Ranjit Sitaram Pandit

{{Short description|Indian barrister, politician, author and scholar (1893–1944)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}} {{Use Indian English|date=January 2020}} {{Infobox academic | honorific_prefix =  | name = Ranjit Sitaram Pandit | honorific_suffix = | image = Ranjit Sitaram Pandit.jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = Sitaram Pandit as MLA of UP in 1937<ref name=BeforFreedomImages>Sahgal, Nayantara, (Ed.) (2004) [https://books.google.com/books?id=2quQOgAACAAJ ''Before Freedom, 1909–1947: Nehru's Letters to His Sister''], [[Noida]]: [[Roli Books]]. {{ISBN|9788174363473}}</ref> | native_name = | native_name_lang = | birth_name =  | birth_date = September 1893 | birth_place = [[Rajkot]], [[Rajkot State]], [[British Raj|British India]] | death_date = 14 January 1944<br>(aged 50) | death_place = [[Lucknow]], [[United Provinces (1937-50)|United Provinces]], [[British Raj|British India]] | other_names = | occupation = {{hlist|[[Barrister]]|[[Politician]]}} | known_for = | home_town = | title = | boards =  | spouse = {{marriage|[[Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit|Vijaya Lakshmi pandit]]|1921}} | partner = | children = 3, including [[Nayantara Sahgal]] | parents = | relatives = | awards =  | website = | education = [[Christ Church, Oxford|Christ Church]], University of Oxford | influences = *[[Mahatma Gandhi]] *[[Jawaharlal Nehru]] | era = | discipline =  | sub_discipline =  | workplaces =  | doctoral_students =  | notable_students =  | main_interests = | notable_works = Translations of *''[[Rajatarangini]]'' *''[[Mudrarakshasa]]'' *''[[Ṛtusaṃhāra]]'' | notable_ideas = | influenced =  | signature = | signature_alt = | signature_size = | footnotes = }} '''Ranjit Sitaram Pandit''' (September 1893 – 14 January 1944) was an Indian barrister, politician, author and scholar from [[Rajkot]] in the [[Kathiawar|Kathiawar region]] of India. He is known for his role in the [[Non-cooperation movement (1919–22)|Indian non-cooperation movement]], and for translating the Sanskrit texts ''[[Mudrarakshasa]]'', ''[[Ṛtusaṃhāra]]'' and [[Kalhana|Kalhana's]] ''[[Rajatarangini]]'' into English.

He was the husband of [[Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit]], the son-in-law of [[Motilal Nehru]], brother-in-law of [[Jawaharlal Nehru]] and father of [[Nayantara Sahgal]].

Until 1926, he was a barrister in Calcutta, a position he resigned to join the Indian non-cooperation movement. In 1930, he was the Secretary of the Peshawar Enquiry Committee, which investigated the troubles in the [[North West Frontier Province]]. Later, he was appointed a [[Central Legislative Assembly|Member of the Legislative Assembly]] (MLA) of the [[United Provinces of Agra and Oudh]] (UP).

Pandit died in 1944, shortly after being released from his fourth imprisonment by the British.

