If you're looking for the best research-based book on the publication history of Amar Chitra Katha (ACK)—the legendary Indian comic book series—there's one stand-out work that delves deeply into its history, cultural impact, & production dynamics. Recommended Resources are:
In 1868, Jamsetji Tata, a visionary of his time, lit the flame that went on to become Tata and its group of companies. This business grew into an extraordinary one. One that some may even call ‘the greatest company in the world’. Over the decades, the business expanded and prospered under the leadership of the various keepers of the flame, such as Sir Dorabji Tata, J.R.D. Tata and Ratan Tata.
Now the Tata group is a global enterprise, headquartered in India, comprising 30 companies across 10 verticals. The group operates in more than 100 countries across six continents.
Total Revenue: $110.7 billion ( Rs 8,03,000 Cr)
Total Employees: Over 7,00,000
Combined Market Cap: $145.3 billion (Rs 10,58,500 Cr)
Tata Owner: Tata Sons
Tata Sons is the principal investment holding company and promoter of Tata companies. Sixty-six percent of the equity share capital of Tata Sons is held by philanthropic trusts, which support education, health, livelihood generation, and art and culture.
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As an individual other Indian might be richer, but in turnover as a group of companies TATA group is miles ahead of others.
Disclaimer: These are official links of copyrights owner. All credits go to Tata!
Indian Navy (made by ACK) has released three-book series that takes a deep and detailed look at India's Naval History and a deep insight into the lives of Indian Navy men and women in white.
The Naval Journey of India Book I: Millennia of Sea Travels
Any series on the Indian Navy has to start at the very beginning - exploring India's celebrated maritime history.
The Naval Journey of India Book II: Tacking to the Blue Waters
Tacking to the Blue Waters is a comprehensive history of the Indian Navy since Independence. It follows the journey of a small Navy with big dreams in 1947 to the multi-dimensional force the Indian Navy is today. It looks at all the action, the growth and the glory of the Indian Navy as they navigate through the wars the Navy fought, the roles they play and the Navy built.
The Naval Journey of India Book III: Tales of Glory
(This part is not available in ACK app/site)
Can collect 9 more books by Indian Navy : HERE
Disclaimer: All information used here under fair use policy, not for personal gain including any monetary. All links shared in this post are direct links of Indian Navy (the copyrights owner).
If still anyone has objection, can file cases against Indian Navy. At it order ACK mefia had made it, copyrights owner Indian Navy is distributing digital (and some printed) copies FREE.
According to my understanding of copyrights LAW, anyone (including ACK media) is selling these digital illegally.
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| 1st and 2nd print covers provided by Arun Prasad |
It all started the day when I saw the Amar Chitra Katha No.11 (Krishna) that's currently in print. As I turned those internal pages, there seems to be something different...unfamiliar for me. My childhood’s memory-blocks & my youthhood's-visualization were in conflict. ..... The Current Issue which I was holding in my hands was NOT the one my dad used to tell stories of Krishna from.... it was not the one we use to hide inside our textbook from our teachers, it was Not the one that is related with lots of my kindergarten memories. In a sense, it was NOT the Originally published Amar Chitra Katha No.11. It was an issue later Re-designed by the Artist Ram Waeerkar & was marketed as Amar Chitra Katha No.11.
Anant Pai, (born 17 September, 1929) popularly known as Uncle Pai, is a renowned educationalist and creator of Indian comics, in particular the Amar Chitra Katha series, which retold traditional Indian folk tales, mythological stories, and biographies of historical characters, and Tinkle, a children's anthology.
Born in Karkala, Karnataka to Venkataraya and Susheela Pai, he lost his parents at the age of two. At the age of twelve, he came to Mumbai, where he studied in Orient School, Mahim. He studied chemistry, physics and chemical technology at the University of Bombay Department of Chemical Technology (UDCT now UICT) and was a dual degree holder from the University of Bombay (now Mumbai). Endowed with a passion for publishing and comics, his failed attempt at creating a children's magazine (Manav, 1954) was followed by a career as a junior executive in the Times of India books division, putting him in the thick of affairs when Indrajal comics was launched by the Times Group. Indrajal featured reprints of popular American strip characters such as the the Phantom, Mandrake the Magician, and later, indigenous characters like Bahadur and Dara.
