Ranjit Sitaram Pandit (Aged 50), born in 1893, was a barrister, politician, linguist, and scholar from Rajkot, India. He is among those forgotten individuals who dedicated their lives to the Indian Freedom Movement, especially the Non-Cooperation Movement.
As a young lawyer with family ties to Mahatma Gandhi, he was establishing a promising practice in Calcutta when he met the Nehru family. He ultimately married Swarup aka Vijaya Lakshmi, Motilal Nehru’s daughter, on the anniversary of the Indian Rebellion of 1857, which is May 10th, 1921.
From the early 1920s, Pandit contributed to The Modern Review, a journal based in Calcutta, founded and edited by Ramananda Chatterjee, who had strong connections to Allahabad. Anecdotes suggest that Pandit’s contributions to the Review caught Motilal’s attention and prompted him to consider Pandit a suitable boy for his daughter. It was also said that Swarup met Pandit for the first time only after reading his article in the Review and agreed to marry him. Pandit is also remembered for his English translations of Sanskrit texts such as Mudrarakshasa, Rtusamhara, and Rajatarangini.
He relocated to Allahabad and started focusing on cases related to the freedom struggle. Due to his involvement in the freedom movement, he served multiple stints in prison. The last imprisonment, in 1944, resulted in his early death at the age of 50. He was in very poor health when released and passed away within a few weeks.
Ranjit Sitaram Pandit
(1893 – 1944) – (Gujarart)
Ranjit Sitaram Pandit (Aged 50), born in 1893, was a barrister, politician, linguist, and scholar from Rajkot, India. He is among those forgotten individuals who dedicated their lives to the Indian Freedom Movement, especially the Non-Cooperation Movement.
As a young lawyer with family ties to Mahatma Gandhi, he was establishing a promising practice in Calcutta when he met the Nehru family. He ultimately married Swarup aka Vijaya Lakshmi, Motilal Nehru’s daughter, on the anniversary of the Indian Rebellion of 1857, which is May 10th, 1921.
From the early 1920s, Pandit contributed to The Modern Review, a journal based in Calcutta, founded and edited by Ramananda Chatterjee, who had strong connections to Allahabad. Anecdotes suggest that Pandit’s contributions to the Review caught Motilal’s attention and prompted him to consider Pandit a suitable boy for his daughter. It was also said that Swarup met Pandit for the first time only after reading his article in the Review and agreed to marry him. Pandit is also remembered for his English translations of Sanskrit texts such as Mudrarakshasa, Rtusamhara, and Rajatarangini.
He relocated to Allahabad and started focusing on cases related to the freedom struggle. Due to his involvement in the freedom movement, he served multiple stints in prison. The last imprisonment, in 1944, resulted in his early death at the age of 50. He was in very poor health when released and passed away within a few weeks.
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