There is a history hidden behind Hansraj College.

BY – Vinay arya (General Secretary Arya Samaj )

There would hardly be anyone who would not know about Delhi University. Every year the cut off list brings both joy and sorrow for new students. Someone writes about his new college on Facebook, someone changes his career plan after not getting the course of his choice. There is a race to get into Delhi University because it is believed that the colleges here are the best. Hansraj College is one of the colleges of the university.

Think in your mind today, can an ordinary person establish innumerable schools and colleges in a country? Or a person can raise an army of revolutionaries through schools and colleges in a slave country!! After a lot of thinking, discussion and even searching on Google, one name comes out that is Mahatma Hansraj. In the memory of this great man Mahatma Hansraj, the people of DAV meaning Dayanand Anglo-Vedic School System had built Hansraj College just one year after independence. ..who later became Ed’ in Delhi University.

Now there may be a question in your mind that what possessed the DAV people to build such a big college in Delhi with just one name, so please tell this story to your children also. Actually, DAV School was started in Lahore on 1 June 1886. This was the first DAV school in the country. Mahatma Hans Raj ji was its headmaster. Mahatma Hans Raj ji was a great follower of Dayanand Saraswati ji, the founder of Arya Samaj. Hansraj ji was a good friend of Lala Lajpat Rai and both of them fought shoulder to shoulder in the freedom struggle. Not only fought but later also started preparing freedom fighters in DAV schools. Many revolutionaries of India’s independence studied from this school and this also includes Shaheed Bhagat Singh.

The country got independence due to the sacrifice, sacrifice and dedication of Arya Samaj. Got along with the distribution. When DAV Lahore went to Pakistan, this school was re-located to Chandigarh Sector 8 on 19 April 1955. It was re-established here and became one of the top schools of the city. Be it sports or academics, the students of this school made their place everywhere. World Cup winners Kapil Dev, Yograj Singh, Yuvraj Singh, VRV Singh studied from this school and martyr Captain Sandeep Sagar also belonged to this school. Apart from this, many judges of the High Court are alumni of this school.

It became the world’s largest non-governmental educational organization following a dream that Mahatma Hansraj ji had seen in Lahore. Today, there is such a huge chain of Dayanand Arya Vedic schools and colleges spread across the country that even the education ministry of a poor country cannot dream of such a thing. To date it has more than 900 colleges, schools, professional and technical institutions. Lakhs of boys and girls owe their careers to this multidimensional system. Believe it or not, he owes his achievements and status to a young man with very modest means who decided to devote his entire life to education. He was like a tiny seed, from which grew a mighty banyan tree, which dropped its branches and grew more banyans, until he covered the entire country with the teachings of the Lord. That young man was Hansraj who took poor uneducated India from the darkness of ignorance to the light of knowledge.

Now you must be thinking that only if one has money or power, one can do such a big work? But it is not like that at all, there was courage, dedication and hope in the mind. The aim was sacred to re-educate India which had been made illiterate by the Mughals.

Actually Bajwada was a small town in Hoshiarpur district of Punjab. A child was born in this same Bajwada in the year 1864. Parents named him Hansraj, but the fate of that child was such that he lost his father even before the age of 12. The responsibility of Hansraj ji’s care, upbringing and education was taken over by his elder brother Mulkraj ji. But during that time his family had to go to Lahore. After going there, Hans Raj ji got admission in a missionary school. But that school was run by a priest, in which sometimes even jokes were made about Hindu worship system, caste system, untouchability and many other evil practices.

Hansraj ji was very sad about this, he did not know what to do about it but suddenly one day he came to know about the call of Swami Dayanand Saraswati, in which Swami Dayanand’s inspiring appeal to revive Arya Hindu religion by going back to the Vedas. Was. Belief in one God was a teaching to reject idol worship and the caste system, untouchability.

It was from here that Hansraj ji got a solution that due to lack of schools, thousands of children remain illiterate, something should be done so that the future of the country is educated. Swami Dayanand Saraswati Ji had attained Nirvana on the night of Diwali on 30 October 1883. After his death, Rishi Ji devotees belonging to the Arya Samaj of Lahore wanted to do some work in his memory, so along with English, they also used their ancient Vedic culture. There was discussion about opening schools imparting education. 22 year old Hansraj ji who passed BA with high marks. And could have easily got a job in a high ranking government service, but decided to accept the post of headmaster of a non-existent school without any salary.

Seeing the dedication of Hansraj ji, his elder brother Mulkraj ji promised to give him Rs 40 per month. Next 25 years Hansraj ji D.A.V. He was an unpaid principal of school and college, Lahore. It is rare to find another example in the world of such a dedicated Mahatma towards education. One who has taught children all his life but has not earned any money throughout his life. He did not purchase any land for himself, so the question of building a house did not arise. Due to lack of money, he could never repair the house which he had received as ancestral property. Seeing his dedication, if someone offered him some cash or item, he would politely reject it. If he went out somewhere for organization work, he would only have food there. He spent the rest from his own pocket. In this way, with just Rs 40, he managed the expenses of his family of mother, wife, two sons and three daughters. Later, his son Balraj continued to help him.

On Sundays he would take the boys to the banks of the Ravi and spend the day with them, inculcating in them the ideals of “learning, piety and patriotism”. Long before the word Swadeshi came into use, he had started wearing khadi kurta and pajama and his A loose turban was wrapped around his head. There were no chairs in his office: he sat on the floor with an old-style table at which he wrote.

His health started deteriorating due to so much hard work and simple food. Once he suffered from tuberculosis. People advised him to take English medicines; But he took Ayurvedic medicines and was cured by that. During this period, he consumed only jaggery, barley sattu and water for three months. Due to lack of money his eyesight became very poor. One eye never got better; But he remained engaged in the promotion of schools. Seeing his dedication, people gave him the title of ‘Mahatma’.

Even after dedicating his life to social service, he was very humble. If any preacher came to meet him, he would stand up and welcome him. He always stayed away from politics, he was only interested in propagating Vedas. He did D.A.V in Lahore. School, D.A.V. College Dayanand Brahma Vidyalaya, Ayurvedic College Mahila Mahavidyalaya, Industrial School, Arya Samaj Anarkali and Bachhowali, Arya Pradeshiya Pratinidhi Sabha and Vedic Mohan Ashram were established in Haridwar.

Mahatma Hansraj ji breathed his last on 14 November 1938 while serving the country, religion and Arya Samaj. The body of that great soul passed away at 11 pm, surrounded by his sons, daughters, grandchildren and innumerable friends. His mortal remains were brought to DAV College. Thousands of people from all sections and communities of the society came to pay homage to him. His funeral procession, which passed through Anarkali, was the largest ever seen. It could not be buried in the crematorium; The last rites were performed on the banks of Ravi. His educated students and other loved ones built many buildings and institutions in his memory in Lahore, Delhi, Amritsar, Bathinda, Mumbai, Jalandhar etc., which even today are a reminder of that unbroken Karmayogi. Hans Raj College in Delhi, the name of which we mentioned in the beginning, has been named after this great son of India.

BY – Vinay arya (General Secretary Arya Samaj)