[1][2] Sardarsinhji Rana was born on 10 April 1870 (Chaitra Sud 9 according to Hindu calendar) in Kanthariya village in Kathiawar to a Rajput family of Ravaji II and Fulajiba.

[2][4] He also studied in Fergusson College, Pune where he came in contact with Lokmanya Tilak and Surendranath Banerjee.

He was influenced to join home rule movement as he volunteered at Indian National Congress Conference in Pune in 1895.

He served as a translator to Jivanchand Uttamchand, a jeweller from Cambay who was in Paris for World Trade Show.

He had helped Vinayak Damodar Savarkar to publish his banned book, The Indian War of Independence.

From then on, he was a regular contributor to Bande Mataram (published by Cama from Paris) and The Talvar (from Berlin), which were then smuggled into India.

[11] The years immediately prior to World War I were however the turning point for Rana's personal and political life.

The activities of the Paris Indian Society were curtailed under pressure from the French Sûreté, and finally suspended in 1914.

[5] His great grandson Rajendrasinh Rana served as the Member of Parliament from 1996 to 2014 representing Bhavnagar.