Join thousands of students achieving their dreams with expert-led courses.
Join free and unlock everything on EasyShiksha.
Takes less than 3 seconds โ no password needed
Please enter a valid email address.
Checking your emailโฆ
Almost done โ just verify your number so we can send course updates and certificates.
Used only for verification & updates
Incorrect OTP. Please try again.
Takes less than 10 seconds
Please select your country.
Please select your state.
From surviving a childhood marked by repeated personal losses to turning down a government job and becoming a lifelong RSS pracharak, Pandit Deendayal Upadhyayaโs life was shaped by sacrifice, organisational work and political thought.
Born on September 25, 1916, Upadhyaya later propounded โIntegral Humanismโ, which he presented as an Indian alternative to Western capitalism and Marxist socialism. As his 110th birth anniversary is observed, here is a look at his life, ideas and the events that shaped his journey.
September 25, 1916 marked the birth of Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya, who went on to lose his entire family one by one and turn down a government job. He later gave the philosophy of โIntegral Humanismโ, which is described as an Indian alternative to Western capitalism and Marxist socialism.
His father was an assistant station master. Deendayal lost his father when he was just two-and-a-half years old. At the age of seven, he lost his mother to tuberculosis, and by the time he was ten, his maternal grandfather had also passed away. In 1934, his younger brother Shivdayal died of smallpox.
The following year, his grandmother died, and in 1940, his maternal cousin Ramadevi passed away.
By the age of 25, he had lived in at least 11 different places.
In the book โPandit Deendayal Upadhyayaโ, part of the Publications Divisionโs โBuilders of Modern Indiaโ series, biographer Mahesh Chandra Sharma writes: โDeendayal was, in the truest sense, a nomad.โ
Despite these hardships, he did not fall behind in his studies. He stood first in the board examinations in Sikar and Pilani. Maharaja Kalyan Singh and Ghanshyamdas Birla awarded him gold medals. He also cleared the provincial services examination but chose not to accept the post.
When the robbers returned empty-handed: When Deendayal was seven or eight years old, robbers raided his house. One of them knocked him down and placed his foot on his chest.
Lying pinned to the ground, the child calmly said that he had heard robbers looted the rich and protected the poor, โbut you are troubling a poor creature like me.โ
The childโs fearlessness reportedly impressed the gang leader so much that he and his men left without taking anything.
The counterfeit coin: During his student years, Deendayal once went to buy vegetables with Nanaji Deshmukh.
While returning home, he suddenly stopped because he remembered that he had unknowingly given a counterfeit coin to an elderly vegetable seller.
He went back and searched through her pile of coins until he found the counterfeit one. He then replaced it with a genuine coin. Moved by his honesty, the vegetable seller blessed him.
His decision to follow his chosen path disappointed his family. His maternal uncle was already upset with him for turning down a government job. The family hoped that he would at least become a teacher.
But Deendayal remained a lifelong Sangh pracharak and decided to remain unmarried. His first posting was in Uttar Pradeshโs Lakhimpur district, and he did not return to his uncleโs home.
When his maternal uncle fell ill, his cousin Banwarilal wrote to him asking him to return home. Deendayal replied that ever since receiving the letter, he had been โtorn between affection and dutyโ.
He explained that he could not stay in one place for more than a few days and could not take up a permanent job either. He wrote: โFor a Sangh worker, society and the nation come first; personal duties come later.โ
While reassuring his family, he wrote that the Sangh was not a political organisation. At the same time, he identified what he saw as the countryโs weakness: โThe cause of our decline is the lack of organisation.โ
He also wrote that slaves should not aspire for name or fame. He drew inspiration from history and recalled the exile of Ram, the hardships endured by Krishna, Rana Pratapโs years of wandering in the forests, and the sacrifice of Guru Gobind Singhโs sons.
He then asked: โCan we not sacrifice our personal ambitions for such a society and such a dharma?โ
His dedication was also reflected in his work. After spending three years as a pracharak in Lakhimpur (1942โ45), he became the co-provincial pracharak for the entire Uttar Pradesh.
Bhau Rao Deoras, the provincial pracharak at the time, later recalled that when the path of Sangh work was full of thorns, Deendayal took up the difficult task.
He joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in 1937 and remained a pracharak throughout his life. In 1946, he wrote the novel โSamrat Chandraguptaโ in a single night. His second novel, โJagadguru Shankaracharyaโ, was published in 1947 and contained his central idea: โCultural unity is the basis of political unity.โ
He also ran โRashtra Dharmaโ, โPanchjanyaโ and โSwadeshโ. At times, he single-handedly worked as the editor, compositor and machine operator.
As the general secretary of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, he presented the philosophy of โIntegral Humanismโ in 1965. His argument was that both capitalism and Marxist socialism primarily view human beings as economic entities.
According to him, capitalism gives rise to unchecked individualism, while socialism turns the individual into a cog in the machinery of the state. He viewed human beings as an integrated whole comprising the body, mind, intellect and soul.
His philosophy emphasised the balanced development of all four and sought to establish harmony between the individual and society. It connected material progress with moral and spiritual values. Its goal was to create an egalitarian, self-reliant social order rooted in its own culture.
In December 1967, he was elected president of the Jana Sangh. Just weeks later, on February 11, 1968, he was found dead near Mughalsarai railway station. The mystery surrounding his death has never been completely resolved. Sharma describes his life as โthe embodiment of an entire political thought processโ.
Source Click here More News Click here
Credentials
Discover thousands of colleges and courses, enhance skills with online courses and internships, explore career alternatives, and stay updated with the latest educational news..
Gain high-quality, filtered student leads, prominent homepage ads, top search ranking, and a separate website. Let us actively enhance your brand awareness.
Download EasyShiksha Mobile Apps from Android Play Store, Apple App Store, Amazon App Store, and Jio STB.
1 million+ย learned on the EasyShiksha App
Trusted by Standards & Global Compliance Frameworks
Built under internationally recognized standards for quality, information security, educational excellence and business continuity.
ISO 9001:2015 | ISO/IEC 27001:2022 | ISO 21001:2018 | ISO 22301:2019 | DPIIT Recognized Startup | MSME Registered
