Vol. 9, Issue 6, Part B (2023)

Abstract
The number of autobiographies by social activists is surprisingly less. This number is further less when it comes to Indian autobiographies in English. A cursory look at the history of autobiographies by an Indian social activist gets us back at a very small piece of an autobiographical sketch of his life by Raja Rammohun Roy that can be fairly regarded as the first of its kind. In fact, the self portraiture is said to be the first of its kind among the Indian autobiographies in English in general. Though later many have written their full fledged autobiographies, yet this brief sketch of Roy’s life as narrated by himself at the behest of one of his English friends is significant for reasons more than one. He was the principal social reformer of his times. His revolutionary efforts at curbing the menace of the Sati system and supporting women education in the orthodox Indian society are but few of his glorious achievements as a social activist. About half a century later another prominent social activist and a remarkable freedom fighter by the name Bipin Chandra Pal wrote his full fledged autobiography that tells the story of his struggle in pursuing his passion to bring about a change to the lives of illiterate and poverty stricken multitude of his country.