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LALA HAR
DAYAL
(Freedom
Fighter)
Lala
Har Dayal played a very important role in the struggle for
India’s independence, He was born at Delhi on October 14,
1884. His father, Gaury Dayal Mathur, a Reader in the District
Courts at Delhi, was not a man of wealth but a scholar
of Persian and
Urdu.
He
received his school education at Delhi. For higher education,
he sought admission in the Government College, Lahore from
where he took his Master of Arts degree in English Literature,
standing at the top of the list of successful candidates. In
another year, he did M.A. in History and established a new
record in the University. He was awarded a State scholarship
by the Government of India, which entitled him to a three
years’ course of post-graduate studies at Oxford in England.
Going abroad he studied for the Honors School of Modern
History. Like many young Indians, he had the ambition to take
the I.C.S. examination. But he soon dropped the idea and
plunged into the struggle for freedom of
India.
In
England he developed close associations with revolutionaries
and reformers like C.F. Andrews, Bhai Parmanand's, Shyamaji
Krishana Varma etc. By becoming a member of Abhinav Bharat, a
revolutionary association, be came in close contact with
Vinayak Damodar Savarkar. There after he began to contribute
profusely in the Indian Socialist. He went further registering
his protest against the British oppression of Indians,
especially the arrests of Lajpat Rai and Ajit Singh in 1907,
he resigned his State scholarship in England and returned to
carry on political work at Lahore. On his way to the Punjab in
January 1908, he halted at Poona where he met B.G. Tilak and
G.K. Gokhale. Later, he left his wife who was expecting her
first child at Patiala and adopted the life of a wandering
monk. He began to dress simply, eat frugally and think deeply.
On the advice of Lala Lajpat Rai, Hardayal started a center at
Lahore for the training of young men. During these days he
regularly contributed articles to the Modern Review and The
Punjabi and openly associated himself with the
revolutionaries. As the situation became tense, he left India
and reached London in September
1908.
With
the murder of Sr W.C. Wyllie by Madan Lal Dhingra, Indian
revolutionaries in London shifted to Paris. Har Dayal
accompanied them and inaugurated the Bande Matram, a monthly
journal, in September 1909. Finding Paris uncongential for
revolutionary activities, Har Dayal left for the U.S.A. via
West Indies and South America. In January 1911 he reached
Boston and soon after left Harvard to meet Bhai Teja Singh, a
prominent Punjabi in U.S.A. From Harvard he went to Honolulu
and then to San Francisco. Here in collaboration with Bhai
Parmanand's, he began to work for the rejuvenation of his
countrymen. With the help of Sikh settlers in California, he
instituted six scholarships for India youth that would choose
to work for the welfare of India. As his popularity increased
and the First World War drew closer, he helped to organize the
Ghadar movement in U.S.A. In 1913, he was General Secretary of
the Hindustan Gadar Pary. As Har Dayal was the real brain
behind the movement, the British Government pressed the U.S.
Government to arrest him. Consequently, he migrated to Germany
and in October 1914 sought German support for the liberation
of
India.
Distressed
at the attitude of the German Government, he left Germany in
October 10, 1918 for Stockholm and finally settled down in
Sweden where he earned his livelihood by teaching and
lecturing. He stayed in Sweden till October, 1927 when the
British Government granted amnesty to all political refugees.
In 1928 he decided to do from the same learned institution his
doctorate on Bodhisatine Doctrine in Buddhist Sanskrit
Literature in October, 1931 he submitted his thesis and was
awarded the degree. Next year, his thesis was published in
London. From now onward he followed only literary
pursuits.
Har
Dayal stayed in England for about 10 years. In September, 1938
he left for U.S.A. to deliver lectures at various Universities
over there. It was in Philadelphia that he breathed his last
on 4th March 1939.
Source:chakdephate.com
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