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.

 

Famous Personalities of Fredom Struggle of India

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.

 


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.


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


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.


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.


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


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, butthe government thwarted his work, and he soon returned to Europe.

? In 1913 he formed the Ghadar rebellion (Gadar) Party to organize a against the British government of India.


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.


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.


Sir Muhammad Iqbal or Allama Iqbal
? was a philosopher,poet and politician 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, 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”


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


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.


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, Bh?rat Ratna,

? founded Widhaw?-Wiw?hottejak Mandali, which, besides encouraging marriages of widows, also helped the needy children of widows.

? established a Hindu Widows’ Home Association


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.


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.


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


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 J?h?ng?r.

? 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


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


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 ”


Lala Har Dayal
? was a Indian nationalist revolutionary 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 he started , published in 1907, to explore anarchist ideas, In April 1914, he was arrested by the United States government for spreading anarchist literature and fled to Berlin, Germany.


 

 

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 with Japanese 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

 

Wavell Plan & Shimla Conference-

In May 1945, Lord Wavell, the Viceroy of India, went to London and discussed his ideas about the future of India with the British administration. The talks resulted in the formulation of a plan of action that was made public in June 1945. The plan is known as Wavell Plan.

The Plan suggested reconstitution of the Viceroy’s Executive Council in which the Viceroy was to select persons nominated by the political parties. Different communities were also to get their due share in the Council and parity was reserved for Cast-Hindus and Muslims. While declaring the plan, the Secretary of State for Indian Affairs made it clear that the British Government wanted to listen to the ideas of all major Indian communities. Yet he said that it was only possible if the leadership of the leading Indian political parties agreed with the suggestions of the British Government.

To discuss these proposals with the leadership of major Indian parties, Wavell called for a conference at Simla on June 25, 1945. Leaders of both the Congress and the Muslim League attended the conference, which is known as the Simla Conference. However, differences arose between the leadership of the two parties on the issue of representation of the Muslim community. The Muslim League claimed that it was the only representative party of the Muslims in India and thus all the Muslim representatives in the Viceroy’s Executive Council should be the nominees of the party. Congress, which had sent Maulana Azad as the leader of their delegation, tried to prove that their party represented all the communities living in India and thus should be allowed to nominate Muslim representative as well. Congress also opposed the idea of parity between the Cast-Hindus and the Muslims. All this resulted in a deadlock. Finally, Wavell announced the failure of his efforts on July 14. Thus the Simla Conference couldn’t provide any hope of proceeding further.

 

 

CR Formula

C. Rajagopalachari’s formula (or C. R. formula or Rajaji formula) was a proposal formulated by Chakravarthi Rajagopalachari to solve the political deadlock between the All India Muslim League and Indian National Congress on independence of India from the British. C. Rajagopalachari, a Congress leader from Madras, devised a proposal for the Congress to offer the League the Muslim Pakistan based onplebiscite of all the peoples in the regions where Muslims made a majority. Although the formula was opposed even within the Congress party,Gandhi used it as his proposal in his talks with Jinnah in 1944. However, Jinnah rejected the proposal and the talks failed.
The CR formula entailed
i. The League was to endorse the Indian demand for independence and to co-operate with the Congress in formation of Provisional Interim Government for a transitional period.
ii. At the end of the War, a commission would be appointed to demarcate the districts having a Muslim population in absolute majority and in those areas plebiscite to be conducted on all inhabitants (including the non-Muslims) on basis of adult suffrage.
iii. All parties would be allowed to express their stance on the partition and their views before the plebiscite.
iv. In the event of separation, a mutual agreement would be entered into for safeguarding essential matters such as defence, communication and commerce and for other essential services.
v. The transfer of population, if any would be absolutely on a voluntary basis.
vi. The terms of the binding will be applicable only in case of full transfer of power by Britain to Government of India.

 

August Offer (1940)

After the WWII began, British sought cooperation from India. August Offer offered three proposals. Firstly, it called for an immediate expansion of Viceroy’s Executive Council with the inclusion of India representatives; secondly, an advisory body with the members from British India and Indian princely states which were supposed to meet at consequent intervals was established and thirdly, two practical steps were decided to be taken in which it was to come at an agreement with the Indians on the form of the post representatives body should take and the methods by which it should come to a conclusion. It further  planned to draw out the principles and outlines of the Constitution itself.