==Early life and education== Ranjit Sitaram Pandit was born in September 1893,<ref name="MyHeritage">{{Cite web|url=https://www.myheritage.com/research/record-10182-2901487/ranjit-sitaram-pandit-in-biographical-summaries-of-notable-people|title=Ranjit Sitaram Pandit|website=www.myheritage.com|access-date=24 December 2019}}</ref><ref name="Kudaisya2006">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ku5jDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT382|title=Region, Nation, "Heartland": Uttar Pradesh in India's Body Politic|last=Kudaisya|first=Gyanesh|date=2006|publisher=[[SAGE Publishing]]|isbn=978-93-5280-279-1|location=New Delhi|page=382}}</ref> to the wealthy British-educated lawyer Sitaram Narayan Pandit, in [[Rajkot]] in the [[Kathiawar]] district of British India.<ref name="Mehta2008">Mehta, Chandralekha. (2008) [https://books.google.com/books?id=Gm9tAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT35 ''Freedom's Child: Growing Up During Satyagraha'']. UK: Puffin Books. p. 35. {{ISBN|978-81-8475-966-2}}</ref><ref name=Frankp.168>Frank, 2010, p. 168</ref> His ancestors came from Bambuli village in the [[Ratnagiri district]] of [[Maharashtra]] and his family consisted of a number of lawyers and Sanskrit scholars.<ref name="Mehta2008"/><ref name="Saccid2006">{{Cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PGWa7v08JikC&pg=PA240E|title=Authors Speak|last=Sahgal|first=Nayantara|date=2006|publisher=[[Sahitya Akademi]]|isbn=978-81-260-1945-8|editor=[[K. Satchidanandan|Saccidānandan]]|location=New Delhi|pages=240–241|language=en|chapter=A Passion called India}}</ref> Amongst his siblings was a brother, Pratap,<ref name=SahgalNehru2010p.110>Sahgal, Nayantara. (2010) [https://books.google.com/books?id=KycnN-MlfY4C&pg=PA59%7Cyear%3D2010%7Cpublisher%3DViking ''Jawaharlal Nehru: Civilizing a Savage World'']. [[Viking Press]]. p. 110. {{ISBN|978-0-6700-8357-2}}</ref> and two sisters, Ramabai and Tarabai.<ref name="Mehta2008"/> He was a linguist and spoke eleven languages,<ref name="Khan">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2NoVNSyopVcC&pg=PA133|title=Our Leaders|last1=Khan|first1=Sayyid Ahmad|last2=Vidyasagar|first2=Ishwarchandra|last3=Vivekananda|last4=Malaviya|first4=Madan Mohan|last5=Kripalani|first5=J. B.|last6=Pandit|first6=Vijayalakshmi|date=1989|publisher=[[Children's Book Trust]]|isbn=81-7011-842-5|volume=9|location=New Delhi|pages=133|language=en}}</ref> including Hindi, Persian, Bengali, English, French and German,<ref name=Andrews/> and like his father, he studied law in England.<ref name="Jensen1977">{{cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VRMVAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA77|title=Contributions to Asian Studies: 1977|last=Jensen|first=Irene Khin Khin|publisher=[[Brill Publishers|E. J. Brill]]|year=1977|isbn=90-04-04926-6|editor=K. Ishwaran|volume=1|location=Leiden|page=77|chapter=The Men behind the Woman: A Case Study of the Political Career of Madame Vijayalakshmi Pandit}}</ref> Prior to entering the [[Middle Temple]], he attended [[Christ Church, Oxford|Christ Church]], University of Oxford.<ref name=SahgalChocolate>Vaidya, Shruthi (1994) [https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/handle/10603/121474 Nayantara Sahgal's Prison and Chocolate Cake: An Autobiographical Saga]. [[Shodhganga]]. Chapter III, Part 1, pp. 75-105.</ref> He had also attended the [[Sorbonne University]] and the [[University of Heidelberg]].<ref name=Andrews/>

He had an interest in [[horticulture]],<ref name="Ganesh2011"/> could play the violin and was proficient at tennis, polo, cricket, swimming and hunting.<ref name=Andrews/>

