Who was Professor Basdeo Bisoondoyal? Born on April 15, 1906, professor Basdeo Bissoondoyal was an exceptional missionary. Dr Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, later Sir (SSR), Father of the Mauritian Nation and architect of modern Mauritius, having returned home (mid-July 1935) after his 14-year stay in London, referred to the need for a “great mass movement” in the country in the Indian Cultural Review (1936). It was Basdeo, back from India (1939), who first mobilised Mauritians on a large scale. He gave sermons across the country right from January 1940. His national Maha Yaj, unique of its kind, was organised in Port Louis on December 12, 1943. Having then launched his Jan Andolan, he continued his socio-cultural lectures until his death (1991). He was the first to awaken Indo-Mauritians, especially Hindus, inculcating in them their ancestral values. He empowered Indo-Mauritians, the country’s majority community by far but then generally poor and illiterate, to uphold their dignity. He did his best to unite the Hindus — Arya Samajist or Sanatanist, irrespective of their regional origin
Posted on: Thu, 26 Jun 2014 20:15:58 +0000
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