Lata Mangeshkar, famouly called "Swar Kokila" "Queen of Melody" "Voice of the Millennium" etc., was born as an eldest child to Pt Deena Nath Mangeshkar, a singer of acclaim. She along with her siblings Asha, Usha, Meena and Hridaynaath, started learning music from their father at a very early age. She lost her father at an age of 13 years and started to sing in films to make a living. After earlier struggle, she managed to become he most popular female playback singer of the country. Having...

This famous Indian was also known as "Deshbandhu" which means friend of the nation. Chittranjan Das was a freedom fighter, Lawyer and i poet. Das was the first recipient of Bharat Ratan. He was the founder of Swaraj party along side Motilal Nehru.  He was born in a family associated to Brahmo Samaj. After completing his degree form Presidency College Calcutta, he went to London to study Law. There he met with Indian freedom fighters like Sri Aurobindo, Sarojini Naidu, and Dadabhai...

C Rajagopalachari, the first Indian and last Governor general of India, was also known s CR, Rajaji, or Mango of Salem. He was a Statesman, Writer, Lawyer and a freedom fighter. He got inspired by Bal Gangadhar Tilak and joined the Independence movement. He held the position do Member of Municipality of Salem. After Mahatma Gandhi returned to India in 1919, Rajaji became his true follower. His thoughts matched that of Mahatma Gandhi, he was against untouchability, Oppressions of farmers and...

Born to a Persian and Sanskrit Scholar in Bihar's Siwan, Dr Rajendra Prasad was a very promising student right from his childhood. Dr Prasad won a scholarship during schooling. While checking his exam copy in College, his professor said "Examinee is better than the Examiner". He went n to teach English, study Law and Economics, earned his Ph.D. and started practicing Law. India was in a turmoil due to Bengal Partition, that is when he realized he needs to work for Independence. He started...

Born in a Parsi family in Navsari, Bombay, Dadabhai Nouroji was famous as 'Grand Old Man of India". A guide and mentor of the likes of Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Mahatma Gandhi, he was the first Indian to become a member of parliament in the House of Commons in London.  He was a merchant, a political leader, a teacher and an author, he wrote a book "Poverty", which spoke about how Britishers were using Indian resources for their own economic benefit and leading India towards poverty. He formed...

Ram Prasad Bismil, and Indian Freedom revolutionary, poet, writer and historian was born in Shahjahanpur in United provinces on 11th June 1897. His father was a lawyer. Bismil  was home schooled initially, where he studied to become proficient in Hindi and Urdu. Later on he joined the Arya Samaj, and finally got exposed to Indian Freedom Revolution.  He created Matrivedi party in order to procure finances for buying weapons against the British leading to Mainpuri Kand, followed by Kakori...

Born in Shahjahan Pur in Uttar Pradesh, Ashfaqullah Khan was an Indian Independence Revolutionary who was instrumental in conspiring Kakori Train Robbery. He came in the fight for freedom after Mahatma Gandhi's call for non cooperation, but unfollowed him when he withdrew the movement. He was a prominent member of Hindustan Republican Association and fought for the cause of freedom till his last breath. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/chimesradio See omnystudio.com/listener for...

Bipin Chandra Pal was a Indian Freedom Revolutionary who was famous as "Father of revolutionary Thoughts" Born in now Bangladesh's Syelhat. He was one of the Lal Bal Pal triumvirate. Lala Lajpat Rai, Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Bipin Chandra Pal, along with Sri Aurobindo Ghosh were the extremist voices of freedom movement.  The famous Indian personality Bipin Chandra Pal started teaching in his own college and later went to England to study Comparative Theology. In England he realized what it...

Lal Bahadur Shastri served as the second Prime Minister of India. As a child he used to swim across the Ganges river in Varanasi to reach his school. He was influenced by the articles and speeches of various freedom fighters like Mahatma Gandhi, Annie Beasant, Swami Vivekananda etc. He was a pupil of JB Kriplani a noted freedom fighter. This showed him the path of fight for independence. After becoming the prime minister, he lead to many developments like "White Revolution". He also lead the...

Lakshmi Sahgal served as the Minister of Women's Affairs in the Azad Hind government and was a revolutionary in the Indian independence struggle. She was also an officer in the Indian National Army. In India, Captain Lakshmi is known as Lakshmi. Birth: Lakshmi Swaminadhan was born in Madras on October 24, 1914.She was born to S. Swaminadhan, a skilled criminal lawyer, and A.V. Ammukutty, a social worker and independence activist. Childhood: Since she belonged to a fighter family, therefore...

Do you who is called the Missile Man of India? It is India’s former President, Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam, commonly called, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. He was an Indian aerospace scientist who served as the 11th president of India from 2002 to 2007. He was born on 15th October 1931 in Tamil Nadu. His family belonged to a very humble economic background. Through outt his life, Abdul Kalam have always been a bright hardworking student. He graduated in Physics in 1954 and then pursued aerospace...

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was an Indian academic, professor, philosopher, and politician who served as the first Vice President of India and the second President of India. He was born in Tiruttani . His father's name was Sarvepalli Veeraswami and his mother's name was Sarvepalli Sita. Radhakrishnan was awarded scholarships throughout his academic life. He went to Vellore for higher education. Radhakrishnan studied philosophy. Sarvepalli wrote his bachelor's degree thesis on "The Ethics of the...