In 1920, [[Mahadev Desai]], a friend of Pandit's from college,<ref name=PrisonDaysp.19-20/> recommended that Sarup Nehru, [[Motilal Nehru]]'s daughter, read Pandit's article published in ''[[Modern Review (Calcutta)|Modern Review]]'' titled "At the Feet of the Guru".<ref name=Andrews>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.135725|title=A Lamp For India: The Story of Madame Pandit|last=Andrews|first=Robert Hardy|publisher=Arthur Barker Limited|location=London|pages=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.135725/page/n109 96]–102}}</ref><ref name=PrisonDaysp.19-20>Pandit, Vijaya Lakshmi. (1945) [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.62017/page/n3 ’''Prison Days'']. Calcutta: The Signet Press. p. 19-20.</ref> Desai was then secretary to [[Mahatma Gandhi]],<ref name=EncyclopediaLakshmi/> who was a family friend to the Pandits in Kathiawar.<ref name=Andrews/> Pandit and Sarup Nehru were subsequently introduced to each other and he proposed to her at the end of his three day stay at her home, writing in one note that "I have come many miles and crossed many bridges to come to you—but in the future you and I must cross our bridges hand in hand".<ref name=Andrews/><ref name=EncyclopediaLakshmi>{{Cite web|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/pandit-vijaya-lakshmi-1900-1990|title=Pandit, Vijaya Lakshmi (1900–1990) {{!}} Encyclopedia.com|website=www.encyclopedia.com|access-date=29 December 2019}}</ref> On 10 May 1921, the anniversary of the [[Indian Rebellion of 1857]], they married,<ref name="Kudaisya2006"/><ref name=Nanda1962>[[Bal Ram Nanda|Nanda, Bal Ram]] (1962). [https://archive.org/details/nehrusmotilaland006223mbp/page/n195 ''The Nehrus Motilal and Jawaharlal'']. New York: The JohnDay Company, p. 192.</ref><ref name=BeforFreedomp.29>Sahgal, 2004, p. 29.</ref> upon which, she adopted the name [[Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit]].<ref name="Ponvannan2019">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZvJ_DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT133|title=Unstoppable: 75 Stories of Trailblazing Indian Women|last=Ponvannan|first=Gayathri|date=2019|publisher=Hachette India|isbn=978-93-88322-01-0|language=en}}</ref> With the Nehrus now involved in the [[Non-cooperation movement (1919–22)|Indian non-cooperation movement]] and in boycotting British goods, the wedding was the last event in the Nehru household "approaching opulence at [[Swaraj Bhavan|Anand Bhavan]]".<ref name=BeforFreedomp.29/> Their first daughter, Vatsala, died at the age of nine months.<ref name="Khan"/> Subsequently, they had three daughters; Chandralekha Mehta, [[Nayantara Sahgal]] and Rita Dar,<ref name=":BetterIndia">{{Cite web|url=https://www.thebetterindia.com/117110/vijaya-lakshmi-pandit/|title=How Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit Built a Political Career in British India's Man's World|date=3 October 2017|website=[[The Better India]]|language=en-US|access-date=24 December 2019}}</ref> born in 1924, 1927 and 1929 respectively.<ref name="Brown2000">{{cite book|author=Brown, Judith Margaret|title=Nehru|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-pJfG8hCRWwC&pg=PA23|year=2000|publisher=Longman|isbn=978-0-582-43750-0|page=23}}</ref>

