Syed Mohammad Sharfuddin Quadri
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Died 30 December 2015
Accompanied Gandhi in the 1930 Salt March and co-founded Calcutta Unani Medical College and Hospital.
Syed Mohammad Sharfuddin Quadri was an Indian independence activist, Gandhian and a physician of the Unani system of medicine. He accompanied Gandhiji in the Salt March of 1930 and was a prison mate of the Indian leader when they were incarcerated by the British regime at Cuttack jail. He was the founder of a medical magazine, Hikmat-e-Bangala and was among the group of people who founded the Calcutta Unani Medical College and Hospital. The Government of India awarded him the third highest civilian honour of the Padma Bhushan, in 2007, for his contributions to Indian medicine.
✨ A detail that surprised us
Syed Mohammad Sharfuddin Quadri reportedly lived to the age of 114, claiming a birth date in 1901 when birth registrations were uncommon in rural Bihar.
1. 🌍 In 1930, Syed Mohammad Sharfuddin Quadri marched alongside Mahatma Gandhi during the Salt March, later sharing a prison cell with him in Cuttack jail under British captivity.
2. Born in 1901 in Kumrava village, Nawada district, Bihar, Quadri learned Unani medicine from his father and helped treat India’s first President Rajendra Prasad during respiratory illness in 1942-43.
3. 🏥 In 1994, Quadri co-founded the Calcutta Unani Medical College and Hospital, a key institution preserving and advancing the traditional Unani system of medicine in Kolkata.
4. He established the medical magazine Hikmat-e-Bangala, aiming to promote Unani medicine, though it ceased publication due to financial challenges.
5. 🏅 In 2007, at an age that would place him among the oldest living Indians, Quadri received the Padma Bhushan award for his contributions to Indian medicine.
6. He ran a free dispensary at Haji Mohsin Square, Kolkata, treating patients without charge well into his later years, embodying Gandhian principles of service.
7. Syed Mohammad Sharfuddin Quadri strongly opposed the two-nation theory, advocating for a united India during the fraught pre-independence era.
8. ❓ What motivated Quadri to balance roles as a freedom fighter, Unani physician, and social reformer while enduring imprisonment and decades of colonial struggle?
Awards & Honours
- 🏅Padma Bhushan
🔍 One thing most people don't know
Quadri shared a prison cell with Mahatma Gandhi at Cuttack jail during the 1930 Salt March imprisonment, a rare historical convergence of freedom fighters and physicians.
🖼️ Through the Years
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📅 The Journey
🗝️ Discoveries
🎥 Speeches & Recordings
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📖 Curated Sources
🌱 What changed because of them
Quadri helped institutionalize the Unani medical tradition through founding the Calcutta Unani Medical College and Hospital, ensuring its survival post-independence. His medical magazine Hikmat-e-Bangala, though short-lived, fostered scholarly discourse on Unani medicine. His close association with key independence figures illustrates the overlap between medical practice and political activism in colonial India.
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