Congress did not accept the offer.


 

Civil Disobedience Movement and Gandhi-Irwin Pact, 1931

  • Started by Gandhi on 12th March 1930 with the Dandi March. Reached Dandi on April 6.
  • Defiance of forest laws in Maharashtra, Central Province and Karnataka. Refusal to pay chaukidari tax in Eastern India.
  • Wide participation of women
  • Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan organized Khudai Khidmatgars (aka Red Shirts)
  • Nagaland: Rani Gaidilieu
  • First RTC, 1930
    • Congress boycotted
  • Gandhi-Irwin Pact, 1931
    • Government agreed to release the political prisoners who had remained non-violent
    • Right to make salt for consumption
    • Right to peaceful picketing of liquor and foreign cloth shops
    • Congress suspended the Civil Disobedience Movement
    • Agreed to take part in the second RTC

 

Simon Commission (1927)

  • Indian Statutory Commission chaired by Simon to go into the question of further constitutional reform
  • All its seven members were Englishmen. Clement Attlee was one of the members.
  • Lord Birkinhead was the secretary of state at that time
  • At its Madras session in 1927 INC decided to boycott the commission “at every stage and in every form”
    • ML and Hindu Mahasabha supported Congress
  • Nehru Report, 1928
    • Dominion status
    • Contained Bill of Rights
    • No state religion
    • Federal form
    • Linguistically determined provinces
    • No separate electorates
    • All Party Convention, held at Calcutta in 1928, failed to pass the report
    • Muslim league rejected the proposals of the report
    • Jinnah drafted his fourteen points
    • Hindu Mahasabha and Sikh League also objected
  • Poorna Swaraj
    • Resolution passed at the Lahore session in 1929
    • On 31 December 1929, the tri-color was hoisted
    • On 26 January 1930, Independence Day was celebrated

 

Emergence of Socialism-

  • Emergence of socialism in the 1920s in the nationalist ranks
    • JL Nehru and SC Bose
    • Raised the question of internal class oppression by capitalists and landlords
    • MN  Roy became the first Indian to be elected to the leadership of the Communist International
    • Muzaffer Ahmed and SA Dange were tried in the Kanpur Conspiracy Case
    • 1925: Communist Party of India was formed
    • All India Trade Union Congress
    • Various Strikes: Bombay textile mills, Jamshedpur, Kharagpur
  • Bardoli Satyagraha (1928)
    • Peasants under the leadership of Sardar Patel organized no tax campaign
  • Indian Youth were becoming active
    • First All Bengal Conference of Students  held in 1928 presided by JL Nehru
  • Hindustan Republican Association: 1924
    • Kakori Conspiracy Case (1925)
    • Four, including Ram Prasad Bismil and Ashfaqulla Khan were hanged.
  • Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (1928)
    • On 17th December 1928, Bhagat Singh, Azad and Rajguru assassinated Saunders
    • Bhagat Singh and BK Dutt threw bomb in the Central Legislative Assembly on 8 April 1929 to let the people know of their changed political objectives
  • Chittagong Armoury Raid: 1030, Surya Sen
    • Participation of young women

 

Peasant Movements-

  • Three important peasant movements of the early twentieth century:
    • Kisan Sabha and Eka movements in Avadh in UP
    • Mappila rebellion in Malabar
    • Bardoli Satyagrah in Gujarat
  • The UP Kisan Sabha was set up in February 1918 through the efforts of Gauri Shankar Mishra and Indra Narain Dwivedi with the support of Madan Mohan Malviya.
  • By June 1919, it had established about 450 branches in 173 tehsils of the province.
  • In August 1921, Mappila (Muslim) tenants rebelled. Their grievances related to lack of any security of tenure, renewal fees, high rents and other oppressive labndlord exactions.
  • The no-tax movement was launched in Bardoli taluq of Surat district in Gujarat in 1928.