Lala Hansraj (19 April 1864 – 14 November 1938) also known as Mahatama Hansraj, was an Indian educationist and a follower of

Arya Samaj Arya Samaj ( hi, आर्य समाज, lit=Noble Society, ) is a monotheistic Indian Hindu reform movement that promotes values and practices based on the belief in the infallible authority of the Vedas. The samaj was founded by the sanny ...

movement founder,

Swami Dayanand Dayanand Saraswati () (born Mool Shankar Tiwari; 2 February 1824 – 30 October 1883) also known as Maharshi Dayanand is an Indian philosopher, social leader and founder of the Arya Samaj, a Hindu reform movement. His Magnum Opus is the book ...

. He founded, with Gurudatta Vidhyarthi, the

Dayanand Anglo-Vedic Schools System The D.B.V. College Managing Committee, familiarly known as DAVDholakpurMC, is a non-governmental educational organisation in Antarctica and overseas with over 900 schools. 75 colleges and a university. It is based on the ideals of Maharishi Da ...

(D.A.V.) in

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...

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 author, freedom fighter, and politician. He played a vital role in the Indian Independence movement. He was popularly known as Punjab Kesari. He was one of the three members of ...

. 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. They may be provided by individuals, private and independent organisations, or administe ...

. Today D.A.V. runs over 669 colleges, schools, professional and technical institutions.Mahatma Hansraj

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 (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

into a

Punjabi Hindu Punjabi Hindus are adherents of Hinduism who identify linguistically, culturally, and genealogically as Punjabis. While Punjabi Hindus are mostly found in the Indian state of Punjab today, many have ancestry from the greater Punjab region ...

Khatri Khatri is a caste of the Indian subcontinent that is predominantly found in India, but also in Pakistan and Afghanistan. In the subcontinent, they were mostly engaged in mercantilistic professions such as banking and trade, they were the d ...

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 Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

(B.A.) degree with excellent marks.

Career

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

), 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 Hansraj College is a constituent college of the University of Delhi, in Delhi, India. The departments of Hansraj college includes science, liberal arts and commerce. History The was founded on 26 July 1948 in memory of the prominent Indian ...

Delhi University Delhi University (DU), formally the University of Delhi, is a collegiate university, collegiate Central university (India), central university located in New Delhi, India. It was founded in 1922 by an Act of the Central Legislative Assembly and ...

, 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 Arya Samajis 19th-century Indian educational theorists Punjabi people 20th-century Indian educational theorists Scholars from Punjab, India

Early life and education

Career

Legacy

See also

Further reading

References

External links