Ram Nath Puri

Ram Nath Puri (or Ramnath Puri) was an Indian-American freedom fighter best known as the editor of Circular-i-Azadi, a publication critical of the British Raj, often linked to the early history of the Ghadar Party.

Early life Puri was born to a Punjabi His father was Jawala Mul Puri from the village of Khem Karan, in what was then the Lahore District of British India. He attracted the attention of British authorities for having published what they termed "objectionable pamphlets" and a "seditious cartoon." The British confiscated Puri's pamphlets, arrested his agent, and harassed him directly. He decided to leave India. he migrated to the United States, as a political exile, according to historian Bipan Chandra.

Activism in the United States In 1907, he founded the Hindustan Association. According to his own description in Circular-i-Azadi, the association was based in San Francisco, California, and had branches in Astoria, Oregon and Vancouver, British Columbia. The first issue was printed using lithography.

Historian Maia Ramnath described Circular-i-Azadi as "one of the first significant pieces of anticolonial propaganda circulated on the West Coast."

According to Karen Leonard, Puri "returned for his wife in 1906 and brought her to San Francisco, where he had become a U.S. citizen...the three Puri children were born in the first two decades of the century."

In 1908, the Overland Monthly described Puri as a student of English.

In 1910, he acquired land in Oakland, California.

In 1917, he launched a new publication called Rafiq-i-Hind (or "Friend of India") from Stockton, California, with news of interest to the "Hindu" (Indian) community.

He died in Los Angeles, California in 1974.