The idea behind starting a comicbook series devoted to Indian culture and history came to Pai from a quiz contest aired on Doordarshan in February 1967, in which participants could easily answer questions pertaining to Greek mythology, but were unable to reply to the question "In the Ramayana, who was Rama's mother?". He left his job and started Amar Chitra Katha the same year, with the help of late G. L. Mirchandani of India Book House, when most other publishers from Allied Publishers to Jaico had rejected the concept. Later, he took on the role of writer, editor and publisher. The series went on to become a publishing milestone for the Indian comic book scene, selling over 86 million copies of about 440 titles.
In 1969, Anant Pai founded Rang Rekha Features, India's first comic and cartoon syndicate, and started the children's magazine Tinkle in 1980. His involvement with the above, and the rapport he shared with his readers earned him the title "Uncle Pai".
Ramu and Shamu, Kapish, Little Raji, Rekha, Fact Fantasy, Funland and Funtime are some of the comic strips created by Pai, most of which continue to appear in newspapers and magazines. He has written and produced two video films, Ekam Sat (the Vedic Concept of God) and The Secret of Success, in English and Hindi.
Pai's other works include a number of books on personality development for children and teenagers, ("How To Develop Self-confidence", "How to Achieve Success", "How To Develop A Super Memory", UBS Publishers) and a series of audio book versions of Amar Chitra Katha stories, "Storytime with Uncle Pai" (Universal Music India, Dec 2001), where he plays the role of narrator-storyteller.
Capital: New Delhi
Population : Over 1 billion (2001 Census)
Area : 32,87,263 square kilometers
Geographical Location : Lies between latitudes 8 ° 4' and 37 ° 6 ' north and longitudes 68 ° 7 ' and 97 ° 25' east
Coastal Length : 7,600 kilometers
Languages : 18 major languages, 1,652 dialects
Religions : India is a secular country and has no state religion. Religions represented in India include Hinduism (80.456%), Islam (13.434%), Christianity (2.341%), Sikhism ( 1.868%), Buddhism ( 0.773%), Jainism (0.411%) and religion not stated (0.07%).
National Anthem : Jan gana mana written by Rabindranath Tagore
Natioanl Emblem : Replica of the Lion Capital of Sarnath
National Flag : Horizontal tricolor in equal proportion of deep saffron on the top, white in the middle and dark green at the bottom. In the center of the white band is a wheel in navy blue color.
National Animal : Tiger, Panthera tigris
National Bird : Peacock
National Flower : Lotus
National Tree : Banyan
National Fruit : Mango
National Currency : Rupees (One Rupees=100 paise)
Political Structure : Sovereign, Socialist, Secular, Democratic Republic
Indian Union : 28 States and seven centrally administered Union Territories
Legislature : Parliament, consists of President and the two Houses, known as Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and Lok Sabha (House of the People )
Executive : Consists of President, Vice-President and Council of Ministers led by the Prime Minister
Judiciary : Independent of executive
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37°6' north, longitudes 68°7' and 97°25' east, and measures about 3,214 km from north to south between the extreme latitudes and about 2,933 km from east to west between the extreme longitudes. It has a land frontier of about 15,200 km. The total length of the coastline of the mainland, Lakshadweep Islands, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands is 7,516.6 km. Andaman and Nicobar islands in the Bay of Bengal and Lakshadweep in the Arabian Sea are parts of India. It is bounded on the south west by the Arabian Sea and on the south east by the Bay of Bengal. On the north, north east and north west lie the Himalayan ranges. Kanyakumari constitutes the southern tip of the Indian peninsula where it gets narrower and narrower, loses itself into the Indian Ocean. There are well defined seasons in the northern region :
Winter (Dec – Feb),
Spring (Mar – Apr),
Summer (May – Jun),
Monsoons (Jul – Sep) and
Autumn (Oct – Nov).
Time zone: GMT +5,5 hours.
The National Flag of India is in tricolour ( TIRANGA) of deep saffron (Kesari) at the top, 
white in the middle and dark green at the bottom in equal propotions.
The Indian flag is a horizontal tricolour in equal proportion of deep saffron on the top, white in the middle and dark green at the bottom. The ratio of the width to the length of the flag is two is to three. In the centre of the white band, there is a wheel in navy blue to indicate the Dharma Chakra, the wheel of law (a Buddhist symbol dating back to 200th century BC) in the Sarnath Lion Capital.
