Misplaced Pages

Rajendra Prasad
Official portrait, 1950
1st President of India
In office 13 February 1952 – 13 May 1962 Acting: 26 January 1950 – 13 February 1952
Prime Minister	Jawaharlal Nehru
Vice President	Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
1st Union Minister of Agriculture
In office 15 August 1947 – 14 January 1948
Prime Minister	Jawaharlal Nehru
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Jairamdas Daulatram
President of Constituent Assembly of India
In office 11 December 1946 – 24 January 1950
Vice President	Harendra Coomar Mookerjee V. T. Krishnamachari
Preceded by	Sachchidananda Sinha
Succeeded by	Office abolished
Personal details
Born	(1884-12-03)3 December 1884 Ziradei, Bengal Presidency, British India (present-day Bihar, India)
Died	28 February 1963(1963-02-28) (aged 78) Patna, Bihar, India
Political party	Indian National Congress
Spouse	Rajvanshi Devi ​ ​(m. 1896; died 1962)​
Children	Mrityunjay Prasad (son)
Alma mater	University of Calcutta
Occupation	Politician lawyer journalist scholar

Rajendra Prasad (3 December 1884 – 28 February 1963) was an Indian politician, lawyer, journalist and scholar who served as the first president of India from 1952 to 1962. He joined the Indian National Congress during the Indian independence movement and became a major leader from the region of Bihar. A supporter of Mahatma Gandhi, Prasad was imprisoned by British authorities during the Salt Satyagraha of 1930 and the Quit India movement of 1942. After the constituent assembly 1946 elections, Prasad served as 1st Minister of Food and Agriculture in the central government from 1947 to 1948. Upon independence in 1947, Prasad was elected as President of the Constituent Assembly of India, which prepared the Constitution of India and which served as its provisional Parliament.

When India became a republic in 1950, Prasad was elected as its first president by the Constituent Assembly. As president, Prasad established a tradition for non-partisanship and independence for the office-bearer and retired from Congress party politics. Although a ceremonial head of state, Prasad encouraged the development of education in India and advised government on several occasions. In 1957, Prasad was re-elected to the presidency, becoming the only president to serve two full terms. Prasad stayed in office for the longest term of around 12 years. Post the completion of his tenure, he quit the Congress and set up new guidelines for parliamentarians which are still followed.

Early life

Prasad was born on 3 December 1884 in a Chitraguptavanshi Kayastha family in Ziradei, Bihar. His father, Mahadev Sahai, was a scholar of both Sanskrit and Persian languages. His mother, Kamleshwari Devi, was a devout woman who would tell stories from the Ramayana and Mahabharata to her son. He was the youngest child and had one elder brother and three elder sisters. His mother died when he was a child, and his elder sister then took care of him.

Student life

After the completion of traditional elementary education, he was sent to the Chhapra District School. Meanwhile, in June 1896, at the early age of 12, he was married to Rajavanshi Devi. He, along with his elder brother, Mahendra Prasad Srivastava, then went to study at T.K. Ghosh's Academy in Patna for a period of two years. He secured first in the entrance examination to the University of Calcutta and was awarded Rs. 30 per month as a scholarship.

Prasad joined the Presidency College, Calcutta in 1902, initially as a science student. He passed the F. A. under the University of Calcutta in March 1904 and then graduated with a first division from there in March 1905. Impressed by his intellect, an examiner once commented on his answer sheet that the "examinee is better than examiner". Later he decided to focus on the study of arts and did his M.A. in Economics with a first division from the University of Calcutta in December 1907. There he lived with his brother in the Eden Hindu Hostel. A devoted student as well as a public activist, he was an active member of The Dawn Society. It was due to his sense of duty towards his family and education that he refused to join Servants of India Society, as it was during that time when his mother had died as well as his sister became a widow at the age of nineteen and had to return to her parents' home. Prasad was instrumental in the formation of the Bihari Students Conference in 1906 in the hall of Patna College. It was the first organisation of its kind in India and produced important leaders from Bihar like Anugrah Narayan Sinha and Krishna Singh who played a prominent role in the Champaran Movement and Non-cooperation Movement.

