New Delhi: The Constitution of India is the supreme legal document in our country. It came into force on January 26, 1950, transforming a newly-independent India from a dominion to a Republic, kickstarting its journey in the global stage. The constitution replaced the Government of India Act 1935 as the country’s fundamental governing document, and the Dominion of India became the Republic of India. Every year on January 26, India celebrates Republic Day to mark this historic occasion.
It was the Constituent Assembly which drafted the Constitution. The Assembly was formed by elected members of the provincial assemblies and it took almost three years to draft the Constitution. Once it was prepared, the members of the Constituent Assembly knew that they had done a monumental job. According to the first Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru, the longest legal document in the world should have been handwritten, not printed. While Nandalal Bose and his students designed the borders of every page, it was a certain Prem Behari Narain Raizada, a master calligrapher who wrote down the Indian Constitution with his own hands.
Prem Behari Narain Raizada: A legacy forgotten in the pages of history
Prem Behari Narain Raizada was born in December, 1901, into a family of renowned calligraphers. His parents died when he was very young and he was brought up by his grandfather Ram Parshadji Saxena and uncle Mahashya Chatur Behari Narayan Saxena. His grandfather was a scholar in English and Persian and he even taught the latter to the British officials.
Raizada learnt the art of calligraphy from his grandfather from a young age. After he graduated from St Stephen’s College in Delhi, he became a reputed calligrapher. He became famous for his graceful handwriting, and his fame even reached the ears of Nehru. Once the Constitution was ready, Raizada was summoned by PM Nehru to write down the document by hand. When he was asked about his fee, Raizada refused to take even a single penny. Instead, he had a request, that he be allowed to write his name on the Constitution’s every page and his grandfather’s name along with his own on the last page. The request was granted and Raizada began his work.
Raizada did his work in the Constitution Hall which was later known as Constitution Club. He used 432 pen-holder nibs from England and Czechoslovakia to write the Constitution. He used 303 nibs for the calligraphy and took six months to finish the work. He was such a master that Raizada did not misplace even a word in 251 pages nor there is one blotch of ink. Notably, the original manuscript was written on parchment sheets which reportedly have a lifespan of a thousand years and it weighed 3.75 kg.
The Indian Constitution, adopted on January 26, 1950, is a testament to India’s journey to independence. While the Constituent Assembly drafted the document, Prem Behari Narain Raizada, a master calligrapher, painstakingly hand-wrote the entire Constitution, refusing payment but requesting his and his grandfather’s names be included. knowledge Knowledge News, Photos and Videos on General Knowledge
