Sahajanand Saraswati

Sahajanand Saraswati (, 22 February 1889 – 26 June 1950) was an ascetic, a nationalist and a peasant leader of India. Although born in United Provinces (present-day Uttar Pradesh), his social and political activities focussed mostly on Bihar in the initial days, and gradually spread to the rest of India with the formation of the All India Kisan Sabha. He had set up an ashram at Bihta, near Patna, Bihar carried out most of his work in the later part of his life from there. He was an intellectual, prolific writer, social reformer and revolutionary.

Biography

Swami Sahajanand Saraswati was born in Deva Village near Dullahpur, Ghazipur district in eastern Uttar Pradesh Provinces in 1889 to a Bhumihar family. He was the last of six sons and was then called Naurang Rai. His mother died in his childhood, and he was raised by his aunt.

The Kisan Sabha movement started in Bihar under the leadership of Saraswati, who formed the Bihar Provincial Kisan Sabha (BPKS) in 1929, to mobilise peasant grievances against the zamindari attacks on their occupancy rights, and thus sparking the farmers' movements in India.

Gradually the peasant movement intensified and spread across the rest of India. All these radical developments on the peasant front culminated in the formation of the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) at the Lucknow session of the Indian National Congress in April 1936 with Saraswati elected as its first President and it involved prominent leaders such as N. G. Ranga and E. M. S. Namboodiripad. The Kisan Manifesto, which was released in August 1936, demanded abolition of the zamindari system and cancellation of rural debts. In October 1937, the AIKS adopted the red flag as its banner. Soon, its leaders became increasingly distant with Congress, and repeatedly came in confrontation with Congress governments in Bihar and United Province.

Saraswati organised the Bakasht Movement in Bihar in 1937–1938. "Bakasht" means self-cultivated. The movement was against the eviction of tenants from Bakasht lands by zamindars and led to the passing of the Bihar Tenancy Act and the Bakasht Land Tax. He also led the successful struggle in the Dalmia Sugar Mill at Bihta, where peasant-worker unity was the most important characteristic.

On hearing of Saraswati's arrest during the Quit India Movement, Subhash Chandra Bose and All India Forward Bloc decided to observe 28 April as All-India Swami Sahajanand Day in protest of his incarceration by the British Raj.

Saraswati died on 26 June 1950.

Subhash Chandra Bose, leader of the Forward Bloc, said:

Three reformist leaders, namely, Swami Dayanand Saraswati, Swami Vivekananda, and Swami Sahajanand Saraswati, each in his own way, played a modernising role in our socio-cultural tradition. Both Dayananda and Vivekananda established their own socio-religious sects. But they had shied away from direct involvement with the political processes of the country, though they had become a major source of inspiration for Indian nationalism. On the other hand, Sahajanand did not found any religious sect. He engaged in social work for a while. Soon, he got directly involved in the national movement and even spent a number of years behind bars. Besides, he was not only instrumental in founding the organised peasant movement in India but also later assumed the role of its putative progenitor.

Publications

Saraswati's publications include:

Books

# ''Bhumihar Brahmin Parichay'' (Introduction to Bhumihar Brahmins), in Hindi.
# ''Jhootha Bhay Mithya Abhiman'' (False Fear False Pride), in Hindi.
# ''Brahman Kaun?''
# ''Brahman Samaj ki Sthiti'' (Situation of the Brahmin Society) in Hindi.
# ''Brahmarshi Vansha Vistar'' in Sanskrit, Hindi and English.
# ''Karmakalap'', in Sanskrit and Hindi.

Autobiographical works

# ''Mera Jeewan Sangharsha'' (My Life Struggle), in Hindi.
# ''Kisan Sabha ke Sansmaran'' (Recollections of the Kisan Sabha), in Hindi.
# ''Maharudra ka Mahatandav'', in Hindi.
# ''Jang aur Rashtriya Azadi''
# ''Ab Kya ho?''
# '' Gaya jile mein sava maas''
# ''Samyukta Kisan Sabha, Samyukta Samajvadi Sabha ke Dastavez''.
# ''Kisanon ke Dave''
# ''Dhakaich ka bhashan''

Ideological works

# ''Kranti aur Samyukta Morcha''
# ''Gita Hridaya'' (Heart of the Gita)
# ''Kisanon ke Dave''
# ''Maharudra ka Mahatandav''
# ''Kalyan mein chapein lekh''

