01Ziradei to Champaran
He was born at Ziradei in Siwan district, Bihar, studied at Presidency College, Calcutta, where he stood first in the university entrance examination, and became a leading lawyer of the Patna High Court. In 1917 he went to Champaran to help Gandhi record the statements of thousands of indigo farmers, and his life changed. He gave up his practice during Non-Cooperation and helped found the Bihar Vidyapith. He led relief after the great Bihar earthquake of January 1934 and was Congress president that year, again in 1939 after Bose resigned, and in 1947.
02Constituent Assembly and Rashtrapati Bhavan
On 11 December 1946 he was elected permanent president of the Constituent Assembly, and he signed the Constitution on 24 January 1950. Two days later he took office as the first President of the Republic, and was re-elected in 1952 and 1957, the only President to serve two full terms. In May 1951 he attended the pran-pratishtha of the rebuilt Somnath temple, over the objection of Prime Minister Nehru, and spoke there of faith and of rebuilding what destruction could not end. He retired in May 1962, received the Bharat Ratna that year, and died at the Sadaqat Ashram, Patna, on 28 February 1963.
