Jawaharlal Nehru Date of Birth

First Pime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru was born on 14 November 1889 in Allahabad in British India.

Jawaharlal Nehru Childhood

He grew up in an atmosphere of privilege at wealthy homes including a palatial estate called the Anand Bhavan. His father had him educated at home by private governesses and tutors.

Under the influence of a tutor, Ferdinand T. Brooks, he became interested in science and theosophy. He was subsequently initiated into the Theosophical Society at age thirteen by family friend Annie Besant.

Nehru’s theosophical interests had induced him to the study of the Buddhist and Hindu scriptures.

Later when he had begun his institutional schooling in 1905 at Harrow, a leading school in England, G. M. Trevelyan’s Garibaldi books greatly influenced him, which he had received as prizes for academic merit. He viewed Garibaldi as a revolutionary hero.

Jawaharlal Nehru Photo

Jawaharlal Nehru Mother Name

His mother, Swaruprani Thussu (1868–1938), who came from a well-known Kashmiri Brahmin family settled in Lahore, was Motilal’s second wife, the first having died in childbirth.

Jawaharlal Nehru Wife

Nehru married Kamala Kaul in 1916. Their only daughter Indira was born a year later in 1917. Kamala gave birth to a boy in November 1924, but he lived for only a week Indira married Feroze Gandhi in 1942. They had two sons – Rajiv (b. 1944) and Sanjay (b. 1946).

After Kamala’s death in 1936, Nehru, as a widower, was alleged to have had relationships with many women. These included Shraddha Mata, Padmaja Naidu and Edwina Mountbatten. Edwina’s daughter Pamela acknowledged Nehru’s platonic relationship with Edwina.

Nehru took the personal decision to send an Indian Navy frigate to the sea burial of Edwina Mountbatten in 1960. Nehru’s sister, Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit told Pupul Jayakar, Indira Gandhi’s friend and biographer, that Padmaja Naidu and Nehru lived together for many years.

Jawaharlal Nehru Father Name

His father, Motilal Nehru (1861–1931), a self-made wealthy barrister who belonged to the Kashmiri Pandit community, served twice as President of the Indian National Congress, in 1919 and 1928.

Jawaharlal Nehru Sister

Jawaharlal was the eldest of three children, two of whom were girls. The elder sister, Vijaya Lakshmi, later became the first female president of the United Nations General Assembly.

The youngest sister, Krishna Hutheesing, became a noted writer and authored several books on her brother.

Jawaharlal Nehru History

Nehru went to Trinity College, Cambridge in October 1907 and graduated with an honours degree in natural science in 1910. During this period, he also studied politics, economics, history and literature desultory.

Writings of Bernard Shaw, H. G. Wells, J.M. Keynes, Bertrand Russell, Lowes Dickinson and Meredith Townsend moulded much of his political and economic thinking.

After completing his degree in 1910, Nehru moved to London and studied law at Inner temple Inn During this time, he continued to study the scholars of the Fabian Society including Beatrice Webb. He was called to the Bar in 1912.

Nehru was a graduate of Trinity College, Cambridge and the Inner Temple, where he trained to be a barrister. Upon his return to India, he enrolled at the Allahabad High Court and took an interest in national politics, which eventually replaced his legal practice.

Jawaharlal Nehru Biography

A committed nationalist since his teenage years, he became a rising figure in Indian politics during the upheavals of the 1910s.

He became the prominent leader of the left-wing factions of the Indian National Congress during the 1920s, and eventually of the entire Congress, with the tacit approval of his mentor, Gandhi.

As Congress President in 1929, Nehru called for complete independence from the British Raj and instigated the Congress’s decisive shift towards the left.

Nehru and the Congress dominated Indian politics during the 1930s as the country moved towards independence. His idea of a secular nation-state was seemingly validated when the Congress swept the 1937 provincial elections.

Later Nehru, who had reluctantly heeded Gandhi’s call for immediate independence, for he had desired to support the Allied war effort during World War II, came out of a lengthy prison term to a much altered political landscape.

The Muslim League under his old Congress colleague and now opponent, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, had come to dominate Muslim politics in India. Negotiations between Congress and Muslim League for power sharing failed and gave way to the independence and bloody partition of India in 1947.

Later Nehru was elected by the Congress to assume office as independent India’s first Prime Minister in 1941. As Prime Minister, he set out to realise his vision of India.

Chiefly, he oversaw India’s transition from a colony to a republic, while nurturing a plural, multi-party system.

Under Nehru’s leadership, the Congress emerged as a catch-all party, dominating national and state-level politics and winning consecutive elections in 1951, 1957, and 1962.

Later he remained popular with the people of India in spite of political troubles in his final years and failure of leadership during the 1962 Sino-Indian War. In India, his birthday is celebrated as Bal Diwas (Children’s Day).

Jawaharlal Nehru Thoughts

Described as Hindu Agnostic, and styling himself as a “scientific humanist”, Nehru thought that religious taboos were preventing India from going forward and adapting to modern conditions.

Later he said “No country or people who are slaves to dogma and dogmatic mentality can progress, and unhappily our country and people have become extraordinarily dogmatic and little-minded”.

Later in his autobiography, he analysed Christianity and Islam and their impact on India. He wanted to model India as a secular country; his secularist policies remain a subject of debate.

Jawaharlal Nehru Books

Nehru was a prolific writer in English and wrote a number of books, such as The Discovery of India, Glimpses of World History, and his autobiography, Toward Freedom.

Later he had written 30 letters to his daughter Indira Gandhi, when she was 10 years old and in a boarding school in Mussoorie, teaching about natural history and the story of civilisations.

The collection of these letters was later published as a book Letters from a Father to His Daughter.

Jawaharlal Nehru Death

Nehru’s health began declining steadily after 1962, and he spent months recuperating in Kashmir through 1963. Some historians attribute this dramatic decline to his surprise and chagrin over the Sino-Indian War, which he perceived as a betrayal of trust.

Upon his return from Dehradun on 26 May 1964 he was feeling quite comfortable and went to bed at about 23:30 as usual, he had a restful night until about 06:30 soon after he returned from bathroom, Nehru complained of pain in the back.

He spoke to the doctors who attended on him for a brief while and almost immediately Nehru collapsed. He remained unconscious until he died. His death was announced to Lok Sabha at 14:00 local time on 27 May 1964.

Jawaharlal Nehru Quotes

We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open

Democracy is good. I say this because other systems are worse.

Citizenship consists in the service of the country.

Ignorance is always afraid of change.

Jawaharlal Nehru Autobiography

An Autobiography also known as Towards The Freedom, (1936) is an autobiographical book written by the first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru while he was in prison.

It ran nine editions in the first year alone. Later he wrote the book to explore how and why he had ended up taking the path of civil disobedience that in turn led to his imprisonment.

Jawaharlal Nehru Caste

He belongs to Kashmiri Brahmin Family.

Jawaharlal Nehru House

He grew up in an atmosphere of privilege at wealthy homes including a palatial estate called the Anand Bhavan.