Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (1891–1956) by unknown photographer © reserved; photograph National Portrait Gallery, London
Article
Frank Moraes
revised by Eleanor Zelliot
Ambedkar [formerly Ambavadekar], Bhimrao Ramji (1891–1956), politician, was born at Mhow in central India on 14 April 1891, the youngest of the fourteen children of Ramji Maloji Sakpal, a subahdar-major in the British Indian army and headmaster in a military school, and his wife, ...
Article
Olaf Caroe
revised by B. R. Nanda
Bajpai, Sir Girja Shankar (1891–1954), administrator and politician in India, was born in Lucknow on 3 April 1891, the second of the three sons of Sir Seetla Prasad Bajpai, chief justice of Jaipur state, and his wife, Rukmini Shukla (d. 1945). Having won a science scholarship from ...
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![Cover Banerjea [Bandyopadhyay], Sir Surendranath (1848–1925)](/cover/searchableMedia/odnb-9780198614128-e-1011752-graphic-1-thumbnail.jpg)
Sir Surendranath Banerjea (1848–1925) by Johnston & Hoffmann © reserved
Article
Tapan Raychaudhuri
Banerjea [Bandyopadhyay], Sir Surendranath (1848–1925), politician, the second child of Dr Durgacharan Banerjea, was born in Taltala, Calcutta, on 10 November 1848. Durgacharan, a disciple of David Hare, the philanthropist who helped him to get his medical education, was one of the most successful doctors in the city and a friend of the reformer ...
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Ghanshyamdas Birla (1894–1983) by unknown photographer courtesy The Harvill Press, London
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Birla, Ghanshyamdas (1894–1983), businessman and politician in India, was born in the small village of Pilani in Rajputana, India, on 10 April 1894, the son of Raja Baldeodas Birla (c.1862–1957) and his wife, Yogeshwari Singhi (c.1863–1963). The Birlas were of the mercantile caste known as the ...
Article
Roger T. Stearn
Bonnerjee, Woomes Chunder (1844–1906), lawyer and politician, was born on 29 December 1844 at his paternal grandfather's country house at Sonai, Kidderpore, Bengal, the second but eldest surviving son of Girish Chunder Bonnerjee (1823–1868), an attorney, and his wife, Saraswati Devi. The family were Hindu, Bengali Brahmans; they claimed descent from ...
Article
Leonard A. Gordon
Bose, Subhas Chandra (1897–1945), Indian political leader, was born on 23 January 1897 in Cuttack, Orissa, the ninth child and sixth son of Janaki Nath Bose (1860–1934), a lawyer and government pleader, and his wife, Prabhabati, née Dey (1869–1944). They were high-caste Hindu Bengalis of the ...
Article
Bharati Ray
Chaudhurani, Sarala Devi (1872–1945), political activist and campaigner for women's rights in India, was born on 9 September 1872 at Jorasanko, Calcutta, the younger daughter and youngest of the three children of Janakinath Ghosal (1840–1913), son of a local zamindar of Krishnanagar, and a supporter of the ...
Article
Leonard A. Gordon
Das, Chittaranjan (1870–1925), Indian nationalist and barrister, was born on 5 November 1870 in Calcutta, the second child and eldest son of Bhuban Mohan Das, a solicitor of the Calcutta high court, and his wife, Nistarini Devi. His youngest brother, P. R. Das...
Article
Narasingha P. Sil
Desai, Morarji Ranchhodji (1896–1995), prime minister of India, was born on 29 February 1896 at the home of his maternal grandfather (Gopalji Vasanji Desai, a farmer), in Bhadeli, Surat, Gujarat, India, the eldest of seven children (four boys and three girls) of ...
Article
Dhingra, Madan Lal (1883–1909), Indian nationalist and political assassin, was born on 18 September 1883 in the Dhingra Buildings, Hall Gate, Amritsar, the sixth of the seven children of Dr Sahib Ditta Mal Dhingra, a civil surgeon. The Dhingras were a wealthy, cosmopolitan Hindu family who regarded British rule as a modernizing and stabilizing influence. ...
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Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (1917–1984) by Derry Moore, 1976 Derry Moore / Camera Press, London
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Gandhi [née Nehru], Indira Priyadarshini (1917–1984), prime minister of India, was born on 19 November 1917 at Allahabad, United Provinces, the only child of Jawaharlal Nehru (1889–1964), one of the principal leaders of the Indian nationalist movement and India's first prime minister, and ...
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![Cover Gandhi, Mohandas Karamchand [Mahatma Gandhi] (1869–1948)](/cover/searchableMedia/odnb-9780198614128-e-1006714-graphic-1-thumbnail.jpg)
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi [Mahatma Gandhi] (1869–1948) by Margaret Bourke-White, 1946 Köln, Museum Ludwig / Rheinisches Bildarchiv Köln
Article
Judith M. Brown
Gandhi, Mohandas Karamchand [known as Mahatma Gandhi] (1869–1948), political leader and religious and social reformer, was born in Porbandar, Kathiawar, western India, on 2 October 1869, to Karamchand Uttamchand Gandhi and his fourth wife, Putlibai: he was the youngest of the one daughter and three sons of the marriage....
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Giri, Varahagiri Venkata (1894–1980), trade unionist and president of India, was born on 10 August 1894 in Berhampore in the Ganjam district of the Madras presidency, India, the second child in the family of seven boys and five girls of V. V. Jogaiah Pantulu...