Works related to peasantry and Zamindars

# ''Kisan kaise ladten hain?''
# ''Kisan kya karen?''
# ''Zamindaron ka khatma kaise ho?''
# ''Kisan ke dost aur dushman''
# ''Bihar prantiya kisansabha ka ghoshna patra''
# ''Kisanon ki phasane ki taiyariyan''
# ''On the other side''
# ''Rent reduction in Bihar, How it Works?''
# ''Zamindari kyon utha di jaye?''
# ''Khet Mazdoor'' (Agricultural Labourer), in Hindi, written in Hazaribagh Central Jail.
# ''Jharkhand ke kisan''
# ''Bhumi vyavastha kaisi ho?''
# ''Kisan andolan kyun aur kya?''
# ''Gaya ke Kisanon ki Karun Kahani''
# ''Ab kya ho?''
# ''Congress tab aur ab''
# ''Congress ne kisanon ke liye kya kiya?''
# ''Maharudra ka Mahatandav''
# ''Swamiji ki Diary''
# ''Kisan sabha ke dastavez''
# ''Swamiji ke patrachar''
# ''Lok sangraha mein chapen lekh''
# ''Hunkar mein chapein lekh''
# ''Vishal Bharat mein chapein lekh''
# ''Bagi mein chapein lekh''
# ''Bhumihar Brahmin mein chapein lekh''
# ''Swamiji ki Bhashan Mala''
# ''Krishak mein chapein lekh''
# ''Yogi mein chapein lekh''
# ''Kisan sevak''
# ''Anya lekh''
# ''Address of the chairman, Reception Committee, The All India Anti-Compromise Conference'', First Session, Kisan Nagar, Ramgarh, Hazaribagh, 19 & 20 March 1940, Ramgarh, 1940.
# ''Presidential Address, 8th Annual Session of the Kisan Sabha'', Bezwada, 1944.

Translations into English

*''Swami Sahajanand and the Peasants of Jharkhand: A View from 1941'' translated and edited by Walter Hauser along with the unedited Hindi original (Manohar Publishers, paperback, 2005).
*''Sahajanand on Agricultural Labour and the Rural Poor'' translated and edited by Walter Hauser Manohar Publishers, paperback, 2005.
*''Religion, Politics, and the Peasants: A Memoir of India's Freedom Movement'' translated and edited by Walter Hauser Manohar Publishers, hardbound, 2003.
*Walter Hauser, along with K.C. Jha, (editor and translator of Swami Sahajanand's autobiography ''Mera Jivan Sangharsh'' – My Life Struggle) Culture, Vernacular Politics and the Peasants: India, 1889–1950, Delhi, Manohar, 2015.
*Ramchandra Pradhan (editor and translator), ''The Struggle of My Life: Autobiography of Swami Sahajanand Saraswati'', Delhi, Oxford University Press, 2018.
* Pratyush Kumar, Homo Connubialis Brahmanicus: Marriage Relations Among Brahmins, Baden-Baden: Nomos (Ergon), Germany, 2025, ISBN 978-3-98740-189-3 (Print).

Biographies

* Nilanshu Ranjan, Swami Sahajanand Saraswati, National Book Trust, New Delhi, .
* Raghav Sharan Sharma, Swami Sahajanand Saraswati, Publications Division, Government of India, 2008.

Official recognition

The Government of India issued a commemorative stamp in commemoration of Saraswati on 26 June 2000 by Ram Vilas Paswan, the then Minister of Communications.

The Indian Council of Agricultural Research gives the Swamy Sahajanand Saraswati Extension Scientist/ Worker Award.

In 2001, a two-day Kisan Mahapanchayat was organised on the occasion of the 112th birth anniversary of Saraswati.

Bihar Governor R. S. Gavai released a book on the life of Saraswati on his 57th death anniversary in Patna.

Swami Sahajanand Postgraduate College is established in his home district Ghazipur (U.P.) in memory of Swami Sahajanand.