Its diameter approximates the width of the white band and it has 24 spokes, which intends to show that there is life in movement and death in stagnation. The saffron stands for courage, sacrifice and the spirit of renunciation; the white, for purity and truth; the green for faith and fertility.
The twenty four spokes in this chakra (wheel) represent twenty four virtues:
The design of the National Flag of India was adopted by India's constituent assembly on 22nd july, 1947. It's use and display are regulated by a code.
The late Prime Minister Pandit Nehru called it a flag not only of freedom for Indians, but a symbol of freedom for all people.
The National Symbol of India comes from the Sarnath Lion Capital of Emperor Ashoka. Ashoka ruled the land from 272 BCE to 232 BCE. The original sculpture shows four lions on a pillar with an elephant, horse, bull, and lion separated by a lotus on the base. A Dharma Chakra (wheel of law) is also carved into the stone.
The emblem was adopted on January 26, 1950 by the Indian Government. The official symbol now shows three of the four lions with the Dharma Chakra ( the Wheel of Dharma) in the center of the base and a bull and horse on either side. The base is also engraved with the phrase "Satyameva Jayate" in the Devanagari script of India. This simple phrase represents a powerful idea for the Indian people: "Truth alone triumphs".
The origin of the motto is a well-known mantra 3.1.6 from the Mundaka Upanishad. Full mantra as follows.
satyameva jayate naanritam
satyena pantha vitato devayanah
yenaa kramantyarishayo hyaaptakaamaa
yatra tat satyasya paramam nidhaanam
Meaning:
Truth alone triumphs; not falsehood.
Through truth the divine path is spread out by which
the sages whose desires have been completely fulfilled,
reach where that supreme treasure of Truth resides
The National Bird is the Indian peacock (Pavo cristatus). Peacocks symbolize grace, pride, and beauty. They are a sign of joy for all who see them. Peacocks are often used in Indian mythology and folk stories. This bird is about the size of a swan, with a long neck and a fan-shaped array of feathers. Male peacocks are brightly colored, with blue fronts and green-bronze feathers. The female (peahen) is smaller and brown in color. The
peacock may be found throughout India, especially south and east of the Indus River. It is heavily protected under the Indian Wildlife Protection Act of 1972. It also enjoys great sentimental protection from the nation at large.
Indians are conscious of the threat that hunters and others pose to this special animal. Although once popularly killed for its skin, there is now a movement to protect the tiger population. To this end, the government began "Project Tiger" in 1973. The project is also supported by the World Wildlife Federation. This project has created a network of tiger reserves throughout the country and implemented a plan to help tigers and humans coexist. India is working hard to preserve its national animal, but sadly, only 2,000 to 2,500 tigers remain.
The lotus (Nelumbo Nucifera) is the official flower of India. It represents long life, honor, and good fortune. It is also a symbol of triumph, since the lotus is rooted in the mud and can survive to regerminate for thousands of years. Even though it grows in mud, it remains pure and produces beautiful flowers. Thus, it symbolizes purity of heart and mind.
The lotus holds additional significance for Hindus, as it is a symbol of God and used often in religious practices.
The National Tree of India is the banyan. This huge tree towers over its neighbors and has the widest reaching roots of all known trees, easily covering several acres. It sends off new shoots from its roots, so that one tree is really a tangle of branches, roots, and trunks. The banyan tree regenerates and lives for an incredible length of time - thus it is thought of as the immortal tree.
Its size and leafy shelter are valued in India as a place of rest and reflection, not to mention protection from the hot sun! It is still the focal point and gathering place for local councils and meetings. India has a long history of honoring this tree; it figures prominently in many of the oldest stories of the nation.
The mango is the national fruit. It has been cultivated in India since time immemorial. There are over 100 varieties of mangos in India, in a range of colors, sizes, and shapes. Common in the tropical part of the world, mangos are savored for their sweet juice and bright colors.
People in India eat mangos ripe, or prepare them green as pickles or chutneys. They are rich in vitamin A, C, and D.
The Polity: India, a Union of States, is a Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic. The Constitution of India, which came into force on January 26, 1950, provides for a parliamentary system of Government and a federal structure. India comprises 28 States and 7 Union Territories. There is a bicameral parliament and three independent branches of Government: the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary. The President of India is the Constitutional Head of Executive of the Union. The Constitution provides for a Council of Ministers headed by the Prime Minister to aid and advise the President who shall in exercise of his functions, act in accordance with such advice. The real executive power thus vests in the Council of Ministers which is collectively responsible to the lower house of Parliament (Lok Sabha). Similarly, in states, Governor is the head of the executive, but it is the Council of Ministers headed by the Chief Minister in whom the real executive power vests. The Council of Ministers of a State is collectively responsible to the State Legislative Assembly.