In this episode of “Famous Indian Personalities”, we are going to talk about the popular Maratha ruler Shivaji Bhinsle, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. He was an Indian ruler and a member of the Bhonsle Maratha clan. Shivaji was born on 19 February 1630 in Shivneri. His father Shahji Bhinsle was a general in Deccan Sultanate, and his mother was Jijabai. Those were the days when Mughals used to rule our country. Shivaji and his father served for them. As Shivaji grew older, he and his mother...

Mangal Pandey was an Indian soldier who played a key part in the Indian rebellion of 1857. He was a sepoy in the Sepoy Mutiny who rebelled against British control and led the revolt. Mangal Pandey was a progressive and ambitious young man who was born in the Ballia district on July 19, 1827. He joined in the British East India Company army at the age of 22 in 1849. He served in the British East India Company's 34th Bengal Native Infantry (BNI) regiment as a sepoy. Mangal Pandey was a...

Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman was an Indian physicist who was most recognized for his work on light scattering. He is the first Asian to receive a Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on the scattering of light and the discovery of the effect named after him in 1930. Sir C.V. Raman, was born to a Tamil family on 7th November 1888. His father was Chandrasekhara Ramanathan Iyer, and his mother Parvathi Ammal. Since childhood, he was very keen on pursuing science and later became one of the...

The Dalai Lama, who was born in Tibet and calls himself the Son of India, is a person of charming personality. He is Tibetan Buddhism's spiritual leader. Lhamo Thondup was his birth name. He was born on July 6, 1935. Let's take a look at Lhamo Thondup Dalai Lama's journey. Around the eighth century AD, Tibetan Buddhism was influenced by the later stages of Indian Buddhism. Gedun Drupa, the spiritual leader, and first Dalai Lama was born in 1391. Following the death of the first Tibetan...

Aruna Asaf Ali is popularly known as the 'Grand Old Lady' was one of the leading female figures of India’s freedom movement. Aruna Asaf Ali was born (on 16 July 1909 in Kalka, Punjab. She was the daughter of Upendranath Ganguly and Ambalika Devi. After her schooling in Lahore, she started teaching in Kolkata and got married to Asif Ali, in 1928. Asif Ali was a senior member of the Indian National Congress. Aruna Asaf Ali became a member of the Indian National Congress after marrying Asaf Ali...

In this episode let us hear about famous educationist of 19th century Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar. He was an Indian educator and social reformer. Ishwar Chandra Bandyopadhyay was born on 26th  September 1820  to Thakurdas Bandyopadhyay and Bhagavati Devi in Birsingha, West Bengal. As a child, Ishwar Chandra was a kind, intelligent and naughty child. He started studying under his teacher Kantilal, and finished his complete schooling by 9 years of age. After this, he was sent to Kolkata to study...

Chandra Shekhar Azad was an Indian revolutionary who reorganized the Hindustan Republican Association (HRA) and preserved the name "Azad," which means "freedom." Azad was born as Chandra Shekhar Tiwari on July 23, 1906, in Alirajpur. His father was Sitaram Tiwari, and his mother was Jagrani Devi. In 1921, he was sent to Banaras to study Sanskrit. He was arrested after joining the Non-Cooperation Movement at the age of 15. When he was brought before the district magistrate, he gave his name...

Maharana Pratap was the king of Mewar in Rajasthan.  He was the first son of Raja Uday Singh, thus he was trained to become a king since childhood. As a child Maharana Pratap was a very friendly and good natured. While on expeditions with his father he made many friends in local tribal kids who taught him surviving skills for hard times. After passing away of his father, Maharana Pratap became the king. With his crown, came his long struggle against the Mughals. At that time Akbar was the...

Aurobindo Ghosh was an Indian philosopher, yogi, and Indian nationalist. He is popular as Sri Aurobindo. Aurobindo Ghose was born in Calcutta on 15 August 1872. His father, Krishna Dhun Ghose was a doctor and a former member of Brahmo Samaj. And his mother Swarnalata Devi. Sri Aurobindo’s English proficiency was very fluent because of his schooling in  Darjeeling which was a center of British life in India back at that time. His father wanted him to enter the Indian Civil Service so he was...

Raja Ram Mohan Roy was one of the founders of the Brahmo Sabha.  He was an educator and social reformer. He was born in Hoogly, West Bengal, on the 22nd of May 1772. Ram Kanta was his father, and Tarini Devi was his mother. In the village path-shala, Ram Mohan began his formal education. In his childhood, he studied Bengali, Persian, and Sanskrit. Later in his life, when he was at Banaras, he studied the Hindu scriptures. He believed in the “Unity of God”. When Raja Ram Mohan Roy saw his...

Khudiram Bose was one of India's youngest revolutionaries. He was born on December 3rd, 1889, in Medinipur, district of Bengal. His parents died when he was a newborn, so he was raised by his older sister and her husband. Sri Aurobindo and Sister Nivedita visited Midnapore in 1903 when Khudiram heard their speech in which they urged India's youth to join the independence movement. Bose was so inspired by their speech that he actively took part in Sri Aurobindo's secret planning in the freedom...

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was the first Prime Minister of India. He was quite popular among children and they called him Chacha Nehru. He was born on 14th November 1889 in Allahabad. He was the son of Swarup Ran (mother), and Motilal Nehru (father). Both his parents were attached and involved with freedom movements. He studied theosophy in his childhood and got into the Theosophical Society at age thirteen. Nehru's theosophical interests led him to the study of the Buddhist and Hindu scriptures...