NEHRU , RAJATARANGINI AND RANJIT SITA RAM PANDIT

                                                                                 

RANJIT SITA RAM PANDIT ( 1893-1944 )

 

( In the photo: Nehru with R S Pandit inside Naini Jail )

 

Ranjit Sita Ram Pandit ( 1893-1944 ) was a successful barrister and Sanskrit scholar from Kathiawar ,Gujrat . He became a favourite of Pandit Moti Lal Nehru ( 1861-1931) who had seen this young barrister arguing a case .As a young lawyer with family connections to Mahatma Gandhi, he was building a promising practice in Calcutta when he came into contact with the Nehru family.

 

In 1921, he married Jawahar Lal Nehru’s sister Vijay Lakshmi . Ranjit was a freedom fighter who suffered several imprisonments along with many congress leaders. 

 

RAJATARINGINI TRANSLATION 

 

In 1930 , he and Jawahar Lal Nehru were together lodged inside Naini Central Jail when Sita Ram Pandit expressed a desire to translate Kalahana’s Rajtarangini into English. As a matter of fact , he wanted it to be presented to his father in law Pandit Moti Lal Nehru . He also wanted Moti Lal Nehru to write the foreword to this proposed Book . It took him more than 4 years of dedicated labour mostly inside various jails and finally the ook saw the light of the day in 1935. In the meantime , Moti Lal Nehru was no more around and Jawahar Lal Nehru had to write the foreword. The book ws dedicated to the memory of Pandit Moti Lal Nehru . To this day , this book , that was also published by Sahitya Akademi , New Delhi , remains much sought after as a reference work by people interested in the history of Kashmir . 

 

He is also remembered for his English translations of Sanskrit texts such as Mudrarakshasa and Rtusamhara.

 

Ranjit Sita Ram Pandit died due to inadequate medical attention in Bareli Central Jail after he was arrested during the freedom struggle, leaving behind his wife Vijay Lakshmi and three talented daughters ; Chanderlekha , Rita and Nayantara . Rita was married in a Kashmiri Dhar ( Husband’s name Avtar Krishen Dhar ) family while Chanderlekha and Nayantara were married in Mehta and Sehgal ( non Kashmiri ) families . Nayantara is a successful writer and lives in her mother ‘s house at Rajpura Road, Dehradun.Nayantara’s daughter, Gita Sehgal is a writer and Human Rights activist .

 

Ranjit Sita Ram Pandit was a paternal uncle to Sharda Pandit ( Later Sharda Mukherjee ) who married India's first Air Chief Marshal Subroto Mukherjee. Sharda Mukherjee was later Governor of Gujrat and and Andhra Pradesh.And Sharda Pandit’s mother ( Sarswati Bai Pandit ) was real sister of actress Durga khote ( 1905-1991).

 

It appears that the services of Nehru’s two brothers in law namely, Gunottam Hutheesing and Ranjit Sita Ram Pandit have been underplayed as country ’s frontline freedom fighters . Gunottam Hutheesing was married to Krishna Nehru, sister of Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru. He belonged to a very rich trading family from Jain community . He left his flourishing business to plunge into the National freedom struggle and also suffered several imprisonments.Hutheesing, also wrote books: The Great Peace: An Asian's Candid Report on Red China (1953), Window on China (1953), and Tibet fights for freedom : the story of the March 1959 uprising (1960).

 

( Avtar Mota )

 

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