Dr. Bhagwan Das (1869 - 1958) was a freedom fighter, a brilliant scholar, a Theosophist and an academician, whom India’s second President S. Radhakrishnan considered his guru. Born into a family of landlords, one might have expected a life of leisurely pursuits, but Bhagwan Das had other ideas, especially when it came to hitting the books!
While his peers were likely getting tangled up in English, this chap was busy mastering a whole linguistic buffet including Hindi, Arabic, Urdu, Sanskrit, and Persian, alongside English. Clearly, he was a bit of a language whizz! He zoomed through his studies, passing high school at a mere 12 years old, bagging a BA at 16, and then a MA at just 18. Talk about an overachiever!
Despite his obvious passion for languages and philosophy, his father nudged him towards a sensible government job. So, in 1890, he became a revenue officer and even got a promotion to Deputy Collector in 1894. But destiny had other plans, and Annie Besant came along with a speech that introduced him to Theosophy. This 'Divine Wisdom' (a combo of 'Theo' for God and 'Sophia' for Wisdom) clearly tickled his intellectual fancy, and he joined The Theosophical Society.
After his father's passing in 1898, the academic hiding within him couldn't be contained any longer. He teamed up with Annie Besant to establish the Central Hindu College, which later became the Central Hindu School. He was particularly fond of Sanskrit and Hindi, penning many articles to promote them and even translating English academic words into Hindi to make education more accessible. Apparently, his Hindi translation of the Bhagavad Gita is still rather popular!
Not content with just one educational institution, Bhagwan Das later founded the Kashi Vidya Peeth in Varanasi in 1921 and served as its Vice-Chancellor. This was a pretty big deal, being the first modern university set up by Indians in British India! Interestingly, Vedic mantras and ayats from the Quran were recited at its founding, showing his Theosophical belief in the equality of religions. This university even became a bit of a hideout and planning spot for freedom fighters. Lal Bahadur Shastri and Chandrashekhar Azad were alumni of Kashi Vidyapeeth. Today, known as Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapeeth, it's still going strong with a whole network of affiliated colleges.
Being a staunch advocate for national freedom, he joined the Indian National Congress during the Non-co-operation movement. For his sterling contributions to literature and education, he was awarded the Bharat Ratna in 1955, rubbing shoulders with other luminaries like Jawaharlal Nehru and M. Visvesvaraya that same year.
Dr. Bhagwan Das was a bright spark who swapped revenue collecting for a lifelong dedication to education and Indian culture!