Career

A teacher

Prasad served in various educational institutions as a teacher. After completing his M.A in economics, he became a professor of English at the Langat Singh College of Muzaffarpur in Bihar and went on to become the principal. However, later on he left the college to undertake legal studies and entered the Ripon College, Calcutta (now the Surendranath Law College). In 1909, while pursuing his law studies in Kolkata he also worked as Professor of Economics at Calcutta City College.

A lawyer

In 1915, Prasad appeared in the examination of masters in law from the Department of Law, University of Calcutta, passed the examination and won a gold medal. He completed his Doctorate in Law from Allahabad University. In 1916, he joined the High Court of Bihar and Odisha. In 1917, he was appointed as one of the first members of the Senate and of the Patna University. He also practised law at Bhagalpur, the famous silk town in Bihar.

Role in the freedom Movement

Prasad had a major role in the Independence Movement. Prasad's first association with Indian National Congress was during 1906 annual session organised in Calcutta, where he participated as a volunteer, while studying in Calcutta. 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 also responded to the call by Gandhi to boycott Western educational establishments by asking his son, Mrityunjaya Prasad, to drop out of his studies and enrol himself in Bihar Vidyapeeth, an institution he along with his colleagues founded on the traditional Indian model.

During the course of the independence movement, he interacted with Rahul Sankrityayan, a writer, and polymath. Rahul Sankrityayan was greatly influenced by Prasad's intellectual powers, finding him to be a guide and guru. In many of his articles he mentioned about his meeting with Sankrityayan and narrated about his meetings with Sankrityayan. He wrote articles for the revolutionary publications Searchlight and the Desh and collected funds for these papers. He toured widely, explaining, lecturing, and exhorting the principles of the independence movement.

He took an active role in helping people affected by the 1914 floods that struck Bihar and Bengal. When an earthquake affected Bihar on 15 January 1934, Prasad was in jail. During that period, he passed on the relief work to his close colleague Anugrah Narayan Sinha. He was released two days later and set up Bihar Central Relief Committee on 17 January 1934 and took on the task of raising funds to help the affected people. After the 31 May 1935 Quetta earthquake, when he was forbidden to leave the country due to government's order, he set up the Quetta Central Relief Committee in Sindh and Punjab under his own presidency.

He was elected as the President of the Indian National Congress during the Bombay session in October 1934. He again became the president when Subhash Chandra Bose resigned in 1939. On 8 August 1942, Congress passed the Quit India Resolution in Bombay which led to the arrest of many Indian leaders. Prasad was arrested in Sadaqat Ashram, Patna and sent to Bankipur Central Jail. After remaining incarcerated for nearly three years, he was released on 15 June 1945.

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.

Presidency

Two and a half years after independence, on 26 January 1950, the Constitution of independent India was ratified, and he was elected as the first President of India. On the night of 25 January 1950 (a day before the Republic Day of India), his sister Bhagwati Devi died. He arranged her cremation but only after his return from the parade ground.

As the President of India, Prasad duly acted as required by the Constitution and was independent of any political party. He travelled the world extensively as an ambassador of India, building diplomatic rapport with foreign nations. He was re-elected for two consecutive terms in 1952 and 1957 and is the only President of India to achieve this feat. The Mughal Gardens at the Rashtrapati Bhavan were open to public for about a month for the first time during his tenure, and since then it has been a big attraction for people in Delhi and many other parts of the country.

Prasad acted independently of political parties, following the expected role of the president as required by the constitution. Following the tussle over the enactment of the Hindu Code Bill, he took a more active role in state affairs. In 1962, after serving 12 years as president, he announced his decision to retire. After relinquishing the office of the President of India in May 1962, he returned to Patna on 14 May 1962 and stayed on the campus of Bihar Vidyapeeth. His wife died on 9 September 1962, a month before Indo-China War. He was subsequently honoured with Bharat Ratna, the nation's highest civilian award.

He died on 28 February 1963, aged 78. Rajendra Smriti Sangrahalaya in Patna is dedicated to him.

