Satish Ranjan Das

Who was Satish Ranjan Das?

Satish Ranjan Das was the Advocate-General of Bengal and later the Law Member of the Executive Council of the Viceroy; he was sometime treasurer of the Boy Scouts of Bengal and the Lodge of Good Fellowship, and a prominent member of the reformist Brahmo Samaj in Bengal. Das led a group of moderate Indian nationalists in the creation of The Doon School.

After completing school and university education in England, S.R. Das returned to India in 1894. The idea of The Doon School originated from his participation in the"growing search for a national Indian identity."

Although he died before the school actually opened, had lobbied for it assiduously during the 1920s. Das envisaged an Indian school patterned on the British public school, which he felt had effectively trained young men to become responsible and resourceful administrators throughout the British Empire. But in contrast to British schools, he wanted an Indian school to be nonsectarian and responsive to Indian aspirations. He and the school's other founders saw Doon as the training ground for a new generation of Indian leaders who would take over the reins of administration and government following Independence.