Rajguru was born on 24 August 1908 at Khed (in Pune dist.) to Parvati Devi and Harinarain Rajguru in a Marathi Brahmin family. He received primary education at Khed and later studied in New English High School in Poona.
He came to Varanasi at a very early age where he learnt Sanskrit and read the Hindu religious scriptures. He had great admiration for Shivaji and his guerilla tactics.
At Varanasi, he came in contact with revolutionaries. At the age of just 16, he joined the Hindustan Republican Army.
Rajguru had excellent skills in shooting and archery and had perfect aims. He was regarded as the gunman of the party.
He became a colleague of Bhagat Singh and Sukhdev and took part in the assassination of a British police officer, J. P. Saunders, at Lahore in 1928.
Rajguru then went into hiding in Nagpur. Whilst taking shelter in the house of an RSS worker, he even met Dr K. B. Hedgewar.
A traitor betrayed Rajguru so while traveling to Pune, he was finally arrested. The British tortured him in many ways to try to get him to tell the names of his fellow revolutionaries. They made him sit between the red hot kilns under the midday day sun, tied him down on ice blocks till his insides turned to mush. To try and break his spirit, the British poured excreta (metabolic waste) on him. Rajguru underwent all torture but did not disclose the names of his fellow revolutionaries.
Scheduled for hanging on 24 March, three freedom fighters were hanged a day earlier on 23 March 1931. At the time of his martyrdom, Rajguru was only 22 years of age.
His birthplace of Khed was renamed as Rajgurunagar in his honour.
His ancestral house, located on the banks of Bhima river on Pune-Nashik Road is being maintained as a memorial to Shivaram Rajguru. A local organisation, the Hutatma Rajguru Smarak Samiti (HRSS), hoists the national flag here on Republic Day since 2004.
The famous prolific sports writer Anil Verma who is also a Judge, has written a book on Rajguru titled ‘Ajeya Krantikari Rajguru’ which was published by the Indian Government and released on August 24, 2008, on the birth centenary of Shivaram Rajguru.
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