Among the prominent personalities of the 20th century, there was one person who could be called India’s foremost monk. And the speciality of this monk was that he got donations in lakhs, but never spent a penny of the donations on himself.
Malaviyaji had pledged that the modern education system be modified and developed to suit the Indian context. And so he established the Benares Hindu University. He collected donations from kings, princes, financers and industrialists for the purpose. Malaviyaji commanded a lot of respect and so, nobody could give him less than a few lakhs. Malaviyaji’s efforts to save Hindu culture, thereby contributing to the rejuvenation of Indian culture, made him one of the prominent Indians of the 20th century.
Malaviyaji also tried to foil the growing influence and coercion of Christianity and Islam. Just as Ashutosh Mukherjee strived for the propagation of education and science in Bengal, Malaviyaji tried to safeguard Indian culture by establishing the Hindu University. The University had the pride of having Dr S. Radhakrishnan as one of its Vice-Chancellors.
Malaviyaji was an Indian to the core through his mind, body and dress code. He was always dressed in homespun cloth. He wore a long white angrakha, a tilak on his forehead and a white Khaddar or homespun cloth as a turban. All his life he tried to safeguard Indian culture from the influence of the West.
He was born on 25 December 1861 at Allahabad in a Karamkandi Brahmin family. His father Brijnath Malaviya was a Sanskrit scholar and devoted most of his time to virtuous predisposition. After completing his education, Malaviyaji was compelled to take up teaching as a profession, though his desire was to take up politics. Even while in school, he was fond of writing poems and plays. He wrote under the pseudonym ‘Makrand’. He considered poet Bharatendu as his guru. He devoted his whole life to teaching and his greatest achievement was the Benares Hindu University. The University has a memorial in recognition of his contribution.
Malaviyaji also excelled as a journalist. Apart from Hindustan, the King of Kalankar, Rampal Singh brought out Leader and The Hindustan Times with the help of Malaviyaji. Then Malaviyaji left the editorial work of Hindustan and studied law. He went on to become one of the distinguished lawyers of Allahabad. He gave up his practice in 1911, but took up the case of the accused in the infamous Chauri Chaura incident of 1922 and got them acquitted before the Allahabad High Court. He was chosen the president of the Congress at the Lahore Congress Session held in 1909. He went to jail several times in connection with the freedom struggle. He died in November 1946.
In spite of being an eminent scholar and a prominent leader, he never gave up the Indian way of dressing and culture. He was the epitome of Indian culture.