Bhagwan Das was born on January 12,
1869 at Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh.
He studied at Queens College,
Varanasi and obtained his BA in English and Sanskrit from Allahabad University
in 1884 and MA in Western Philosophy from University of Calcutta in 1887.
He served as Deputy Collector of
Collections Bureau in United Provinces (1887 – 1898) but gave up the lucrative career
to work for nationalism and education.
He
was Secretary of Central Hindu College, Varanasi (1898 – 1921) and later the Founder
Chancellor of Kasha Vidyapith, Varanasi (1921 – 1958).
He died on September 18, 1958 at
Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh aged 90 years.
Theosophist
He joined the Theosophical
Society under the influence of Annie Besant and was Secretary of the Indian Section.
He was an erudite scholar who studied deeply the works ancient and modern
Indian and Western philosophers. He analysed philosophically the complexities
of life and death, of joy and sorrow, of good and evil. He believed in the
ideology of humanity as above all religions and all religions as equal.
Nationalist
He joined the Indian National
Congress and participated actively in the Civil Disobedience Movement and Non Cooperation
Movement and was imprisoned by the British Raj.
He was Chairman of Kashi
Municipal Board and Member of Central Legislative Assembly .He presided over
numerous social and political conferences.
He was President of The National
Cultural Society and National Communal Harmony Society.
Educationist
He is credited with the foundation
of two prestigious universities at Varanasi – Central Hindu College in 1898 which
later metamorphosed into the Benares Hindu University in 1919 and the Kashi
Vidyapith in 1921.
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Awards
The Government of India honoured him Bharat
Ratna in 1955.
Doctorates
He received honorary doctorates from the
Universities of Kashi Vidyapith (1929) and Allahabad (1937) for his life time
contribution to education and nationalism.
Publications
He published over 30 books on
Philosophy and Theosophy in English, Hindi and Sanskrit. He coined a number of
new words in Hindi.
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