1 Keshab Chander Sen :-
was an Indian Bengali Hindu philosopher and social reformer who attempted to incorporate Christian theology within the framework of Hindu thought.He was born on 19th November 1838 in Kolkata. He was a descendant of the medieval Sena kings of Bengal.
He was so influenced by the ideas of Brahmo Samaj that he joined the Calcutta Brahmo Samaj in 1857.
At the age of 19, Keshab Chandra Sen started social work by establishing an evening school for adults.
He used the medium of Press to spread social consciousness and development. he started a fortnightly journal ‘Indian Mirror‘
Keshab Chandra Sen was associated with many revolutionary programs of social reform like liberation of women from the social bindings, education of women and the poor workers, eradication of social evils like untouchability and casteism, spread of vernacular and various charitable works for the oppressed people.
He took the initiative to introduce legislation to curb polygamy and child marriage and promoted inter-caste marriage.
he was given the title of ‘Acharya‘ of the ‘Brahmo Samaj’ by Devendranath Tagore. But due to the differences in the beliefs and philosophies of Devendranath Tagore and Keshab Chandra Sen, Brahmo Samaj split into two.
founded his own breakaway “Brahmo Samaj of India” in 1866
he propagated the Navavidhan, the New Dispensation or the Religion of Harmony. He preached bhakti, which was inspired from both Chaitanya and Christ.
2 Theodore Beck:-
was a British educationalist working for the British Raj in India, who was invited by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan to serve as the first principal of the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College at the age 24. in Aligarh, which would later evolve into the Aligarh Muslim University. He was also opposed to join the Congress
3 Ustad Bismillah Khan
He was an Indian shehnai maestro.
He was the third classical musician to be awarded the Bharat Ratna (in 2001)
His ancestors were court musicians and used to play in Naqqar khana in the princely states of Bhojpur, now in Bihar.
Though a pious Shi’ite Muslim, he was also, like many Indian musicians, regardless of religion, a devotee of Saraswati, the Hindu Goddess of wisdom and arts, and often played at Hindu temples, including the famous Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi, on the banks of the river Ganges.He also performed for spiritual master Prem Rawat.
He was credited with having almost monopoly over the instrument as he and the shehnai are almost synonyms.
Khan had the rare honor of performing at Delhi’s Red Fort on the eve of India’s Independence in 1947.
awarded Talar Mausiquee award from Republic of Iran
4 Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan
An Afghan Pashtun political and spiritual leader known for his non-violent opposition to British Rule in India.
A lifelong pacifist, a devout Muslim,and a close friend of Mohandas Gandhi
he was also known as Fakhri Afghan (“The Afghan pride”), Badshah Khan and Sarhaddi Gandhi (Urdu, Hindi lit., “Frontier Gandhi”)
he decided social activism and reform would be more beneficial for Pashtuns. This ultimately led to the formation of the Khudai Khidmatgar movement (Servants of God). The movement’s success triggered a harsh crackdown against him and his supporters and he was sent into exile.
It was at this stage in the late 1920s that he formed an alliance with Gandhi and the Indian National Congress. This alliance was to last till the 1947 partition of India.
Ghaffar Khan strongly opposed the Muslim League’s demand for the partition of India.
In 1987 he became the first person without Indian citizenship to be awarded the Bharat Ratna
5 Sajjad Zaheer
was a renowned Urdu writer, Marxist thinker
Famously known as Bannay Mian, Zaheer was born in Lukhnow, the former state of Oudh
He was one of the founding members of the Communist Party of India and later in 1948, the Communist Party of Pakistan, along with Faiz Ahmad Faiz.
A collection of short stories, Angaray, which had stories by Sajjad Zaheer
and was immediately banned in India by the British Government in 1933, “for hurting the religious susceptibilities of a section of the community.” This gave rise to the All-India Progressive Writers’ Movement & Association of which both Sajjad Zaheer and Ahmed Ali were co-founders.
The first official conference of the Association was held in Lucknow in 1936 which was presided over by Munshi Premchand.
LITERARY CONTRIBUTION
London Ki Ek Raat- a novel.
Roshnai, a collection of essays on progressive writing and the progressive writers movement.
Zikre Hafiz, his research based book on Persian poet Hafez.
Pighla Nilam, his last book
,a collection of his poetry.
6 WW HUNTER
Scottish historian, statistician, a compiler and a member of theIndian Civil Service, who later became Vice President of Royal Asiatic Society
In 1869 Lord Mayo, the then governor-general, asked Hunter to submit a scheme for a comprehensive Statistical Survey of India. And the The Imperial Gazetteer of India was published in 1881.
In 1882 presided over the commission on Indian Education
in 1886 he was elected vice-chancellor of the University of Calcutta.
7 Achyut Patwardhan
was an Indian independence activist and political leader and founder of the Socialist Party of India. He was also a philosopher who believed fundamental change in society begins with man himself,
He studied Communist and Socialist literature, resigned his Professorship and plunged in 1932 into Gandhiji’s civil disobedience movement. He was imprisoned several times.