Awards and honours

•  India:
  • Bharat Ratna (1962)

In popular culture

Babu Rajendra Prasad is 1980 short documentary film directed by Manjul Prabhat and produced by the Films Division of India which covers the life of the first president of India.

Bibliography

• Satyagraha at Champaran (1922)
• India Divided (1946)
• Atmakatha (1946), his autobiography written during his three-year prison term in Bankipur Jail
• Mahatma Gandhi and Bihar, Some Reminiscences (1949)
• Bapu Ke Qadmon Men (1954)
• Since Independence (published in 1960)
• Bharatiya Shiksha
• At the feet of Mahatma Gandhi

See also

• Shri Krishna Singh (politician)
• Anugrah Narayan Sinha
• Jawaharlal Nehru
• Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
• List of politicians from Bihar

References

1. Janak Raj Jai (1 January 2003). Presidents of India, 1950–2003. Regency Publications. pp. 1–. ISBN 978-81-87498-65-0.
2. Tara Sinha (2013). Dr. Rajendra Prasad: A Brief Biography. Ocean Books. ISBN 978-81843-0173-1. Archived from the original on 10 May 2018.
3. "Dr. Rajendra Prasad | District Siwan, Government Of Bihar | India". Archived from the original on 13 June 2024. Retrieved 28 August 2024.
4. N. Sundarajan (2007). Biographies of the First Three Presidents of India. Sura Books. pp. 2–4. ISBN 9788174787361.
5. M.K. Singh, ed. (2009). Encyclopaedia Of Indian War Of Independence (1857-1947). Anmol Publications Pvt. Ltd. p. 99. His father, Mahadev Sahai, was a Persian and Sanskrit language scholar; his mother, Kamleshwari Devi, was a devout women who would tell stories from the Ramayana to her son.
6. "The President of India Shri Pranab Mukherjee". Presidentofindia.nic.in. Archived from the original on 11 August 2013. Retrieved 12 December 2013.
7. President's Secretariat National Informatics Centre
8. Sanghralaya, Rajendra Smriti. "Major Life Events of Dr. Rajendra Prasad - First President of India". rss.bih.nic.in. Archived from the original on 3 March 2013.
9. Miglani, Neha (20 May 2012). "Evaluators for preserving flawless answer sheets". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 27 September 2016. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
10. राजेंद्र प्रसाद (2007). राजेंद्र बाबू: पत्रों के आईने में. प्रभात प्रकाशन. ISBN 978-81-7315-654-0.
11. "First president Rajendra Prasad remembered - Times of India". The Times of India. 4 December 2016. Archived from the original on 5 December 2016.
12. "Major Life Events of Dr. Rajendra Prasad – First President of India". Rss.bih.nic.in. Archived from the original on 3 March 2013. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
13. "Remembering Dr Rajendra Prasad, First President of Independent India". News18. Network18 Group. Network18 Media & Investments Limited. 3 December 2019. Archived from the original on 6 August 2020. Retrieved 24 May 2020.
14. ^ "Dr Rajendra Prasad". The Tribune (Chandigarh). Tribune India. Tribune Trust. 9 April 2000. Archived from the original on 24 October 2020. Retrieved 24 May 2020.
15. Sethi, Atul (12 August 2007). "Distant dads?". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 28 June 2023. Retrieved 28 June 2023.
16. "Remembering the Bihar Vibhuti A. N. Sinha". Patna Daily. Archived from the original on 10 February 2022. Retrieved 24 May 2020.
17. ^ Radhakrishnan, Sruthi (14 December 2017). "Presidents of Congress past: A look at the party's presidency since 1947". The Hindu. The Hindu Group. Archived from the original on 1 August 2020. Retrieved 24 May 2020.
18. Sharma, Arvind K. (1986). "Subhas Chandra Bose and Tripuri Congress Crisis (1939)". Proceedings of the Indian History Congress. 47. JSTOR: 498–506. JSTOR 44141585.
19. ^ "Remembering India's first President, Dr Rajendra Prasad, on his 55th death anniversary". Zee Media Bureau. Zee News. Essel Group. 28 February 2018. Archived from the original on 6 August 2020. Retrieved 24 May 2020.
20. "Constituent Assembly of India - Volume I". Archived from the original on 24 October 2014. Retrieved 23 October 2014.
21. "Details of media persons accompanying the president in his/her visits abroad since 1947 to 2012" (PDF). The President's Secretariat. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 August 2013. Retrieved 5 June 2013.
22. "Record visitors at Mughal Garden". www.rediff.com. Archived from the original on 1 January 2011. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
23. "About Rajendra Smriti Sanghralaya, Sadakat Ashram, Patna, Bihar, India". Rss.bih.nic.in. Archived from the original on 26 August 2011. Retrieved 12 December 2013.
24. "Dr Rajendra Prasad". Archived from the original on 25 March 2008. Retrieved 12 March 2010.. Indian Politicians Biography
25. "Babu Rajendra Prasad | Films Division". filmsdivision.org. Archived from the original on 11 June 2021. Retrieved 11 June 2021.

