  Meghnad Saha occupies a special role in the history of Indian science, having
been a pioneer in its organization already from the oppressive colonial period
and having left important legacies to post-colonial India like the Saha
Institute of Nuclear Physics. He is famous for his research in astrophysics,
and has also made important, but less well-known contributions to magnetic
monopole theory. This article attempts an elementary survey of this theory and
its implications with special emphasis on Saha's work and argues that the
latter has had wide ranging consequences for fundamental physics.
