Swami Keshwanand

Swami Keshwanand

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Category: Social Work

Swami Keshwanand Profile

  • Name:
  • Swami Keshwanand
  • Born / Home Town:
  • Sikar

Swami Keshwanand Biography

Swami Keshwanand was an Indian freedom fighter, educator and social reformer. Swami, an orphan, illiterate, nomadic man who never received formal education, was the founder of more than 300 schools, 50 hostels and innumerable libraries. He was a great lover of Hindi language and believed that this single language can unite the country as a whole.

 

He was born as Birama in the village Magloona in Sikar district of present Rajasthan in 1883. His father Thakarsi was a penurious camel-driver. Birama lost his father at the age of 7. His mother had perforce to move from place to place in search of shelter and fodder for her animals. Finally they got settled in Kelania of Sri Ganganagar district in 1897. Two years later his mother died and Birama became an orphan. The famine of 1899 forced the 16-year-old Birama to leave Rajasthan and he moved towards Punjab. He approached Mahant Kushaldas to learn Sanskrit. In those days, Sanskrit learning was reserved only for high class Brahmins and as he belonged to Jat clan, Mahant Kushaldas advised him to become a sannyasi which gives one the right to learn Sanskrit.

 

Birama became a sannyasi in 1904, was inducted into the Udasin sect. He initiated education from Sadhu Ashram Fazilka, where he learnt Hindi and Sanskrit languages. At the Kumbha Mela held at Prayag in 1905, Mahatma Hiranandji Avadhut conferred on Birama the new name "Swami Keshwanand". After Jalianwalla Bagh Massacre of 1919, he got attached with Indian freedom struggle movement and and participated in the non-cooperation movement. He was imprisoned for 2 years.  He is the founder of more than 300 institutions including schools and orphanages. He started the “Vedant Pushp Vatika” library within the precincts of the Sadhu Ashram Fazilka. In 1920 he founded a Hindi forum, the ‘Nagari Pracharini Sabha’ to promote Hindi language. Swami Keshwanand died on September 13, 1972 at Delhi.

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Updated: December 26, 2013

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