In 1934 he and his associates in jail formed the Congress Socialistic Party with a view to working for socialistic objectives from within the Congress.
He took a prominent part in the Quit India movement. he went underground, and ably directed the movement of a parallel government mainly in the Satara district.
In 1947 they formed the Socialist Party of India, independently of the Congress. In 1950 Achyut retired from politics
8 James Wilson
was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States and a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence.
was a major force in drafting the United States Constitution. A leading legal theorist
9 LALA HAR DAYAL
Indian revolutionary and scholar who was dedicated to the removal of British influence in India.
On a Government of India scholarship to St. John’s College at Oxford, he became a supporter of the Indian revolutionary movement. In 1907 Har Dayal resigned his scholarship
He returned to India in 1908 to further indigenous political institutions and to arouse his countrymen against British rule, but
the government thwarted his work, and he soon returned to Europe.
In 1913 he formed the Ghadr(Gadar) Party to organize a rebellion against the British government of India.
10 Aryabhata
was the first in the line of great mathematician-astronomersfrom the classical age of Indian mathematics and Indian astronomy.
His most famous works are the Āryabhaṭīya ( a compendium of mathematics and astronomy) and the Arya-siddhanta (covers arithmetic, algebra, plane trigonometry, and spherical trigonometry. It also contains continued fractions, quadratic equations, sums-of-power series, and a table of sines.)
HIS MAIN WORKS IN MATHEMATICS ARE:- PLACE VALUE SYSTEM AND ZERO, APPROXIMATION OF Π , GIVES THE AREA OF A TRIANGLE, PROVIDED ELEGANT RESULTS FOR THE SUMMATION OF SERIES OF SQUARES AND CUBES
Aryabhata’s system of astronomy was called the audAyaka system
His main works in Astronomy :-he seems to ascribe the apparent motions of the heavens to the Earth’s rotation. He may have believed that the planet’s orbits as elliptical rather than circularAryabhata calculated the sidereal rotation (the rotation of the earth referencing the fixed stars) Aryabhata advocated an astronomical model in which the Earth turns on its own axisIndia’s
first satellite Aryabhata and the lunar crater Aryabhata are named in his honour.
11- Jiddu Krishnamurti
was an Indian writer and speaker on philosophical and spiritual subjects. His subject matter included: psychological revolution, the nature of the mind, meditation, human relationships, and bringing about positive change in society
He constantly stressed the need for a revolution in the psyche of every human being and emphasized that such revolution cannot be brought about by any external entity, be it religious, political, or social.
He claimed allegiance to no nationality, caste, religion, or philosophy, and spent the most of his life traveling the world, speaking to large and small groups and individuals
His supporters, working through non-profit foundations in India, Great Britain and the United States, oversee several independent schools based on his views on education.
12- Gopi Krishna
was a yogi, mystic, teacher, social reformer, and writer
His autobiography is known under the title Kundalini: The Evolutionary Energy in Man.,in it he has put this amazing aspect of our nature in a logical, consistent and scientific light, and presented us with a new understanding of the goal of evolution, both as individuals and as a species.
he himself has started to search the life of geniuses and enlightented persons in history for clues of kundalini awakening. He proposed an organisation to be erected to conduct scientific research on the matter. The research should, according to him, consist of research on biological processes in the body, psychological and sociological research of living persons. According to Mr. Krishna the lives of historical persons should also be investigated.
13- Sir Muhammad Iqbal or Allama Iqbal
was a philosopher,poet and politician[1] in British India who is widely regarded as having inspired the Pakistan Movement.
He is considered one of the most important figures in Urdu literature,[2] with literary work in both the Urdu and Persian languages
his best known Urdu works are Bang-i-Dara, Bal-i-Jibril, Zarb-i Kalim and a part of Armughan-e-Hijaz.
Iqbal became a member of the London branch of the All India Muslim League,in one of his most famous speeches, Iqbal pushed for the creation of a Muslim state in Northwest India.
Pakistan Government had recognised him as its “national poet”
14-Tanguturi Prakasam Pantulu
was an Indian politician and Freedom Fighter , prominent Telugu barrister and the first Chief Minister of the Indian province Andhra state. He was also known as Andhra Kesari
. He was elected the general secretary of the Congress Party in December 1921 at the Ahmedabad session
15-Maulana Mohammad Ali and Maulana Shaukat Ali
were Indian Muslim leaders, activists, scholars, journalists and poets, and was among the leading figures of the Khilafat Movement
Maulana Mohammad Ali Jouhar had spent four years in prison for advocating resistance to the British and support for the caliphate.
publish the Urdu weekly Hamdard and the English weekly Comrade.
form the All India Khilafat Committee. The organization was based in Lucknow,
In 1920 an alliance was made between Khilafat leaders and the Indian National Congress, to work and fight together for the causes of Khilafat and Swaraj.
Many Hindu religious and political leaders identified the Khilafat cause as Islamic fundamentalism based on a pan-Islamic agenda. And many Muslim leaders viewed the Indian National Congress as becoming increasingly dominated by Hindu fundamentalists and thus the Ali brothers began distancing themselves from Gandhi and the Congress.
