Rajendra Prasad

He was married to Rajavanshi Devi at the age of twelve. The couple was blessed with a son - Mrityunjaya Prasad.

He breathed his last on February 28, 1963 at the Sadaqat Ashram in Patna.

Rajendra Prasad was born to Mahadev Sahai and Kamleshwari Devi at Zeradei, in the Siwan district of Bihar on December 3, 1884. He was the youngest kid of the family.

While his father, a scholar of Persian and Sanskrit language, was a dawning influence on young Prasad’s life and career, his mother took care of the moral upbringing, teaching him Indian mythology.

A meritorious student, he received his early education from Moulavi, an accomplished Muslim scholar, who taught him Persian, Hindi and arithmetic.

He later studied at the Chapra District School and T.K. Ghosh's Academy in Patna. For higher education, he moved to Calcutta where he secured a scholarship at the Presidency College, for a degree in science.

He later changed his stream of studies from science to arts, attaining his MA in Economics in 1907.

Upon completing his legal studies, he took to working at the High Court of Bihar and Odisha in 1916. A year later, he was appointed as one of the first members of the Senate and Syndicate of the Patna University.

He, along with his volunteers, rendered support to Gandhi during his fact-finding mission in Champaran district of Bihar to address the grievances of the Indian peasants.

As soon as the Non-Cooperation Movement was passed by the Indian National Congress in 1920, he gave up on his legal career as well as his university duties to enter politics and work towards India’s freedom struggle whole-heartedly.

He actively participated in the non-cooperation movement, touring states, holding public meetings, collecting funds and inciting people for boycotting everything western - from schools, colleges to even government offices. As part of the movement, he urged people to give up on western clothes and adopt khadi.

Unlike others in the Indian Congress who misjudged Gandhiji’s suspension of the civil disobedience movement due to the violent route that it had taken, he stood by his mentor. He even replicated Gandhi’s Salt Satyagraha in Bihar for which he was imprisoned.

For his unconditional contribution as a leader of the Indian National Congress and as the President of India, he was conferred with India’s highest civilian award - Bharat Ratna.