Kabir   India : Devotional Poet and Social Reformer Born : AD 1399                    Died : AD 1518 Saint Kabir, a Bhakti poet gave a severe blow to the ostentatious and dead customs of Indian society. His poems are read and sung even today with great relish. He was not only a litterateur of the Bhakti period but was also a social reformer. He tried all his life to unite the...

Ernest Rutherford   Britain : Eminent Scientist Born AD 1871             Died : AD 1937   Ernest Rutherford was born at Nelson in New Zealand in 1871. He -1=4 was extremely brilliant — a child prodigy, indeed. He used to work on his father’s farm when he was a student. He received a scholarship to study at Cambridge University, where he studied science. By that time, research in the field of...

M. Vishwesharayya   India : Eminent Engineer Born : AD 1861                    Died : AD 1962   Mokshagundam was India’s leading Engineer. He helped in building many dams and bridges in the country after independence. Soft-spoken, gentle and efficient, Vishwesharayya can easily be termed the builder of modem India if one were to refer to the construction work he undertook. He worked towards the benefit of the country with complete devotion....

Mohammad Ali Jinnah   Pakistan : Quaid-e-Azam Born : AD 1876          Died : AD 1948 Mohammad Ali Jinnah was the creator of Pakistan’ and was the Governor-General after partition of India in 1947. Jinnah tried to steer his country out of chaos of partition trauma. Pakistan was faced with Hindu-Muslim riots, famine, refugees, and many other problems. However, Jinnah’s astuteness was able to withstand it all. Jinnah was a leading...

Anna Saheb Karve   India : A Great Reformist Born : AD 1858                    Died : AD 1962   Anna Saheb Karve’s life was as simple and clean as that of an ancient ascetic (Rishi-Muni). He was liberal in his views and sympathetic in his attitude. He was deeply moved by the troubles and tribulations of women-folk. What Anna-Saheb did for the uplittment of women in the last decade of the...

Vinayak Damodar Savarkar   India : Brave Revolutionary Born : AD 1883                    Died : AD 1966 Savarkar was a great patriot, a scholar, a poet and a writer all rolled into one. He started patriotic activities even in his student days. At the age of 16, he founded Abhinav Bharat. It would not be an exaggeration to call Savarkar a born revolutionary. He was not awarded his B.A. degree, which...

Anne Besant   India : The founder of Home-Rule League Born : AD 1847           Died: AD 1933   Among the successful women of the world, Anne Besant tops the list. She was so influenced by the Indian religion, philosophy and spirituality that she identified herself fully with India and became an inveterate Indian. Her contribution to India’s freedom struggle was also remarkable. She founded the Home-Rule League with support and...

Madan Lal Dhingra   India : A Fearless Young Revolutionary Born AD 1887             Died : AD 1909 Madan Lal Dhingra will always be recalled as one of those fearless young revolutionaries who jumped into the fight for freedom without ever looking back at life, family and parents. Madan Lal will remain immortal as a young rebel who wrecked vengeance on the English oppressors in their own country. He avenged their...