දඩාභායි නඔරෝජි
Dadabhai Naoroji (4 September 1825 – 30 June 1917) (Hindi : दादाभाई नौरोजी) , known as the Grand Old Man of India, was a Parsi intellectual, educator, cotton trader, and an early Indian political leader. His book Poverty and Un-British Rule in India brought attention to the draining of India's wealth into Britain. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) in the British House of Commons between 1892 and 1895, and the first Asian to be a British MP. He is also credited with the founding of the Indian National Congress, along with A.O. Hume and Dinshaw Edulji Wacha.
1825 දී බොම්බායේ උපත ලැබූ මෙතුමා අධ්‍යාපන කටයුතු වලින් පසුව බොම්බායේ එල්පින්ස්ටන් ආයතනයේ ගණිතය පිලිබඳ මහාචාර්යවරයෙකු ලෙස කටයුතු කලේ ය. පසුව ලන්ඩන් නගරය බලා ගිය හෙතෙම ඉන්දියාවේ දේශපාලන හා ආර්ථික තත්වය ආදිය ගැන එංගලන්ත ජනතාව දැනුම්වත් කිරීමට කැප වී ක්‍රියා කලේ ය. ඉන්දියානු ජාතික සංගමය පිහිටුවීමේ පුරෝගාමියෙකු වශයෙන් කටයුතු කල නඹරෝජි අවස්ථා කිහිපයක දීම එහි සභාපති තනතුරටද පත් විය.මධ්‍යස්ථ මතධාරියෙකු වූ ඔහු ඉන්දියාවේ ආර්ථික නිදහස ගැන විශේෂ උනන්දුවක් දැක්වීය.ඉංග්‍රීසීන්ගේ ආර්ථික ප්‍රතිපත්ති නිසා ඉන්දියාව දිනෙන් දින දුප්පත් රටක් බවට පත් වන ආකාරය මුලින් ම පැහැදිලි කල නායකයෙකු හැටියට ද නඹරෝජි ප්‍රසිද්ධියක් උසුලයි.ඉන්දියානු නිදහස් ව්‍යාපාරය තුළ සිටි වඩාත් පැරණි නායකයෙකු මෙන් ම බුද්ධිමතෙකු වන ඔහු 'ඉන්දියාවේ සම්භාවනීය මහල්ලා' යන අන්වර්ථ නාමයෙන් ද ප්‍රකටය.

Early years 

Naoroji was the son of Maneckbai and Naoroji Palanji Dordi, born into a poor family of Parsi-Zoroastrian priests in Navsari in Southern Gujarat. His father died when he was four, leaving his illiterate mother to raise him. Naoroji was educated at Elphinstone College, Bombay. At the early age of 25, he was appointed leading Professor at the Elphinstone Institution in 1850, becoming the first Indian to hold such an academic  position. Being an Athornan (ordained priest), Naoroji founded the Rahnumae Mazdayasne Sabha (Guides on the Mazdayasne Path) on 1 August 1851 to restore the Zoroastrian religion to its original purity and simplicity. In 1854, he also founded a fortnightly publication, the Rast Goftar (or The Truth Teller), to clarify Zoroastrian concepts. By 1855 he was Professor of Mathematics and Natural philosophy in Bombay. He travelled to ලන්ඩනය in 1855 to become a partner in Cama & Co, opening a Liverpool location for the first Indian company to be established in Britain. Within three years, he had resigned on ethical grounds. In 1859 he established his own cotton trading company, Naoroji & Co. Later he became professor of Gujarati at University College London.

In 1867 Naoroji helped establish the East India Association, one of the predecessor organizations of the Indian National Congress. In 1874 he became Prime Minister of Baroda and was a member of the Legislative Council of Bombay (1885-88). He was also a member of the Indian National Association founded by Sir Surendranath Banerjea from Calcutta a few years before the founding of the Indian National Congress in Bombay, with the same objectives and practices. The two groups later merged into the INC, and Naoroji was elected President of the Congress in 1886.  Naoroji published Poverty and un-British Rule in India in 1891. 

Naoroji moved to Britain once again and continued his political involvement. Elected for the Liberal Party in Finsbury Central at the 1892 general election, he was the first British Indian MP. He refused to take the oath on the Bible as he was not a Christian, but was allowed to take the oath of office in the name of God on his copy of Khordeh Avesta. In Parliament he spoke on Irish Home Rule and the condition of the Indian people. In his political campaign and duties as an MP, he was assisted by Muhammed Ali Jinnah, the future Muslim nationalist and founder of Pakistan. In 1906, Naoroji was again elected president of the Indian National Congress. Naoroji was a staunch moderate within the Congress, during the phase when opinion in the party was split between the moderates and extremists.

Naoroji was a mentor to both Gopal Krishna Gokhale and Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. Naoroji was the paternal uncle of famous industrialist J. R. D. Tata. He was married to Gulbai from the age of eleven. He died in Bombay on 30 June 1917, at age 92.

Works 
 The manners and customs of the Parsees (Bombay, 1864)
 The European and Asiatic races (London, 1866)
 Admission of educated natives into the Indian Civil Service  (London, 1868)
 The wants and means of India (London, 1870)
 Condition of India (Bombay, 1881)
 Poverty of India: A Paper Read Before the Bombay Branche of the East India Association, Bombay, Ranima Union Press, (1876)
 C. L. Parekh, ed., Essays, Speeches, Addresses and Writings of the Honourable Dadabhai Naoroji, Bombay, Caxton Printing Works (1887).  An excerpt, "The Benefits of British Rule", in a modernized text by J. S. Arkenberg, ed., on line  at  Paul Halsall, ed., Internet Modern History Sourcebook.
 Lord Salisbury’s Blackman (Lucknow, 1889)
 ;  Commonwealth Publishers, 1988.  ISBN 8190006622

See also
Electoral firsts in the United Kingdom

References

Further reading 
 Rustom P. Masani, Dadabhai Naoroji (1939).
 Munni Rawal, Dadabhai Naoroji, Prophet of Indian Nationalism, 1855-1900, New Delhi,  Anmol Publications (1989). 
 S. R. Bakshi, Dadabhai Naoroji: The Grand Old Man, Anmol Publications (1991).  ISBN 8170414261
 Verinder Grover, ‘'Dadabhai Naoroji: A Biography of His Vision and Ideas’’ New Delhi, Deep & Deep Publishers (1998) ISBN 8176290114
 Debendra Kumar Das, ed., ‘'Great Indian Economists : Their Creative Vision for Socio-Economic Development.’’ Vol. I:  ‘Dadabhai Naoroji (1825-1917) : Life Sketch and Contribution to Indian Economy.’’  New Delhi, Deep and Deep (2004).  ISBN 8176293156
 P. D. Hajela, ‘'Economic Thoughts of Dadabhai Naoroji,’’ New Delhi, Deep & Deep (2001).   ISBN 8176293377
 Pash Nandhra, entry Dadabhai Naoroji in Brack et al. (eds).Dictionary of Liberal History; Politico's, 1998
 Zerbanoo Gifford, Dadabhai Naoroji: Britain's First Asian MP; Mantra Books, 1992

External links

  "Dr. Dadabhai Naoroji, 'The Grand Old Man of India'", Vohuman.org - Presents a complete chronology of Naoroji's life.
  B. Shantanu, "Drain of Wealth during British Raj", iVarta.com, February 06, 2006 (on line).