See also

* Mata Badal Koeri
* Debt bondage in India
* All India United Kisan Sabha

References

Further reading

* Pratyush Kumar, Homo Connubialis Brahmanicus: Marriage Relations Among Brahmins, Baden-Baden: Nomos (Ergon), Germany, 2025, ISBN 978-3-98740-189-3 (Print).
*''Sahajanand on Agricultural Labour and the Rural Poor'', edited by Walter Hauser, Manohar Publishers, paperback, 2005,
*Swami And Friends: Sahajanand Saraswati And Those Who Refuse To Let The Past of Bihar's Peasant Movements Become History By Arvind Narayan Das, Paper for the Peasant Symposium, May 1997 University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia
*Bagchi, A.K., 1976, 'Deindustrialisation in Gangetic Bihar, 1809– 1901' in Essays in Honour of Prof. S.C. Sarkar, New Delhi.
*Banaji, Jairus, 1976, "The Peasantry in the Feudal MOde of Production: Towards an Economic Model", Journal of Peasant Studies, April.
*Bandopadhyay, D., 1973, `Agrarian Relations in Two Bihar Districts', Mainstream, 2 June, New Delhi.
*Banerjee, N., 1978, `All the Backwards', Sunday, 9 April, Calcutta. Bihar, 1938, Board of Revenue, Average Prices of Staple Food Crops from 1888, Patna.
* Judith M. Brown, 1972, Gandhi's Rise to Power: Indian Politics, 1915–1922, London.
*Datta, K.K., 1957, History of the Freedom Movement in Bihar, Patna.
*Devanand, Swami, 1958, Virat Kisan Samaroh (Massive Peasant Convention), in Hindi, Bihar Kisan Sangh, Bihta.
* R, R.Diwakar, ed., 1957, Bihar Through the Ages, Patna.
*Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, 1921, 'The Zamindar and the Ryots', Young India, Vol. III (New Series) No. 153, 18 May.
*Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, 1940, An Autobiography or The Story of My experiments in Truth, Ahmedabad.
*Maharaj, R.N., 1976, 'Freed Bonded Labour Camp at Palamau', National Labour Institute Bulletin, October, New Delhi.
*Mishra, G., 1968. 'The Socio-economic Background of Gandhi's Champaran Movement', Indian Economic and Social History Review, 5(3), New Delhi.
*Mishra, G., 1978, Agrarian Problems of Permanent Settlement: A Case Study of Champaran, New Delhi.
*Mitra, Manoshi, 1983, Agrarian Social Structure in Bihar: Continuity and Change, 1786–1820, Delhi : Manohar.
*Mitra, N., ed, 1938, Indian Annual Register, July–December 1937, Vol. II, Calcutta.
*Jawaharlal Nehru, 1936, An Autobiography, London.
*Pouchepadass, J., 1974, 'Local Leaders and the Intelligentsia in the Champaran Satyagraha', Contributions to Indian Sociology, New Series, No.8, November, New Delhi.
*Prasad, P.H., 1979, 'Semi-Feudalism: Basic Constraint in Indian Agriculture' in Arvind N. Das & V. Nilakant, eds., Agrarian Relations in India, New Delhi.
*Rajendra Prasad, 1949, Satyagraha in Champaran, Ahmedabad.
*Rajendra Prasad, 1957, Autobiography, Bombay.
* N. G. Ranga, 1949, Revolutionary Peasants, New Delhi.
* N. G. Ranga, 1968, Fight For Freedom, New Delhi.
*Shanin, Teodor, 1978, "Defining Peasants: Conceptualisations and Deconceptualisations: Old and New in a Marxist Debate", Manchester University.
*Anugrah Narayan Sinha, 1961, Mere Sansmaran (My Recollections), in Hindi Patna.
* Indradeep Sinha, 1969, Sathi ke Kisanon ka Aitihasic Sangharsha (Historic Struggle of Sathi Peasants), in Hindi, Patna.

External links

* https://www.iaaw.hu-berlin.de/de/region/suedasien/publikationen/sachronik/11-focus-kumar-pratyush-a-kisan-at-the-crossroads-of-history-politics-and-law-political-thought-and-action-of-swami-sahajanand-saraswati.pdf

Swami Sahajanand Saraswati images
* http://www.bihartimes.in/articles/Manish_Thakur/swami_sahjanand.html
* https://prahri.com/culture/sahjanand-saraswati-a-nationalist-and-peasent-leader/7100/

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saraswati, Sahajanand
1889 births
1950 deaths
Debt bondage in India
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Indian autobiographers
Indian memoirists
Historians of India
People from Ghazipur
Writers from Patna
Indian political philosophers
Hindi-language writers
Indian Marxists
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Indian Marxist writers
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20th-century Indian historians
20th-century Indian biographers
Indian farmers' rights activists
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