Vinoba Bhave Jayanti: the story of the Bhoodan movement founder, and this day in history
September 11 marks the birth anniversary of Acharya Vinoba Bhave, founder of the Bhoodan movement, and a string of other historic events
Today is September 11, and on this day in 1895, Acharya Vinoba Bhave was born in Pen village in Maharashtra's Raigad district. His real name was Vinayak Narhari Bhave, but the world knows him as "Vinoba." He grew up in a spiritual and cultured environment that left a deep imprint on his thinking.
At a young age, Vinoba Bhave gave up the traditional path of family life and joined Mahatma Gandhi's Sabarmati Ashram. He was known as Gandhi's spiritual heir and remained a firm follower of Gandhi's ideology and of Satyagraha. He later started the Bhoodan movement in India, under which land was taken from landowners and distributed among the landless in a historic effort.
September 11 is also recorded in history for several other major events. In 1893, Swami Vivekananda delivered his famous speech before the World's Parliament of Religions. In 1906, Mahatma Gandhi first used the word "Satyagraha" in Africa. In 1942, the Azad Hind Fauj sang the national song "Jana Gana Mana" for the first time. In 1965, the Indian Army captured Burki village near Lahore. In 1997, NASA's Mars Global Surveyor reached Mars. And in 2001, terrorists flew two passenger planes into the World Trade Center towers, killing thousands of people.
The date is also significant for births. Indian cricketer Lala Amarnath was born in 1911, and Mohan Madhukar Bhagwat, sarsanghchalak of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, was born in 1950. Indian cricketer Murali Kartik was born in 1976, and Tamil film actress Shriya Saran was born in 1982, both on this day.
As for deaths, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, founder of Pakistan, died in 1948. Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev died in 1971, and Chilean president Salvador Allende died in 1973, both on this date. Hindi poet and freedom fighter Mahadevi Verma died in 1987.