Further reading

• Rajendra Prasad, first President of India, by Kewalram Lalchand Panjabi. Published by Macmillan, 1960.
• Rajendra Prasad: twelve years of triumph and despair, by Rajendra Lal Handa. Published by Sterling Publishers,1979.
• Dr Rajendra Prasad, Correspondence and Select Documents, by Rajendra Prasad, Valmiki Choudhary. Published by Allied Publishers, 1984. ISBN 81-7023-002-0. Excerpts (Vol. 1-Vol. 10)
• Dr Rajendra Prasad by India Parliament. Lok Sabha. Published by Lok Sabha Secretariat, 1990.
• Rajendra Prasad and the Indian freedom struggle, 1917–1947, by Nirmal Kumar. Published by Patriot Publishers, 1991. ISBN 81-7050-128-8.
• Dr Rajendra Prasad: Political Thinkers Of Modern India, by V. Grover. Published by Deep & Deep Publications, 1993.
• First Citizens of India, Dr Rajendra Prasad to Dr Shanker Dayal Sharma: Profile and Bibliography, by A. B. Kohli. Published by Reliance Pub. House, 1995. ISBN 81-85972-71-0.

External links

• Newspaper clippings about Rajendra Prasad in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW
• Rajendra Prasad at IMDb

Links to related articles

v t e Presidents of India List Presidents Rajendra Prasad Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan Zakir Husain V. V. Giri Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed Neelam Sanjiva Reddy Zail Singh Ramaswamy Venkataraman Shankar Dayal Sharma K. R. Narayanan A. P. J. Abdul Kalam Presidency Pratibha Patil Presidency Pranab Mukherjee Presidency Ram Nath Kovind Presidency Droupadi Murmu (Incumbent) Presidency Acting V. V. Giri Mohammad Hidayatullah B. D. Jatti Things named after presidents Residence Spouse Category v t e Indian National Congress History History of the Indian National Congress Electoral history Nehru–Gandhi family The Emergency Indian National Congress (Organisation) Indian National Congress (R) Indian National Congress (I) Breakaway parties Organisation President All India Congress Committee Congress Working Committee Regional Congress Committee Pradesh Andhra Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh Assam Bihar Chhattisgarh Delhi Goa Gujarat Haryana Himachal Pradesh Jammu and Kashmir Jharkhand Karnataka Kerala Madhya Pradesh Maharashtra Manipur Meghalaya Mizoram Nagaland Odisha Puducherry Punjab Rajasthan Sikkim Tamil Nadu Telangana Tripura Uttarakhand Uttar Pradesh West Bengal Territorial Andaman and Nicobar Chandigarh Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu Dadra and Nagar Haveli Diu Daman and Diu Ladakh Lakshadweep Other Mumbai RCC Presidents Womesh Chunder Bonnerjee Dadabhai Naoroji Badruddin Tyabji George Yule William Wedderburn Pherozeshah Mehta Anandacharlu Womesh Chunder Bonnerjee Dadabhai Naoroji Webb Surendranath Banerjee Rahimtulla M. Sayani C. Sankaran Nair Anandamohan Bose Romesh Chunder Dutt N. G. Chandavarkar Dinshaw Edulji Wacha Surendranath Banerjee Lalmohan Ghosh Henry Cotton Gopal Krishna Gokhale Dadabhai Naoroji Rash Behari Ghosh Madan Mohan Malaviya William Wedderburn Bishan Narayan Dar Raghunath Narasinha Mudholkar Nawab Syed Muhammad Bahadur Bhupendra Nath Bose Satyendra