Pundit Sunder Lal Sharma was born on 21st December 1881 at Rajim, the historical city of Chhatisgarh in Raipur district of Madhya Pradesh. He was the pioneer of the freedom struggle in this area and was called "the Chhatisgarhi Gandhi".

Sunder Lal Sharma established the Rajim Kavi Samaj in  1898-99. As a literary luminary  of Hindi, he  shaped the Chhatisgarhi  dialect  into a language  by  composing  the  poetic work  named "Chhatisgarhi  Dan-Lila"  in  1905. In the same year  he  initiated  the  freedom  struggle  against the   British   Rule  in  the  area.  He  started  the "Jungle Satyagraha" by  organising the tribals  in the  inaccessible  forests  in 1916-17.  He  led the famous Kandel Nahar   Satyagraha.  He  accompied  Gandhiji  on  his  visit  to Chhatisgarh  from Calcutta.  He  was  imprisoned on  the  charge of sedition for one year in May, 1922. He went  to jail, time and again, during Nagpur Flag Satyagraha in 1930 and in 1932.

As a social reformer, he opened a new chapter for the scheduled castes belonging to the Satnami castes by offering Janeu (the sacred thread) to them. This revolutionary and courageous task made the Hindus call him "the Chamar Brahmin". In a bid to remove untouchability he entered the temple of Rajim along with the so-called lower caste people. He struggled for the welfare of the untouchables, the downtrodden and the exploited classes till his last breath.

In 1927, he started the historical march of 700 Kms from Dhamtari to Kakinada to take part in the Kakinada Congress session. He donated his entire property and dedicated himself to the service of the nation, till his death on 28th September, 1940. A research chair has been instituted in his name in Ravi Shankar University, Raipur and the library there is also named after him.

Source : Information Folder issued by Indian Posts & Telegraph Department, Government of India