16-Dr. Dhondo Keshav Karve
popularly known as Maharishi Karve, was a social reformer in India in the field of women’s welfare.
Mr Karve decided to continue the work of promoting women’s education in India. The Government of India awarded Dhondo Keshav Karve its highest civilian award, Bhārat Ratna,
founded Widhawā-Wiwāhottejak Mandali, which, besides encouraging marriages of widows, also helped the needy children of widows.
established a Hindu Widows’ Home Association
17-Prarthana Samaj
was a movement for religious and social reform in Maharashtra based on earlier reform movements and traditions of Maharashtra formed in 1849 by Ram Balkrishna Jaykar and others in Mumbai.
It was secret in order to avoid the wrath of the powerful and orthodox elements of society.
Meetings were for discussion, the singing of hymns, and the sharing of a communal meal prepared by a low-caste cook. Members ate bread baked by Christians and drank water brought by Muslims
Prarthana Samaj critically examined the relations between contemporary social and cultural systems and religious beliefs and gave priority to social reform as compared with the political changes already initiated by the British government
led many impressive projects of cultural change and social reform in Western India, such as the improvement of the lot of women and depressed classes, an end to the caste system, abolition of child marriages and infanticide, educational opportunites for women, and remarriage of widows..
18-Satya Shodhak Samaj
is a religion established by Mahatma Jyotirao Phule in 1873. This was started as a group whose main aim was to liberate the social Shudra and Untouchables castes from exploitation and oppression.
Mahatma Jyotirao Phule always condemned Hinduism and the privileged status of priests in it. He openly condemned the inequality in the religious books, orthodox nature of religion, exploitation of masses by the means of it, blind and misleading rituals, and hypocrisy in the prevalent religion
Phule established Satya Shodhak Samaj with the ideals of human well being in broader aspects, human happiness, unity,equality, and easy religious principles and rituals
19-Bāṇabhaṭṭa
was a Sanskrit scholar and poet of India.
He was the Asthana Kavi (Court Poet) in the court of King Harshavardhana,
principal works include a biography of Harsha,the Harṣacarita and one of the world’s earliest novels, Kādambari .
19-Pupul Jayakar
was an Indian cultural activist and writer,
best known for her work on the revival of traditional and village arts, handlooms and handicrafts in post-independence India.
Jayakar founded the National Crafts Museum in 1956, and the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) in 1984, to restore and manage monuments and advocate for heritage property conservation.
She was awarded the Padma Bhushan, in 1967.
20-Jayadeva
was a Sanskrit poet during 1200 AD.
He is most known for his composition, the epic poem Gita Govinda, which depicts the divine love of Krishna-an avatar of Vishnu and his consort, Radha, and it is mentioned that Radha is greater than Hari, and is considered an important text in the Bhakti movement of Hinduism
Dasakritikrite :-the ten incarnations of Vishnu in another composition,
The illustrious poet also institutionalized the Devadasi (women dancers specially dedicated to the temple deity) system in Oriya temples.
Jayadeva’s work had a profound influence on Guru Nanak during his visit to Puri
21-Champaran and kherda satyagrah
In Champaran,
a district in state of Bihar, tens of thousands of landless serfs, indentured laborers and poor farmers were forced to grow indigo and other cash crops instead of the food crops These goods were bought from them at a very low price Now in
the throes of a devastating famine, the British levied an oppressive tax which they insisted on increasing in rate.
Raj Kumar Shukla took Mahatma Gandhi to Champaran and the Champaran Satyagraha beganGandhi established an ashram in Champaran, he was arrested by police on the charge of creating unrest and was ordered to leave the province.
Gandhi led organized protests and strike against the landlords, who with the guidance of the British government, signed an agreement granting more compensation and control over farming for the poor farmers of the region, and cancellation of revenue hikes and collection until the famine ended. It was during this agitation, that Gandhi was addressed by the people as Bapu (Father) and Mahatma (Great Soul).
In kheda
a famine had struck the district and a large part of Gujarat, and virtually destroyed the agrarian economy. The poor peasants had barely enough to feed themselves, but the British government of the Bombay Presidency insisted that the farmers not only pay full taxes, but also pay the 23% increase stated to take effect that every year.
here , Gandhi was only the spiritual head of the struggle His chief lieutenant, toured the countryside, organized the villagers and gave them political leadership and direction Patel and his colleagues organized a major tax revolt, and all the different ethnic and caste communities of Kheda rallied around it.
The Government finally sought to foster an honorable agreement for both parties. The tax for the year in question, and the next would be suspended, and the increase in rate reduced, while all confiscated property would be returned.
22-Conjeevaram Natarajan Annadurai
popularly called Anna ,was a former Chief Minister of the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
He was the first member of a Dravidian party to hold that post and was also the first non-Congress leader to form a majority government in independent India.
He was well known for his oratorical skills and was an acclaimed writer in the Tamil language. He scripted and acted in several plays.
He legalised Self-respect marriages, enforced a two language policy (in preference to thethree language formula in other southern states), implemented subsidies for rice, and renamed Madras State to Tamil Nadu.