Prasanna Sinha, 1st Baron Sinha Ambica Charan Mazumdar Annie Besant Madan Mohan Malaviya Syed Hasan Imam Motilal Nehru Lala Lajpat Rai C. Vijayaraghavachariar Hakim Ajmal Khan Chittaranjan Das Mohammad Ali Jauhar Abul Kalam Azad Mahatma Gandhi Sarojini Naidu S. Srinivasa Iyengar Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari Motilal Nehru Jawaharlal Nehru Vallabhbhai Patel Madan Mohan Malaviya Nellie Sengupta Rajendra Prasad Jawaharlal Nehru Subhas Chandra Bose Abul Kalam Azad J. B. Kripalani Bhogaraju Pattabhi Sitaramayya Purushottam Das Tandon Jawaharlal Nehru U. N. Dhebar Indira Gandhi Neelam Sanjiva Reddy K. Kamaraj S. Nijalingappa Jagjivan Ram Shankar Dayal Sharma D. K. Barooah Indira Gandhi Rajiv Gandhi P. V. Narasimha Rao Sitaram Kesri Sonia Gandhi Rahul Gandhi Mallikarjun Kharge Prime ministers Jawaharlal Nehru Lal Bahadur Shastri Gulzarilal Nanda Indira Gandhi Rajiv Gandhi P. V. Narasimha Rao Manmohan Singh Leaders Lok Sabha Jawaharlal Nehru Gulzarilal Nanda Lal Bahadur Shastri Satya Narayan Indira Gandhi Yashwantrao Chavan Chembakassery Mathai Stephen Rajiv Gandhi Arjun Singh P. V. Narasimha Rao Sharad Pawar Sonia Gandhi Pranab Mukherjee Sushilkumar Shinde Mallikarjun Kharge Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury Ravneet Singh Bittu Rahul Gandhi Rajya Sabha N. Gopalaswamy Ayyangar Charu Chandra Lal Bahadur Shastri Govind Ballabh Hafiz Mohamad Ibrahim Yashwantrao Chavan Jaisukhlal Hathi M. C. Chagla Jaisukhlal Hathi Kodardas Kalidas Shah Uma Shankar Dikshit Kamalapati Tripathi Pranab Mukherjee V.P. Singh Narayan Dutt Tiwari P. Shiv Shankar Shankarrao Chavan Motilal Vora Ahmed Patel Anand Sharma Jairam Ramesh A. K. Antony Digvijaya Singh P. Chidambaram Abhishek Singhvi Rajeev Shukla Manmohan Singh Ghulam Nabi Azad Mallikarjun Kharge Political wings Seva Dal All India Mahila Congress Indian Youth Congress National Students' Union of India Indian National Trade Union Congress All India Professionals Congress Chief ministers Current Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu Siddaramaiah Anumula Revanth Reddy Category v t e Indian independence movement History Colonisation Porto Grande de Bengala Dutch Bengal East India Company British Raj French India Portuguese India Battle of Plassey Battle of Buxar Anglo-Mysore Wars First Second Third Fourth Anglo-Maratha Wars First Second Third Gwalior Polygar Wars Vellore Mutiny First Anglo-Sikh War Second Anglo-Sikh War Sannyasi rebellion Rebellion of 1857 Radcliffe Line more Philosophies and ideologies Ambedkarism Gandhism Hindu nationalism Indian nationalism Khilafat Movement Muslim nationalism in South Asia Satyagraha Socialism Swadeshi movement Swaraj Events and movements Partition of Bengal (1905) Partition of Bengal (1947) Revolutionaries Direct Action Day Delhi-Lahore Conspiracy The Indian Sociologist Singapore Mutiny Hindu–German Conspiracy Champaran Satyagraha Kheda Satyagraha Rowlatt Committee Rowlatt Bills Jallianwala Bagh massacre Noakhali riots Non-cooperation movement Christmas Day Plot Coolie-Begar movement Chauri Chaura incident, 1922 Kakori conspiracy Qissa Khwani