==Non-cooperation movement== [[File:Nehru-Gandhi family group photo.jpg|thumb|Nehru-Gandhi family group photo. R. S. Pandit is standing at the far right.<ref name=NehruMemorial>{{Cite web|url=http://www.nehrumemorial.nic.in/en/galleries/photo-gallery/category/40-jawaharlal-nehru-with-family-members.html|title=Photo Gallery - Jawaharlal Nehru with family members|website=www.nehrumemorial.nic.in|access-date=25 December 2019}}</ref>]] [[File:Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit.jpg|thumb|Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw52170/Vijaya-Lakshmi-Pandit-ne-Sarup-Kumari-Nehru|title=Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit (née Sarup Kumari Nehru) - National Portrait Gallery|website=www.npg.org.uk|language=en|access-date=4 January 2020}}</ref>|alt=|243x243px]] On 1 March 1926, Pandit, together with his wife Vijaya Lakshmi, his brother-in-law [[Jawaharlal Nehru]], sister-in-law [[Kamala Nehru]] and niece [[Indira Gandhi|Indira]], sailed to Europe on the Lloyd liner ''[[Italia Marittima|Triestino]]''.<ref name="Frank2010">{{cite book|author=Frank, Katherine.|title=Indira: The Life of Indira Nehru Gandhi|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3bt5jZv2DHsC&pg=PA32|year=2010|publisher=[[HarperCollins Publishers]]|location=London|isbn=978-0-00-638715-2|page=32|chapter=2. 'Hua'|author-link=Katherine Frank (biographer)}}</ref> He returned with Vijaya Lakshmi the following November.<ref name=BeforeFreedomp.30-31>Sahgal, 2004, pp. 30-31.</ref><ref name=Nehru1936>Nehru, Jawaharlal. (1936). [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.98834 ''Jawaharlal Nehru. (1936) An Autobiography'']. New Delhi: Oxford University Press. p. 147</ref> Until this European trip, Pandit was a successful lawyer who practiced in what was then called [[Calcutta]] with [[B. L. Mitter|Sir B. L. Mitter]].<ref name="Mehta2008"/> Against the wishes of his family in Rajkot, he became a [[Satyagraha|Satyagrahi]] and joined Mahatma Gandhi and Motilal Nehru in the Indian non-cooperation movement and settled in [[Allahabad]], where he took up cases in the courts.<ref name="Mehta2008"/> Later, they moved to Khali, in the hills near [[Almora]].<ref name=Frankp.187-189>Frank, 2010, p. 187-189</ref>

When the [[Indian National Congress]]'s 1928 proposal for [[Dominion|Dominion status]] was rejected by the British, the party took a pledge of non-cooperation and demanded "complete independence".<ref name=BeforeFreedomp.30-31/> Vijaya Lakshmi later recorded in her autobiography, that on 29 December 1929, upon the [[Purna Swaraj|declaration of independence]] by the Congress's then president Jawaharlal Nehru, Pandit joined him in the celebrations.<ref name=BeforeFreedomp.30-31/>

In 1930, Motilal Nehru appointed Pandit the Secretary of the Peshawar Enquiry Committee, to investigate troubles in the [[North West Frontier Province]]. Its report was published by Allahabad's Law Journal Press.<ref name="Mehta2008"/> In 1937, he was listed in ''The Indian Annual Register'' as a [[Central Legislative Assembly|Member of the Legislative Assembly]] (MLA) of [[United Provinces of Agra and Oudh]] (UP),<ref name="Register1937">{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.85700|title=The Indian Annual Register July Dec 1937|date=1937|publisher=The Annual Register Office|editor-last=Nath|editor-first=Mitra Nripendra|volume=II|location=Calcutta|pages=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.85700/page/n244 216]}}</ref> to which he was elected along with Vijaya Lakshmi.<ref name=Frankp.121>Frank, 2010, p. 121</ref>

He served several prison terms,<ref name="Kudaisya2006"/> including two prison sentences with Jawaharlal Nehru, one in [[Naini Central Prison|Naini Central Jail]] in 1931 and another at [[Dehradun]].<ref name=SahgalNehru2010p.7>[https://books.google.com/books?id=KycnN-MlfY4C&pg=PA59 Sahgal, 2010, p. 7]</ref><ref name=Nehru1936p.235>[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.98834/page/n253 Nehru, 1936, p.235]</ref><ref name=Glimpses>Nehru, Jawaharlal, (1962). [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.108462/page/n39 Glimpses of World History]. New York: Asia Publishing House. Second edition. p. 27</ref> His daughter, Nayantara, later described how she ate chocolate cake the day her father first went to prison. She later became a writer, and associating chocolate cake with prison, wrote a book titled ''[[Prison and Chocolate Cake]]''.<ref name=Dutt2005>{{Cite web|url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/punjab/nayantara-sahgal-who-put-chd-on-the-literary-map-talks-of-freedom/story-CDbpRhZWS6w87X5PS6ZcyJ.html|title=I am a writer and have to share my convictions: Nayantara Sahgal|last=Dutt|first=Nirupama|date=5 November 2015|website=Hindustan Times|language=en|access-date=1 January 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://archive.macleans.ca/article/1954/4/1/growing-up-with-the-nehrus|title=Growing up with the Nehrus {{!}} Maclean's {{!}} 1 April 1954|last=Pandet|first=A. Nayantara|date=1 April 1954|website=Maclean's {{!}} The Complete Archive|language=en-US|access-date=5 January 2020}}</ref>

