Saturday, August 14, 2010

Annie Besant

From One India:
Annie Besant is a well known lady till today . She was born in the year 1847 in London to a middle class family of Irish Origin. She is the most prominent Theosophist, women's rights activist, writer and orator. She supported the Irish and the Indian self rule too. In the year , 1873 she married Frank Besant and moved to London where she became the speaker for National Secular Society. She also travelled to India in the year 1898 and helped to establish the Central Hindu College in India.

In the year 1908 the famous Annie Besant became the President of the Theosophical Society. She began to steer the society away from Buddhism and towards Hinduism. By joining the Indian National Congress she became involved in politics in India. She also helped to launch the Home Rule League to campaign for democracy in India and the dominion status within the empire which culminated in her election as president of the Indian National Congress.

She was such an extraordinary person , she fought for the causes she had thought that was right , they were women' rights, freedom of thought, secularism, birth control Fabian Socialisim and worker rights. Besant was a prolific writer and a powerful orator, she wrote a column for the National Reformer which was the newspaper of the National Secular Society. In the year, 1889, she was wrote a review for the Pall Mall Gazette on the Secret Doctrine.

She became the member of the Theosophical Society and visited India for the first time in the year 1893.In her honour a neighbourhood near the Theosophical Society called Besant Nagar in Chennai,was named.

After the war that broke out in Europe in the year, 1914, Annie continued to campaign for Indian Independence until she passed away in 1933.

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