Lala Har Dayal was born in a Mathur family on October 14, 1884 in Delhi. His mother was a pious lady. His father Shri Gauri Dayal Mathur was a scholar of Persian and Urdu.
Lala Har Dayal was actuated by zeal for public welfare from his very boyhood. As a student he led a band of workers from Lahore to help the earthquake victims of Kangra in the beginning of the century.
Lala Har Dayal was blessed with a photographic memory.
He was always first in his class. In one year he did M.A. in English and broke past records. He passed M.A. in History next year. He was awarded State Scholarship in 1905 besides two other scholarships for higher studies in England.
In England Shyamji Krishna Verma, a great Indian sociologist and revolutionary, influenced Lala Har Dayal, Vir Savarkar and Bhai Parmanand, brave sons of India. The arrests of Sardar Ajit Singh and Lala Lajpat Rai moved him so much that he returned his scholarship money and discontinued his studies.
He was known for his high character, simplicity, nobility and intellectuality. Due to the high spirit of renunciation, self denial and altruism Lala Har Dayal was held in high esteem by all. He was a sincere man who had the courage to live according to his convictions.
He kept two objects before him—knowledge and service. Being a polyglot he knew so many languages that one can’t even imagine. He intended to devote himseld for the uplift of morals and civic education of his people. He established ‘World Fellowship of Faiths’ in London.
Lala Har Dayal, Bhai Jwala Singh and others instituted six Guru Gobind Singh Scholarships for higher education at Berkeley in U.S.A.
In 1911, he joined Stanford University (U.S.A.) as a lecturer in Indian Philosophy. He was awarded Doctorate for his thesis ‘Bodhisatva Doctrine’ in 1932.
Bhai Parmanand who was then in U.S.A., introduced Lala Har Dayal to the Panjabi immigrants in America, who had an urge to free their country from the British domination. The leadership of Lala Har Dayal gave strength to the movement. Consequently the Hindustan Ghadar Party was founded in Yugantar Ashram at San Francisco in Nov., 1913 with Baba Sohan Singh Bhakna as president, Lala Har Dayal as secretary and Pt. Kanshi Ram as treasurer.
It was secularism married to revolutionary movement based on the principles of Liberty-Equality, Fraternity and Justice. It had its Punjab base mainly. The tremendous energies of Lala Har Dayal found an appropriate outlet in the activities of the Ghadar Party. He had the marvellous spiritual power to turn ordinary men into heroes and martyrs by the thousand. Whoever came in his contact was bewitched and magnetised by his wonderful ability and erudition.
Sir Michael O’ Dwyer admits, “The Gadar movement was by far the most serious attempt to subvert British rule in India.” The Rowlatt Report confirms the above view.
The British Government considered Lala Har Dayal as the fountain-head of revolutionary movement and pressed the United States Government to deport him. Lala Har Dayal was arrested on March 23, 1914 but he reached Switzerland via Turkey. Before leaving America he issued a strongly worded statement to the press to bring out the subservience of the United States administration to the British Government.
At the outbreak of First World War, Indian Independence Committee was founded in Berlin in the middle of 1915 with Lala Har Dayal and B.N. Chattopadhayay as its leading figures..
He died in Philadelphia on March 4, 1939 while on a Lecture tour of America.
