Editing Narendra Deva (section)

== Biography ==

Narendra Deva was born in October 1889 into a devout, upper-caste Hindu family; his own account gives Sitapur (in present-day Uttar Pradesh) as his birthplace, while the editor of a 1979 collection of his writings gives Faizabad, where the family lived, and sources differ on the day (30 or 31 October).<ref>Deva, Narendra (1956). ''Bauddha-Dharma-Darshan'' [बौद्ध-धर्म-दर्शन] [Buddhist Religion and Philosophy]. Bihar Rashtrabhasha Parishad, front matter p. 57 (his memoir, cited below as Deva (1956), ''Bauddha-Dharma-Darshan'', "fm." plus page; the front matter is numbered separately from the text); Ankit (2017), "Marxist Guru", p. 3; Pratyay Dutta gives 31 October; Deva, Narendra (1979). ''Towards Socialist Society''. Ed. Brahmanand. Centre of Applied Politics, p. 481, gives 30 October and Faizabad.</ref> His father was a lawyer with Sanskrit interests. His childhood education was traditional, and he was drawn into nationalist politics in the Swadeshi period through the writings of Tilak, Lajpat Rai, Gokhale, and above all Aurobindo's articles in ''Bande Mataram''. He sympathized with revolutionaries but, by his own account, never belonged to a revolutionary party.<ref>Deva (1956), ''Bauddha-Dharma-Darshan'', fm. 60–64 (memoir; the pages are partly garbled in the copy consulted); Ankit (2017), "Marxist Guru", p. 3.</ref> After studying at Muir Central College in Allahabad (1908–11), he took an M.A. in archaeology at Queen's College, Banaras, in 1913 (Ankit dates the studies 1911–13) and an LL.B. in 1915; he reports that he took up law only in order to take part in politics.<ref>Ankit (2017), "Marxist Guru", p. 3; Deva (1956), ''Bauddha-Dharma-Darshan'', fm. 64. Another source dates a postgraduate degree to 1911 and gives other degree details; the sources are not reconciled here.</ref>

He practiced law in Faizabad, joined the Home Rule League there in 1916 (one source says 1917), and sat on the All-India Congress Committee from 1916.<ref>Nauriya, Anil (2015). ''Non-violent Action and Socialist Radicalism: Narendra Deva in India's Freedom Movement''. NMML Occasional Paper, History and Society, New Series 70. Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, p. 3; Ankit (2017), "Marxist Guru", p. 3.</ref> He abandoned his legal practice after the Nagpur Congress of 1920 and in 1921 joined the newly founded nationalist university Kashi Vidyapith in Banaras at Jawaharlal Nehru's suggestion, where he taught ancient Indian religion and culture, Pali, Prakrit, and Buddhist philosophy; in 1926 he became its head, after Bhagwan Das resigned.<ref>Deva (1956), ''Bauddha-Dharma-Darshan'', fm. 65; Ankit (2017), "Marxist Guru", p. 3; Nauriya (2015), ''Non-violent Action'', p. 5.</ref> He called the Vidyapith years "the best part of my life".<ref>Deva (1956), ''Bauddha-Dharma-Darshan'', fm. 69.</ref> Dharmanand Kosambi also taught there, and Deva's later book lists Kosambi's Devanagari edition of the ''Visuddhimagga'' among its sources.<ref>Deva (1956), ''Bauddha-Dharma-Darshan'', bibliography (parishishta 2).</ref>

In the late 1920s he moved toward socialism. He first met Gandhi in 1929, was jailed in 1930 and again from October 1932 to June 1933, and was among the Congress members who formed the Congress Socialist Party (CSP) at the Patna conference of May 1934, over which he presided.<ref>Nauriya (2015), ''Non-violent Action'', pp. 6–8, 24; Ankit (2017), "Marxist Guru", pp. 4, 6. Another source dates the formal formation of the CSP to Bombay in October 1934.</ref> In his memoir he writes that he at first declined to preside, not for lack of belief in socialism but to avoid a heavy responsibility, and then accepted out of affection for Jayaprakash Narayan.<ref>Deva (1956), ''Bauddha-Dharma-Darshan'', fm. 66.</ref> He also recalls that when the party's constitution was drafted, only Ram Manohar Lohia and he argued that its objective should include complete independence, and that "in the end we won".<ref>Deva (1956), ''Bauddha-Dharma-Darshan'', fm. 66.</ref> At the Bombay Congress of 1934 he also opposed replacing "legitimate and peaceful means" with "truth and non-violence" in the Congress creed.<ref>Nauriya (2015), ''Non-violent Action'', pp. 22, 54.</ref>

During the 1930s he worked with the peasant and labor movements of the United Provinces. He presided over the All-India Kisan Sabha session at Gaya in 1939 and in 1938 presided over a conference of the Market Employees' Federation at Kanpur.<ref>Gooptu, Nandini (2001). ''The Politics of the Urban Poor in Early Twentieth-Century India''. Cambridge University Press, pp. 371–372; Nauriya (2015), ''Non-violent Action'', p. 34 n. 148. The Kisan Sabha presidency is also reported in the 1979 collection, p. 481.</ref> His 1939 Gaya address condemned an assault on [[Rahul Sankrityayan]], with whom he also shared the early socialist milieu of Bihar.<ref>Nauriya (2015), ''Non-violent Action'', pp. 34 n. 148, 65 nn. 255–256.</ref> He was arrested in the Quit India movement on 9 August 1942 and held at Ahmednagar Fort until 1945 with Nehru, Maulana Azad, and Sri Prakasa. There he translated Buddhist texts and, according to Douglas Ober, discussed Buddhist philosophy with Nehru.<ref>Ankit (2017), "Marxist Guru", p. 8; Ober, Douglas F. (2023). ''Dust on the Throne: The Search for Buddhism in Modern India''. Princeton University Press, p. 244 and n. 20, citing Nehru's ''The Discovery of India''.</ref>

When the Congress barred dual party membership in 1948, Deva and the other socialists left it and formed the Socialist Party; he moved the political resolution at its Nasik session in March 1948 and resigned from the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly, losing the by-election.<ref>Ankit (2017), "Marxist Guru", pp. 10–11; Nauriya (2015), ''Non-violent Action'', pp. 63, 67. Sources differ on whether twelve or thirteen colleagues resigned with him.</ref> He was Vice-Chancellor of Lucknow University (1947–51) and of Banaras Hindu University (1951–54), and visited [[China]] in 1952. After the 1952 merger that formed the Praja Socialist Party he opposed a merger based only on common policy rather than ideology but did not split the party.<ref>Ankit (2017), "Marxist Guru", pp. 3, 12–13.</ref> Chronically ill with asthma, he resigned from the university in 1954 and died on 19 February 1956 during his last illness in the Erode district of Madras State (the Perundurai area); sources differ on the exact place.<ref>Ankit (2017), "Marxist Guru", pp. 4, 14; Deva (1956), ''Bauddha-Dharma-Darshan'', Sri Prakasa's preface, fm. 70–72.</ref> His book on Buddhism was already in press.