Why January 14th holds such prominence? Let’s find out, what all happened on this day?

January 14th encapsulates many eventful stories. Some might stimulate while some leave us awestruck. 

Here, we have some incidents that might help you to ponder over the significance of this day.  

Historical events in Indian Contexts 

14th January- Birthdays

•  1926: Mahasweta Devi,  an eminent Bengali writer,  a social activist. Her notable literary works include Hajar Churashir Maa, Rudali, and Aranyer Adhikar. She vehemently fought for tribal people’s rights. 

• 1950: Jagadguru Ramanandacharya Swami Rambhadracharya also called as Giridhar Mishra was born in Jaunpur District, Uttar Pradesh. He is a very distinguished personality. He is a spiritual leader, educator, Sanskrit scholar, polyglot, poet, author, textual commentator, philosopher, composer, singer, playwright. He got his title JagadGuru Ramanandacharya in the year 1988. His line, ” Humanity is my temple, and I am its worship”  contains divine wisdom in itself.

• 1965: Seema Biswas is a theatre actress, hailed from Assam.  The movie, ‘ The Bandit Queen ‘  rocketed her into the firmament of fame. She presented herself as ‘ Phoolan Devi ‘ and pooled in many awards. 

• 1977:  Kumar Ram Narain Karthikeyan, also called as Narain Karthikeyan, was born in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu.  He is the first Indian F1 (formula One ) car driver who represented India in the year 2005 in the race with Jordan.   He was awarded Padma Shri by the government of India in 2010 for his contributions in the field of sports. 

 14th  January – Death Anniversary 

• 1937:  Jaishankar Prashad, unequivocally a great poet of Late 19th century in Hindi Literature died this day in his birthplace Varanasi. He was at home in writing Hindi poetry.  His major work is ‘ Kamyani ‘.  He was quite adept in plays as well.

International Events 

2005 The European Huygens space probe lands on Saturn’s moon Titan

It was the first-ever landing in the outer solar system.

1967 The Summer of Love is launched with the Human Be-In

San Francisco was the epicentre of the Hippie Revolution, which soon influenced cultures around the world.

1954 Marilyn Monroe’s Wedding 

Marilyn Monroe tied the knot of the wedding with Joe DeMaggio. Unfortunately, the marriage had only lasted nine months. She had married again before she had died from an overdose of barbiturates. Her first husband had sent her flowers to her grave every day until he died in the year 1999.

1953 Tito becomes President of Yugoslavia

The authoritarian leader became a unifying symbol in his country and is still known by many today.

1943 Churchill, Roosevelt and de Gaulle meet in Casablanca to discuss their WWII strategy

During the secret Casablanca Conference, the leaders agreed that the allied forces would accept nothing less than the unconditional surrender of the Axis powers.

1559 Elizabeth I is crowned Queen of England

“The Virgin Queen” was the daughter of Anne Boleyn and King Henry VIII.

Famous Personalities’ Birthdays  

1969 Dave Grohl

American singer-songwriter, musician, director

1963 Steven Soderbergh

American director, screenwriter, producer

1875 Albert Schweitzer

Alsatian physician, Nobel Prize laureate

1741 Benedict Arnold

American/English general