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Fix broken anchor: 2021-08-30 #1929 Assembly incident and arrest⇝Bhagat Singh#Delhi Assembly bombing and arrest

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{{short description|Indian revolutionary (b. 1910 d. 1967)}}
{{more citations needed|date=November 2018}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2019}}
{{Use Indian English|date=May 2019}}

'''Vishwanath Vaishampayan''' (28 November 1910 – 20 October 1967) was an Indian revolutionary and member of the [[Hindustan Socialist Republican Association]].

{{Infobox person
| name =
| birth_date = 28 November 1910
| birth_place = Banda, [[United Provinces of Agra and Oudh|United Provinces]], [[British India]]
| death_date = 20 October 1967 (aged 56)
}}

== Early life ==
Vaishampayan was born on 28 November 1910<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.prabhasakshi.com/general-knowledge/details-of-major-events-happening-in-the-world-28-nov|title=details-of-major-events-happening-in-the-world}}</ref> at Banda in [[Uttar Pradesh]] (then, [[United Provinces of Agra and Oudh|United Provinces]]). When his father was transferred, he came to [[Jhansi]] and began studying in Saraswati school.

== Revolutionary activities ==
{{more citations needed section|date=March 2019}}
During college, an arts teacher, Rudra Narayan,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.patrika.com/jhansi-news/story-of-chandrashekhar-azad-and-master-rudranarayan-1-2273014/|title=चंद्रशेखर आज़ाद की पहली तस्वीर कैद करने वाले मास्टर रूद्र नारायण की कहानी|work=www.patrika.com|access-date=2018-08-21|language=hi-IN}}</ref> introduced Vaishampayan to [[Sachindra Bakshi|Shachindranath Bakshi]], a revolutionary, when the latter had come to Jhansi to recruit for the revolutionary party, Hindustan Republic Association (HRA). Two more youths enrolled were Sadashiv Malkapurkar and Bhagwan Das Mahaur. They were later introduced to [[Chandra Shekhar Azad|Chandrashekhar Azad]] when he came to reside in seclusion after the [[Kakori conspiracy|Kakori incident]]. Vaishampayan became a sort of bodyguard-cum-secretary to Azad.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/hindi/india-43207497|title=तो क्या चंद्रशेखर आज़ाद पुलिस की गोली से मरे थे?|last=राय|first=सुनील|date=2018-02-27|work=BBC News हिंदी|access-date=2018-08-21|language=en-GB}}</ref> He was trained in marksmanship by Azad and became was one of the HRA members who had learned to make bombs.

Vaishampayan was assigned with the task of evaluating the possibility of freeing [[Bhagat Singh]] from [[Lahore]] jail. Bhagat Singh and [[Batukeshwar Dutt]] had surrendered themselves to the police immediately after the [[Bhagat Singh#Delhi Assembly bombing and arrest|assembly bombing]]. Now, the British government wanted to link him to the [[Bhagat Singh#Lala Lajpat Rai's death and killing of Saunders|Saunders murder case]], which meant a certain death by hanging for the accused. Vaishampayan visited Lahore jail, disguised as a [[Punjabis|Punjabi]] gentleman. He managed to contact Bhagat Singh but the latter didn't have any intention of escaping from the jail.

Azad and others still decided to attack the police convoy and free Bhagat Singh. They rented a half section of a bungalow near Lahore. The team consisted of Azad, [[Bhagwati Charan Vohra]], Vishwanath Vaishampayan, Dhanvantari, Sukhdev Raj, Yashpal, and [[Durgawati Devi|Durgawati devi]]. Chail Bihari, Madan Gopal and Tahal Ram were the working under the guise of house servant, cook and driver, respectively.

On 28 May 1930, at about 1625 hours, Vohra, Vaishampayan, and Sukhdev Raj proceeded towards the [[Ravi River|river Ravi]] on bicycles. They took a boat and proceeded towards the dense forests by the river bank, with the objective to test bombs which could be used during Bhagat Singh's rescue attempt. Vohra unpinned a bomb but before he could hurl it, it exploded. Vohra was fatally wounded, his hand blew off and he was almost disemboweled. Sukhdev Raj's foot was hit by a splinter and he rushed to the bungalow to inform others while Vaishampayan stayed with Vohra. He peeled some oranges for Vohra to sip but the latter died soon, wishing before death that Bhagat Singh should be rescued soon.

