Dr. Rajendra Prasad is the first .

Rajendra Prasad is a great freedom-fighter, and

the architect of the Indian Constitution, having served as President of the
Constituent Assembly that drafted tdian Independence Movement. Prasad is born in
Jiradei, in the Siwan district of Bihar. His father, Mahadev Sahay, is a Persian
and Sanskrit language scholar; his mother, Kamleshwari Devi, is a devout lady who
would tell stories from the Ramayana to her son. At the age of 5, the young
Rajendra Prasad is sent to a Maulavi for leaPresident of India

He is married at the age of 12 to Rajvanshi Devi. He then went on to study at R.K.

Ghosh's Academy in Patna to be with his older brother Mahendra Prasad. Soon
afterward, however, he rejoined the Chapra Zilla School, and it is from there that
he passed the entrance examination of Calcutta University, at the age of 18. He
stood first in the first division of that examination. He then joined the
Presidency College, Calcutta. He is initially a student of science and his teachers
included J.C.Bose and Prafulla Chandra Roy. Later he decided to switch his focus to
the arts. Acharya Prafulla Chandra Roy, who is impressed by his intellect and
dedication asked him on the occasion "Why have you deserted your class?." Prasad
lived with his brother in the Eden Hindu Hostel. A plaque still commemorates his
stay in that room. He had been initiated into the Swadeshi movement by his brother.
He then joined the Dawn Society run by Satish Chandra Mukherjee, and Sister
Nivedita. In 1911, he joined the A.I.C.C. However, his family estate is in bad
condition. He is looked upon as the provider. But he sought permission from his
brother in a letter to join the Indian freedom movement. He wrote, "Ambitions I
have none, except to be of some service to the Motherland". The shock of his
brother, however, held him to the family. In 1916, Rajendra Prasad joined the High
Court of Bihar, and Orissa. Such is his intellect and his integrity, that often
when his adversary failed to cite a precedent, the judges asked Rajendra Prasad to
cite a precedent against himself. After meeting Mahatma Gandhi, he quit as a
Senator of the University, much to the regret of the British Vice-Chancellor.He
also responded to the call by the Mahatma to boycott Western education by asking
his son Mrityunjaya Prasad, a brilliant student to drop out of the University and
enroll himself in Bihar Vidyapeeth, an institution he had along with his colleagues
founded on the traditional Indian model. He wrote articles for Searchlight and the
Desh and collected funds for these papers. He toured a lot, explaining, lecturing
and exhorting. When the earthquake of Bihar occurred on January 15, 1934, Rajendra
Prasad is in jail. He is released two days later. He set himself for the task of
raising funds. The Viceroy had also raised a fund. However, while Rajendra Prasad's
fund collected over 38 Lakhs (Rs. 3,800,000), the Viceroy could only manage one-
third of that amount. The way relief is organized left nothing to be desired.
Nationalist India expressed its admiration by electing him to the President of the
Bombay session of the Indian National Congress.

After India became independent he is elected the President of India. As President,

he used his moderating influence so silently and unobtrusively that he neither
reigned nor ruled. His sister Bhagwati Devi died on the night of 25 January 1960.
She doted on her dearly-loved younger brother. It must have taken Rajendra Prasad
all his will power to have taken the Republic Day salute as usual, on the following
day. It is only on return from the parade that he set about the task of cremation.
In 1962, after 12 years as President, he announced his decision to retire. He is
subsequently awarded the Bharat Ratna, the nation's highest civilian award. Within
months of his retirement, early in September 1962, his wife Rajvanshi Devi passed
away. In a letter written a month before his death to one devoted to him, he said,
"I have a feeling that the end is near, end of the energy to do, end of my very
existence". He died on 28 February 1963 with 'Ram Ram Ram' on his lips. Because of
the enormous public adulation he enjoyed, he is referred to as Desh Ratna or the
Jewel of the country. His legacy is being ably carried forward by his great
grandson Ashoka Jahnavi-Prasad, a psychiatrist and a scientist of international
repute who introduced sodium valproate as a safer alternative to lithium salts in
the treatment of bipolar disorders.