massacre Flag Satyagraha Bardoli 1928 Protests Nehru Report Fourteen Points of Jinnah Purna Swaraj Salt March Dharasana Satyagraha Vedaranyam March Chittagong armoury raid Gandhi–Irwin Pact Round table conferences Act of 1935 Aundh Experiment Indian Legion Cripps Mission Quit India Bombay Mutiny Royal Air Force strikes Coup d'état of Yanaon Provisional Government of India Independence Day Praja Mandala movement Lucknow Pact Organisations All India Kisan Sabha All-India Muslim League Anushilan Samiti Arya Samaj Azad Hind Berlin Committee Ghadar Movement Hindustan Socialist Republican Association Indian National Congress India House Indian Home Rule movement Indian Independence League Indian National Army Jugantar Khaksar movement Khudai Khidmatgar Swaraj Party more Social reformers Ashfaqulla Khan A. Vaidyanatha Iyer Ayya Vaikundar Ayyankali B. R. Ambedkar Baba Amte Bal Gangadhar Tilak Dayananda Saraswati Dhondo Keshav Karve G. Subramania Iyer Gazulu Lakshminarasu Chetty Gopal Ganesh Agarkar Gopal Hari Deshmukh Gopaldas Ambaidas Desai Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar J. B. Kripalani Jyotirao Phule Kandukuri Veeresalingam Mahadev Govind Ranade Mahatma Gandhi Muthulakshmi Reddy Narayana Guru Niralamba Swami Pandita Ramabai Periyar Ram Mohan Roy Rettamalai Srinivasan Sahajanand Saraswati Savitribai Phule Shahu Sister Nivedita Sri Aurobindo Syed Ahmad Khan Vakkom Moulavi Vinayak Damodar Savarkar Vinoba Bhave Vitthal Ramji Shinde Vivekananda Independence activists Abul Kalam Azad Accamma Cherian Achyut Patwardhan A. K. Fazlul Huq Alluri Sitarama Raju Annapurna Maharana Annie Besant Ashfaqulla Khan Babu Kunwar Singh Bagha Jatin Bahadur Shah II Bakht Khan Bal Gangadhar Tilak Basawon Singh Begum Hazrat Mahal Bhagat Singh Bharathidasan Bhavabhushan Mitra Bhikaiji Cama Bhupendra Kumar Datta Bidhan Chandra Roy Bipin Chandra Pal C. Rajagopalachari Chandra Shekhar Azad Chetram Jatav Chittaranjan Das Dadabhai Naoroji Dayananda Saraswati Dhan Singh Dukkipati Nageswara Rao Gopal Krishna Gokhale Govind Ballabh Pant Har Dayal Hemu Kalani Inayatullah Khan Mashriqi Jatindra Mohan Sengupta Jatindra Nath Das Jawaharlal Nehru K. Kamaraj Kanaiyalal Maneklal Munshi Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan Khudiram Bose Shri Krishna Singh Lala Lajpat Rai M. Bhaktavatsalam M. N. Roy Maghfoor Ahmad Ajazi Mahadaji Shinde Mahatma Gandhi Mangal Pandey Mir Qasim Mithuben Petit‎ Mohammad Ali Jauhar Muhammad Ali Jinnah Muhammad Mian Mansoor Ansari Nagnath Naikwadi Nana Fadnavis Nana Saheb P. Kakkan Prafulla Chaki Pritilata Waddedar Purushottam Das Tandon Rafi Ahmed Kidwai R. Venkataraman Rahul Sankrityayan Rajendra Prasad Ram Prasad Bismil Rani Lakshmibai Rash Behari Bose Sahajanand Saraswati Sangolli Rayanna Sarojini Naidu Satyapal Dang Shuja-ud-Daula Shyamji Krishna Varma Sibghatullah Shah Rashidi Siraj ud-Daulah Subhas Chandra Bose Subramania Bharati Subramaniya Siva Surya Sen Syama Prasad Mukherjee Tara Rani Srivastava Tarak Nath Das Tatya Tope Tiruppur Kumaran Ubaidullah Sindhi V. O. Chidamabaram V. K. Krishna Menon Vallabhbhai Patel Vanchinathan