23-Mohammad Barkatullah
a Bangladeshi author
His literary works were included in the curriculum of school level, secondary, higher secondary and graduation level Bengali Literature in Bangladesh.
Books:- Parasya Pratibha,Manuser Dharma ,Karbala O Imam Bangser Itihas , Nabigrha Sangbad, Makka Khanda , Naya Jatir Srasta Hazrat Muhammad , Hazrat Osman , Bangla Sahitye Muslim Dhara
24-Jadong
is the final post on Tibet Border and famous for stunning orchids.
History has it that this was obviously a buying and selling location in between Tibet and Sikkim prior to being annexed to India in 1950.
In springtime, wild blossoms for example primulas and Rhododendrons shower the surroundings in numerous shades
Its located in the yumthang valley
25-Mirza Muhammad Haidar Dughlat
was a Chagatai Turko-Mogol military general, ruler of Kashmir, and a historical Persian and Chagatai writer.
He had also attacked Tibet through Ladakh but had failed
His historical work Tarikh-i-Rashidi ( History of Rashid ) is a personal memoir combined with a Central Asian history.
26-Baba Sohan Singh Bhakna
was as Indian revolutionary, the founding president of the Ghadar Party, and a leading member of the party involved in the Ghadar Conspiracy of 1915.
Tried at the Lahore Conspiracy trial, Sohan Singh served sixteen years of a life sentence for his part in the conspiracy before he was released in 1930.
He later worked closely with the Indian labour movement, devoting considerable time to the Kisan Sabha and the Communist Party of India.
27-Subhashchandra Pandharinath “Fergie” Gupte
was one of Test cricket’s finest spin bowlers from india. Sir Garry Sobers pronounced him the best leg spinner that it had been his pleasure to see. Gupte flighted and spun the ball sharply, and possessed two different googlies.
28-Sir Jadunath Sarkar
WAS A PROMINENT INDIAN BENGALI ARISTOCRAT AND HISTORIAN.HIS PROMINENT BOOKS ARE
A History of Jaipur (1984),The Fall of the Mughal Empire (in 4 volumes), (1932–38),Military History of India,The House of Shivaji,The Rani of Jhansi,Famous Battles of Indian, HistoryChronology of Indian History,Shivaji (in Bengali),A History of Aurangzib (in 5 volumes), (1912–24),Mughal Administration (1920),Shivaji and his Times (1919),Anecdotes of Aurangzib,Studies in Mughal India,India of Aurangzib (1901),A Short History of Aurangzib and A History of Bengal
29-Alluri Sita Rama Raju
was an Indian revolutionary involved in the independence movement.
Raju led the ill-fated “Rampa Rebellion” of 1922–24, during which a band of tribal leaders and other sympathizers fought against the British Raj. He was referred to as “Manyam Veerudu” (“Hero of the Jungles”) by the local people.
30-Hassan Nasir
was a Pakistani proletariat leader and Secretary General of the banned Communist Party of Pakistan
Hasan Nasir belonged to Hyderabad (Deccan) and had fought, along with Makhdoom Mohiuddin and others, in the Telangana armed struggle.
He was arrested in 1960, put in a cell in the Lahore Fort and brutally tortured till he died.
31-Acharya nirmala
He was the eminent Bengali writer and editor of the works of Nati binodini, Manik Bandopadyay.he was the founder of satyajeet ray memorial at nandan
32-Guru Ravidass
also known as Raidas, Rohidas and Ruhidas in eastern India, was a North Indian Sant mystic of the bhakti movement who was active in the 15th century.
His devotional songs were included in the Sikh holy book, the Adi Granth
He taught that one is distinguished not by one’s caste but by one’s actions and that every person has the right to worship God and read holy texts.
He opened a frontal attack against the system of Untouchability
. He rejected the tradition of Brahmin mediator to reach the Supreme Being, He became a model for his fellow beings to overcome the hierarchical barriers of Brahminical social order and to establish Begumpura – a state without fear and sorrows
Guru Ravidass elevated the status of the labour by emphasizing on the fact that honest labour is empowering.
33-Jagat Seth
was a rich jain businessman from Murshidabad during the rule of Nawab Siraj-ud-Daula. Jagat seth means banker of the world as Roben Orme (official historian of East India Company) described Jagat Seths as the greatest shroff (money changer) and banker in the known world.
He, along with Omichund and Mir Jafar joined the successful conspiracy against the Nawab, engineered by Robert Clive, due to which the Nawab lost the battle of Plassey. The British thus established the first colony in India. Mir Jafar was installed as the puppet ruler of Bengal.
The Jagat Seth family were beheaded in 1763 by the troops of Mir Kasim.
