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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
T
hose who leave footprints on the sands of time, are
undoubtedly men of extraordinary merit and exceptional
capacities. And so was Pandit Guru Datta Vidyarthi. That he is
held in grateful remembrance by learned and enlightened men of
all sects and denominations in this land is a proof positive of his
excellence
and towering genius. His life span, though very short is
full of very interesting and glorious events. His name, as an
expositor of the Vedic principles came to be known in all
enlightened circles. In England he was well known among that
class of men who called themselves Oriental Scholars.
Pandit Guru Datta was singularly free from affectations and
false pretensions. Everything that he did was, of course, not without
cause and reason, but it appeared to be natural and the difference
between his life and that of pseudo-great-men was broadly
transparent. He was great in the real sense of the term. He had
(i) an unbounded faith in the Divine Father; (ii) his thoughts and
ideas were pure, energising and elevating; (iii) he exercised a
magnetic influence on the people; (iv) he had something of that
divinity in him that characterises great men; (v) he was true in
word, thought and deed. His life presented a singular uniformity;
(vi) he was uncompromising in Dharma, he never pandered to the
prejudices and superstitions of men like pseudo reformers and as
such he was above the age in which he lived; (vii) he was a genius;
(viii) he was a man of will and action and could by inherent divine
power in him subdue all difficulties and enlighten the world. He
was every inch a greatman. There was not the least showin Pandit
Guru Datta. Everything was spontaneous, which showed that his
greatness was intrinsic, natural and a gift of Providence.
Pandit Guru Datta was born at Multan on 26th April, 1864.
He came of a family which had, for successive generations,
distinguished itself in the battle field, and which had at one time
wielded the sceptre of sovereignty over a wide and extensive area.
During the early period of Mohammedan invasions when the Hindu
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