Salim Ali : The eminent Ornithologist known as “the Birdman of India” watched birds for
most of his life, is a winner of several international and national honours including Padma Vibhushan in 1976.
Samudragupta : Samudragupta one of the oldest and most powerful of Hindu Kings. He was a great general and had passion for war. He is called the Indian Napolean by historians. He conquered a very large part of India. He was also an accomplished scholar, poet and musician. He got that title of “Kaviraja”. In commomeration of his brilliant conquests, Samudragupta celebrated the Ashwamedha Yajna (horse sacrifice) and assumed the title of Maharajadhiraj. He was a skilled musician and an expert player of Veena. He also patronised poets and chief among them was Harisena, his court poet. Harisena’s poem in Sanskrit inscribed on a pillar of Asoka which stands at Allahabad is the chief source of information of his reign.
Sankaracharya : Sankara was born at Kaladi in Kerala in 1788. He learnt the four Vedas. He preached the basic ideas of the Vedas, Upanishads and Bhagvat Gita. He preached the philosophy of Advaita. He calls God “The Paramathma”. The soul in our body is called “Jeevathma”. The body is the temple where jeevathma lives. Hence the body should be kept pure. He taught `Mukti’, a stage when Jeevathma (man) realises the Paramathma (God) within himself. He founded mutts to propagate the philosophy of Advaita.
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel : Sardar Patel was the first Deputy Prime Minister of India. He is called the “Iron man of India”, “Bismarc of India” who played a unique part in the unification of India. He was responsible for the annexation of Princely States to Indian Union. The two enclaves Dadra and Nagar Haveli which were under the Portuguese domination were merged in the Indian Union on 17, August 1961.In Gujarat a conflict developed between the peasantry and the British Government when the latter attempted to increase Revenue. Vallabhbhai Patel took up the cause of the peasants and the struggle was known as the Bardoli Satyagraha. The struggle met with a considerable success. It was because of this successful agitation that Vallabhbhai Patel came to be called “Sardar”.
Mrs. Sarojini Naidu : Gifted Indian poetess of English language who came to be known as “Nightingale of India” and also “Indian Torudatt”. She took part in India’s freedom struggle and was the second woman President of Indian National Congress (Mrs.Annie Besant was the First woman President of Indian National Congress). In free India she became the first woman Governor of an Indian State (Uttar Pradesh). Her outstanding works are “The Golden Threshold”, “The Broken Wing”, “The Bird of Time”, “The Sceptered Flute”, “The Song of India” etc.
Satyamurti : He was an eminent freedom fighter and an important leader of the Indian National Congress. He took a leading part in the Civil Disobedience Movement (1930) and in the Quit India Movement (1942). He was arrested and imprisoned four times and died on March 28, 1943 in captivity.
Savarkar, V.D. : He was the founder of Abinava Bharatha, secret society of revolutionaries. It preached the gospel of freedom. His book “India’n War of Independence” in 1906 at London about the great uprising of 1857 helped both to put the record straight and infuse a spirit of nationalism and rebellion among the youth of the country.
Sawai Jai Singh II : Founder of Jaipur City (called Rose Pink City) was a astronomer King. The king had got constructed huge stone observatories (Janter Mantars) for astronomical observations in various parts of Northern India including Delhi and Jaipur. His 500th Birth Anniversary was celebrated on November 3, 1989.
Shah Jahan : He was the most magnificent of the Mughal emperors. His reign was the golden age of
Mughal architecture. He built Taj Mahal, a magnificent marble tomb in memory of his wife Mumtaz. Taj Mahal is at Agra. The pearl mosque, Red Fort, Jama- Masjid, Shalimar Gardens, Jehangir’s Tomb etc., are beautiful work constructed by him. He is therefore called the “Engineer King”. The Peacock Throne built by him was taken away by Nadir Shah to Iran.
Shakespeare : The greatest English poet and dramatist. He was born at Stratford-on-Avon. He first appeared before the public as a poet in 1593 with his Venus and Adonis. His famous plays are Macbeth, Merchant of Venice, Julious Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra etc. He died at the age of 52.