34-Baba Ram Chandra or Shridhar Balwant Jodhpurkar
was an Indian trade unionist ,who organised the farmers of Oudh, India into forming a united front to fight against the abuses of landlords in the 1920s and 1930s ,and formed the Oudh Kisan Sabha
He was also an influential figure in the history of Fiji, and owed his inspiration to take up the cause of the down-trodden to his 12 years as an indentured labourer in Fiji and to his efforts to end the indenture system. He was a Brahmin, of Maharashtrian origin. He left for Fiji as an indentured labourer in 1904
35-Sir Thomas Roe
diplomat and author who advanced England’s mercantile interest in Asia and was prominent in negotiations during the Thirty Years’ War.
Roe began his diplomatic career in India as ambassador to the court of the Mogul emperor Jāhāngīr.
As ambassador to Constantinople (1621–28), Roe obtained increased privileges for the English merchants trading in the Ottoman Empire.
He negotiated a treaty with Algiers, then subject to Ottoman rule, resulting in the release of several hundred Englishmen captured by the Barbary pirates
36-Jean-Baptiste Tavernier
was a French traveller and pioneer of trade with India
he is best known for the discovery and sale of the 118-carat (24 g) blue diamond that he subsequently sold to Louis XIV of France
he began a second journey (1638–43) to India as far as Agra and from there to The Kingdom of Golkonda. His visit to the court of the Great Mogul – Emperor Shah Jahan at the time – and to the diamond mines .Tavernier traveled as a merchant of the highest rank, trading in costly jewels and other precious wares, and finding his chief customers among the greatest princes of the East.
37-Pandita Ramabai
was a social reformer and activist in India.
started Arya Mahila Samaj,
later converted to Christianity, and served widows and helpless women of India.
She wrote many books including The High Caste Hindu Woman, which showed the darkest aspects of the life of Hindu women, including child brides and child widows, and their treatment by government and society.
by the British Government she was awarded the Kaisar-i-Hind medal for community service in 1919
38-Srinivasa Ramanujan
was Indian mathematician and autodidact who, with almost no formal training in pure mathematics, made extraordinary contributions to mathematical analysis, number theory, infinite series, andcontinued fractions.
By 17, Ramanujan had conducted his own mathematical research on Bernoulli numbers and the Euler–Mascheroni constant
He stated results that were both original and highly unconventional, such as the Ramanujan prime and the Ramanujan theta function
The Ramanujan Journal, an international publication, was launched to publish work in all areas of mathematics influenced by his work.
the Government of India declared that Ramanujan’s birthday (22 December) should be celebrated every year as National Mathematics Day
39-Romesh Chunder Dutt
was an Indian civil servant, economic historian, writer, and translator of Ramayana and Mahabharata.
As an ics officier Dutt was especially troubled by the lack of assured tenants’ rights or rights of transfer for those who tilled the land. He considered the land taxes to be ruinous, a block to savings, and the source of famines.
.He was president of the Indian National Congress in 1899.
Dutt served as the first president of Bangiya Sahitya Parishad
Dutt traced a decline in standards of living to the nineteenth-century deindustrialization of the subcontinent and the narrowing of sources of wealth
Wrote economic history of india under british rule
40-Rani Rudrama
was one of the most prominent rulers of the Kakatiya dynasty on the Deccan Plateau
Rudramba defended the kingdom from the Cholas and the Yadavas, earning their respect.
she was quite impressed by a form of Shiva Tandavam – Perini which was extinct, but brought back by Dr. Nataraja Ramakrishna. She found this dance more of an exercise to the soldiers and had it made part of the training of the royal force.
41-Megasthenes
was a Greek ethnographer in the Hellenistic period
author of the work Indica.
ambassador of Seleucus I of Syria possibly to Chandragupta Maurya in Pataliputra, India.
commented on the presence of pre-Socratic views among the Brahmans and Jews.
42-Lakshmi Bai, the Rani of Jhansi
was the queen of the Maratha-ruled princely state of Jhansi, situated in the north-central part of India.
She was one of the leading figures of the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and a symbol of resistance to the rule of the British East India Company in the subcontinent.after she was forcibly retired by the British due to a controversial law of “Doctrine of Lapse”
Hugh Rose ,the army commander ,commented that the Jhansi Rani Lakshmibai is “personable, clever and beautiful” and she is “the most dangerous of all Indian leaders ”
43-Lala Har Dayal
was a Indian nationalist revolutionary[1] who founded the Ghadar Party in America.
The movement began with a group of immigrants known as the Hindustani Workers of the Pacific Coast.
In a letter toThe Indian Sociologist, published in 1907, he started to explore anarchist ideas, In April 1914, he was arrested by the United States government for spreading anarchist literature and fled to Berlin, Germany.
44-The Indian National Army or Azad Hind Fauj
was an armed force formed by Indian nationalists in 1942 in Southeast Asia during World War II. The aim of the army was to liberate India from the British occupation withJapanese assistance. Initially composed of Indian prisoners of war captured by Japan in the Malayan campaign and at Singapore, it later drew volunteers from Indian expatriate population in Malaya and Burma.
The INA also was at the forefront of women’s equality and the formation of a women’s regiment, the Rani of Jhansi regiment was formed as an all volunteer women’s unit to
fight the British occupiers as well as provide medical services to the INA.
