Mahatama Hansraj was an Indian educationist and a follower of

Arya Samaj Arya Samaj () is a monotheistic Indian Hindu reform movement that promotes values and practices based on the belief in the infallible authority of the Vedas. Dayananda Saraswati founded the samaj in the 1870s. Arya Samaj was the first Hindu ...

movement founder, Swami Dayanand. He founded, with Gurudatta Vidhyarthi, the Dayanand Anglo-Vedic Schools System (D.A.V.) in

Lahore Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...

on 1 June 1886, where the first D.A.V. school was set up in memory of Dayanand who had died three years earlier. He was also a compatriot of freedom fighter

Lala Lajpat Rai Lala Lajpat Rai (28 January 1865 — 17 November 1928) was an Indian revolutionary, politician, and author, popularly known as ''Punjab Kesari (Lion of Punjab).'' He was one of the three members of the Lal Bal Pal trio. He died of severe tra ...

. Hansraj served as the principal of D.A.V. College for 25 years, and committed the rest of his life in

social service Social services are a range of public services intended to provide support and assistance towards particular groups, which commonly include the disadvantaged. Also available amachine-converted HTML They may be provided by individuals, private and i ...

. A number of Dayanand Anglo-vedic educational institutions were established. Today D.A.V. runs over 900 colleges, schools, professional and technical institutions.

Early life and education

Hansraj was born in Bajwara,

Hoshiarpur district Hoshiarpur district is a district of Punjab, India, Punjab state in northern India. Hoshiarpur, one of the oldest districts of Punjab, is located in the North-east part of the Punjab state and shares common boundaries with Gurdaspur district in ...

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

into a

Punjabi Hindu Punjabi Hindus are adherents of Hinduism who identify ethnically, linguistically, culturally, and genealogically as Punjabis and are natives of the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent. Punjabi Hindus are the third-largest religious g ...

Khatri Khatri () is a caste system in India, caste originating from the Malwa (Punjab), Malwa and Majha areas of Punjab region of South Asia that is predominantly found in India, but also in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The Khatris claim they are war ...

family on 19 April 1864. His father died before Hansraj was 19 and thereafter he was looked after and educated by his elder brother named as Mulkhraja. Subsequently his family moved to Lahore where he joined a missionary school. Meanwhile, he heard the lecture of Swami Dayanand and this changed his life course forever. He went on to complete his

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

(B.A.) degree with excellent marks.

Job

Upon completing his B.A., instead of taking up a job, Hansraj decided to start up a school, the first D.A.V. (Dayanand Anglo Vedic) school, along with a fellow

i, Gurudatta Vidyarthi. Later he became the Principal of the Dayanand Anglo-Vedic College, Lahore, and president of the provincial Arya Pradeshik Pratinidhi Sabha, the D.A.V. section of Arya Samaj in

. In 1893, the Arya Samaj split into two in Punjab, one section led by Lala Hans Raj and

retained the control over D.A.V. College, Lahore. The radical section was under the leadership of Pandit Lekh Ram and Lala Munshi Ram Vij (

Swami Shraddhanand Munshi Ram, better known as Swami Shraddhanand (22 February 1856 – 23 December 1926) was an Indian independence activist and Arya Samaj sannyasi who propagated the teachings of Dayananda Saraswati. This included the establishment of educatio ...

), who formed Punjab Arya Samaj and led Arya Pratinidhi Sabha. He served as the principal of D.A.V. College, Lahore for the next 25 years, and after his retirement committed the rest of his life in social service. He is credited of proposing Ashok Dharma Chakra in the middle of the Indian National Flag. He died on 14 November 1938 in

Legacy

Today, many educational institutions are named after him, including Hans Raj Mahila Maha Vidyalaya, Jalandhar, Punjab Hans Raj College,

Delhi University The Delhi University (DU, ISO 15919, ISO: ), also and officially known as the University of Delhi, is a collegiate university, collegiate research university, research Central university (India), central university located in Delhi, India. It ...

, where Mahatma Hans Raj College Road, is situated at the heart of the University's North campus.

References

External links

Hansraj: A motivating Mahatma

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hansraj, Mahatama 1864 births 1938 deaths People from Hoshiarpur Punjabi Hindus Arya Samajis 19th-century Indian educational theorists 20th-century Indian educational theorists Scholars from Punjab, India

Early life and education

Job

Legacy

See also

Further reading

References

External links