arena and plunged whole-heartedly into his earlier work of the [[Shuddhi (Hinduism)|shuddhi]] movement (re-conversion to [[Hinduism]]), which he turned into an important force within Hinduism.<ref>R. K. Ghai. (1990) ''Shuddhi Movement in India: A Study of Its Socio-political Dimensions'', Commonwealth Publishers. {{ISBN|9788171690428}}, p. 43.</ref> In 1922,Dr Ambedkar called Shraddhanand “the greatest and most sincere champion of the Untouchables”.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Writings & Speeches Vol. 9|publisher=Dr. Ambedkar Foundation|year=1991|isbn=978-93-5109-064-9|pages=23–24}}</ref>

In late 1923, he became the president of ''Bhartiya Hindu Shuddhi Sabha'', created with an aim of reconverting Muslims, specifically 'Malkana Rajputs' in the western [[United Provinces of Agra and Oudh|United Province]]. This brought him into direct confrontation with Muslim clerics and leaders of the time.<ref name=mus>G. R. Thursby (1975). [https://archive.org/details/hindumuslimrelat0000thur/page/15 Controversy] ''Hindu-Muslim Relations in British India: A Study of Controversy, Conflict, and Communal Movements in Northern India 1923–1928'', BRILL. {{ISBN|90-04-04380-2}}. p. 15.</ref><ref>Kenneth W. Jones (1987). ''Socio-Religious Reform Movements in British India: Socio-Religious Reform Movements in British India, Volume III-1'' Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|0-521-24986-4}}. p. 194</ref> 1,63,000 Malkana Rajputs were converted back to Hindu fold due to this movement.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Gupta|first=Charu|date=1998|title=Articulating Hindu Masculinity and Femininity: 'Shuddhi' and 'Sangathan' Movements in United Provinces in the 1920s|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4406586|journal=Economic and Political Weekly|volume=33|issue=13|pages=727–735|issn=0012-9976}}</ref>

==Assassination==
[[File:Swami Shraddhanand 1970 stamp of India.jpg|thumb|Swami Shraddhanand on a 1970 stamp of India]]
[[File:Delhi Town Hall.jpg|thumb|Statue of Swami Shraddhanand in front of [[Delhi Town Hall]]]]
On 23 December 1926 he was assassinated by one named Abdul Rashid.<ref>[http://www.aryasamaj.com/newsletter/dec2007/swami.htm 23 December is the Shardanand Balidhan Divas] [[Arya Samaj]].</ref> Upon his death, [[Mahatma Gandhi|Gandhi]] moved a condolence motion at the [[Guwahati]] session of the [[Indian National Congress|Congress]] on 25 December 1926.<ref>Jagdish Saran Sharma (1959). ''Indian National Congress: A Descriptive Bibliography of India's Struggle for Freedom'', S. Chand. p. 502.</ref> An excerpt from the speech in relevant part reads "If you hold dear the memory of Swami Shraddhanandji, you would help in purging the atmosphere of mutual hatred and calumny. You would help in boycotting papers which foment hatred and spread misrepresentation. I am sure that India would lose nothing if 90 per cent of the papers were to cease today. . . Now you will perhaps understand why I have called Abdul Rashid a brother and I repeat it. I do not even regard him as guilty of Swamiji's murder. Guilty indeed are all those who excited feelings of hatred against one another. For us Hindus the Gita enjoins on us the lesson of equi-mindedness; we are to cherish the same feelings towards a learned Brahman as towards a chandala, a dog, a cow or an elephant."<ref>[http://www.mahatma.org.in/mahatma/books/showbook.jsp?id=17&link=bg&book=bg0013&lang=en&cat=books The Official Mahatma Gandhi eArchive]. Mahatma.org.in. Retrieved on 17 December 2018.</ref>

As a tribute to the man who was martyred for the Hindu cause, Savarkar’s brother Narayanrao decided to start a weekly titled Shraddhanand from Bombay, beginning 10 January 1927. Savarkar contributed several articles to this weekly under pen-names.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Sampath|first=Vikram|title=Savarkar (Part 2): A Contested Legacy, 1924-1966|publisher=Penguin Random House India Private Limited, 2021|year=2021|isbn=9780670090310|pages=92}}</ref>