==Translations== While in prison,<ref name=Gandhip.326>[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.129247/page/n351 Gandhi, 2004, p. 326.]</ref> Pandit translated into English [[Kalhana]]'s ''[[Rajatarangini]]'', the 12th century history of the kings of Kashmir, written in Sanskrit,<ref name="Ganesh2011">{{Cite news|url=https://www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/in-the-face-of-truth/article2042256.ece|title=In the face of truth|last=Ganesh|first=Deepa|date=23 May 2011|work=[[The Hindu]]|access-date=24 December 2019|language=en-IN|issn=0971-751X}}</ref><ref name=Sahgal2019/> and described the poem as one of "great scope, a more or less complete picture of society, in which the bloody periods of the past are delightfully relieved by delicate tales of love, by episodes of marvel and mystery and by interesting digressions which the author permits himself".<ref name="Zutshi">{{Cite journal|last=Zutshi|first=Chitralekha|date=2011|title=Translating the Past: Rethinking "Rajatarangini" Narratives in Colonial India|journal=[[The Journal of Asian Studies]]|volume=70|issue=1|pages=5–27|issn=0021-9118|jstor=41302205|doi=10.1017/S0021911810002998|s2cid=146160013 }}</ref> The foreword to the translation was written by Jawaharlal Nehru.<ref name=Muhajir2017>{{Cite web|url=https://networks.h-net.org/node/22055/reviews/183268/muhajir-zutshi-kashmirs-contested-pasts-narratives-sacred-geographies|title=Muhajir on Zutshi, 'Kashmir's Contested Pasts: Narratives, Sacred Geographies, and the Historical Imagination' {{!}} H-Asia {{!}} H-Net|last=Muhajir|first=Umair A.|date=June 2017|website=networks.h-net.org|access-date=4 January 2020}}</ref>

He translated from Sanskrit to English, the play ''[[Mudrarakshasa]]'' and in 1942 completed the translation of ''[[Ṛtusaṃhāra]]''.<ref name="Kudaisya2006"/><ref name=PrisonDaysp.100>[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.62017/page/n113 Pandit, 1945, p.100]</ref>

