Ravi Shankar Vyas

Ravishankar Vyas, better known as Ravishankar Maharaj, was an Indian independence activist, social worker and Gandhian from Gujarat.

Ravishankar Vyas was born on 25 February 1884, Mahashivaratri, in Radhu village (now in Kheda district, Gujarat, India) to Pitambar Sivram Vyas and Nathiba, a Vadara Brahmin peasant family. His family was native of Sarsavani village near Mahemdavad. He dropped out after the sixth standard to help his parents in agriculture work. He married Surajba. His father died when he was 19 and his mother died when he was 22.

He was influenced by Arya Samaj philosophy. He met Mahatma Gandhi in 1915 and joined his independence and social activism. He was one of the earliest and closest associates of Gandhi and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, and along with Darbar Gopaldas Desai, Narhari Parikh and Mohanlal Pandya, the chief organizer of nationalist revolts in Gujarat in the 1920s and 1930s. He worked for years for rehabilitation of Baraiya and Patanvadiya castes of coastal central Gujarat. He founded Rashtriya Shala (National School) in Sunav village in 1920. He left his rights on ancestral property against wish of wife and joined Indian Independence Movement in 1921. He participated in Borsad Satyagraha in 1923 and protested against Haidiya Tax. He also participated in Bardoli Satyagraha in 1926 and was imprisoned by British authority for six months. He participated in relief work of flood in 1927 which earned him recognition. He joined Gandhi in Salt March in 1930 and was imprisoned for two years. In 1942, he also participated in Quit India Movement in 1942 and also tried to pacify communal violence in Ahmedabad.

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