Initially formed in 1942 immediately after the fall of Singapore under Mohan Singh, the first INA collapsed in December that year before it was revived under the leadership of Subhas Chandra Bose in 1943 and proclaimed the army of Bose’s Arzi Hukumat-e-Azad Hind (The Provisional Government of Free India).
This second INA fought along with the Imperial Japanese Army against the British andCommonwealth forces in the campaigns in Burma, Imphal and Kohima, and later, against the successful Burma Campaign of the Allies
. The end of the war saw a large number of the troops repatriated to India where some faced trial for treason and became a galvanising point of the Indian Independence movement
the Red Fort trials of captured INA officers in India provoked massive public outcries in support of their efforts to fight for Indian independence against the Raj, eventually triggering the Bombay mutiny in the British Indian
45-The Asiatic Society of bengal
founded in 1784, by Sir William Jones, a British lawyer and Orientalist, to encourage Oriental studies.
it was the vehicle for his ideas about the importance of Hindu culture and learning and about the vital role of Sanskrit in the Aryan languages.
Headquarters are in Kolkata.
The society owns an art collection that includes paintings by Peter Paul Rubens and Joshua Reynolds.
The society’s library contains some 100,000 general volumes, and its Sanskrit section has more than 27,000 books, manuscripts, prints, coins, and engravings. The Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal is published regularly.
46-INDIAN COUNCIL FOR CULTURAL RELATIONS
The ICCR was founded in 1950 by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, independent India’s first Education Minister.
The Council helps formulate and implement policies pertaining to India’s external cultural relations, to foster mutual understanding between India and other countries and to promote cultural exchanges with other peoples.
The Objects of the Council as defined in the Memorandum of Association are:
- to participate in the formulation and implementation of policies and programmes relating to India’s external cultural relations;
- to foster and strengthen cultural relations and mutual understanding between India and other countries;
- to promote cultural exchange with other countries and peoples;
- to establish and develop relations with national and inter-national organisations in the field of culture;
- to take such measures as may be required to further these objectives.
47-The alwar or azhwars
were Tamil poet saints of south India who lived between the sixth and ninth centuries A.D. and espoused ‘emotional devotion’ or bhakti to Visnu-Krishna in their songs of longing, ecstasy and service.
They were 12 in number
Use of tamil helped to make the Tamil religious life independent of a knowledge of Sanskrit.
The one held in greatest esteem among the Alvars is Nammalvar, His works- Thiruvasiriyam, Thiruviruttam, Periya Thiruvandhadhi correspond to the Yajur, Rig and Atharva Vedas respectively
alvars came from all castes, a symbolic notion in Vaishnavism to show that devotion to God transcends above caste.
48-Fairazi movement
was a movement in Bangladesh in the 18th century started by the Islamic reformer, Haji Shariatullah. He started this movement among the most depressed section of theMuslim society; the farmers and the artisans.
He called upon the people to discard un-Islamic practices and customs, and to act upon the commandments of faith, the “Faraiz”, or duties. He requested them to observe strictly the principles of faith and rules of Shariah, and to refrain from Hindu practices.
The growing popularity of the movement amongst the people of Bengal alarmed the Hindu landlords who harassed Haji Shariatullah
49-Kuka revolt or Namdhari movement
Ram Singh launched this revolt against the British in 1857 by hoisting a white flag of freedom and announced a programme of far reaching significance.such as boycott government services, boycott British run educational institutions and law courts, boycott foreign made goods and defy British laws.
He was the originator of the nonviolent and civil disobedience movement in Punjab in 1872.
Mahatma Gandhi later used the concepts of non-cooperation and civil disobedience propounded by Ram Singh as political weapons against the British
50-Rehnumai Mazdayasan Sabha
It was a Religious Reform among the Parsis which begun among the Parsis in the 19th century. In 1851, the Rehnumai Mazdayasan Sabha or Religious Reform Association was started by Naoroji Furdonji, Dadabhai Naoroji, S.S.Bengalee, and others.
It campaigned against orthodoxy and initiated the modernization of Parsi social customs regarding the education of women, marriage and the social position of women in general. In course of time, the Parsis became the most westernized section of Indian society.
51-Tana Bhagat movement
It was a religious movement gained momentum in chotanagpur region among the Oraon ,in its earlier phase it was called as Kurukh Dharam (literally the Original religion of the Kurukh or Oraons).
initiated in 1914 by a young Oraon tribes man known as Jatra Oraon who declared that in a dream Dharmes (the Supreme God) told him to give up Matia (ghost-finding and exorcism) and the belief in spirits, to abjure all animal sacrifices, animal food and liquor, and to give up ploughing their fields which entailed cruelty to cows and oxen; but failed to save the tribe from famine and poverty, and no more to work as coolies or laborer under men of other castes and tribes.
proclaimed that a new day was drawing near, and those who did not count themselves among his followers would be destroyed. Dharmes had further ordered Jatra to teach his people the mantras, or songs and incantations and thereby to cure their diseases and other afflictions.
52-Wahabi Movement (1820-1870)
This movement was originally an Islamic socio-religious reform movement. It tried to purify Islam by eliminating all the un-Islamic practices which had crept into Muslim society through the ages.
