26 December in Indian and World History is celebrated, observed, and remembered for various reasons. 26 December is the birth anniversary of Udham Singh, Naushad Ali, Taarak Mehta, and Swami Vidyanand Ji Maharaj.
26 December is also observed as the death anniversary of Zahir ud-din Muhammad Babur, Bhupendranath Datta, and Gopi Chand Bhargava.
Birth Anniversary
26 December in Indian history is celebrated as the birth anniversary of the following personalities:
Udham Singh (26 December 1899 – 31 July 1940), a great revolutionary from Punjab who made a significant contribution to India’s freedom struggle. Amar Shaheed Udham Singh had avenged the death of innocent Indian people by shooting and killing Michael O’ Dwyer, responsible for the horrific Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Punjab on 13 April 1919 in London. He was born on 26 December 1899.
Naushad Ali (25 December 1919 – 5 May 2006), a famous Hindi film composer. Even after 64 years of composing his first film, Naushad composed music for only 67 films, despite his musical magic, but his skill is a living example of the fact that quality is more than numbers. There is no dearth of musicians who have enriched Indian cinema, but Naushad Ali’s music was different. He was born on 25 December 1919.
Taarak Mehta (26 December 1929 – 1 March 2017), an Indian writer. He had also translated many types of comedy stories into Gujarati. Taarak Mehta’s weekly article first appeared in a weekly newspaper named ‘Chitralekha’ in March 1971. Taarak Mehta was awarded the Padma Shri award in 2015. He was born on 26 December 1929.
Swami Vidyanand Ji Maharaj, one of the famous saint-mahatmas. He was blessed with the special blessings of Swami Shri Keshavanand Ji Maharaj. He is considered very simple and hardworking in nature. He was born on 26 December 1935 in Vrindavan.
Read More: 25 December in Indian and World History
Death Anniversary
26 December in Indian history is observed as the death anniversary of the following personalities:
Zahir ud-din Muhammad Babur (14 February 1483 – 26 December 1530), is famous in Indian history as Babur, was a Mughal ruler. He was the founder of the Mughal dynasty in India. He was the great-grandson of Timur Lang and believed that Genghis Khan was the ancestor of his lineage. With the defeat of Sultan Ibrahim Lodi of the last dynasty of Delhi Sultanate (Lodi dynasty) in the First Battle of Panipat in 1526 AD, the Mughal dynasty was established in India. The founder of this dynasty was Zahir ud-din Muhammad Babur. Babur’s father, Umar Shaikh Mirza, was the ruler of Ferghana, after whose death Babur became the de facto official of the kingdom. He died on 26 December 1530.
Bhupendra Nath Datta (4 September 1880 – 26 December 1961), a famous revolutionary, writer, and sociologist of India’s freedom struggle. He was the brother of Swami Vivekananda. Bhupendranath Dutt was strongly associated with the ‘Yugantar Movement’ during his youth. He was the editor of ‘Yugantar Patrika’ till his arrest (1907). Bhupendranath was also the president of the ‘All India Labor Union’ twice. He died on 26 December 1961.
Gopi Chand Bhargava (8 March 1889 – 26 December 1966), the first Chief Minister of United Punjab. He was the first President, Gandhian leader, and freedom fighter of ‘Gandhi Memorial Fund’. His whole life was a source of inspiration. The main aim of Gopi Chand Bhargava’s life was service to society, and he remained ready in this work throughout his life. He also fought the freedom struggle of the country along with Mahatma Gandhi. He died on 26 December 1966.
Read More: 24 December in Indian and World History
Notable events on 26 December in Indian and World history
26 December 1606 – Shakespeare first performed his popular play, King Lear, at the court of King James I of England.
26 December 1636 – Justine Siegemund, a midwife who was the first person in Germany to write a book on obstetrics from a woman’s perspective, was born.
26 December 1748 – The Treaty of Southern Holland between France and Austria was signed.
26 December 1872 – Norman Angell was a Russian writer. In 1933, Norman Angell was awarded the Nobel Prize ,was Born.
26 December 1904 – The country’s first cross-country motorcar rally between Delhi and Mumbai was inaugurated.
26 December 1907– Tashiro Furukawa, , a Japanese educator, died.
26 December 1925 – The Gregorian calendar was adopted in Turkey.
26 December 1925 – Establishment of the Communist Party of India.
26 December 1977 – The Soviet Union conducted nuclear tests in the eastern Kazakh region.
26 December 1978 – Indira Gandhi, the former Prime Minister of India, was released from prison.
26 December 1985 – Dian Fossey, an American zoologist, and conservationist, died.
26 December 1990 – Slovenia became its own republic, independent of the former Yugoslavia.
26 December 1994 – Parveen Shakir a Pakistani poet, teacher, and civil servant, is celebrated for her profound and evocative poetry that resonates with readers globally.
26 December 1997 – Biju Janata Dal (BJD), the main party of Orissa, was founded by senior politician Biju.
26 December 2002 – The UN Security Council reported a resumption of conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
26 December 2006 – Shane Warne created history by taking 700 wickets in International Test cricket.
26 December 2007 – Ottoman planes attacked Iraqi Kurdish targets.
26 December 2012 – The world’s longest high-speed railroad, built from China’s capital Beijing to Guangzhou city, was opened on this day.