View source for Bhagwan Das

{{short description|Indian theosophist (1869–1958)}}
{{other people|Bhagwan Das}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2018}}
{{More citations needed|date=July 2017}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Dr. Bhagwan Das
| image              = Bhagwan Das 1969 stamp of India (cropped).jpg
| birth_date         = {{Birth date|df=yes|1869|1|12}}
| birth_place        = [[Benares]], <br/> [[Benares State]] <br/> (Present day: <br/> [[Varanasi]], <br/> [[Uttar Pradesh]], <br/> [[India]])
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1958|9|18|1869|1|12}}
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| death_cause        = 
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| education          = 
| alma_mater         = 
| known_for          = 
| movement           = 
| spouse             = 
| children           = [[Sri Dangat Bayo]]
| parents            = 
| awards             = [[Bharat Ratna]] (1955)
| website            = 
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}}
'''Bhagwan Das''' (12 January 1869 – 18 September 1958) was an Indian [[Theosophy (Blavatskian)|Theosophist]] and public figure. For a time he served in the [[Central Legislative Assembly]] of [[British India]]. He became allied with the Hindustani Culture Society and was active in opposing rioting as a form of protest. As an advocate for national freedom from the British rule, he was often in danger of reprisals from the Colonial government. He was awarded the [[Bharat Ratna]] in 1955.

==Life==
Born to a [[Agrawal]] [[Bania (caste)|Bania]] family in [[Varanasi]], India,{{citation needed|date=July 2023}} he graduated school to become a deputy in the collections bureau, and later left to continue his academic pursuits. Das joined the [[Theosophical Society]] in 1894 inspired by a speech by [[Annie Besant]]. After the 1895 split, he sided with the [[Theosophical Society Adyar]]. Within that society, he was an opponent of [[Jiddu Krishnamurti]] and his [[Order of the Star in the East]] organisation. Das joined the [[Indian National Congress]] during the [[Non-cooperation movement (1919–1922)|non-co-operation movement]] and was honoured with the Bharat Ratna in 1955.<ref>{{cite web |title=Padma Awards Directory (1954–2007) |url=http://www.indian-heritage.org/current/PadmaAwards1954-2007.pdf |publisher=Ministry of Home Affairs |accessdate=17 July 2015 }}</ref>

With Besant he formed a professional collaboration which led to the founding of the Central Hindu College, which became [[Central Hindu School]]. Das would later found the [[Kashi Vidya Peeth]], a national university where he served as headmaster. Das was a scholar of [[Sanskrit]], from which he added to the body of Hindi language. He wrote approximately 30 books, many of these in Sanskrit and [[Hindi]].

A prominent road in New Delhi, on which the Supreme Court of India is situated, is named after him and a colony is also named after his name in Sigra area of Varanasi 'Dr. Bhagwan Das Nagar'.

In [[Banaras Hindu University]], Law Hostel is named after him (Dr. Bhagwan Das Hostel). The Indian Law Institute and office of the [[Bar Council of India]] is located on the road named after Dr. Bhagwan Das near Pragati Maidan in New Delhi.

== The Pranava-Vada of Gargyayana ==

'''''The Pranava-Vada of Gargyayana''''' (''pranava-vāda'' is the Sanskrit for "uttering of [[Om|Pranava (Om)]]") was published in three volumes in years 1910–1913 by the [[Theosophical Society, Adyar]] with notes by [[Annie Besant]]. Das alleges that the work is a "summarised translation" of an otherwise unknown "ancient text" by a sage called [[Gargya (disambiguation)|Gargyayana]]. Das states that the text was dictated to him from memory by ''Pandit Dhanaraja Mishra'', a theosophist friend of his who was blind in both eyes and had died before the book's publication.

This book has nothing to do with the original Pranava Veda by [[Mamuni Mayan]]

