Prafulla Kumar Sen (died 24 March 1942), also known as

Swami Swami (; ; sometimes abbreviated sw.) in Hinduism is an honorific title given to an Asceticism#Hinduism, ascetic who has chosen the Sannyasa, path of renunciation (''sanyāsa''), or has been initiated into a religious monastic order of Vaishnavas ...

Satyananda Puri, was an Indian

revolutionary A revolutionary is a person who either participates in, or advocates for, a revolution. The term ''revolutionary'' can also be used as an adjective to describe something producing a major and sudden impact on society. Definition The term—bot ...

and philosopher. Puri, had in his youth taught Oriental philosophy at the

University of Calcutta The University of Calcutta, informally known as Calcutta University (), is a Public university, public State university (India), state university located in Kolkata, Calcutta (Kolkata), West Bengal, India. It has 151 affiliated undergraduate c ...

and later at

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Thakur (; anglicised as Rabindranath Tagore ; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengalis, Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer, and painter of the Bengal Renai ...

Visva-Bharati University Visva-Bharati (IAST: ''Viśva-Bhāratī''), () is a public central university and an Institute of National Importance located in Shantiniketan, West Bengal, India. It was founded by Rabindranath Tagore who called it ''Visva-Bharati'', which ...

Santiniketan Shantiniketan (IPA: Help:IPA/Bengali, �antiniketɔn is a neighbourhood of Bolpur town in the Bolpur subdivision of Birbhum district in West Bengal, India, approximately 152 km north of Kolkata. It was established by Maharshi Devendra ...

. Encouraged by Tagore, he arrived in

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

in 1932, and in 1939, he founded the Thai-Bharat Lodge, a cultural forum. Arriving in Thailand, Puri was appointed a professor at the

Chulalongkorn University Chulalongkorn University (CU; ; , ) is a public university, public Autonomous university, autonomous research university in Bangkok, Thailand. The university was originally founded during King Chulalongkorn's reign as a school for training ro ...

, lecturing in ancient Indian and Thai languages, and is said to have mastered the

Thai Language Thai,In or Central Thai (historically Siamese;Although "Thai" and "Central Thai" have become more common, the older term, "Siamese", is still used by linguists, especially when it is being distinguished from other Tai languages (Diller 2008:6 ...

in six months and went on to translate a number of Indian philosophical works and biographies, including the

Ramayana The ''Ramayana'' (; ), also known as ''Valmiki Ramayana'', as traditionally attributed to Valmiki, is a smriti text (also described as a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic) from ancient India, one of the two important epics ...

and biographies of

Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful campaign for India's independence from British ...

to Thai. His literary work eventually was more than twenty volumes. At the onset of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

in 1939, Puri also came to form the Indian National Council that, along with Giani Pritam Singh's

Indian Independence League The Indian Independence League (also known as IIL) was a political organisation operated from the 1920s to the 1940s to organise those living outside British India into seeking the removal of British colonial rule over the region. Founded by In ...

, was instrumental in stimulating the evolving Japanese interest in supporting armed Indian resistance for the

Indian freedom movement The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events in South Asia with the ultimate aim of ending British colonial rule. It lasted until 1947, when the Indian Independence Act 1947 was passed. The first nationalistic movement to ...

. Singh and Puri were amongst the first people to negotiate with

Fujiwara Iwaichi was an officer in the Imperial Japanese Army in World War II, and later a lieutenant general in the post-war Japan Ground Self Defense Force. Biography A native of Hyōgo prefecture, Fujiwara graduated from the 43rd class of the Imperial Japa ...

and the

F Kikan was a military intelligence operation established by the IGHQ in September 1941. The Unit was transferred to Bangkok at the end of that month and headed by Major Fujiwara Iwaichi, chief of intelligence of the :Japanese armies, 15th army. Its tas ...

regarding Japanese policies in an effort to obtain a commitment about the support of the movement that ultimately saw the foundation of the

and the

Indian National Army The Indian National Army (INA, sometimes Second INA; ''Azad Hind Fauj'' ; 'Free Indian Army') was a Empire of Japan, Japanese-allied and -supported armed force constituted in Southeast Asia during World War II and led by Indian Nationalism#An ...

.Indian National Army in East Asia. Hindustan Times
Both Puri and Pritam Singh were among the Indian delegates killed in a plane crash en route to the Tokyo conference in March 1942. The Swami Satyananda Puri foundation was established by the

Thai-Bharat Cultural Lodge . 1940 establishments in Thailand Cultural organizations based in Thailand Cultural promotion organizations Indian collaborators with Imperial Japan Culture of India Indian Independence League Memorials to Rabindranath Tagore Organizations establis ...

in 1942 in his honour. The SSPF library today is a reference library that houses many old and rare Indian texts. The foundation is also involved in promoting work on Indian culture, especially on the

References

Indian National Army in East Asia. Hindustan Times
* Year of birth missing 1942 deaths Prafulla Kumar Sen Academic staff of the University of Calcutta Azad Hind Rabindranath Tagore Indian Independence League Indian independence movement Indian National Army personnel Indian revolutionaries University of Calcutta alumni {{India-philosopher-stub