Saiyad Ahmad of Rae-Bareily was the founder of this movement in India. But his actual ambition was to revive Muslim power in Hindustan by overthrowing the Sikhs in Punjab and British in Bengal.
Wahabism spread very rapidly in Bihar, Bengal, UP and North-Western India. After Saiyad Ahmad’s death in the battle of Balakot against the Sikhs (1831), Patna became the centre of this movement.
In Bengal Saiyad Nissar Hussain led this anti-British struggle which sometimes took a communal turn. Although the Wahabi uprising was mainly inspired by anti-imperialist sentiments yet it had some kind of revivalist and communal tendencies.
The British took strong measures against this movement and were able to subdue it completely around 1870.
53-kazi Nazrul Islam or Bidrohi Kobi (Rebel Poet),
was a Bengali poet, musician and revolutionary who pioneered poetic works espousing intense spiritual rebellion against fascism and oppression.
His poetry and nationalist activism earned him the popular title of Bidrohi Kobi (Rebel Poet). Accomplishing a large body of acclaimed works through his life,
Nazrul is officially recognised as the national poet of Bangladesh and commemorated in India.
Nazrul’s writings explore themes such as love, freedom, and revolution; he opposed all bigotry, including religious and gender. Throughout his career, Nazrul wrote short stories, novels, and essays but is best known for his poems, in which he pioneered new forms such as Bengali ghazals.
preached revolution through his poetic works, such as “Bidrohi” (“The Rebel”) and “Bhangar Gaan” (“The Song of Destruction”), as well as his publication “Dhumketu” (“The Comet”).
54-Gopuram or Gopura
is a monumental tower, usually ornate, at the entrance of any temple, especially in Southern India. This forms a prominent feature of Koils, Hindu temples of the Dravidian style.
They are topped by the kalasam, a bulbous stone finial. They function as gateways through the walls that surround the temple complex.
Murudeshwara Temple in Bhatkal,Karnataka, has the tallest gopuram
55-bharat dharma mahamandal or All India Great Federation of Religion
Shri Gyanand Maharaj laid the foundation of Bharat Dharma Mahamandal to promote the cause of women in the field of education and to preserve Indian Culture and human value
56-The Young Bengal movement
was a group of radical Bengali free thinkers emerging from Hindu College, Calcutta in the early 19th century. They were also known as Derozians, after their firebrand teacher at Hindu College, Henry Louis Vivian Derozio.
were inspired and excited by the spirit of free thought and revolt against the existing social and religious structure of Hindusociety.
A number of Derozians were attracted to the Brahmo Samaj movement
The Young Bengal Movement peripherally included Christians such as Reverend Alexander Duff
57-Quit india movement or the August Movement (August Kranti)
was a civil disobedience movement launched in India in August 1942 in response to Mohandas Gandhi’s call for immediate independence.
The All-India Congress Committee proclaimed a mass protest demanding what Gandhi called “an orderly British withdrawal” from India. The call for determined, but passive resistance appears in his call to Do or Die,
The British were prepared to act. Almost the entire Indian National Congress leadership, and not just at the national level, was imprisoned without trial within hours after Gandhi’s speech
the British had the support of the Viceroy’s Council (which had a majority of Indians), of the Muslims, the Communist Party, the princely states, the Imperial and state police, the Indian Army, and the Indian Civil Service.
In terms of immediate objectives Quit India failed because of heavy-handed suppression, weak coordination and the lack of a clear-cut programme of action.
However, the British government realized that India was ungovernable in the long run, and the question for postwar became how to exit gracefully while protecting Britain’s allies, the Muslims and the princes.
58-The Swadeshi movement,
was an Indian independence movement and the show of developing Indian nationalism,
was an economic strategy aimed at removing the British Empire from power and improving economic conditions in India by following the principles of swadeshi (self-sufficiency), which had some success. Strategies of the Swadeshi movement involved boycotting British products and the revival of domestic products and production processes.
The Swadeshi Movement started with the partition of Bengal by the Viceroy of India, Lord Curzon, 1905 and continued up to 1908
The western clothes were thrown in bonfires and it was an act of honour to wear the local Indian clothes.The British products were also boycotted in the markets and the sales of the British fell dramatically.
It was the most successful of the pre-Gandhian movements. Its chief architects were Aurobindo Ghosh, Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Bipin Chandra Pal and Lala Lajpat Rai.
Swadeshi, as a strategy, was a key focus of Mahatma Gandhi, who described it as the soul of Swaraj (self rule). Gandhi, at the time of the actual movement, remained loyal to the British Crown.
59-The Rowlatt act
passed by the British in colonial India in March 1919, indefinitely extending “emergency measures” (of the Defence of India Regulations Act) enacted during the First World War in order to control public unrest and root out conspiracy
this act effectively authorized the government to imprison for a maximum period of two years, without trial, any person suspected of terrorism living in the Raj.
The Rowlatt Act gave British imperial authorities power to deal with revolutionary activities.
