View source for Bhawani Dayal Sannyasi

{{short description|South African editor}}
{{Infobox person
| name             = Bhawani Dayal Sannyasi
| image            = Bhawani Dayal Sanyassi.jpg
| alt              =
| caption          =
| birth_name       = Bhawani Dayal
| birth_date       = {{birth date|1892|09|10|df=yes}}
| birth_place      = [[Johannesburg]], [[South African Republic|Transvaal]] (present-day South Africa)
| death_date       = {{death date and age|1950|05|09|1892|09|10|df=yes}}
| death_place      =
| education        =
| occupation       = Editor
| spouse           = {{marriage|Jagrani Devi|1910|1922|end=d.}}
}}
'''Bhawani Dayal''' later '''Bhawani Dayal Sanyasi''' (10 September 1892 – 9 May 1950) was a wealthy South African of Indian descent, an activist for Indians in South Africa and an editor of various India-related newsletters such as the ''Pravasi''. He collaborated with [[Mahatma Gandhi|Mohandas Gandhi]], and represented the South African Indians at the [[Indian National Congress]] while also being active in the ''[[Arya Samaj]]'', the propagation of the [[Hindi|Hindi language]] and in other Indian diaspora movements of the time. He was accepted as a person who renounced worldly pleasures as a ''sanyasi'' giving him the later name and the prefix [[Swami]].
== Biography ==
Dayal came from a family that had initially moved from [[Bahuara (Hajipur panchayat)|Bahuara]], Ara district, Bihar as [[Indentured servitude|indentured labourers]] to [[South African Republic|Transvaal]]. His father Babu Jairam Singh and Mohini Devi became free citizens in 1884 and settled in [[Johannesburg]], where Dayal was born. Babu Jairam Singh had been influenced by Gandhi. Dayal was educated in English, in the St Cyprian's and Wesleyan Methodist Schools. In 1899, Mohini Devi died and the Anglo-Boer war led the family to move from Johannesburg to [[Durban]], sometimes moving to places like [[Chikakoti]], [[Buttery Place]] and [[Cato Manor]]. He was sent to India in 1904 travelling and studying. He was married in 1910 to Jagrani Devi, daughter of Babu Ram Narayan Rai, a [[zamindar]] in Sakhra. In 1912 he returned to South Africa with his wife, his infant son and along with his brother and brother's wife. He was detained aboard the ''SS Palamcotta'' on arrival by immigration officials.{{why?|date=January 2024}} The case was finally successfully argued in their favour by [[Henry Polak]].<ref name=agrawal>{{cite book|title=Bhawani Dayal Sannyasi. A public worker of South Africa|author=Agrawal, Prem Narain| publisher=Indian Colonial Association |year=1939|url= https://dspace.gipe.ac.in/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10973/36061/GIPE-030702.pdf?sequence=3&isAllowed=y}}</ref><ref name=rambilass>{{cite book|url= https://scnc.ukzn.ac.za/doc/REL/Hinduism/Biography/Karma_Yogi_Bhawani_Dayal_Sanyasi.pdf |title=Veday Jyoti. Issue 71. Karma Yogi Swami Bhawani Dayal Sanyasi|year=1992| author=Rambilass, B.| publisher=Arya Pratinidhi Sabha South Africa}}</ref>
Dayal joined [[Gandhi]] in the [[Satyagraha|Passive Resistance]] movement of 1913. In 1919, Dayal represented the South African Indians at the Amritsar session of the Indian National Congress. In 1922, his wife Jagrani Devi died and Dayal visited India again, attending the Congress session at [[Gaya (India)|Gaya]]. Dayal founded a journal called ''Hindi'' and protested a British scheme in 1921 to move ("repatriate") Indians to [[British Guiana]]. Dayal founded a ''Pravasi Bhawan'' in his home village{{clarify|date=January 2024|reason=his family's village? He was from Johannesburg}} at Bahuara, [[Bihar]] with a library and school in 1926–27. For his achievement he was inducted as a [[Sannyasa|Sanyasi]] (adding it to his name and also prefixing Swami) on the first anniversary of the Bhawan on April 10, 1927, with vedic rituals. In 1930 he took part in Gandhi's [[Satyagraha]] protests in India and was booked for seditious speeches (including those delivered by him in Fiji) on March 29. In [[Patna]] he edited the journal ''Aryavarta''. In 1932 he went back to South Africa. In 1934 he was invited to meet Prince George{{which?|date=January 2024}} who visited Durban, and was later appointed Commissioner of Oaths for the Durban District.<ref name=agrawal/><ref name=rambilass/>
== References ==
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[[Category:1892 births]]
[[Category:1950 deaths]]
[[Category:South African people of Indian descent]]
[[Category:People from Johannesburg]]