The Early Years:
Dadabhai Naoroji was born in Bombay on 4th September 1825, the son of Maneckbai and Naoroji Palanji Dordi, a poor Athornan (priestly) Parsi family. At the age of 4, Dadabhai’s father died and his mother was left the difficult task of bringing up the family, and she managed admirably. According to prevailing customs, she arranged the marriage of Dadabhai to Gulbai at the early age of 11. For the rest of her life, Maneckbai remained a close companion and mentor to Dadabhai. “She made me what I am” noted Dadabhai in 1901 when he gave an account of his early life in “The Days of my Youth.”
Dadabhai became a scholar at the Elphinstone Institution (now Elphinstone College, Bombay) and had a brilliant academic career. In 1850 at the early age of 25, he was appointed Assistant Professor, and 4 years later, Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy at the Elphinstone Institution. Professor Orlebar of the college called him “The Promise of India”. Dadabhai, being an Athornan (ordained priest), founded the Rahnumae Mazdayasne Sabha (Guides on the Mazdayasne Path) on 1st August 1851. The ethos of the Rahnumae at its inception was to restore the Zoroastrian religion to its original purity and simplicity. The society is still in operation in Bombay.
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The Grand Old Man:
The Grand Old Man of India once asked “Is it vanity that I should take great pleasure in being hailed as the Grand Old Man of India? No, that title, which speaks volumes for the warm, grateful and generous hearts of my countrymen, is to me, whether I deserve it or not, the highest reward of my life”.
A great life nobly lived, spanning nearly a whole century, great, indeed in the greatness of its simplicity, purity and benignity and lofty in its concept of man’s mission on earth, came to an end on 30th June 1917. Dadabhai passed away at the ripe old age of 93.
Timeline of Dadabhai Noorji’s life
1825, September 4
● Dadabhai Naoroji was born in a poor Parsi priest family.
● He lost his father, Naoroji Dordi, when he was four years old.
● His mother Maneckbai took responsibility to educate him, sending him to the Native Education Society school.
● After finishing school he was selected to go to the Elphinstone Institute where his professors were all Englishmen.
● At the Institute he read literature of the world, but Firdausi’s Shahnameh was his favorite, and duties of a Zarathushti.
● At age 15, he received Clare’s scholarship and was considered a scholar. Professor Orlebar called him “Promise of India”
● At age 20, he became the first Indian professor (of Mathematics & Philosophy) at Elphinstone Institute.
● He was Treasurer of the Student Literary & Scientific society and editor of its proceedings published for the public.
1849, August 4
● He along with other society members laid the foundation of female education in Bombay, by going door to door urging parents to send their girls to school (at that time girls were not allowed to go to school)
● He volunteered to teach free at the first girl’s school opened by the Society in a cottage loaned by Jagannath Shankar Sheth, a member of the Board of Education, and with improvements funded by Mr. K.N.Cama
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● He started two religious magazines – Dharma Marg Darshak and Rast Goftar to educate Parsis about their religion
1851, August 3
● At age 26, he started a society Rahnumae Mazdayasnane Sabha in cooperation with educationist Naoroji Furdunji, which still exists and has regular meetings.
1855, June 27
● He sailed to London with K.R.Cama and M.H.Cama to join the first Indian business started in England by the Cama family.
1856
● He left the Cama family business and became a Professor of Gujarati, in the University college, London, and worked there for 10 years.
1861
● He founded the London Zoroastrian Association and remained its president until 1907
● He was the first to work systematically for the intellectual uplift of the Indian public. He used every opportunity in England to voice the grievances of the Indian people under colonial rule.
1859
● He started his campaign of agitation about injustice in the system of recruiting for the Indian Civil Service. Sudden change of age limit had debarred the first Indian student, Rustamji Hirjibhai Wadia from appearing for entrance exam.
1886
● He was active in the newly founded “East India Association” to promote the welfare and interest of Indians. He devoted full time to the education of the masses of India on their rights and people of England toward Indians.