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Presidents of India
| # | Name | Portrait | Took office - Left office | Vice President | Note |
| 1 | Dr. Rajendra Prasad |  | 26 January 1950 - 13 May 1962 | Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan | Bharat Ratna (1962) Dr. Rajendra Prasad was the first President of independent India. A lawyer turned journalist, He was also an independence activist of the Indian Independence Movement. He served as President of the Constituent Assembly that drafted the constitution India. He was unanimously elected president in 1950 and, after the first general election (1952), was chosen by an overwhelming majority of the new electoral college; in 1957 he was elected to a third term. Prasad was the only president who took oath 26 January & elected for three terms in office. |
| 2 | Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan |  | 13 May 1962 -13 May 1967 | Dr. Zakir Hussain | Bharat Ratna (1954) Dr. Radhakrishnan was a prominent philosopher, writer, a Knight of the Realm and also held the position of vice chancellor of the Andhra University and Banaras Hindu University. He was also made a Knight of the Golden Army of Angels by Pope Paul VI. |
| 3 | Dr. Zakir Hussain |  | 13 May 1967 - 3 May 1969 | Varahagiri Venkata Giri | Bharat Ratna (1963) Dr. Zakir Hussain was vice chancellor of the Aligarh Muslim University and a recipient of Padma Vibhushan and Bharat Ratna. He died before his term of office was ended. |
| Varahagiri Venkata Giri * |  | 3 May 1969 - 20 July 1969 | Giri was appointed as acting president following the death of Hussain. He resigned in a few months to take part in the presidential elections. | ||
| Muhammad Hidayatullah * |  | 20 July 1969 - 24 August 1969 | Hidayatullah served as the Chief Justice of India, and was a recipient of the Order of the British Empire. He served as acting president until the election of Giri as the President of India. He was also the Vice-President of India for one complete term. | ||
| 4 | Varahagiri Venkata Giri | | 24 August 1969 - 24 August 1974 | Gopal Swarup Pathak | Bharat Ratna (1975) Varahagiri Venkata Giri is the only person to have served as both an acting president and president of India. He was a recipient of the Bharat Ratna, and has functioned as Indian Minister of Labour and High Commissioner to Ceylon (Sri Lanka). |
| 5 | Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed |  | 24 August 1974 - 11 February 1977 | Basappa Danappa Jatti | Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed served as a Minister before being elected as president. He died in 1977 before his term of office ended, and was the second Indian president to have died during a term of office. |
| Basappa Danappa Jatti * |  | 11 February 1977 - 25 July 1977 | Jatti was the vice president of India during Ahmed's term of office, and was sworn in as acting president upon Ahmed's death. He earlier functioned as the Chief Minister for the State of Mysore. | ||
| 6 | Neelam Sanjiva Reddy |  | 25 July 1977 - 25 July 1982 | Muhammad Hidayatullah | Reddy was the only Member of Parliament from the Janata Party to get elected from Andhra Pradesh.th President of India. He was unanimously elected Speaker of the Lok Sabha on 26 March 1977 and relinquished this office on 13 July 1977 to become the 6 |
| 7 | Giani Zail Singh |  | 25 July 1982 - 25 July 1987 | Ramaswamy Venkataraman | In March 1972, Singh assumed the position of chief Minister of Punjab, and in 1980, he became Union Home Minister. |
| 8 | Ramaswamy Venkataraman |  | 25 July 1987 - 25 July 1992 | Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma | In 1942, Venkataraman was jailed by the British for his involvement in the India's independence movement. After his release, he was elected to independent India’s Provisional Parliament as a member of the Congress Party in 1950 and eventually joined the central government, where he first served as Minister of Finance and Industry and later as Minister of Defence. |
| 9 | Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma |  | 25 July 1992 - 25 July 1997 | Kocheril Raman Narayanan | Dr. Sharma was Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, and the Indian Minister for Communications. He has also served as the governor of Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and Maharashtra. |
| 10 | Kocheril Raman Narayanan |  | 25 July 1997 - 25 July 2002 | Krishan Kant | Narayanan served as India's ambassador to Thailand, Turkey, China and United States of America. He received doctorates in Science and Law and was also a chancellor in several universities. He was also the vice-chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University. |
| 11 | Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam |  | 25 July 2002 - 25 July 2007 | Bhairon Singh Shekhawat | Bharat Ratna (1997) Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam is a scientist who played a leading role in the development of India's ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programs. |
| 12 | Pratibha Patil |  | 25 July 2007 ~ till today | Mohammad Hamid Ansari | Patil is the first woman to become the President of India. She was also the first female Governor of Rajasthan. |
Top present functionaries of Government of India are:
President: Mrs. Pratibha Patil
Vice-President: Mr. Mohammad Hamid Ansari
Prime Minister: Dr. Manmohan Singh
Speaker (Lower House): Mr. Somnath Chatterjee
Chief Justice of India: Mr. Justice K.G. Balakrishnan
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1. Bharat RatnaIndian Armed Forces
India maintains the world's third largest armed forces (after China & USA). The President of India serves as the de jure commander-in-chief of the armed forces while the de facto executive power is held by the Union Government headed by the Prime Minister of India.
