Dwarkanath Kotnis
From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.
Dwarkanath S. Kotnis (October 10, 1910 in Solapur District, Southern Maharashtra, India – December 9, 1942, in China), Chinese name: 柯棣华, Pinyin: Kē Dì Huá, was one of five Indian physicians dispatched to China for providing medical assistance during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Besides being known for his dedication and perseverance, he has also been regarded as an example for Sino-Indian friendship and collaboration.
Dwarkanath Kotnis was born to a lower middle class family, he had two brothers and five sisters. He studied medicine at the G.S. Medical College of the University of Mumbai.
In 1937, after the Japanese invasion of China, the communist general Zhu De asked Jawaharlal Nehru to send Indian physicians to China. A medical team of five doctors was dispatched, among them Dwarkanath Kotnis. Kotnis stayed in China for 5 years working in mobile clinics to treat wounded soldiers. During this time, he married a Chinese woman (Guo Qinglan) with whom he had a son named Yinhua ("Yin" for India; "Hua" for China). He died of epilepsy in 1942 while still on service in China.
The story of his life was the subject of a Bollywood movie with the title "Dr. Kotnis Ki Amar Kahani" (1946, English : "The Journey of Dr. Kotnis", directed by V Shantaram, who also played Kotnis) as well as a Chinese movie "Kē Dì Huá Dài Fū" (1982, "Dr. DS Kotnis", screenplay by Huang Zongjiang). Both, China and India have honored him with stamps. His family was visited in Mumbai by the Chinese premier Zhou En-lai in 1950 and again by the former primier Li Peng in 2001. When the Chinese president Jiang Zemin visited India in 1996, he sent flowers to the Kotnis family.
Dwarkanath Kotnis is commemorated together with Norman Bethune in the Martyrs' Memorial (Lieshi Lingyuan) in Shijiazhuang, Hebei, China.
External links
- Indiatime Article (http://www.indiatime.com/archives/2005/01/the_third_india.html)
- People's Daily Story on Kotnis' wife (http://english.people.com.cn/english/200006/02/eng20000602_42125.html)zh:柯棣华
