The origin of Banasthali is unique in more ways than one. To realize a dream, which he had cherished since his boyhood, Pandit Hiralal Shastri resigned his prestigious post of Secretary in the Home and Foreign Department in the erstwhile Jaipur State in 1927, and selected the remote village of Banthali (as was Banasthali originally called) as the centre of his life’s work. His plan was to organize a programme of rural reconstruction on the lines laid down by Gandhiji and also to train public workers through constructive service of the people.