Sher Shah Suri : Sher Shah’s original name was Farid Khan. He defeated Humayun at Kanauj. During the brief period of his rule he attempted to set up a national state and initiated those reforms which brought him the title of the “Forenunner of Akbar”. He introduced postal system and constructed the Grand Trunk Road from Peshawar to Calcutta. Sher Shah killed a tiger and came to be called “Sher Khan”. His famous tomb at Sasaram (Bihar) is one of the finest monuments in India.
Shivaji : Shivaji organised the Marathas into a nation. His contact with Guru Ramdas, a renowned religious preacher inspired Shivaji with boundless zeal for Hindu religion and love for motherland. He levied Mughlai the surrounding territory from which he collected Chauth and Sardeshmukhi taxes. The guerilla warfare was introduced by him. He assumed the title of “Chatrapathi” at Raigarh coronation. Sigmund Freud : He is considered to be father of modern psychological school. The interpretation of Dreams, Psychopathology of Everyday Life, The Ego and the Id are some of his famous works.
Sister Subbalakshmi : Sister Subbalakshmi of Chennai was one of the social reformers of the
present century. She worked for the progress of woman. She advocated equality of sex, widow
remarriage, higher education for women and employment opportunities for women. She started a Widow’s Home and gave craft training to the widows so that they could earn their livelihood.
Sirimavo Bandaranaike : Former Sri Lankan Prime Minister (three times) and mother of President Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunga died of heart attack in Colombo on October 10, 2000, soon after casting her vote in October Parliamentary elections. Earlier, Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike resigned from the Prime Ministership in August 2000 on health grounds. She entered politics after her husband, S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike was assassinated by a Buddhist monk in 1959. In July 1960 Parliamentary elections, she led the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) to a landslide victory to become the world’s
first elected woman Prime Minister on 22-7-1960. Stalin Joseph : He was a leader of 1917 Russian
Revolution. He helped to make Russia a great power.
Subash Chandra Bose : Called “Nethaji”, was a true patriot of India. The British Government interned him in his own house at Calcutta.On 26th January, 1941, it was found that he had mysteriously disappeared. During the World War II, he organised a regular army and called in the Indian National Army (INA) or Azad Hind Fauz in Singapore. They gave good fight to the British forces in Assam Hill. Their war song was – “Advance step by step, sing the song of joy, your life belongs to the nation, sacrifice it for the sake of the nation”. After the surrender of Japanese, he is said to have
been killed in an air crash accident. He was the founder of Forward Bloc Party. His slogans “Jai Hind” and “Dilli Chalo” are inspirations of our nationalism.
Subramania Bharati : Subramania Bharati born in Ettayapuram is a poet, journalist, patriot and
philosopher. His birth centenary year was observed in 1981. He had a dramatic impact in Tamil literature. He had spotlighted the unbroken evolution of Indian culture from the ancient times to the 20th century.
Subramaniam. C : The father of India’s Green Revolution and elder statesman died in Chennai on November 7, 2000 at the age of 90. A recipient of Bharat Ratna, C. Subramaniam was one of the members of Constitutent Assembly. He played a significant role as Minister in the erstwhile cabinets of C.Rajagopalachari and K. Kamaraj in Tamil Nadu. He later served as Union Minister handling various portpolios under four Prime Ministers, Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indira Gandhi and Charan Singh, besides being a Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission. He was appointed Governor of Maharashtra in 1992.
Sun Yat-sen : The founder and first President of Chinese Republic played a prominent part in the 1911
Revolution of China.
Surendranath Banerjee : A great Indian Patriot of Bengal who held the Presidentship of the Indian
National Congress twice. The pioneer of the Nationalist agitation in India. He founded the “Indian Association” aiming to make it the centre of the Indian National Congress. Eminent leader in the agitation against the partition of Bengal.
Swami Vivekananda : A great Hindu saint and religious leader, born in Calcutta on January 12, 1863 and his original name was Narendranath Datta. A disciple of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, he championed the greatness of Vedantic philosophy. He founded the Ramakrishna Mission to carry on his humanitarian and social work. He represented Hinduism in the Parliament of Religions in Chicago (U.S.A.).
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