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Vidya Dhar Jayal

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Brigadier

Vidya Dhar Jayal

DSO
Born(1910-12-31)31 December 1910
Diedunknown
Allegiance British India
 India
Service / branch British Indian Army
 Indian Army
Rank Brigadier
Unit13th Frontier Force Regiment
Battles / wars
AwardsDistinguished Service Order
Alma materPrince of Wales Royal Indian Military College, Dehradun
Royal Military College, Sandhurst
RelationsNarendra Dhar Jayal

Brigadier Vidya Dhar Jayal, DSO, (born 31 December 1910 - died?)[1] was an army officer who served in the British Indian Army and later the Indian Army.

Early life

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Vidya Dhar Jayal was born to Rai Bahadur Pandit Chakradhar Jayal, who after retiring from the Indian Police Service served as the Dewan of the Tehri Garhwal princely state.[2][3][4] The Indian mountaineer Narendra Dhar Jayal was Vidya Dhar's brother.[5][6]

Vidya Dhar did schooling from the Royal Indian Military College (RIMC), Dehradun (1923–29).[7] He then attended the Royal Military College, Sandhurst (1930–31).[8][9]

Military Service

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Early service

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On 29 January 1932, Jayal appeared on the 'unattached list' for the British Indian Army in The London Gazatte.[10][9]

On 12 January 1934, his promotion from 2nd Lieutenant to Lieutenant was announced in The London Gazette.[11]

Jayal became the first Indian officer to be posted in the 6th Battalion of the 13th Frontier Force Regiment, earlier known as 59th Scinde Rifles. He came to be fluent in Pushtu and knowledgeable about Pathan culture and customs while serving in this unit.[12][13]

He served alongside Anant Singh Pathania and Bakhtiar Rana in the Waziristan Campaign of 1936-39, among other young (then) Indian officers of the 6/13 FFR.[12]

World War II

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On 28 August 1939, Jayal became a captain, was made an acting major from 12 October 1940 till 11 January 1941, and a temporary major from 12 January 1941 till 24 August 1941.[1]

In the rank of major, Jayal was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) for displaying 'conspicuous bravery and military skill' against the Italians at the Barentu Road in Eritrea in January 1941, in the East African Campaign.[14] He received his decoration from King George VI at the Buckingham Palace in 1946.[15]

Later in the same year, he left Eritrea for Quetta to attend a course at the Staff College there.[16]

Post-Independence

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In the rank of brigadier, Jayal commanded the 80 Infantry Brigade of the Indian Army during the Indo-Pakistan War of 1947-48.[17]

In 1949, he held a Sub-Area Command at Allahabad.[18]

In the early 1950s, he served as the Commander of 201 Brigade Area in North East India.[19][20]

After retiring with the rank of brigadier, over the late 1950s-early 1960s, Jayal served as Director of Military Training and Social Service in the Government of Uttar Pradesh state, India.[21][22][23][24]

Others

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  • Jayal was a noted collector of Garhwal paintings and had inherited his father's collection of the same.[2]
  • He was an 'Ordinary Member' of the Indian History Congress.[18]
  • In 1950, he was present in an official capacity at an ex-servicemen's reunion of the Sikkim State Sailor's Soldier's and Airmen's Board, as the Commander of 201 Brigade Area.[19]
  • A letter dated 7 April 1953, from Jayal to Devika Rani, an early Bollywood actress and member of the renowned Roerich family, providing her with an idea for a movie based on World War II, is available on the website of the Roerich Museum.[25]
  • In 1962, he donated a silver cup to the Bengal Engineer Group and Centre to commemorate his brother Narendra Dhar Jayal, who had served in this unit and had died in a mountaineering expedition to Cho Oyu in 1958.[26]
  • In 1970, Jayal emphasized that India should have one language, at a seminar on Defence Terminology organised by the Commission for Scientific and Technical Terminology, GoI.[27]
  • Brig Jayal presented a ceremonial bell to his alma mater, the RIMC Dehradun.[28]
  • A story of a dinner Jayal hosted post-retirement for K.M. Cariappa (later Field Marshal of the Indian Army) appears in a biographical essay on Cariappa.[29]
  • After retirement, he lived at Chakrasan, village Thakrani, district Dehradun.[30][31]
  • In June 1981, he delivered a talk titled 'Garhwal ki sainik parampara' (the military tradition of Garhwal) on Akashvani radio, from the Najibabad station.[32]

Bibliography

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  • Jayal, Vidya Dhar. (1947). "Ready, Aye Ready!". Journal of the United Service Institution of India. Vol. 77.[33]
  • Jayal, Vidya Dhar. (1967). Diwan Chakra Dhar Jayal and the Traditions of His Family. Maxwell Press.[34]