Azad and some associates positioned themselves in a lorry outside the jail. Vaishampayan played some flute notes as a predetermined signal for Bhagat Singh but the latter didn't pay any heed and the team had to return. The bungalow had to be deserted to avoid the police and Azad immediately sent Vaishampayan to [[Jaipur State|Jaipur]] to procure more arms. In spite of the dangers of being caught or killed by the police, he managed to procure the arms.

Azad and Vaishampayan started to operate from [[Allahabad]] and [[Kanpur]]. To battle the winter frost, both of them used Ludhiana shawls.  Once, they wanted to travel from Allahabad to Kanpur but before the journey commenced, Azad and Vaishampayan donned woolen coats, instead of shawls. The police was patrolling Kanpur station because someone had tipped them off that Azad and Vaishampayan were wearing Ludhiana shawls and will alight at the Kanpur station. The police started searching the people wearing shawls. Azad gave orders to Vishwanath to escape but if there is a fight, both of them should fight till the last bullet. Azad hired a porter and all three simply walked out of the station, unidentified. Soon, Vaishampayan and Azad parted ways for different missions. On 11 February 1931, police arrested Vaishampayan who fell prey to a scheme devised by Veerbhadra Tiwari and Shivcharan Lal. [[Chandra Shekhar Azad#Death|Azad shot himself]] after an encounter with police on 27 February 1931.

Vaishampayan was tried in multiple cases like the Gwalior conspiracy and [[Delhi Conspiracy Commission]]. He served imprisonment of varying terms in the jails of Kanpur, [[Nainital]], and [[Delhi]] before getting released on 19 March 1939.

== Later life ==
He devoted himself to writing and translating of works of Indian authors like [[Prabhavathi Devi Saraswathi|Prabhavati Saraswati]] and [[Hari Narayan Apte]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.rajkamalprakashan.com/default/jmproducts/filter/index/?author=338|title=Our authors|last=(publication house)|first=Rajkamal Prakashan}}</ref> He worked with the daily 'Mahakoshal' in [[Raipur]] for 8 years. He wrote a book on Azad<ref>{{Cite book|title=Amar Shahid Chandrashekhar Azad|last=Vidyarthi|first=Sudhir|date=2007|publisher=Rajkamal Prakashan|isbn=9788126714353|location=Naī Dillī|language=Hindi}}</ref> but his desire to write a book on [[Bhagwati Charan Vohra]] remained unfulfilled.

== Death ==
Vishwanath died on 20 October 1967. He was survived by his wife, Lalila Vaishampayan, and two daughters.

== Bibliography ==
* Amar Shahid Chandrashekhar Azad(Original [[Hindi]] title: अमर शहीद चंद्रशेखर आज़ाद) (1965), 3 volumes, University of Michigan.

== References ==
{{Reflist}}
* Saral, Srikrishan (1999). ''Indian Revolutionaries 1757-1961 (Vol-3)''. Ocean books, New Delhi. pp. 203–206. {{ISBN|9788187100188}}.
* {{Cite book|title=Bharat ki Mahan Krantikari Mahilayen|last=Gupta|first=Vijay Kumar|publisher=Suruchi Prakashan|isbn=9789381500835|location=New Delhi|pages=10, 58|date=2015-12-01}}
{{Indian Revolutionary Movement}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vaishampayan, Vishwanath}}
[[Category:Hindustan Socialist Republican Association]]
[[Category:Indian independence activists from Uttar Pradesh]]
[[Category:1910 births]]
[[Category:1967 deaths]]
[[Category:Revolutionary movement for Indian independence]]
[[Category:Indian revolutionaries]]

Vishwanath Vaishampayan - Revision history

->Cewbot: Fix broken anchor: 2021-08-30 #1929 Assembly incident and arrest⇝Bhagat Singh#Delhi Assembly bombing and arrest