1869, July
● A public meeting was called by Maharaja Bhagwat Singhji of Gondal and the Sheriff of Bombay, at the Framji Cowasji Institute, to honor Dadabhai and a purse of Rs.25,000 was presented, most of which he donated to the East India Association Fund.
● He helped the Maharaja, Malharrao Gaekwad, of Baroda in his problems with the British Agent, and pleaded his case in London. In return the Maharaja offered him the post of Diwan (prime minister) of Baroda State.
1875, January 11
● After introducing many reforms as Diwan of Baroda, he resigned and left Baroda on January 11, 1875. The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda has named one of its student hostels as Dadabhai Naoroji Hall (I myself lived in that hostel when I was an Engineering student there).
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1875, July 26
● At age 50, he was elected to the Bombay Municipal Corporation. He discovered and reported an error by the Accountant General in calculating principal and interest payable to the Government.
1876, August
● He resigned from the Corporation and went to England for business.
1883
● He was re-elected to the Bombay Municipal Council and worked there until 1886. As an appreciation for his public services a marble statue of Dadabhai adorns the Corporation Hall.
1885
● He was the moving spirit and Founder of the Indian National Congress, which had its first meeting in 1885, at the Gokuldas Tejpal Pathshala, at Gowalia Tank. This was the institution that started the task of gaining Indian independence.
1886
● At the end of 1886, he was called to attend the second session of the Indian National Congress in Calcutta, where he was elected President. He patched up a conflict between two great leaders, Tilak and Ranade.He went back to England after the Congress, and got elected to the British Parliament (first Asian to be elected), in spite of being insulted by the Prime Minister, Lord Salisbury who called him “a Black Man”. He politely refused to take the oath on the Bible as he was not a Christian, and because of his reputation and moral character he was allowed to take the oath of office in the name of God on his small book of Avesta.
● In Parliamentary debates he charged that gross corruption and oppression by the Europeans had reduced India to a state of abject poverty. His ideas were put into a volume called “POVERTY & UNBRITISH RULE IN INDIA”, which was a chargesheet on the British Empire, and he called for immediate constitution of a Royal Commission to look into his charges, which the British did and included him as a member.His speeches were followed keenly in India, and he was invited as president of the Indian National Congress in Lahore.
● A large crowd received him at Apollo Bunder, and Pherozeshah Mehta drove him to his residence at Khetwadi. Huge crowds and receptions were arranged for him at Baroda and Ahmedabad. In Armritsar, he was presented a robe of honor by the officiating priest of the Golden Temple. In Lahore, the Congress reception committee chairman said to Dadabhai “The greatest gift the Parsis have bestowed on India is in your own good self”. He replied “I am a Hindu, a Muslim, a Parsi, but I am an Indian first”. William Hunter wrote in the “Times” newspaper that Dadabhai had a welcome greater than the British Viceroy of India.
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● The Indians and Englishmen wanted to bestow the title of “Sir” on Dadabhai, but he discouraged the idea. He also politely declined the Shah of Iran’s offer to decorate him.Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi, who was fighting for Indian rights in South Africa, considered Dadabhai as his Guru and constantly sought his advice through letters. In India the appreciative public keenly followed his actions on their behalf and in 1903 they started celebrating September 4th annually, as “Dadabhai Day”.
1906
● In 1906, at the age of 80, Dadabhai was invited for a third time to be president of the Indian National Congress in Calcutta, and he helped to patch up a conflict between the moderates and the extremists
● He returned to England but had an attack of bronchitis. His two grand-daughters, Mrs. Nargis and Gosi Captain attended to him and he recovered.
1916
● At age 91, Bombay University bestowed the honorary degree of L.L.D. on him as well as on Phirozeshah Mehta.
1917, June 30
● Dadabhai Naoroji passed away. After his body was consigned to the Tower of Silence, Sir Narayan Chandavarkar paid the following tribute to him (excerpted):