Today, the 'Swami Shraddhanand Kaksha' at the archeological museum of the [[Gurukul Kangri University]] in [[Haridwar]] houses a photographic journey of his life.<ref>[http://www.gkvharidwar.org/mpage/museum.htm Archaeological Museum] [[Gurukul Kangri University]]</ref>

A statue of him was placed in front of [[Delhi Town Hall]] after [[Independence Day (India)|independence]], replacing a statue of [[Queen Victoria]].<ref>[http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-metroplus/stories-in-stone/article6517363.ece "Stories in stone"], ''The Hindu'', 20 October 2014</ref> This location in [[Old Delhi]] is termed [[ghantaghar]] because the old clock tower stood here until the 1950s.<ref>[http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00routesdata/1600_1699/shahjahanabad/clocktower/clocktower.html Clock Tower Chandni Chowk, Delhi, early 1900s]. Columbia.edu. Retrieved on 17 December 2018.</ref>

==Personal life==
Shraddhanad and his wife Shiwa Devi had two sons and two daughters. His wife died when Shraddhanad was only 36 years old. His granddaughter [[Satyavati Devi|Satyavati]] was a prominent opponent of the British rule in India.<ref>{{cite book | title=Women in Modern India, Volume 4 | author=Geraldine Forbes | publisher=Cambridge University Press | date= 1999 | page=148|isbn=9780521612401}}</ref>

==See also==

* [[Arya Samaj|Arya Samajis]]
* [[Hindu reform movements|Hindu reformists]]

==Bibliography==
* ''The Arya Samaj and Its Detractors: A Vindication'', Rama Deva. Published by s.n, 1910.
* ''Hindu Sangathan: Saviour of the Dying Race'', Published by s.n., 1924.
* ''Inside Congress'', by Swami Shraddhanand, Compiled by Purushottama Rāmacandra Lele. Published by Phoenix Publications, 1946.
* ''Kalyan Marg Ke Pathik'' (Autobiography:Hindi), New Delhi. n.d.
* ''Autobiography'' (English Translation), Edited by M. R. Jambunathan. Published by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, 1961

==Further reading==
{{Wikisource|The Story of My Experiments with Truth/Part V/Lakshman Jhula|Mahatma Gandhi's visit 1915}}
{{wikisourcelang|1|लक्षमण झूला|मोहन दास करमचंद गाँधी 1915}}
* ''Swami Shraddhanand'', by Satyadev Vidyalankar, ed. by Indra Vidyavachaspati. Delhi, 1933.
* ''Swami Shraddhanand (Lala Munshi Ram)'', by Aryapathik Lekh Ram. Jallandhar. 2020 Vik.
* ''Swami Shraddhanand'', by K.N. Kapur. Arya Pratinidhi Sabha, Jallandhar, 1978.
* ''Swami Shraddhanand: His Life and Causes'', by J. T. F. Jordens. Published by Oxford University Press, 1981.
* ''Section Two:Swami Shraddhanand'' . ''Modern Indian Political Thought'', by Vishwanath Prasad Varma. Published by Lakshmi Narain Agarwal, 1961. Page 447.
* ''Chapt XI: Swami Shraddhanand''. ''Advanced Study in the History of Modern India : 1920–1947''. by G. S. Chhabra. Published by Sterling Publishers, 1971. Page 211
* ''Pen-portraits and Tributes by Gandhiji'': '(Sketches of eminent men and women by Mahatma Gandhi)', by Gandhi, U. S. Mohan Rao. Published by National Book Trust, India, 1969. Page 133
* ''Swami Shraddhanand – Indian freedom fighters: struggle for independence''. Anmol Publishers, 1996. {{ISBN|81-7488-268-5}}.
* ''Telegram to Swami Shraddhanand'', (2 October 1919) – ''Collected Works'', by Gandhi. Published by Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Govt. of India, 1958. v.16. Page 203.
* An article on Swami Shraddhanand in "The Legacy of The Punjab" by R M Chopra, 1997, Punjabee Bradree, Calcutta,

==References==
<references/>

==External links==
{{Commons category|Swami Shraddhanand}}
*[http://www.indianpostagestamps.com/gallery/1970.html Postage stamp on Swami Shraddhanand by ''IndianPost''] in [[List of postage stamps of India#1970|1970]]

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