15 April in Indian and World History is celebrated, observed, and remembered for various reasons. 15 April is the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak, Guru Arjan Dev, Ayodhyasinh Upadhyay, and Sultan Khan.
15 April is also observed as the death anniversary of Nandalal Bose, and Shambhunath Dey.
Birth Anniversary
15 April in Indian history is celebrated as the birth anniversary of the following personalities:
Guru Nanak (15 April 1469 – 22 September 1539), the first Guru (Adi Guru) of the Sikhs. His followers address him by the names ‘Guru Nanak’, ‘Baba Nanak’ and ‘Nanak Shah’. Guru Nanak became the first Sikh Guru on 20 August 1507. He remained in this post till 22 September 1539. He was born on 15 April 1469 in Talwandi, Punjab.
Guru Arjan Dev (15 April 1563 – 30 May 1606), the fifth Guru of the Sikhs. He ascended the throne on 1 September 1581. He has a special place among the Sikh Gurus in many respects. He edited the ‘Guru Granth Sahib’ in the form it is available today. Guru Arjan Dev was the son of the fourth Guru Ramdas, the most revered of the Sikhs. Along with the voices of the four gurus from Guru Nanak to Guru Ramdas, he also gave a place in the ‘Guru Granth Sahib’. He was born on 15 April 1563.
Ayodhyasinh Upadhyay (15 April 1865 – 16 March 1947), is taken with great respect among the poets who have established Khari Boli as a poetic language. In the last decade of the nineteenth century, around 1890, Ayodhyasinh Upadhyay made his debut in the field of literary service. He was born on 15 April 1865.
Sultan Khan (15 April 1940 – 27 November 2011), a famous sarangi player and classical singer from India. He belonged to the ‘Indore Gharana’. He is credited with reviving the sarangi in the country. Ustad Sultan Khan, the master of the sarangi and the heart-touching songs like ‘Piya Basanti Re’ and ‘Albela Sajan Aayo Re’, has got a special respectable status in the Hindi music world. He was born on 15 April 1940.
Read More: 13 April in Indian and World History
Death Anniversary
15 April in Indian history is observed as the death anniversary of the following personalities:
Nandalal Bose (3 December 1882 – 16 April 1966), a famous painter from India. Nandlal Bose designed the original copy of the Constitution. Among his famous paintings are ‘Dandi March’, ‘Santhali Kanya’, ‘Sati‘s body sacrifice’ etc. Nandlal Bose, besides painting and teaching art, he also wrote three booklets – Rupavali, Shilpkala, and Shilp Charcha. He was an eminent disciple of Abanindranath Tagore. He died on 16 April 1966.
Shambhunath Dey (1 February 1915 – 15 April 1985) was born in 1915 in a village called Garibati, Hooghly district, West Bengal. His father Dasharathy Dey and his mother Chatteshwari were from an ordinary family. He was the eldest son of his father, so after the death of his father, he himself took over the responsibility of the family. He worked as an assistant in a shop and then later started a small business of his own. He died on 15 April 1985.
Read More: 14 April in Indian and World History
Notable events on 15 April in Indian and World History
15 April 1452 – Leonardo da Vinci, an Italian polymath, artist, scientist, inventor, and writer, was born.
15 April 1489 – Mimar Sinan, a renowned Ottoman architect and civil engineer who is widely considered one of the greatest architects in history, was born.
15 April 1689 – France declared war on Spain.
April 15, 1968 – Elvia Carrillo Puerto a trailblazing Mexican feminist, educator, and politician, dedicating her life to advocating for women’s rights and social equality – died.
15 April 1707 – Leonhard Euler, was a French lawyer and diplomat who introduced waste containers to Paris and made their use compulsory, was born.
15 April 1817 – The first school for deaf children was opened in America.
15 April 1831 – Eugène Poubelle, was a French lawyer and diplomat who introduced waste containers to Paris and made their use compulsory, was born.
15 April 1874 – Johannes Stark, a German physicist and Nobel Prize Laureate, was born.
15 April 1895 – Bal Gangadhar Tilak inaugurated the Shivaji Utsav at Raigad Fort.
15 April 1896 – Nikolay Semyonov, a Russian/Soviet physicist chemist, and Nobel Prize Laureate was born.
15 April 1907 – Nikolaas Tinbergen, was a Dutch biologist. and Nobel Prize Laureate was born.
15 April 1923 – Insulin became available on the market for people with diabetes.
15 April 1927 – The then Soviet Union and Switzerland agreed to establish diplomatic relations.
15 April 1931 – Samaun Samadikun, an Indonesian electrical engineer, was born.
15 April 1948 – The state of Himachal Pradesh was established on this day.
15 April 1955 – The US conducted a nuclear test at the Nevada test site.
15 April 1998 – Frederick Lange, popularly known as Thampi Guru, died.
15 April 2000 – The “G-77 Summit” was held in Havana with a call for cooperation to combat terrorism.
15 April 2003 – In the UK, the Irish Republican Army decided to lay down arms.
15 April 2004 – V. Muraleedharan, an LTTE extremist associated with the Rajiv Gandhi assassination, was assassinated in Colombo.
15 April 2006 – Interpol proposed the formation of an Anti-Corruption Academy at Jakarta conference.
15 April 2012 – After the attack on a Pakistani jail, 400 terrorists escaped.
15 April 2013 – The bombings in Iraq killed 35 people and injured 160.