Rajendra Prasad 1984

December 3, 1984

A commemorative postage stamp on the Birth Centenary of Dr. Rajendra Prasad, 1^st President of India (1950-62) :

Issued by India

Issued on Dec 3, 1984

Type : Stamp, Postal Used

Colour : Multi colour

Denomination : 50 Paise

Name : Rajendra Prasad

Born on Dec 3, 1884 at Ziradei, Siwan district, Bihar, India

Died on Feb 28, 1963 at Patna, Bihar, India

About :

Dr. Rajendra Prasad, the first President of the Republic of India was born on 3^rd December, 1884 in a small village in the Saran district of North Bihar known as Jeradei. His father Mahadev Sahay was a scholar in Persian and Sanskrit.
At the age of five, according to the practice of the times, Rajendra Prasad learnt Persian, besides Hindi and Arithmetic under a Maulvi. Later, he joined the Zilla school at Chapra from where he did his Entrance Examination at the age of 18, standing first in the first division. Thereafter, he joined the Presidency College, Calcutta for higher studies. He claimed the first position in B.A., M.A., LLB and M.L. Examinations. He was elected to the post of the Secretary of the College Union and started a student organisation whose members actively participated in Gandhiji‘s Champaran movement. It was in Calcutta as a student that Rajendra Prasad was exposed to a new awareness that had begun to dawn on the country at that time. The ‘Dawn Society‘ of which Rajendra Prasad was a member provided ample opportunities for his socio-political awakening.
He first started legal practice in Calcutta. Simultaneously, he joined the Indian National Congress and was elected to AICC. Rajendra Prasad was really a diamond covered with dust. After 33 years, a clever jeweller who was no other than Mahatma Gandhi recognised his worth and presented him before the world, in 1917 when British atrocities ended in Champaran. He was a successful lawyer not merely by dint of his incisive intellect and phenomenal memory but also because of his innate honesty, integrity and purity of character. Jawaharlal Nehru once remarked that he was a symbol of the real India and “truth looked at you through his eyes“.