A commemorative postage stamp on the 90^th Birth Anniversary of Sadhu T. L. Vaswani, a non-sectarian Indian spiritual leader, founder of Mira Movement in Education, promoted vegetarianism :

Issued by India

Issued on Nov 25, 1969

Issued for : Vaswaniji‘s earthly pilgrimage ended on the 16^th January, 1966 in Poona where a beautiful shrine stands and where the torch of his humanity and activity continues to shine. The Posts and Telegraphs Department considers it a privilege to honour the memory of the great educationist and humanist, Sadhu T.L. Vaswani, by issuing a commemorative stamp on his 90^th birth anniversary.

Type : Block of 4 Stamps, Mint Condition

Colour : Blue black 

Denomination : 20 Paise

Overall Size : 4.06 X 2.28 cms.

Printing Size : 3.80 X 2.00 cms.

Perforation : 14½ x 14

Watermark : Printed on unwatermarked Adhesive Stamp paper

Number Printed : 30,00,000

Number per issue Sheet : 50

Printing Process : Photogravure

Designed and Printed at : India Security Press

Name : Thanwardas Lilaram Vaswani

Born on Nov 25, 1879 at Hyderabad, Sindh, Sind Province, British India [now in Pakistan]

 Died on Jan 16, 1966 at Pune, Maharashtra, India

About : 

• “I have been blessed, for amidst the deserts of Sind, I have found a true prophet, a messenger of the new spirit, a saint, a sage, and a seer – a rishi of new India” so said Mon. Paul Richard, a French writer and savant.
• Shri Thanwardas Lilaram Vaswani was born on November 25, 1879 in Hyderabad (Sind). A brilliant student, an ‘Ellis Scholar‘ and a Fellow of the D.J. Sind College, Karachi, he was appointed a professor at the Metropolitan College, Calcutta after passing his M.A. Examination. The college is now known as the Vidyasagar College. He was 30 years of age when he went to Berlin (Germany) as one of India‘s representatives to the Welt Congress– a world congress of religions.
• He became the Principal of the Dyalsingh College, Lahore. Later. he distinguished himself as Principal of Victoria college, Cooch-Behar and as Principal of Mahindra College, Patiala. From the beginning, Shri Vaswani longed to dedicate his life to the service of God and his suffering children. When his mother passed away in his 40^th year, the only link with earthly existence was snapped. He resigned his lucrative job in 1919 to enter into the larger service of the nation. To keep himself free for God‘s work, he remained a ‘brahmachari‘ all his life.
• When Mahatma Gandhi appeared on the Indian scene and launched his Satyagraha Movement, Shri Vaswani was one of the earliest supporters of his movement and a close associate of the Mahatma. In 1920, he presided over the meeting addressed by Gandhiji at Karachi and the very first article on the front page of the first issue of Gandhiji‘s ‘Young India‘ was an article by Vaswaniji in support of the Non-Cooperation Movement. Later, he wrote many inspiring articles, besides several books like ‘India Arisen‘, ‘India in Chains‘, ‘Awake Young India‘, ‘My Motherland‘, etc. Shri Vaswani‘s true spirit of patriotism was such that even as a young professor at Calcutta, he took part in the Swadeshi awakening, associated with the agitation against the Partition of Bengal.
• Vaswaniji moved across the length and breadth of India. He went to the cities, he visited the villages; he met men, women and children from all classes of society. His message to young India was: “Be simple, be manly, be strong. Spend your strength in the service of the broken and the poor ones.” He took great interest and pleaded for a new peasant renaissance. He felt that the redistribution of land is essential to his scheme of Swaraj; and desired that the poor agriculturist should be taught scientific methods of intensive agriculture and co-operative organisations.
• In 1933, Shri Vaswani founded the “Mira Movement in Education” which has today its headquarters at Poona. The Mira Movement aims at enriching the minds of students with vital truths of modern life and at the same time making them lovers of the Indian ideals and India‘s culture. Following this, in 1962, Vaswaniji started St. Mira‘s College for Girls at Poona.
• A number of humanitarian activities are being conducted at Poona under the ever-living inspiration of Shri Vaswani. They include charitable dispensaries, St. Mira’s College and St. Mira’s schools where education is imparted free to poor students, as also a ‘Jiva Daya‘ Department dedicated to the welfare of brother birds and animals.
• Vaswaniji was a prolific writer, the author of several hundred books in English and over 300 books in his own vernacular, the Sindhi language. Some of his English books have been translated into German and other Indian languages. Vaswaniji was a born orator. When he spoke, he filled the hall with the rich music of his words and the richer music of his heart. He was a poet, a mystic, a sage, a servant of the poor. And as the Irish poet, Dr. Cousins, called him, “A thinker and a revealer of the deep truths of the spirit.“

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