Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee…………………………
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By Prof. R.P. Chaturvedi D. Litt. UPKAR PRAKASHAN, AGRA-2 © Publishers Publishers UPKAR PRAKASHAN 2/11A, Swadeshi Bima Nagar, AGRA–282 002 Phone : 2530966, 2531101, 3208693, 3208694; Fax : (0562) 2531940 E-mail : [email protected] Website : www.upkarprakashan.com Branch Office 4840/24, Govind Lane, Ansari Road, Daryaganj, New Delhi–110 002 Phone : 23251844, 23251866 • The publishers have taken all possible precautions in publishing this book, yet if any mistake has crept in, the publishers shall not be responsible for the same. • This book or any part thereof may not be reproduced in any form by Photographic, Mechanical, or any other method, for any use, without written permission from the Publishers. • Only the courts at Agra shall have the jurisdiction for any legal dispute. Price : Rs. 105·00 (Rs. One Hundred Five Only) Code No. 1533 Printed at : UPKAR PRAKASHAN (Printing Unit) Bye-pass, AGRA To The Readers Lives of all great men remind us we can make our lives sublime and parting leave behind us footprints on the sands of time. The book before you is not an original work. It is English version of Hindi book ‘Mahan Vyaktitva’ compiled by Dr. Lal and Jain, published by M/s. Upkar Prakashan, Agra. I have made no changes in it. It was quite difficult to determine the order in which the names of the ‘Great Personalities’ may be arranged. I took the path of the least resistance and arranged them in the alphabetic order. I hope this would suit our readers. A word of advice to the young and ambitious readers. You will do well to remember that ‘‘All rising to a great place is by a winding stair case.’’ (Francis Bacon) —(Prof.) R. P. Chaturvedi Contents LITERATURE AND SCHOLARSHIP ● Ravindra Nath Thakur………………………………….. 3–9 ● Dr. Sarvapalli Radhakrishanan…………………………. 10–13 ● Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar……………………………….. 14–18 ● Smt. Sarojini Naydu……………………………………. 19–23 ● Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee…………………………. 24–27 ● Kanahiyalal Maniklal Munshi…………………………… 28–31 ● Ahalya Bai Holkar……………………………………… 32–36 ● Surya Kant Tripathi ‘Nirala’…………………………… 37–41 ● Maithili Sharan Gupta…………………………………… 42–48 ● Jai Shankar Prasad……………………………………… 49–52 ● Raikrishna Das………………………………………….. 53–56 ● Babu Gulab Rai………………………………………… 57–59 ● Pt. Narendra Sharma……………………………………. 60–64 ● Makhan Lal Chaturvedi………………………………… 65–70 ● Acharya Pandit Ram Chandra Shukla…………………… 71–74 ● Dr. Ram Kumar Verma ………………………………… 75–78 ● Pt. Amrit Lal Nagar……………………………………… 79–83 ● Acharya Chatursen Shashtri……………………………. 84–88 ● Munshi Prem Chand……………………………………. 89–94 ● Mahapandit Rahul Sankrityayan………………………… 95–103 ● Bhartendu Harishchandra……………………………..… 104–114 POLITICS ● Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru………………………………….. 117–124 ● Jai Prakash Narayan……………………………………. 125–131 ( vi ) ● Sardar Patel……………………………………………… 132–136 ● Pt. Govind Ballabh Pant………………………………… 137–141 ● Bal Gangadhar Tilak…………………………………… 142–144 ● Srimati Indira Gandhi…………………………………… 145–148 ● Lala Lajpat Rai…………………………………………. 149–152 ● Man of the Age : Mahatma Gandhi………..…………… 153–158 ● Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan………………………………. 159–163 ● Firoz Shah Mehta………………………………………. 164–168 ● Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose…………………...……… 169–174 ● Smt. Vijay Lakshmi Pandit………………………………175–180 ● Nana Fananvees………………………………………… 181–185 ● Bhagat Singh…………………………………………… 186–192 ● Kartar Singh Saraba…………………………………….. 193–196 ● Chandra Shekhar Azad…………………………………. 197–200 ● Udham Singh…………………………………………… 201–205 ● Sri Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi………………………… 206–209 ● Madam Blavatsky………………………………………. 210–215 ● Lal Bahadur Shashtri…………………………………… 216–220 ● Amar Shaheed : Krantivir Madan Lal Dhingara……….. 221–226 ● Astute Statesman Bismarck…………………………..… 227–232 ● Dr. Rajendra Prasad…………………………………….. 233–236 SCIENCE ● Dr. B. P. Paul…………………………………………… 239–241 ● Dr. Vishnu Shridhar Vakankar……………..…………… 242–244 ● Acharya Praphulla Chandra Ray………………...……… 245–249 ● J. R. D. Tata…………………………………………….. 250–252 ● Ramanujam……………………………………………… 253–254 ● Dr. Megh Nath Saah……………………………………. 255–259 ● Alfred Nobel……………………………………………. 260–262 ● Dr. Homi Jahangeer Bhabha …………………………… 263–265 ● Sir Mokshagundam Vishveshwaraiya……………………266–268 ( vii ) ● Fibonacci…………………………………………………269–271 ● Dr. Subrahmanyam Chandra Shekhar………………….. 272–274 ● Dr. Vikram Sarabhoy…………………………………… 275–278 ● Sri Chandra Shekhar Venkatraman ……………………. 279–281 ● Madam Mary Curie………………………………..…… 282–286 SOCIETY AND CULTURE ● Swami Vivekananda……………………………………. 289–296 ● Gopal Krishna Gokhaley……………………………….. 297–300 ● Pt. Din Dayal Upadhyaya………………………………. 301–305 ● Dada Bhai Naurojee…………………………………….. 306–310 ● Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia……………………………….. 311–314 ● Dr. (Mrs.) Annie Besant………………………………... 