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, among other Indian leaders, was extremely critical of the Act and argued that not everyone should get punishment in response to isolated political crimes.
Accepting the report of the Repressive Laws Committee, the Government of India repealed the Rowlatt Act, the Press Act and twenty-two other laws in March 1922
60-The Ilbert Bill
was a bill introduced in 1883 for British India by Viceroy Ripon that proposed an amendment for existing laws in the country at the time to allow Indian judges and magistrates the jurisdiction to try British offenders in criminal cases at the District level, something that was disallowed at the time.
However, the introduction of the bill led to intense opposition in Britain and from British settlers in India that ultimately played on racial tensions before it was enacted in 1884 in a severely compromised state.
as a result of popular disapproval of the Ilbert Bill by a majority of English women, Viceroy Ripon (who had introduced the Bill) passed an amendment, whereby a jury of 50% Europeans was required if an Indian judge was to face a European on the dock
61-montagu reform or august declaration of 1917
After the Lucknow Pact, a British policy was announced which aimed at “increasing association of Indians in every branch of the administration for progressive realization of responsible government in India as an integral part of the British empire”. This came to be called the August Declaration.Because of Hindu – Muslim unity exhibited in Lucknow Pact.
The Provincial Legislative Councils were enlarged and the majority of ‘their members were to be elected. The provincial governments were given more powers under the system of Dyarachy.
Under this system some subjects, such as finance and law and order, were called ‘reserved’ subjects and remained under the direct control of the Governor; others such as education, public health, and local self-government, were called ‘transferred’ subjects and were to be controlled by ministers responsible to the legislature.
the Governor retained complete Control over the financiers. The Governor could, moreover, overrule the ministers on any grounds that he considered special.
The Indian National Congress met in a special session at Bombay in August 1918 under the President ship of Hasan Imam to consider the reform proposals.
The Indian National Congress met in a special session at Bombay in August 1918 and condemned it as ‘disappointed and unsatisfactory’ and demanded effective self- government instead.
Some of the veteran Congress leaders led by Surendranath Banerjee were in favour of accepting the government proposals. They left the Congress at this time and founded the Indian Liberal Federation. They came to be known as Liberals and played a minor role in Indian politics hereafter.
The Montague – Chelmsford reforms or the act of 1919 was based on this declaration.
62-The Indigo revolt
was a peasant movement and subsequent uprising of indigo farmers against the indigo planters that arose in Bengal in 1859.
After the courageous fight by the Sepoy for independence in 1857 in February–March 1859 the farmers refused to sow a single seedling of indigo plant. The strength of the farmers’ resolutions were dramatically stronger than anticipated from a community victimized by brutal treatment for about half a century. Most importantly it was a revolt of both the major religious groups of farmers in Bengal, it was totally a nonviolent resistance
The zamindars were also targets of the revolting peasants. Indigo planters were put into public trial and executed.
The revolt was ruthlessly suppressed. Large forces of police and military backed by the British Government and the zamindars mercilessly slaughtered a number of peasants.
Dinabandhu Mitra’s 1859 play Nil Darpan is based on the revolution.
63-The Malabar Rebellion or Moplah Rebellion
was an armed uprising in 1921 against British authority and Hindus in the Malabar region of Southern India by Mappila Muslims and the culmination of a series of Mappila revolts that recurred throughout the 19th century and early 20th century.
The 1921 rebellion began as a reaction against a heavy handed crackdown on the Khilafat Movement by the British authorities in the Eranad and Valluvanad taluks of Malabar.
The Mappilas attacked and took control of police stations, British government offices, courts and government treasuries.
The largely kudiyaan (tenant) Mappilas also attacked and killed jenmi (landlords) of the Hindu Nair and Brahmin Nambudiri castes.
Mappilas committed several atrocities against the Hindu community, who they accused of helping the police to suppress their rebellion.Annie Besant reported that Muslim Mappilas forcibly converted many Hindus.
The British administration raised a special quasi-military (or Armed Police) battalion, the Malabar Special Police (MSP), initially consisting of non-Muslims and trained by the British Indian Army. The MSP then attacked the rioters and eventually subdued them.
64-Aligarh Movement
was the movement led by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, to educate the Muslims of the South Asia after the defeat of the rebels in the Indian rebellion of 1857.
It had enormous success and had a profound impact on the future of the subcontinent. Its most significant achievement was the establishment of Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College at Aligarh, which later became Aligarh Muslim University,
Amu was a centre of Pakistan Movement and Indian Independence Movement.
After dislodging the Muslim Nawabs from the throne, the new rulers, the British, implemented a new educational policy which banned Arabic, Persian and religious education in schools and made English not only the medium of instruction but also the official language in 1835.
This spawned a negative attitude amongst the Muslims towards everything modern and western, and a disinclination to make use of the opportunities available under the new regime.
Aligarh movement was launched with two immediate objectives in mind: to remove the state of misunderstanding and tension between the Muslims and the new British government, and to induce them to go after the opportunities available under the new regime without deviating in any way from the fundamentals of their faith. Keeping education and social reform as the two planks of his program,
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