Talk:Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya

By Vishal Agarwal

Paṇḍit Madan Mohan Mālvīya (1861–1946 C.E.) was one of the freedom fighters in the Indian freedom movement against British rule. He was born in a very poor, but very religious Hindu family. His father and other teachers taught him Hindu scriptures like the Gītā at a young age. Later, his mother borrowed money against her gold bangles so that he could attend an English school. An exceptionally good student that he was, Paṇḍit Madan Mohan Mālvīya studied to become a lawyer in his adult life. His life was a good example of how Hindu values can be practiced in our day-to-day lives.

One day, Paṇḍit Mālvīya was walking on a street when he saw a poor beggar woman lying with a begging bowl beside her. No one was paying attention to her, although she seemed ill and her bowl was virtually empty. Paṇḍit Mālvīya was a well-known person in the city. He sat down next to her. Soon, people started stopping by and dropping coins in the bowl.

When the bowl was full, Paṇḍit Mālvīya summoned a rickshaw. He seated her on the rickshaw and dropped her off at the hospital, so that she could be treated.

On another day, he saw a dog that had a cut behind its ear. The dog kept growling and running around as it was in great pain. Paṇḍit Mālvīya went to a vet and described the dog’s injury. The physician said, “I will give you a medicine that you can pour on a piece of cloth and apply at the dog’s injury. But let me warn you. The dog is in great pain and has likely gone mad. If you try to apply medicine to him, it might bite you. My suggestion is that you just leave the dog alone and let him suffer.”

But Paṇḍit Mālvīya did not agree. He soaked a clean cloth in the medicine and then tied the cloth at the end of a long stick. Then, he approached the dog and cornered it at the dead end of a closed street. With the stick, he pressed the medicine-soaked rag at the dog’s injury a few times. Each time, the dog would growl and try to attack Paṇḍit Mālvīya. But, he continued to apply the medicine. Eventually, after the medicine had been applied thoroughly, he left the dog alone. Under the effect of the medicine, the dog went to sleep. And when it woke up, the wound was much healed and the dog had no pain.

Many similar stories are narrated from Paṇḍit Mālvīya’s life illustrating how we can practice dhārmic virtues like compassion through little and simple acts in our daily lives.

Paṇḍit Mālvīya felt that there must be a university that could teach Hindu values to students along with western sciences. He toured all over India, Myanmar, Pakistan and Bangladesh begging people for money for this noble cause. When his son was getting married, he learned that the bride’s parents were planning to spend a great amount of money on the wedding celebrations. He went to his son’s bride’s home and asked her father to instead donate the money for the university.

He also went to Hyderabad, which was ruled by the Muslim ruler Nizām, to ask for money. Unfortunately, the Nizām refused initially. One day, a funeral procession of a rich man was passing through the streets of Hyderabad. The dead man’s relatives started throwing coins in the air for the beggars to collect and bless the dead person in return. Paṇḍit Mālvīya too started collecting the coins for his university. When the Nizām heard this news, he felt embarrassed that Paṇḍit Mālvīya had to collect money for his university in this way even though the Nizām was one of the richest persons in the whole world at that time. He summoned Paṇḍit Mālvīya, and then gave him a decent amount for the noble cause.

Similarly, when his son was getting married, the latter’s future father-in-law wanted to spend a large amount of money for the wedding. Paṇḍit Mālvīya persuaded the father of the bride to cut down the wedding expenses greatly, and instead donate his money to charitable causes like the Hindu university. This instance from his life teaches us that we must not waste money on lavish weddings because the money can be used for better purposes like supporting education, or for benefiting the poor, orphans and other needy sections of our society.

Finally, the dream of Paṇḍit Madan Mohan Mālvīya came true on the day of Vasant Pañcamī in the year 1916, with the inauguration of the Benares Hindu University in the Hindu holy city of Vārāṇasī. The university is even today one of the best colleges in India. The determination with which Paṇḍit Mālvīya collected money to construct the university teaches us that when we work for a noble cause, we must put in our entire effort and never give up till the goal is reached.