Veeran Sundaralingam Vinayak Damodar Savarkar Virendranath Chattopadhyaya Yashwantrao Holkar Yogendra Shukla more British leaders Wavell Canning Cornwallis Irwin Chelmsford Curzon Ripon Minto Dalhousie Bentinck Mountbatten Wellesley Lytton Clive Outram Cripps Linlithgow Hastings Independence Cabinet Mission Constitution Republic of India Indian annexation of Goa Indian Independence Act Partition of India Political integration Simla Conference v t e Recipients of Bharat Ratna Award 1954–1960 C. Rajagopalachari, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, and C. V. Raman (1954) Bhagwan Das, M. Visvesvaraya, and Jawaharlal Nehru (1955) Govind Ballabh Pant (1957) Dhondo Keshav Karve (1958) 1961–1980 Bidhan Chandra Roy, and Purushottam Das Tandon (1961) Rajendra Prasad (1962) Zakir Husain, and Pandurang Vaman Kane (1963) Lal Bahadur Shastri (1966) Indira Gandhi (1971) V. V. Giri (1975) K. Kamaraj (1976) Mother Teresa (1980) 1981–2000 Vinoba Bhave (1983) Abdul Ghaffar Khan (1987) M. G. Ramachandran (1988) B. R. Ambedkar, and Nelson Mandela (1990) Rajiv Gandhi, Vallabhbhai Patel, and Morarji Desai (1991) Abul Kalam Azad, J. R. D. Tata and Satyajit Ray (1992) Gulzarilal Nanda, Aruna Asaf Ali, and A. P. J. Abdul Kalam (1997) M. S. Subbulakshmi, and C. Subramaniam (1998) Jayaprakash Narayan, Amartya Sen, Gopinath Bordoloi, and Ravi Shankar (1999) 2001–2020 Lata Mangeshkar, and Bismillah Khan (2001) Bhimsen Joshi (2008) C. N. R. Rao, and Sachin Tendulkar (2014) Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and Madan Mohan Malaviya (2015) Nanaji Deshmukh, Bhupen Hazarika, and Pranab Mukherjee (2019) 2021–2040 Karpoori Thakur, Lal Krishna Advani, Charan Singh, P. V. Narasimha Rao, and M. S. Swaminathan (2024) v t e Mahatma Gandhi Life events and movements Indian Ambulance Corps Tolstoy Farm Bardoli Satyagraha Champaran Satyagraha Kheda Satyagraha Indian independence movement Non-cooperation movement Chauri Chaura incident Purna Swaraj flag Salt March Dharasana Satyagraha Vaikom Satyagraha Aundh Experiment Gandhi–Irwin Pact Second Round Table Conference Padayatra Poona Pact Natal Indian Congress Quit India speech Gujarat Vidyapith University Harijan Sevak Sangh India ashrams (Kochrab Sabarmati Sodepur Khadi Sevagram) List of fasts Assassination Philosophy Practices and beliefs Composite nationalism Gandhism Economics trusteeship Education Sarvodaya Satyagraha Swadeshi Swaraj Eleven vows Gandhi cap Publications Harijan Hind Swaraj (Indian Home Rule) Indian Opinion The Story of My Experiments with Truth Mangal Prabhat Young India Seven Social Sins Navajivan Trust Gandhi Heritage Portal Influences "A Letter to a Hindu" Ahimsa (nonviolence) Bhagavad Gita Henry David Thoreau (Civil Disobedience (essay)) Civil disobedience Fasting Hinduism Khadi John Ruskin Parsee Rustomjee Leo Tolstoy (The Kingdom of God Is Within You) (The Masque of Anarchy) Narmad Pacifism Sermon on the Mount Shravan Shrimad Rajchandra Henry Stephens Salt Tirukkuṛaḷ Unto This Last Gandhi's translation "Raghupati Raghava Raja Ram" "Ekla Chalo Re" "Hari Tuma Haro" "Vaishnava Jana To" Vegetarianism