315–319 ● Dr. Zakir Hussain………………………………………. 320–322 ● Sri Arvind Ghosh……………………………………….. 323–328 ● Acharya Vinoba Bhave…………………………………..329–338 ● Hemant Mukharjee……………………………………… 339–341 ● Satyajeet Ray…………………………………………… 342–345 ● Kumar Gandharva………………………………………. 346–349 ● V. Shanta Ram………………………………………….. 350–353 ● Raja Ram Mohan Roy………………………………….. 354–358 ● Maharshi Dayanand Saraswati…………………………. 359–363 ● Dalai Lama……………………………………………… 364–368 ● Jagadguru Aadi Shankaracharya……………………….. 369–374 ● Mahatma Jyoti Rao Phule………………………………. 375–378 ● Ishwar Chand Vidyasagar………………………………. 379–384 LITERATURE AND SCHOLARSHIP Ravindra Nath Thakur Introduction It would not be a misnomer to say that the preceptor of poets, Sri Ravindra Nath Thakur was the best representative of Bhartiya Sanskriti (Indian culture). It was on Monday, 7th May, 1861, that Ravindra Nath was born to Maharishi (sage like) Devendra Nath Thakur in his palatial house, situated at Jorhasanko-Calcutta, (now Kolkata) the then capital of India, and of course, a big city as well. Ravindra Nath was the youngest son of his parents. That was a transition period because of the all pervading and magnetic influence of Raja Ram Mohan Rai who is called the father of Indian Renaissance. Brahma Samaj had become the pivot of the Reformation movements. Ravindra Nath’s father, sage Devendra Nath Thakur was the founder leader of Adi Brahma Samaj, a branch of the Brahma Samaj. Early life At his primary education stage, Ravindra Nath could not stand the restrained life. Those days the residence of Maharishi Devendra Nath Thakur was the meeting place of celebrated literary figures, musicians and artists of the country; It was here that the touch of home-tutor, and the contact and patronage of these august persons, saw the potentialities of a world poet in the child Ravindra Nath. In the words of Edward Thomson, “All the surging tides of Indian Renaissance flowed round his daily life.” In his immemorable work ‘Jeevan -Smriti’ (thou-Le~fr) the exalted poet writes, “When his father Maharishi Devendra Nath asked for his consent for a tour of the Himalayas, he felt like expressing his joy loudly with all his energy. 4R | G. P. After the sacred thread ceremony (Janeu), when he was only nine years, the jovial child accompanied his father on a journey to Dalhousie Shailawas, there he was, far from the city life of Calcutta, in the lap of nature’s beauty of the high peaks of the Himalayas. Here Maharishi Devendra Nath, himself, read out to the child Ravindra Nath the shlokas ('¥ksd`) of the Upanishads. As a result the Upanishads became the centre of the whole life philosophy of Ravindra Nath. He was specially influenced by the Ish, Chhandogya and Shwetashet Upanishads. Besides this, the mind of the adolescent Ravindra Nath was deeply influ- enced by the Mahabharat, Geet Govind, Vaishnava Padawali, the prose writings of Bankim Chand Chattopadhyay and the poetry of Bihari Lal. At the age of 17 years, he went to London and persued his studies at London University under the guidance of Henry Morley. Consequently he ever felt attracted towards the English Romantic poets. The all round genius of Ravindra Nath Thakur To internalize fully the life-philosophy of Sri Ravindra Nath, it is most necessary to know his main writings. Ravindra Nath wrote his first poem at the age of seven years only. He continued to write till the last moment when he died in 1941. In short he enlightened the world with his poetic-genius for over seventy years. His literary contributions are so wide and varied that to be conversant with them, a fully devoted whole life is needed. Offering reverence to his multi-directional genius Count Keysuling said, “He is the most universal, the most encom- passing human being, whom I have ever met.” As a matter of fact, in the personality of Sri Ravindra Nath a spectacular fusion of different aspects of Indian culture is visible. That is why, in his poetic works, a unique combination of different thoughts and religions is available, e.g. Vedanta, Vaishnavism, Buddhist Philosophy, Sufi religion Bayul sect, Christianity. This is almost unprecedented. Ravindra Nath was atheist and a humanist. It is generally believed that aththeism and humanism are contradictory. This is western way of thinking. From the Indian point of view theism means seeing the same God in each particle—both living and non-living. In a way Ravindra Nath fully represented and stood Ravindra Nath Thakur | 5R for Indian values of life. To him God and his creation were one and the same thing. Humanism The well-known Greek philosopher Protagoras is considered as the thinker who was the first to talk of humanism. He used to say that “Man is the measure of all things. This humanism was revived by the French philosopher Auguste Comte in the nineteenth century. Thereafter, Karl Marx incorporated humanism in his philosophy of Communism. The western humanists used to be positivists.