Madan Mohan Malaviya was among the great patriots of the nation. He was the man of multiple personalities. He was an educationist with a vision, a dedicated journalist and an active social reformer. Moreover, he was into the profession of law; he was a reluctant lawyer but was effective in his work and proved his capabilities in parliament.
Madan Mohan Malaviya was born on December 25, 1861 in Allahabad. His father was Pandit Vrajanath and mother was Moona Devi. His family was an orthodox family. He did his graduation from University of Calcutta in the year 1884. He was keen to acquire M.A. degree but he left this as he wanted to support the financial condition of his family. He was only fifteen at this time and his uncle took him to an assembly of scholars in Mirzapur. There he got all the praises of scholars present in the assembly. One scholar named Pandit Nanda Roy proposed Malaviya to marry his daughter Kundana Devi. She really proved very supportive to Madan Mohan Malaviya; they both shared good mutual understanding.
Teaching was his first profession and he got the salary of just forty rupees initially. He was able to grasp the attention of each and every person present in the second meeting of the Indian National Congress with this impressive speech. It was only at this meeting that he came into the contact of Maharaja Shri Ram Pal Singh who was the proprietor of ‘The Hindustan’ and he offered Malaviya a job in his weekly. Thereafter, he worked as an editor for Hindi weekly which was referred as ‘Hindustan’ and ‘Indian Union’ which was English weekly.
Madan Mohan Malaviya was the Vice Chairman of the Allahabad Municipality and he also held a seat as a member of the provincial Legislative Council as well as the Imperial Legislative Council. He was God gifted with speaking talent. He was also the part of the Indian Industrial Commission in the year 1916 and was present at the Round Table Conference in the year in 1931 along with Mahatma Gandhi. He is still remembered for delivering an impressive speech there.
Similar to most of the people in the world Madan Mohan Malaviya also had a dream and it was to build a university. Ultimately, this dream came true when he put the foundation of Banaras (Hindu) University on February 4, 1916. It stands as the evidence of his foresightedness for educational ideals and his enthusiasm for Indian culture. The students in the University were allowed to study their religion on their own.
It is true that Madan Mohan Malaviya may not hold the equal position to Gandhiji but the fact that he also holds a significant position in giving shape to the nation. He holds the epithet of the “Teacher of the Nation”. This great personality of India passed away on November 12, 1946.
