02/02/2017
Swami Shradhanand promoted movement for education of girls in the right earnest. He founded the first Gurukul on 16 May 1900 at Gujaranwala in the West Punjab, now in Pakistan, a unique seat of learning in keeping with the ideals of the Vedic seers. Later, the Gurukul was moved to Kangri near Haridwar opened. This is the institution which Ramsay Macdonald visited and where he likened Munshi Ram to a biblical prophet walking the shores of Galilee. This is also the institution towards which Mahatma Gandhi was first drawn while he was in South Africa and where he stayed first on his return to India. It was this institution which conferred on Gandhiji the title of the 'Mahatma'. In 1962, The Government of India declared the Gurukul as a full fledged university (Mahavidyalya).
In the year 1917, Munshi Ram became a 'Sanyasi', assuming the name 'Shradhanand' and making Delhi his permanent home instead of Gurukul. In Delhi, he founded a number of institutions aimed at social, moral and cultural betterment and to uplift prople, especially the so-called 'untouchables'. He also founded two prominent newspapers: the Urdu 'Tej' and the Hindi 'Arjun'.
During the national struggle for independence in the year 1919, he plunged headlong into the agitation under the leadership of Gandhiji. He motivated millions of men and women to join the struggle for independence of India from the British yoke.
When Gandhiji was arrested, Swami Shraddhanandji led a protest march in the city. When a soldier threatened to fire upon the crowd, Swamiji showed his chest and asked the soldier to shoot. Such was the courage of Swamiji.
Long ago, Malkana Rajputs in the Mathura-Agra area had been forced by the Moghuls to convert to Islam. Yet they had retained their cultural distinctiveness. Swami Shraddhanand Saraswati saw a golden opportunity to encourage them to return to the religious fold of their forefathers. The mission of Shuddhi of the Malkana Rajputs was a roaring success.
to the great saint
