Satyananda Stokes was an American, who came to settle in India in 1905. He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America. He fought for India against Britishers while participating in the Indian Independence Movement. He is recognized as the father of apple cultivation in Himachal Pradesh, India; the state is now extensively known not only for the export of apples within the Indian states but also in many countries around the world.
Wiki/Biography
Satyananda was born as Samuel Evans Stokes, Jr. on Wednesday, 16 August 1882 (age 63 Years; at the time of death) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America. [1]The Better India His zodiac sign was Leo. He was an Orchardist, Author, and Politician.
Family & Caste
Satyananda Stokes belongs to an American Quaker (a historically Christian Protestant society) family. [2]The Better India
Parents
Satyananda Stokes’s father was Samuel Evans Stokes Sr. who was an engineer-businessman and the founder of Stokes and Parish Machine Company in the USA that manufactured elevators. Samuel Evans Stokes Sr. was well known for the contribution to elevator technology in America. Satyananda Stokes’s mother was Florence Spencer.
Wife & Children
Satyananda Stokes’s wife was Priyadevi Stokes who was born Agnes Benjamin. She was a Rajput girl. Samuel bought small farmland near his Agnes’s village and settled in Barubagh, Kothgarh. Agnes’s father was a first-generation Christian. Stokes’s sons were Pritam Stokes, Lal Chand Stokes, and Prem Stokes. His Daughters were Satyavati Stokes and Tara Stokes. However, in total, he had seven children and the names of the other two children are not known. [3]The Better IndiaVidya Stokes is his Daughter-in-law. [4]Mid Day
Address
Samuel built a two-story building with sloping roofs that were made up of slates and wooden beams and big windows on the ridge above Thanedhar in Shimla. He named it “Harmony Hall.’ This house portrayed western influence.
A Saviour of Lepers in India
Samuel was inclined towards the service of mankind at a very young age. However, his father tried hard to convince him to opt for the family business. At the age of 22, Samuel quit his studies at the University of Yale to dedicate his entire life and time to humanitarianism. In 1905, Samuel came to India. Initially, he was sent to Kangra, Himachal Pradesh. He worked there for the medication of patients who were ruined by the major earthquake. Subsequently, he made an appearance as a savior at Leper Home Sabathu, Solan, Himachal Pradesh. After his arrival in India, Samuel earned the admiration of the leper patients for his selfless service to cure them. The local people wondered why a foreign man was helping and serving the poor patients. Samuel changed his eating habits and attire to come close to the Indian people. Initially, Samuel worked in Mumbai but due to severe climatic conditions in the summers propelled him to move towards hilly areas of Himachal.
Role in India’s Independence Movement
When Satyananda Stokes was in India, he was aware of the unfair British rule towards Indians. In the late ’20s, Stokes raised his voice against the “Impressed labor,’ in India, where Indian men were impelled to join British Army and thereby, took a stand against British rule. He wrote many letters to the British government and challenged them not to force the local Himachal people into labor. As a true Indian, Stokes mentioned himself as one of them. Satyananda took India’s political struggle sensitively and actively participated in India’s freedom struggle. The Jallianwala Bagh massacre in April 1919, shook the soul of Stokes when the British cops shot about one thousand innocent people of Punjab. This incident prompted him to join Indian politics, which was one of the easiest ways to exclaim against the ferocity of the Britishers in India. In 1921, Stokes joined the Indian National Congress. He represented Kotgarh at the Nagpur session and held a unique position in the All India Congress for being the only American man in the party. He represented the Indian National Congress along with Lala Lajpat Rai in Punjab. Stokes was arrested by the British Government under the charges of sedition at Wagah (a village and union council located in the Wahgah Zone of Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan), when he opposed the visit of the Prince of Wales, Edward VIII, to India in 1921.
