To realize a dream which he had cherished since his boyhood, Pandit Hiralal Shastri, the founding father of Banasthali Vidyapith, resigned his prestigious post of Secretary in the Home and Foreign Department in the erstwhile Jaipur State in 1927 and selected the remote village of Banthali (as Banasthali was originally called) as the centre of his life’s work. His plan was to organize a programme of rural reconstruction on the lines laid down by Gandhiji and also to train public workers through constructive service of the people. While so engaged in his work Shastriji also wanted to train his promising daughter Shantabai as a social worker dedicated to the cause of women’s upliftment. But destiny ordained otherwise. All of a sudden, after a brief illness of a day, Shantabai bade farewell to Banasthali on 25th April, 1935 at the tender age of only 12 years. The loss seemed irreparable at the moment, but soon the mood of despondency gave way to a new hope. If one Shantabai had departed there were others who could be trained likewise. This idea gave solace and opened the path of action.
