Satyananda Stokes was an American who settled in India in 1905. He participated in the Indian Independence Movement and fought for India against the British. He is recognized as the father of apple cultivation in Himachal Pradesh, India; today, Himachal Pradesh is famous for exporting apples not only in various states in India but also to many countries around the world.
Wiki/Biography
Satyananda was born Samuel Evans Stokes, Jr. (aged 63 at the time of his death) on Wednesday, August 16, 1882, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. His zodiac sign was Leo. He was an orchardist, writer and politician.
family
Satyananda Stokes was born into an American Quaker family.
parents
Satyananda Stokes’ father was Samuel Evans Stokes Sr., an engineer and businessman who was the founder of the Stokes and Parrish Machine Company, which manufactured elevators in the United States. Samuel Evans Stokes Sr. was known for his contributions to American elevator technology. His mother was Florence Spencer.
Wife and children
Satyananda Stokes’ wife was Priyadevi Stokes, whose real name was Agnes Benjamin. She was a Rajput girl. Satyananda Stokes married Agnes on September 12, 1912. Agnes’ father was a first generation Christian.
Stokes with his wife and daughter
Stokes had three sons, Pritam Stokes, Lal Chand Stokes and Prem Stokes, and two daughters, Satyavati Stokes and Tara Stokes, but in total he had seven children, the names of the other two are unknown.
Satyananda Stokes with his wife and one of their children
Veteran Congress politician Vidya Stokes is his daughter-in-law.
Lalchand Stokes (son of Satyanand Stokes), Agnes (Priya Devi) (wife of Satyananda Stokes) and Vidya Stokes (wife of Lal Chand Stokes)
address
Samuel built a two-storey building on a ridge above Thanedhar in Shimla with a pitched roof made of slate and wooden beams and large windows. He named it “Harmony Hall”. The house reflects Western influences.
The Savior of Indian Lepers
At a very young age, Samuel was inclined to serve humanity. However, his father tried hard to persuade him to choose the family business. At the age of 22, Samuel gave up his studies at Yale University to dedicate his life to humanitarian causes. In 1905, Samuel came to India. At first, Samuel worked with poor lepers in Mumbai, India, but the harsh climatic conditions in Mumbai during the summer forced him to move to the mountainous areas of Himachal Pradesh. Later, he was sent to Kangra, Himachal Pradesh, where he provided medicines to patients who had lost their lives due to a major earthquake. He then began serving lepers at the Sabathu Leper Home in Solan, Himachal Pradesh, where he selflessly treated lepers and won the admiration of lepers. The locals wondered why a foreigner would help and serve these poor patients. Samuel changed his eating habits and dress to get closer to the Indian people.
Role in the Indian Independence Movement
While living in India, Satyananda Stokes witnessed the atrocities of the British rule in India. In the late 1920s, Stokes spoke out against the British rule in India and against “forced labor” i.e. forcing Indian men to join the British army. He wrote many letters to the British government asking them not to force the local Himachali to work. In these letters, Stokes mentioned that he was Indian. Satyananda was sensitive to the political struggles in India and he actively participated in the Indian freedom struggle. The Jallianwala Bagh massacre in April 1919 shook Stokes’s soul, where the British police shot and killed about a thousand innocent people in Punjab. This incident prompted him to join Indian politics, which was one of the easiest ways to protest against the brutality of the British in India. In 1921, Stokes joined the Indian National Congress. He represented Kotgal at the Nagpur Conference and occupied a unique position in the party as the only American in the All India Congress. He represented the Indian National Congress in Punjab along with Lala Rajpat Rai. Stokes opposed the visit of Edward VIII, Prince of Wales, to India in 1921 in Wagah (a village and union council in Wagah district of Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan) and was arrested by the British government for sedition.
Apple cultivation in Himachal Pradesh
In 1916, four years after his marriage, Stokes brought a new variety of apple grown in Louisiana, USA, to Himachal Pradesh, India. He was inspired by the favorable climatic conditions in the Himalayas. Stokes started growing this new variety of apple in the farmland he purchased near his wife’s village. He had ample connections in Delhi, which made it easy for him to enter the export business and make a good living. Soon, he encouraged many farmers and local villagers to grow apples, assuring them of any help they would get in growing, selling, and shipping the apples to various parts of India. The apple varieties that Stokes grew in Himachal Pradesh in 1916 included Newton Pippin, King of Pippin, and Cox Orange Pippin. However, these apples tasted sour and local Indian farmers would not grow them as the Indian public preferred sweeter apples.
