Yamuna Karjee was an Indian independence activist.

Early life and education

Yamuna Karjee was born in a small village name Deopar near Pusa in Darbhanga

Darbhanga

Darbhangā is a twin city and a municipal corporation and the capital city of the Darbhanga district and Darbhanga Division in the state of Bihar, India. It is one of the most important districts of North Bihar situated in the very heart of Mithilanchal. According to the latest 2011 census, the...

District of Bihar

Bihar

Bihar is a state in eastern India. It is the 12th largest state in terms of geographical size at and 3rd largest by population. Almost 58% of Biharis are below the age of 25, which is the highest proportion in India....

 in 1898 in a Bhumihar Brahmin

Bhumihar

Bhumihar or Babhan or Bhuin-har is a Brahmin Hindu community mainly found in the Indian states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh.- Varna status :...

 family. His father Anu Karjee was a farmer who died when Yamuna Karjee was just 6 months old. From his school days itself, he was drawn towards India’s freedom struggle and the Kisan Movement and Peasant movement under Swami Sahajanand Saraswati

Swami Sahajanand Saraswati

Swami Sahajanand Saraswati , born in a Jijhoutia Brahminfamily of Ghazipur of Uttar Pradesh state of India, was an ascetic of Dashnami Order of Adi Shankara Sampradaya as well as a nationalist and peasant leader of India...

’s leadership. In the peasant movement he became a close associate of other revolutionary peasant leaders like Karyanand Sharma, Yadunandan Sharma and Panchanan Sharma.

For higher studies he went to the Presidency College, Kolkata

Presidency College, Kolkata

Presidency University, Kolkata, formerly Hindu College and Presidency College, is a unitary, state aided university, located in Kolkata, West Bengal. and one of the premier institutes of learning of liberal arts and sciences in India. In 2002 it was ranked number one by the weekly news magazine...

, and also obtained a degree in Law. In Calcutta he came in contact with several freedom fighters and Congress leaders like Dr. B.C. Roy

Bidhan Chandra Roy

Bidhan Chandra Roy, M.R.C.P., F.R.C.S. was the second Chief Minister of West Bengal in India. He remained in his post for 14 years as a Indian National Congress candidate, from 1948 until his death in 1962. He was a highly respected physician and a renowned freedom fighter...

, Dr. Sri Krishna Sinha

Sri Krishna Sinha

Sri Krishna Sinha , known as Bihar Kesari, was the first Chief Minister of the Indian state of Bihar . Along with the nationalists Dr. Rajendra Prasad and Dr. Anugrah Narayan Sinha, Sinha is regarded among the Architects of Modern Bihar...

, Rahul Sankrityayan

Rahul Sankrityayan

Mahapandit Rahul Sankrityayan , who is called the Father of Hindi Travel literature, was one of the most widely-traveled scholars of India, spending forty-five years of his life on travels away from his home. He became a buddhist monk and eventually took up Marxist Socialism...

 etc.

Career

Spurning the offers of several government jobs, he became a Hindi journalist of repute. He joined the editorial wing of Hindi weekly Bharat Mitra published in Calcutta. He also took part in Gandhiji’s non cooperation movement from 1920-21 and was jailed in 1929-30 for taking part in civil disobedience movement and Namak Satyagrah.

He won the first election for Bihar and Orissa Assembly in 1937 as a Congress candidate. Later on he become disillusioned with Congress leadership and left Congress. He was one of the strongest pillars of the peasant movement in Bihar under the leadership of Swami Sahajanand Saraswati. Yamanu Karjee was also one of tallest Bhumihar Leaders in North Bihar.

He along with Rahul Sankritayan and other Hindi literaries started publishing a Hindi weekly Hunkar from Bihar, in 1940. Hunkar later became the mouthpiece of the peasant movement and the agrarian movement in Bihar. He was also the President of the Kisan Sabha for some time. Yamuna Karjee was elected to the post of President Bihar Journalist association in 1947-48.

Death and afterward

He died of cancer in October 1953 at an early age of 55. After his untimely demise the peasant movement lost momentum in Bihar and became rudderless.

His name also appears in Bipan Chandra's masterpiece India's Struggle for Independence.

There is a college near Muzaffarpur

Muzaffarpur

Muzaffarpur Town is a town in Muzaffarpur district in the Indian state of Bihar. It serves as the headquarters of Muzaffarpur district and Tirhut division....

named after Yamuna Karjee

External links

• http://www.virginia.edu/soasia/symsem/kisan/papers/swami.html