Context:

India is celebrating the 167th birth anniversary of Shyamji Krishna Varma on 4th October. 

Shyamji Krishna Varma

• Shyamji Krishna Varma was born on October 4, 1857, in modern-day Gujarat.
• He completed his education in India and later moved to London to teach Sanskrit at Oxford University.
• He was also a lawyer, revolutionary fighter and journalist.
• He founded the India House in 1905 in London to promote the nationalist views among the Indians of Britain.
• He also founded the Indian Home Rule Society in London in 1905 to promote Home Rule through passive resistance and non-violent self-rule. The society was shut down in 1910 as a result of financial issues and internal conflicts.
• He published a newspaper “Indian Sociologist” in London in 1905.
• Varma, who became the first President of Bombay Arya Samaj.
• Shyamji Krishna Verma expired on 31st March 1930. A memorial called Kranti Teerth dedicated to him was built and inaugurated in 2010 near Mandvi in Gujarat. 

Shyamji Krishna Varma’s Ideology

• Inspired by Dayanand Saraswati’s Ideology, in 1877, he toured India to propagate the philosophy of Vedas and earned the title of “Pandit” from the pundits of Kashi.
• His best ideological contribution to Indian nationalism was the formation of Home Rule, which he propagated with remarkable thoroughness through his paper the Indian Sociologist.
• He inspired Veer Savarkar who was a member of India House in London.
• Pandit Shyamaji Krishna Varma did not live to witness the independence of Bharat, but his efforts, conviction and confidence in India gaining its freedom from British rule in future was strong and unshakable.