Components
Gallantry awards
The highest wartime gallantry award given by the Military of India is the Param Vir Chakra (PVC), followed by the Maha Vir Chakra (MVC) and the Vir Chakra (VrC). Its peacetime equivalent is the Ashoka Chakra.
The highest decoration for meritorious service is the Param Vishisht Seva Medal.
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There are many diverse ethnic groups among the people of India. The 6 main ethnic groups are as follows.
Negrito
Proto - Australoids or Austrics
Mongoloids
Mediterranean or Dravidian
Western Brachycephals
Nordic Aryans
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Population
The population in India as at 0:00 hours on 1st March 2001 stood at 102,70 ,15, 247 persons. With this, India became only the second country in the world after China to cross the one billion mark. ( India is the 2nd most populated country in the world). Although India occupies only 2.4% of the world's land area, it supports over 15% of the world's population.
Population growth rate: 1.95 per cent (1991 – 2001)
Population density: 324 persons per square kilometre
India's estimated population in July 2007: 1,129,866,154 .
India's population rose by 21.34 % between 1991 - 2001. The sex ratio (i.e., number of females per thousand males) of population was 933, rising from 927 as at the 1991 Census. Total literacy rate in India was returned as 65.38%.
Life expectancy: 60.4 years (male: 61.8 years, female: 59 years)Literacy rate: 65.38 %
(Kerala has the highest literacy rate of 90.92 %. As per 2001 census all state and Union Territories have achieved a male literacy rate of 60 % and most of the states have attained a female literacy rate of over 50 %).
(Source: Provisional Population Totals : India . Census of India 2001, Paper 1 of 2001)Languages spoken: The official language of the Republic of India is Hindi, and its subsidiary
official language is English. The individual states can legislate their own official languages, depending on their linguistic demographics.
India is a multilingual society with 18 principal languages recognised by the constitution. Hindi is the language of a large percentage of people (40 percent), while English is the preferred business language.
Languages recognised by the Indian constitution:
Classic Dances of India
International airports: Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata, Mumbai, New Delhi, Thiruvananthapuram, Ahmedabad, Goa, Amritsar, Guwahati.
Major ports of entry: Kandla, Mumbai, Mormugao, New Mangalore, Kochi, Tuticorin, Chennai, Vishakhapatnam, Paradip, Kolkata, and Haldia.
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India is today the second fastest growing economy of the world. The country ranked fourth in terms of Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) in 2005. The business and regulatory environment is evolving and moving towards constant improvement. A highly talented, skilled and English-speaking human resource base forms its backbone. Far-reaching measures introduced by the government over the past few years to liberalise the Indian market and integrate it with the global economy are widely acknowledged. The tenth five year plan document targets a healthy growth rate of above 8% for the Indian economy during the plan period 2002 – 07. According to some experts, the share of the US in world GDP is expected to fall (from 21 per cent to 18 per cent) and that of India to rise (from 6 per cent to 11 per cent in 2025), and hence the latter will emerge as the third pole in the global economy after the US and China. By 2025, the Indian economy is projected to be about 60 per cent the size of the US economy. The transformation into a tripolar economy will be complete by 2035, and India is likely to be a larger growth driver than the six largest countries in the EU to become the third largest economy with a share of 14.3 per cent of global economy by 2015 and graduate to become the “third pole” and growth driver by 2035.
