| Name(s) |
D.S.
(Dwarkanath Shantaram) KOTNIS |
| Date of
Birth |
October 10, 1910
– Sholapur, Maharashtra, India. |
| Date of
Death |
December 09, 1942
– China. |
|
Date-wise Events / Works |
- 1937: After the Japanese
invasion of China, the communist General Zhu De requested
Jawaharlal Nehru to send Indian physicians to China.
- 1938: He was one of five
Indian physicians dispatched to China to provide medical
assistance during the Second Sino-Japanese War.
- 1946: A Hindi film was
released with the title Dr. Kotnis Ki Amar Kahani, directed
by V. Shantaram.
- April 2005: His grave was
covered completely in flowers donated by the Chinese people
during the Qingming Festival, a day used by the Chinese to
commemorate their ancestors.
- 1982: China released a
postal stamp in his honour.
- 1992: China released a
postal stamp in his honour.
- 1993: India released a
postal stamp in his honour.
|
|
Other Events &
Developments |
- He is the icon of Sino-Indian friendship and
collaboration during times of trouble.
- Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, the President of the
Indian National Congress at that time, made arrangements to
send a team of volunteer doctors and an ambulance by
collecting a fund of Rs 22,000 from the public.
- Dr. Kotnis, who was 28 years of age then, stayed in
China for almost 5 years working in mobile clinics to treat
wounded soldiers.
- The hardships of suppressed military life, stresses that
were especially relevant to the front-line doctors, finally
began to tell on his health. He died of epilepsy on December
9, 1942 at age 32.
- Mao Zedong mourned his death by observing that: The army
has lost a helping hand, the nation has lost a friend. Let
us always bear in mind his internationalist spirit.
- His life was also the subject of a Chinese film Kē Dì
Huá Dài Fū.
- His relatives (primarily sisters) have been visited in
Mumbai by the various Chinese dignitaries right from 1950
onwards and the practice continues even now.
- Dr. Kotnis is commemorated together with Dr. Bethune,
and Scottish missionary and athlete, Eric Liddell in the
Martyrs' Memorial Park (Lieshi Lingyuan) in Shijiazhuang,
Hebei province, China. The entire south side of the memorial
is dedicated to Dr. Kotnis, where there is a great statue in
his honour.
|
|
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