References

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  1. ^ a b "(612) - Army lists > Half-yearly Army lists 1923 - Feb 1950 (From 1947, annual, despite the name) > 1941 > Second half - British Military lists - National Library of Scotland". digital.nls.uk. Retrieved 26 March 2024.
  2. ^ a b Mukandi Lal (1968). Garhwal Painting.
  3. ^ "Emperor vs J.M. Chatterji on 14 March, 1933". indiankanoon.org. Retrieved 23 March 2024.
  4. ^ Oudh (India), United Provinces of Agra and (1932). Report on the Administration of the United Provinces [of Agra and Oudh].
  5. ^ Foot, A.E. (1956). Alpine Journal (In memoriam - Narendra Dhar Jayal) (PDF). pp. 231–32.
  6. ^ Sainik Samachar. Director of Public Relations, Ministry of Defence. 1962.
  7. ^ "Brig Vidya Dhar Jayal, DSO". ROBA. Retrieved 23 March 2024.
  8. ^ "Jayal, Vidya Dhar - TracesOfWar.com". www.tracesofwar.com. Retrieved 23 March 2024.
  9. ^ a b "The Sandhurst Collection". sandhurstcollection.co.uk. Retrieved 26 March 2024.
  10. ^ "The London Gazette on 29 January 1932" (PDF).
  11. ^ "The London Gazette 12 January 1934" (PDF).
  12. ^ a b Hamid, Syed Ali (2021). "From a Family of Warriors - I". The Friday Times. Retrieved 23 March 2024.
  13. ^ Hussein, Hamid (2019). "A Few Random Notes on Gallantry Awards (British Indian Army)". Retrieved 23 March 2024.
  14. ^ Fecitt, Harry (1 October 2019). Distant Battlefields: The Indian Army in the Second World War. Vij Books India Pvt Ltd. p. 67. ISBN 978-93-88161-78-7.
  15. ^ Indian Information. 1946.
  16. ^ Fecitt, Harry (1 October 2019). Distant Battlefields: The Indian Army in the Second World War. Vij Books India Pvt Ltd. p. 72. ISBN 978-93-88161-78-7.
  17. ^ Ahmad, Mustasad (1997). Living Up to Heritage: History of the Rajput Regiment, 1947-1970. Lancer Publishers. p. 33. ISBN 978-1-897829-03-5.
  18. ^ a b "List of Members". Proceedings of the Indian History Congress. 25: 161–267. 1963. ISSN 2249-1937. JSTOR 44137662.
  19. ^ a b "Himalayan Times (1950)". digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de. Retrieved 23 March 2024.
  20. ^ "Himalayan Times (1951)". digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de. Retrieved 23 March 2024.
  21. ^ Directorate, India Central Hindi (1979). Samekita rakshā śabdāvalī: Aṅgrejī-Hindī (in Hindi). Kendrīya Hindī Nideśālaya, Vaijñānika tathā Takanīkī Śabdāvalī Āyoga, Śikshā tathā Samāja Kalyāṇa Mantrālaya, Bhārata Sarakāra.
  22. ^ Government of Uttar Pradesh (India) (1962). Government Gazette, April 1962.
  23. ^ "Uttar Pradesh (India). BT I ] APPOINTMENTS June 5, 1962 No. B ( P ) /2828/XV.-Brigadier V.D. Jayal, D.S.O., pointed on two years ' probation as Nideshak, inik Shiksha Evam Samaj Sewa, Uttar Pradesh with ect from April 1, 1960 - Google Search". www.google.com. Retrieved 26 March 2024.
  24. ^ Pradesh (India), Uttar (1962). Civil List. Superintendent, Print. and Stationery.
  25. ^ "Letter from Brig. VD Jayal to Mrs. Roerich, 1953" (PDF).
  26. ^ Sainik Samachar. Director of Public Relations, Ministry of Defence. 1962.
  27. ^ Sainik Samachar. Director of Public Relations, Ministry of Defence. 1970. p. 16.
  28. ^ Singh, Bikram; Mishra, Sidharth (1997). Where Gallantry is Tradition: Saga of Rashtriya Indian Military College: Plantinum Jubilee Volume, 1997. Allied Publishers. ISBN 978-81-7023-649-8.
  29. ^ Singh, V. K. (30 November 2023). Leadership in the Indian Army: Biographies of Twelve Soldiers. Penguin Random House India Private Limited. ISBN 978-93-5708-360-7.
  30. ^ Vidya. Commission for Scientific and Technical Terminology, Ministry of Education & Youth Services, Government of India. 1969.
  31. ^ Directorate, India Central Hindi (1979). Samekita rakshā śabdāvalī: Aṅgrejī-Hindī (in Hindi). Kendrīya Hindī Nideśālaya, Vaijñānika tathā Takanīkī Śabdāvalī Āyoga, Śikshā tathā Samāja Kalyāṇa Mantrālaya, Bhārata Sarakāra.
  32. ^ Delhi, All India Radio (AIR), New (21 June 1981). AKASHVANI: Vol. XLVI, No. 25 ( 21 JUNE, 1981 ). All India Radio (AIR), New Delhi.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  33. ^ Journal of the United Service Institution of India. 1947.
  34. ^ Juyal, Vidya Dhar (1967). Dewan Chakra Dhar Juyal and the Traditions of His Family. Maxwell Press.
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