Associates Swami Anand C. F. Andrews Jamnalal Bajaj Shankarlal Banker Sarla Behn Vinoba Bhave Brij Krishna Chandiwala Sudhakar Chaturvedi Jugatram Dave Mahadev Desai Dada Dharmadhikari Kanu Gandhi Shiv Prasad Gupta Umar Hajee Ahmed Jhaveri J. C. Kumarappa Hermann Kallenbach Abdul Ghaffar Khan Acharya Kripalani Mirabehn Mohanlal Pandya Vallabhbhai Patel Narhari Parikh Mithuben Petit Chakravarti Rajagopalachari Bibi Amtus Salam Sonja Schlesin Anugrah Narayan Sinha Sri Krishna Sinha Rettamalai Srinivasan V. A. Sundaram Abbas Tyabji Ravishankar Vyas Kishorlal Mashruwala Legacy Artistic depictions Gandhigiri Gandhi Peace Award Gandhi Peace Foundation Gandhi Peace Prize Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapith Indian currency (Gandhi Series, Gandhi New Series, Indian rupee) Indian 10 Rupee postage stamp Family Karamchand Gandhi (father) Kasturba (wife) Harilal (son) Manilal (son) Ramdas (son) Devdas (son) Maganlal (cousin) Samaldas (nephew) Arun (grandson) Ela (granddaughter) Rajmohan (grandson) Gopalkrishna (grandson) Ramchandra (grandson) Kanu (grandson) Kanu (grandnephew) Tushar (great-grandson) Leela (great-granddaughter) Influenced 14th Dalai Lama Aung San Suu Kyi Abhay Bang Abdul Ghaffar Khan Brajkishore Prasad C. Rajagopalachari Eknath Easwaran Draupadi Murmu François Bayrou Gopaldas Ambaidas Desai Govind Vallabh Pant Ho Chi Minh James Bevel James Lawson Jawaharlal Nehru Joan Bondurant Lal Bahadur Shastri Lanza del Vasto Maulana Azad Martin Luther King Jr. Maria Lacerda de Moura Mehdi Bazargan Morarji Desai Narendra Modi Nelson Mandela Rajendra Prasad Ramjee Singh Steve Biko Sane Guruji Vinoba Bhave Vallabhbhai Patel Memorials Statues Ghana India Patna National Salt Satyagraha Memorial New Delhi South Africa Johannesburg Pietermaritzburg UK Parliament Square Tavistock Square U.S. Davis Denver Houston Milwaukee New York San Francisco San Jose Washington, D.C. Observances Gandhi Jayanti International Day of Non-Violence Martyrs' Day Season for Nonviolence Other Aga Khan Palace Gandhi Bhawan Gandhi Mandapam Gandhi Market Bookstores Gandhi Promenade Gandhi Smriti Gandhi Memorial Gandhi Memorial Museum, Madurai Gandhi Teerth Gandhi Temple, Bhatara Kaba Gandhi No Delo Kirti Mandir Mahatma Gandhi College Mahatma Gandhi Marine National Park Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Centre, Matale Mani Bhavan Mohandas Gandhi High School National Gandhi Museum Raj Ghat Roads named after Gandhi Sabarmati Ashram Satyagraha House

• 1884 births
• 1963 deaths
• Presidency University, Kolkata alumni
• Surendranath College alumni
• Indian Hindus
• Indian independence activists from Bihar
• 20th-century Indian lawyers
• Members of the Constituent Assembly of India
• People from Siwan district
• Recipients of the Bharat Ratna
• Presidents of India
• Presidents of the Indian National Congress
• University of Calcutta alumni
• Surendranath Law College alumni
• Academic staff of the University of Calcutta
• Academic staff of City College, Kolkata
• Members of the Council of the Governor General of India
• Indian National Congress politicians from Bihar