A growth rate of above 9 % was achieved by the Indian economy during the year 2006-07 and 8.6 % in 2007-08. Many factors are behind this robust performance of the Indian economy since in 2001. High growth rates in Industry & Services sector and a benign world economic environment provided a backdrop conducive to the Indian economy. Another positive feature was that the growth was accompanied by continued maintenance of relative stability of prices.
ECONOMIC PROFILE:
GDP at current prices: US$ 1005 billion (2007-08)
Composition of GDP: Services 56%, Agriculture 22% and Industry 22%
Estimate of GDP growth: 8.8 percent (2007-08)
Cumulative FDI inflow: US$ 38.9 million (upto March 2006)
Foreign exchange reserves: US$ 262.4 billion (October 2007)
Exchange rate: Rs 39.32 per US$ (November 2007)
Foodgrain production: 211.8 million tonnes (2006-2007)
Buffer foodgrain stock: 17.73 million tones (March 2007)
Principal exports: Traditional exports include cotton yarn and textiles, readymade garments, leather goods, gems and jewellery and agricultural and processed food products. However, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, engineering goods, automotive components, transport equipment, software, electronic goods and manufactured metals constitute the rapidly growing export segments.
Principal markets for exports: USA, Canada, UK, Germany, Japan, Russia, Belgium, Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Sri Lanka.
Imports: US$ 140 billion (2007-08)
Principal imports: Capital goods, crude oil, lubricants and other petroleum products, precious and semi-precious stones, chemicals, edible oils and fertilizers.
Principal markets of imports: USA, UK, Japan, Germany, Nigeria, Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Chile, Egypt, Ghana, South Africa, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.
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Many ACKs were published which reflects about British period of India. Some of these are already posted, many are coming soon. To understand why these people or movements were so important for Indians, read following article by Vinay Lal (ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, UCLA Department of History, Los Angeles). Do you find any similarity with contemporary period? Is it history of only old India? Is it history of only India?
Think about it.
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BRITISH INDIA
ACK # 344 (#738)Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das (1870-1925)
Chittaranjan Das, a revolutionary freedom fighter, was endearingly called ‘Deshabandhu’ (Friend of the Nation). Born on 5 November 1870 in Calcutta, he belonged to an upper middle-class family of Telirbagh, in Dacca district.
Chittaranjan’s patriotic ideas were greatly influenced by his father, Bhuban Mohan Das, a reputed Solicitor of the Calcutta High Court. It was Bankim Chandra who influenced him in his political ideas. It was not before 1917 that Das came to the forefront of nationalist politics. In that year he was invited to preside over the Bengal Provincial Conference held at Bhowanipore. His political career was brief but meteoric. In the course of only eight years he rose to all-India fame by virtue of his intense patriotism, sincerity and oratorical power.
He wanted "Swaraj for the masses, not for the classes". To him, "Swaraj is government by the people and for the people". An advocate of communal harmony and Hindu-Muslim unity, Das effected, in 1923, the Bengal Pact between the Hindus and Muslims of Bengal, though opposed by a section of the Congress. A champion of national education and the vernacular medium, he felt that the masses should be properly educated to participate in the nationalist movement. He deprecated the prevalent western system of education that would only promote "a kind of soulless culture". His religious and social outlook was liberal. He was against caste-discrimination and untouchability. A believer in women’s emancipation and widow re-marriage, he supported the spread of female education and widow remarriage.
Great as a jurist, and dynamic as a leader of Bengal, Chittaranjan was an apostle of Indian nationalism. In the words of Rabindranath Tagore (1913 Nobel Prize Laureate in Literature), " the best gift that Chittaranjan left for his countrymen is not any particular political or social programme but the creative force of a great aspiration that has taken a deathless form in the sacrifice which his life represented".
The country lost one of its great sons in the passing away of C.R. Das on 16 June 1925. The funeral procession in Calcutta was led by Mahatma Gandhi, who said:
"Deshbandhu was one of the greatest of men... He dreamed... and talked of freedom of India and of nothing else... His heart knew no difference between Hindus and Mussalmans and I should like to tell Englishmen, too, that he bore no ill-will to them."Out of print ACKs #356 & #360