The current situation of Himachal apples
A successful writer
Satyananda Stokes was not only an outstanding savior of leprosy patients in India and an active participant in India’s freedom struggle from British colonial rule, but also a prominent writer who published many books specifically based on nationalism and the meaning of life. Some of these books are:
• Arjun: The Life Story of an Indian Boy – published in English in 6 editions between 1910 and 1913
• National Self-Realization and Essays – 3 English editions published in 1977
• Satyākāmā or “True Desire” (Reflections on the Meaning of Life) – Published in English in 1931 in 8 editions
• “The Failure of European Civilization as a World Culture” – Published in English in 5 editions in 1921
• The Self-Realization of Nations – published in 5 English editions in 1921
• The Love of God: A Book of Essays and Poetry – published in English in 6 editions between 1908 and 1912
• Awakening India – 3 English editions published in 1922
die
Satyananda Stokes died on May 14, 1946 at Kotgarh, Shimla, after a long illness.
Facts/Trivia
- Satyananda Stokes came from a wealthy American business family.
- Young Samuel did not acquire business skills because he had no interest in his father’s business.
- Stokes was a Quaker before arriving in India, but converted to Hinduism after arriving.
- At first, Satyananda Stokes’ parents were not happy about his decision to go to India to serve the poor.
- After Satyananda arrived in India, his parents thought that Satyananda was very happy and satisfied with his work in India, and sent him some money from the United States. Samuel used all the money for the welfare of Indian lepers and local poor people.
- It is reported that Samuel was a reserved person in his youth. Even after coming to India, he did not indulge in Indian religious rituals, but lived a simple Christian mendicant life among Indian villagers.
- The Archbishop of Canterbury had visited the Governor of Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, and suggested that Satyananda form the Franciscan Order, an order of monks committed to helping the poor, the sick, and the dying. Satyananda applied to become a monk and was confined; however, his monastic status lasted only two years.
- After getting married, he settled in a village near his wife’s home and planted wheat and barley in Balubag. He grew vegetables such as peas, beans, lima beans, pumpkins, potatoes and cabbage. He adopted the lifestyle of the local farmers and often relaxed with “shisha” in the evening.
- Mahatma Gandhi’s teachings inspired Stokes to wear only khadi during the Indian independence movement.
- In 1921, while Mahatma Gandhi was protesting against the visit of Edward VIII, Prince of Wales to India, Stokes was arrested in Wagah and said:
He should feel with the Indian, share his sorrow and throw himself into the struggle, which is too much for the government. It is intolerable to allow him to criticize the government freely, so his white skin does not protect him at all…”
- Stokes founded a school in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh in 1924 and named it Tara High School. He founded this educational institution in memory of his son who died at the age of 8. Girls’ education was the main purpose of the school. The main subjects he taught to the children of the poor villagers in the local area were Hindi, English, religion, gardening and self-defense.
Satyananda Stokes teaches local students
- Stokes could not come to terms with the loss of his eight-year-old son. His grief led him to turn to religion and spiritualism, and he eventually converted to Hinduism in 1932 under the guidance of Arya Samaj and changed his name from Samuel Evans to Satyananda Stokes. Stokes’ wife Agnes respected her husband’s decision and also changed her religion from Christianity to Hinduism. Moreover, like her husband, she also changed her name from Agnes to Priyadevi.
- On his way to Mount Kailash, Stokes was inspired by some saints to read the Bhagavad Gita and the Upanishads in English. Later, he learned Sanskrit.
- “Paramjyoti Mandir” or the Temple of Eternal Light is a temple built by Satyananda in 1937 near his home “Hall of Harmony”.
Satyanad Stokes House in Shimla
- Veteran Indian business tycoon Kishore Birla provided a grant of Rs 25,000 to Satyananda Stokes to build this ‘Paramjyoti Mandir’.
Paramjyoti Temple, Shimla
- The spiritual leader Dalai Lama summed up Stokes’s life philosophy:
The true expression of nonviolence is compassion. Some seem to think of compassion as simply a passive emotional response rather than a rational stimulus to action. But to experience true compassion is to cultivate a sense of closeness to others while at the same time feeling a sense of responsibility for their well-being.”
- According to Stokes’ great-granddaughter Asha Sharma, Satyananda’s contribution to India’s freedom struggle and apple cultivation in Himachal Pradesh has been lost to history and his contribution has never been acknowledged on any larger platform. She mentioned this in her biography on Satyananda Stokes, An American in Gandhi’s India, writing:
Despite his unique history in India, few have heard of him. Farmers in Himachal Pradesh may remember him as the only man who provided them with a livelihood through his apple trees, but his contribution to India’s freedom struggle is lesser known.”
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education