--- title: Annie Besant Honored in New Google Doodle description: Thursday's Google Doodle on google.in wants to celebrate what would have been Annie Besant's 168th birthday canonical: https://time.com/4057074/annie-besant/ author: Joanna Plucinska article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-10-01T04:39:25.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:46:56.764Z og:title: New Google Doodle Celebrates Annie Besant's 168th Birthday og:description: Besant made her mark as a social and political trailblazer. og:url: https://time.com/4057074/annie-besant/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7448fc53c5aaf47a/6988665dcd1bbad2fe6fd722/screen-shot-2015-10-01-at-11-22-29-am.png?branch=production&width=750&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: screen-shot-2015-10-01-at-11-22-29-am.png og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: New Google Doodle Celebrates Annie Besant's 168th Birthday twitter:description: Besant made her mark as a social and political trailblazer. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7448fc53c5aaf47a/6988665dcd1bbad2fe6fd722/screen-shot-2015-10-01-at-11-22-29-am.png?branch=production&width=750&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # New Google Doodle Celebrates Indian Self-Rule Advocate Annie Besant's 168th Birthday by [Joanna Plucinska](https://time.com/author/joanna-plucinska/) ## Joanna Plucinska Oct 1, 2015 4:39 AM UTC  Google by [Joanna Plucinska](https://time.com/author/joanna-plucinska/) ## Joanna Plucinska Oct 1, 2015 4:39 AM UTC Thursday’s Google Doodle on google.in honors what would have been Annie Besant’s 168th birthday. The Doodle drawn by Lydia Nichols depicts the celebrated advocate, born on Oct. 1, 1847, sitting in a chair holding a copy of _New India._ The Indian newspaper, which Besant bought in 1914, was where she published many of her calls for India’s independence, [IBN](http://www.ibnlive.com/news/tech/google-doodles-theosophist-annie-besants-168th-birthday-1126486.html) reports. Even before moving to India, British-born Besant made her mark as a social and political trailblazer, fighting for women’s rights and religious freedom in the U.K. After her husband, clergyman Frank Besant, left her for her [vocal critiques](http://heavy.com/news/2015/09/annie-besant-husband-frank-books-quotes-thought-forms-kids-arthur-mabel/) of Christianity, she [began](http://heavy.com/news/2015/09/annie-besant-husband-frank-books-quotes-thought-forms-kids-arthur-mabel/) the _National Reformer,_ a newspaper in which she advocated for birth control and social change in the U.K. She then converted to theosophism, a belief system that incorporates aspects of Buddhism and Brahmanism. Her religious interests brought her to India in 1893, where she attended the Annual Convention of the Theosophical Society in Madras, according to [IBN](http://www.ibnlive.com/news/tech/google-doodles-theosophist-annie-besants-168th-birthday-1126486.html). Only [five years later](http://heavy.com/news/2015/09/annie-besant-husband-frank-books-quotes-thought-forms-kids-arthur-mabel/), she founded the Central Hindu School, where she drafted a curriculum that combined secular education and Hindu tenets. As in the U.K., she quickly gained political influence in her adopted country. In _New India,_ she frequently advocated for self-determination, then know as “Home Rule.” She was then chosen to lead the Calcutta session of the Indian National Congress, India’s most storied political party, in 1917. Before passing away in 1933, Besant made sure that her epitaph read “She tried to follow Truth,” to reflect her many advocacy efforts, [IBN](http://www.ibnlive.com/news/tech/google-doodles-theosophist-annie-besants-168th-birthday-1126486.html) reports. ### See Google Doodles Through the Years  Aug. 26, 2015 For the 70th anniversary of La Tomatina. Google  May 26, 2015 In celebration of the 64th birthday of Sally Ride, the first American woman in space. Google  March 31, 2015 Honoring the 126th anniversary of the public opening of the Eiffel Tower. Google  Mar. 20, 2015 To celebrate the start of spring and the vernal equinox, Google created a stop-motion animation of flowers in bloom. Google  Nov. 12, 2014 For the landing of the Philae lander, the first spacecraft on a moving comet, Google created a gyrating lander with passing stars. Google  Sept. 9, 2014 For Tolstoy's 186th birthday, the Google Doodle team created an appropriately long click-through doodle. Google  May 27, 2014 For the Rachel Louise Carson doodle, the team surrounded her with birds and sea creatures to celebrate her 107th birthday. Google  May 4 2014 For Audrey Hepburn's 85th birthday, the doodle team adapted an image from a 1956 black and white photograph taken by Yousuf Karsh. Google  June 9, 2011 The doodlers came up with the idea of a playable logo, then pegged it to guitar innovator Les Paul's 96th birthday. Turning on composer mode allows you to create songs that you can share online. Google  March 24, 2011 The Harry Houdini doodle was created in the style of the old posters advertising the death-defying magician. Google  Nov. 25, 2010 Chef Ina Garten prepared this Thanksgiving feast, which Google photographed. If you clicked on a dish, her recipe appeared. Google  May 7, 2010 Google asked the San Francisco Ballet to pose and twirl to re-create Pyotr Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake. Google  Oct. 7, 2009 Scan the doodle that marks the first patent for the bar code and you'll decode Google embedded within. Google  March 2, 2009 The doodlers arranged classic Dr. Seuss characters, like the Cat in the Hat and the Grinch, to form the logo's letters. Google  Jan. 28, 2009 There was no other way to honor abstract artist Jackson Pollack than with a chaotic drip painting. Google  Jan. 19, 2009 Guest artist Shepard Fairey (famed for his Obama HOPE poster) did a sketch for Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Google  Jan. 28, 2008 Early on, Google used Lego blocks as casing for hard disks. Later it feted Lego's 50th anniversary. Google  April 22, 2007 A melting iceberg for Earth Day is one of many eco-minded doodles the team has created. Google  Jan. 4, 2006 Enter the world of out-there doodles — Google in braille. Only problem: you can't feel it. Google  March 30, 2005 The Van Gogh doodle appeared in an era when doodles began to get more ambitious, and it's one of the doodlers' best interpretations of a specific painter. Google  Aug. 13, 2003 Early doodles of famous folk tended to be simple, like this silhouette of Alfred Hitchcock. Google  March 14, 2003 The early doodles were often simple but playful, like this mustachioed drawing of Albert Einstein to celebrate his birthday. Google  Nov. 14, 2001 Google's first doodler, Dennis Hwang, gave the logo an Impressionist look for Claude Monet's birthday. Google  Aug. 30, 1998 When employees left for the Burning Man festival, the Google logo became a cryptic BE BACK LATER sign. "There was no master plan for doodles at that point," says doodler-in-chief Ryan Germick. 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