Great Hindu Personalities

[Saffron_Warrior]

She came to Calcutta on 28 January 1898, was initiated into Brahmacharya (a celibate yogic order) and was given the name `Nivedita' by Vivekananda on 25 March. SHe immediately became intensely active in her work of uplifting India. She opened a kindergarten school for Hindu girls in November 1989, joined plague relief works of the Ramakrishna Mission from March 1899, left for the West in July to collect funds for her school, formed "The Ramakrishna Guild of Help' in America, went to Paris in July 1900 (where Vivekananda attended the Congress of the History of Religions), left for England alone in September 1900, and returned to India in February 1902.

[Saffron_Warrior]

Nivedita's interest in the Indian political struggle for Independence led her to be disowned from the purely spiritual Ramakrishna Order after Vivekananda's death in July 1902, though in truth she maintained close relations with the Order and Sri Sarada Devi (the wife of Ramakrishna, the great yogi who the mission is named after). The Ramakrishna Mission's decision to publically disown themselves from Nivedita was the first in a long line of compromise with the principles which they had been set up for.

Nivedita's work, however, continued. She went on lecture tours throughout India from September 1902 to 1904 to rouse the national consciousness of the people. In 1905-06 she was actively associated with all public affairs in Bengal. The strain of relief work in the flood and famine-stricken areas of East Bengal in 1906 broke her health. In August 1907 she left for Europe and America, and returned to India in July 1909. She went to America again in October 1910, and returned in April 1911. In October 1911 she went to Darjeeling for a change. There she resided for a while, but her health failed under her intense work load, and she died on 13 October 1913.

[Saffron_Warrior]

Nivedita wrote extensively and has left behind a legacy of works which are worthy of study today. Her innumerable articles were published in journals like the Review of Reviews, the Prabuddha Bharata, the Modern Review, etc. Her first book was `Kali the Mother' (1900). Of her principal works the `Web of Indian Life' (1904) gives a more positive picture of India to the blindly critical West, and the `Master As I Saw Him' (1910) is an interpretation of Vivekananda's life and teachings.

The supreme goal towards which Nivedita worked was to see India emerge as a strong and powerful nation. Initially Nivedita stated that she desired to see England and India love each other (`Sister Nivedita' by Atmaprana, 1967, p. 59). But later she was embittered and disillusioned. From 1902 onwards she spoke and wrote against the British policy in India, and actively rallied revolutionary forces to fight the British with arms.

[Saffron_Warrior]

She attacked British polititians such as Lord Curzon for the Universities Act of 1904, for his insulting their shameless insults hurled at Indian culture and people, and for the clear attempts to encite Muslims in order to retard the Indian freedom movement. She was distressed by the disastrous condition of Indian economy and held British Imperialism responsible for it. Her politics became active and aggressive and she lost patience with moderate politics of the petitioner. Yet she was friendly with leaders of all schools of political thought like G. K. Gokhale and Bepin Chandra Pal, and young revolutionaries like Taraknath Das.

She encouarged and whole-heartedly supported the Swadeshi (self-reliance) Movement both in principle and in practice. She helped nationalist groups like the `Dawn Society' and the `Anusilan Samity'; was a member of the Central Council of Action formed by Sri Aurobindo Ghose and took up the editorship of the Karmayogin publication when he left British India. She wanted the whole nation to be educated on national lines (`Complete Works of Sister Navidita', IV, pp. 329-53). She encouraged the study of science, and helped Jagdish Chandra Bose in bringing to light his theories and discoveries. She believed that a rebirth of Indian Art was essential for the regeneration of India. She disproved the fiction of the Hellenic influence in Indian Art, inspired Rabindranath Tagore, who later won a Nobel Prize for his tremendous literature, as well as others to revive its glorious tradition.

[Saffron_Warrior]

Nivedita was one of the foremost in the galaxy of the twentieth century Hindu revivalists and her memory should be enshrined in the hearts of Hindus. Tall and fair, with deep blue eyes and brown hair, Nivedita was an image of purity and austerity in her simple white gown and with a rosary of rudraksha round her neck. A person of intense spirituality, force of character, strength of mind, intellectual power and wide range of studies, she could have achieved distinction in any sphere of life. Yet with unique self-effacement she lived a simple and austere life dedicated to the cause of India and Hinduism, on which the western world had systematically poured contempt.

[Saffron_Warrior]

She was described as `a real lioness' by Vivekananda, `Lokmata'(the mother of the people) by Rabindranath Tagore, and `Agnisikha' (the flame of fire) by Aurobindo Ghose. In England she was known as `The Champion for India', but who above all was a 'Sister' to the Indian people whom she loved. Her contribution to the promotion of national consciousness is immeasurable. "My task is to awaken the nation," she said once. Even today her book ‘Cradle Tales of Hinduism’ is read to children world wide, infusing them with the essence of Hindu consciousness. It was her dream to see in India the great re-establishment of Dharma, that is, national righteousness. The Indian people have immortalised her memory by creating a grand stone dedicated to her, in Calcutta.

[Saffron_Warrior]

Suniti Choudhury (later Suniti Ghose)

[Saffron_Warrior]

Suniti Choudhury (later Suniti Ghose) was one of the women participants in the armed revolutionary faction within India’s freedom struggle. She was born on 22nd May 1917 in Ibrahimpur village of East Bengal (now Bangladesh). While Suniti was growing up, she was imbued with the patriotic fervour of the time, as were many youth in Bengal (which was then the cradle of India’s freedom struggle and cultural renaissance). Her mother was a quiet pious lady and her brothers were members of revolutionary groups.

Bengal was full of revolutionary groups and service based nationalist groups which worked in many ways to oppose the British and serve the Indian people. Suniti was pulled towards revolutionary activities. It is said that her mind was deeply impressed by the stories of the exploits of the veteran revolutionary Ullaskar Dutta, who was a local hero in the district in which she resided.

[Saffron_Warrior]

She was recruited into the Jugantar Party by one of her classmates, Prafullanalini Brahma, and soon became the appointed leader of a group of female students. She became known amongst the revolutionaries of her district as a young tigress with startling ability. It was for this reason that she was one of the girls picked for armed training in the secret base nearby, where the use of a dagger, lathi and rifle were taught. Several girls underwent this training, but generally after their training, women revolutionaries continued working in the background for a service role in the movement, rather than direct action. Suniti however expressed a desire to be involved in fighting. Revolutionary leaders at the time also believed employing women to fight was a good idea because by this time many attacks had been carried out on British officials, and as a result, security had been greatly increased in Bengal. As it would be unexpected for women to be assailants, it would be easier for girls to duck security, as they would be less suspected.

[Saffron_Warrior]

On 14 December 1931, Suniti together with her friend Santi Ghose (her classmate) approached the notorious District Magistrate of the Comilla district of Bengal, Mr. Stevens, in his grand bungalow, with a petition for permission for a swimming club. When face to face with him, they fired. The first bullet from Suniti’s revolver shot Mr. Stevens dead. The girls, who were both 14 years of age at the time, were arrested and beaten very badly. They were remanded in custody and kept in very harsh conditions, yet they stayed cheerful the entire way through, always singing their hymns to the Motherland and laughing. It was expected that they would receive the death sentence, but on account of their tender age they received life sentences.


While she was in prison, she was kept in solitary confinement for large periods, and suffered greatly. Her old father’s pension was stopped and her two elder brothers were detained without trial. Hence her family was reduced to living on the brink of starvation. They bore their ordeal bravely, as children suffering on behalf of their captive Mother. Her younger brother even died from malnutrition.