==Death== In 1943, he was reported to have had [[pneumonia]], [[pleurisy]] and a [[heart attack]] in [[Bareilly Central Jail]]. Vijaya Lakshmi visited him, and later described how "it was a tremendous shock to see Ranjit brought in to the superintendent's office on a stretcher. His head had been shaved and he was emaciated and almost unrecognisable”.<ref name=SahgalNehru2010p.18>[https://books.google.com/books?id=KycnN-MlfY4C&pg=PA59 Sahgal, 2010, p. 18]</ref> He had been arrested that year by British authorities and was serving his fourth term in prison. He died shortly after being released.<ref name=Sahgal2019>{{Cite web|url=https://scroll.in/article/908496/what-nayantara-sahgal-was-not-allowed-to-say-at-marathi-literary-meet|title=What Nayantara Sahgal was not allowed to say at Marathi literary meet|last=Sahgal|first=Nayantara|date=7 January 2019|website=Scroll.in|language=en-US|access-date=25 December 2019}}</ref><ref name="Singh2014">{{Cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G7xJDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA65|title=Gender Discourse in Indian Writings in English|last=Kamatchi|first=G.|date=1965|publisher=[[Rigi Publication]]|isbn=978-81-907513-6-0|editor-last=Singh|editor-first=Bijender|location=Khanna, Punjab|language=en|chapter=6. Gender Politics in Nayantara Saygal's Novels}}</ref><ref name=Suman2017>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theweek.in/webworld/features/lifestyle/india-is-a-secular-democratic.html|title=India is a secular democratic|last=Suman|first=Saket|date=4 October 2017|website=theweek.in|access-date=24 December 2019}}</ref> On 18 January 1944, Nehru wrote to his daughter [[Indira Gandhi|Indu]], that he was informed that Pandit (Pupha to Indu) died in [[Lucknow]] on 14 January 1944,<ref name=Gandhip.417>Gandhi, Sonia, (Ed.) (2004). [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.129247/page/n439 ''Two Alone, Two Together: Letters Between Indira Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru 1922-1964'']. New Delhi: [[Penguin Books]]. p. 417. {{ISBN|978-0-14-303245-8}}</ref> before the [[Hindu code bills|reformation of personal law]] which was completed after independence,<ref name=BeforFreedomp.299-300>Sahgal, 2004, pp. 299-300</ref><ref name=NPGLakshmi>{{Cite web|url=https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp55078/vijaya-lakshmi-pandit-nee-sarup-kumari-nehru|title=Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit (née Sarup Kumari Nehru) - National Portrait Gallery|website=www.npg.org.uk|language=en|access-date=29 December 2019}}</ref> leaving his widow to raise their three daughters without an inheritance.<ref name=NPGLakshmi/> Pandit's brother, Pratap, had frozen their assets.<ref name=SahgalNehru2010p.110/>

Author [[Katherine Frank (biographer)|Katherine Frank]] wrote in her biography of Indira Gandhi, that Pandit's death "was an unnecessary death directly attributable to the poor conditions and treatment he had received in jail.<ref name=Frankp.187-189/> [[Winston Churchill]] was later reported by Pandit's widow, on a visit to England after [[Indian Independence Act 1947|independence of India]], to have said to her that “we killed your husband didn't we”.<ref name="Roy">{{Cite web|url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/churchill-s-startling-sorry-secret-book-talks-of-apology-to-nehru/cid/965656|title=Churchill's startling sorry 'secret' - Book talks of apology to Nehru|last=Roy|first=Amit|date=27 September 2003|website=www.telegraphindia.com|language=en|access-date=31 December 2019}}</ref><ref name=SahgalNehru2010p.59>[https://books.google.com/books?id=KycnN-MlfY4C&pg=PA59 Sahgal, 2010, p. 59]</ref> Pandit's daughter, Nayantara, wrote in her biography of Nehru that her mother replied "no, every man lives only to his appointed hour" and Churchill replied "nobly spoken".<ref name=SahgalNehru2010p.59/>

== Selected publications == * [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.63231/page/n1 ''Indian National Congress Peshawar Enquiry Committee'']. Working Committee of the Indian National Congress. Bombay: Government Press (1930) * [[iarchive:in.ernet.dli.2015.130464|''Rājataraṅgiṇi; the saga of the kings of Kaśmīr'']]. New Delhi: [[Sahitya Akademi]] (1935) * [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.528550/page/n3 Mudrarakśasa : (The signet ring)]. With [[Vishakhadatta|Viśākhadatta]]. Bombay: New Book Company (1944) * [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.525197/page/n1 ''Ritusamhara Or The Peageant Of The Seasons'']. Bombay: The National Informations & Publications Ltd. (1947)

== References == {{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pandit, Ranjit Sitaram}} [[Category:Nehru–Gandhi family]] [[Category:1944 deaths]] [[Category:1893 births]] [[Category:People from Maharashtra]] [[Category:Indian National Congress politicians]] [[Category:Politicians from Uttar Pradesh]] [[Category:Prisoners and detainees of British India]] [[Category:Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford]] [[Category:Indian barristers]] [[Category:20th-century Indian translators]] [[Category:Members of the Central Legislative Assembly of India]] [[Category:20th-century Indian linguists]] [[Category:Linguists of Sanskrit]]