Apple Cultivation in Himachal Pradesh
In 1916, after four years of marriage, Stokes brought a new variety of apple grown in Louisiana, the USA to Himachal Pradesh, India. He was inspired by the favorable climatic conditions of the Himalayas. Stokes started farming the new type of apples in the farmland he had purchased near to his wife’s village. He had ample contacts in Delhi that made it easy for him to enter the export business and earn a good life. Shortly, he inspired many of his fellow farmers and local villagers to grow apples as he assured them of any assistance they would need in cultivating, vending, and transporting the apples all over India. Newton Pippins, King of Pippin, and Cox’s Orange Pippin were the types of apples planted by Stokes in 1916. However, these apples were sour in taste and were not cultivated by the local Indian farmers as the general Indian public liked the apples with a sweet taste.
Himachal Apples Today
Death
Satyananda Stokes died on 14 May 1946 at Kotgarh, Shimla due to prolonged illness. [5]The Better India
Facts/Trivia
- Satyananda Stokes belonged to a rich American business family.
- Young Samuel did not acquire business skills as he was not interested in his father’s business.
- Stokes’s religion was Quaker (Christian (Protestant)); before his arrival in India but he adopted Hinduism (after his arrival in India). [6]The Better India
- In the beginning, Satyananda Stokes’s parents were not happy with his decision to go to India and serve the poor.
- After Satyananda’s arrival in India, his parents believed that Satyananda was happy and satisfied with his work in India and sent him some money from the US. Samuel spent the whole sum for the welfare of the lepers and local needy people.
- Samuel was a self-restraint person when he was Young. He never lost himself in religious purposes in India. He adopted Christian Sannyasi and lived a simple Indian life among the villagers.
- The Archbishop of Canterbury once visited Viceroy at Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, and advised Satyananda to form an order of Franciscan Friars, an order of monkhood pledging to help the poor, diseased, and dying. Although, Satyananda’s membership in monkhood lasted only for 2 years.
- Satyananda Stokes got married on 12 September 1912.
- When he got married and settled in a village near to his wife’s house, he grew wheat and barley at Barubagh. The vegetables like peas, beans, lima beans, pumpkins, potatoes, and cabbages were cultivated by him. He adopted the way of living of the local farmers and he would often relax in the evening with a ‘hookah.’
- The teachings of Mahatma Gandhi inspired Stokes to wear only Khadi during the Indian Independence Movement.
- On Stokes’s arrest at Wagha while opposing the visit of the Prince of Wales, Edward VIII to India in 1921, Mahatma Gandhi said-
That he should feel with and like an Indian, share his sorrows, and throw himself into the struggle, has proved too much for the government. To leave him free to criticize the government was intolerable, so his white skin has proved no protection for him…”
- Stokes started a school in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, and named it Tara High school in 1924. He established this educational institution in memory of his son who died at the age of 8. Girls’ education was the main motto of the school. Hindi, English, Religion, Horticulture, and self-defense were the main subjects he taught to the local and poor children of the villagers.
Satyananda Strokes while teaching the local students
- Stokes was not able to deal with the loss of his eight-year-old son. He adopted Hinduism under the guidance of Arya Samaj in 1932. He changed his name from Samuel Evans to Satyananda Stokes.
- Agnes, the wife of Stokes respected the decision of her husband and changed her name to Priyadevi.
- Stokes read Bhagavad Gita and Upanishads in English when some saints on their way to Kailash Mansarovar yatra inspired him. Later on, he learned the Sanskrit language.
- ‘Paramjyoti Mandir or the Temple of Eternal Light’ was a temple built by Satyananda near his home ‘Harmony Hall,’ in 1937.
Satyanad Stokes house in Shimla
- A veteran Indian Business Tycoon, Kishore Birla, financially supported Satyananda Stokes with an amount of Rs 25,000, to motivate him to build this ‘Paramjyoti Mandir.’
Paramjyoti Temple, Shimla
- Spiritual Leader, The Dalia Lama, sums up Stokes’s ideology of life-
The true expression of nonviolence is compassion. Some people seem to think that compassion is just a passive emotional response instead of a rational stimulus to action. But to experience genuine compassion is to develop a feeling of closeness to others combined with a sense of responsibility for their welfare.”
- Satyananda Stokes has a unique history in India’s struggle for freedom. He is still remembered and recognized by the people of Himachal as the inventor of apple farming except for his struggle for the freedom of India.