== Other works ==
===English===
*''A Concordance Dictionary to the Yoga-Sutras of Patanjali''. Kaashai, Benares 1938. [https://archive.org/details/DasAConcordanceDictionaryToTheYogasutrasOfPatanjaliAndTheBhashyaOfVyasa1938]
*''A Few Truths about Theosophy'', in ''[[The Theosophist]]'', Adyar September 1889. [https://web.archive.org/web/20070930015040/http://www.theosophical.ca/FewTruthsAboutTheosophyBD.html]
*''Ancient Solutions of Modern Problems''. Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar 1933.
*''Ancient versus Modern "Scientific Socialism", or, Theosophy and Capitalism, Fascism, Communism''. Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar 1934. [https://web.archive.org/web/20070929124842/http://dli.iiit.ac.in/cgi-bin/Browse/scripts/use_scripts/advnew/metainfo.cgi?&barcode=5010010000280]
*''Annie Besant and the Changing World''. Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar 1934.
*''Communalism and Its Cure by Theosophy, or, Spiritual Health, the Only Sure Basis of Material Wealth''. Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar 1934. [https://web.archive.org/web/20070930015144/http://www.theosophical.ca/CommunalismBD.html]
*''Eugenics, Ethics and Metaphysics''. Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar 1930. [https://web.archive.org/web/20070927213218/http://www.theosophical.ca/EugenicsEthicsandBD.htm]
*''Indian Ideals of Women's Education''. Current Thought Press, Madras 1929. [https://web.archive.org/web/20070927213013/http://www.theosophical.ca/IndianIdealsWomensEducationBD.html]
*''Krishna, A Study in the Theory of Avataras''. Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar 1924.
*''My Picture of Free India''. Indian Book Shop, Benares et al. 1944. [https://web.archive.org/web/20070929125041/http://dli.iiit.ac.in/cgi-bin/Browse/scripts/use_scripts/advnew/metainfo.cgi?&barcode=5010010007246]
*''The Central Hindu College and Mrs. Besant, the Rise of the Alcyone Cult''. Divine Life Press, London 1913. [https://web.archive.org/web/20070629154528/http://www.parascience.org/hinducol.htm]
*''The Dawn of Another Renaissance''. Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar 1931. [https://web.archive.org/web/20070927213437/http://www.theosophical.ca/DawnAnotherRenaissanceBD.html]
*''The Essential Unity of All Religions''. Theosophical Press, Wheaton 1939. [https://web.archive.org/web/20070927011831/http://dli.iiit.ac.in/cgi-bin/Browse/scripts/use_scripts/advnew/metainfo.cgi?&barcode=15074]
*''The Ethico-Psychological Crux in Political Science and Art, or, Who Should be Legislators?''. Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar 1931. [https://web.archive.org/web/20070711041230/http://www.theosophical.ca/Ethico-PsychologicalBD.htm]
*''The Fundamental Idea of Theosophy''. Theosophist Office, Madras 1912. [https://web.archive.org/web/20070930015217/http://www.theosophical.ca/FundamentalIdea%20.htm]
*''The Metaphysics and Psychology of Theosophy''. in ''[[The Theosophist]]'', Adyar 1916. [https://web.archive.org/web/20070711040828/http://www.theosophical.ca/MetaphysicPsychologyP1.html] und [https://web.archive.org/web/20070815205717/http://www.theosophical.ca/MetaphysicPsychologyP2.html]
*''The Philosophy of Non-Co-Operation and of Spiritual-Political Swaraj''. Tagore & Co., Madras 1922.
*''The Psychology of Conversion''. Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar 1917. [https://web.archive.org/web/20070820074709/http://www.theosophical.ca/PsychologyOfConversionBD.htm]
*''The Religion of Theosophy''. Theosophist Office, Madras 1911. [https://web.archive.org/web/20070815164528/http://www.theosophical.ca/ReligionOfTheosophyBD.htm]
*''The Science of Peace, an Attempt at an Exposition of the First Principles of the Science of the Self''. Theosophical Publishing House, Benares et al. 1904. [https://web.archive.org/web/20070927011824/http://dli.iiit.ac.in/cgi-bin/Browse/scripts/use_scripts/advnew/metainfo.cgi?&barcode=2030020003259]
*''The Science of Religion, or, Sanatana Vaidika Dharma, an Attempt at an Exposition of Principles''. Indian Book Shop, Benares 1948.
*''The Science of Social Organisation, or, The Laws of Manu in the Light of Atma Vidya''. Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar 1935. [https://web.archive.org/web/20070929124923/http://dli.iiit.ac.in/cgi-bin/Browse/scripts/use_scripts/advnew/metainfo.cgi?&barcode=150259]
*''The Science of Social Organisation, or, The Laws of Manu in the Light of Theosophy''. Theosophist Office, Adyar 1910. [https://web.archive.org/web/20070929125034/http://dli.iiit.ac.in/cgi-bin/Browse/scripts/use_scripts/advnew/metainfo.cgi?&barcode=5010010008485]
*''The Science of the Emotions''. Theosophical Publishing House, Benares et al. 1908. [https://archive.org/details/scienceoftheemot024532mbp]
*''The Spiritualisation of the Science of Politics by Brahma-Vidya''. Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar 1919.
*''The Superphysics of the Great War''. Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar 1916.
* ''The Historic Trial of Mahatma Gandhi'', 1922. [https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001868750]

===Hindi===
* ''Darshan Ka Prayojan''
* ''Manupad Anukramani''
* ''Purusharth''
* ''Mahaveer Vani''
* ''Meera ka Kavya''
* ''Rashtra Nirmata Tilak''
* ''Saral Manovigyan''
* ''Mandir Pravesh aur Aspurahyata Nivaran''
* ''Devnagari Lipi Swaroop Vikas aur Samasyaen''

==See also==
*[[Pranava-Vada]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

== Literature ==
*Katherine Browning: ''An epitome of the "science of the emotions", a summary of the work of Pandit Bhagavan Das''. Theosophical Publishing House, London 1925.

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
{{wikisource|works=or}}
*{{Commons category-inline}}
*[http://www.indianpost.com/viewstamp.php/Issue%20Date/year/1969/month/1/DR.%20BHAGVANDAS short biography] (indianpost.com)
* [https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book//lookupname?key=Das%2C%20Bhagavan%2C%201869%2D1958 Bhagwan Das] at the ''Online Books Page''

{{Bharat Ratna}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Das, Bhagwan}}
[[Category:1869 births]]
[[Category:1958 deaths]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Bharat Ratna]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian philosophers]]
[[Category:Indian National Congress politicians from Uttar Pradesh]]
[[Category:Politicians from Varanasi]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian educational theorists]]
[[Category:Indian Theosophists]]
[[Category:Members of the Central Legislative Assembly of India]]
[[Category:Banaras Hindu University people]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian philosophers]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian politicians]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian politicians]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian male writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian educational theorists]]
[[Category:Scholars from Varanasi]]
[[Category:Writers from Varanasi]]