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diff --git a/41897-0.txt b/41897-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ad48514 --- /dev/null +++ b/41897-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2255 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41897 *** + + CHITTA RANJAN + + + Sukumar Ranjan Das + + + + + + _Price--12 annas._ + + Printed by the METCALFE PRESS 72, Boloram Ds St., Calcutta. + + * * * * * + + + + +Dedication + + +To The Sacred Memory of + +Lokamanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak, + +The Prophet of Nationalism + in India, + +This Life of a Noble son of + Mother India + +is + +humbly dedicated + + + +CALCUTTA, } +_December, 1921_. } SUKUMAR RANJAN DAS. + + * * * * * + + + + +CONTENTS + + + + Page +CHAPTER I. +Family connections and early life, 1 + +CHAPTER II. +Choice of profession and career as a lawyer, 9 + +CHAPTER III. +Chitta Ranjan's contributions to Bengali Literature, 16 + +CHAPTER IV. +Chitta Ranjan in his private life, 19 + +CHAPTER V. +Chitta Ranjan as a symbol of Neo-Hinduism, 26 + +CHAPTER VI. +Chitta Ranjan's patriotism, 30 + +CHAPTER VII. +Chitta Ranjan as a politician, 46 + +CHAPTER VIII. +Chitta Ranjan's part in the Non-co-operation, 55 + + * * * * * + + + + +CHITTA RANJAN + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +Family Connections and Early Life. + + +Encircled by the rivers Padma and Meghna lies the famous land of +Bikrampur, once the pride of Eastern Bengal and the cynasure of the +whole of Hindusthan. In its days of prosperity it not only supplied +many fashionable articles of fine taste to the people of the East but +also attracted scholars from all parts of India as it was then one of +the greatest centres of culture of the Hindus. Round the land of +Bikrampur sailed down the river Padma many a vessel loaded with +merchandise when in its palmy days it carried on trade with Ceylon, +Sumatra and Arabia. + + * * * * * + +In this land of learning and culture was born the great Brahmin prince +Silavadra who was the teacher of the Chinese traveller Hiant-Chuang. +It is this Bikrampur which can claim to be the birth-place of Dipankar +Srignan, the great teacher of atheism. Here was also born Biravadra, +the highest prelate of the famous Buddhist Temple at Nalanda. Lastly +towards the beginning and end of the nineteenth century many a noble +son of Bikrampur played a great part in the religious reform of the +Brahmo Samaj and in the national awakening of the Swadeshi days. + +In this land of Bikrampur there is a small village called Telirbag +which is the ancestral home of Srijut Chitta Ranjan Das. He comes of +a respectable Vaidya-family of Eastern Bengal. His great-grand-father +Babu Ratan Krishna Das was highly respected for his charity and +benevolence. Chitta Ranjan's grand-father, Babu Jagadbandhu Das was +the eldest son of Ratan Krishna. Jagadbandhu was the senior Government +pleader of Rajshahi and had an extensive practice. He earned a good +deal but spent even the last farthing in allaying the distress of his +poor relations and neighbours. His charity was proverbial in +Bikrampur. He maintained a guest-house in his village and was very +keen about its proper management. There runs a very interesting story +of his unique zeal about this guest-house. One day it occurred to him +that he should see if his servants of the guest-house performed their +duties regularly. He at once set out in a boat and reached his native +village just at midnight. He then sent a man to the manager of the +guest-house to enquire if there would be board and lodging for a +fatigued stranger. The servants in charge of the house were much +annoyed as they were just then going to sleep after their usual hard +work and did not care to entertain a guest at such a late hour. At +this Jagadbandhu's anger knew no bounds, he came there immediately and +severely scolded his servants warning them for the future. Jagadbandhu +was also very kind-hearted. There are many instances of his goodness +of which we shall here relate only one. In his old age one day +Jagadbandhu was going to a distant village in a palanquin; on the way +he noticed an old worn-out Brahmin trudging along the road barefooted. +Jagadbandhu was much moved, he got down and asked the Brahmin to take +his seat in the palanquin. Thereupon he himself walked the whole +distance covering over three miles. Besides, Jagadbandhu was a poet +and a patron of learning. His verses on some of the sacramental rites +are still read with admiration in every Hindu house of Eastern +Bengal; their pathos and sentiment are no less admired by all lovers +of poetry. These noble qualities of the grand-father--his hospitality, +benevolence and poetic endowment came down to Chitta Ranjan as a +natural heritage. + +[Illustration] + +Chitta Ranjan's father Babu Bhuban Mohan Das, was a well-known +Attorney of the Calcutta High Court. For a great part of his life he +was connected with Bengali journalism. As editor, first, of the Brahmo +Public Opinion and subsequently of the Bengal Public opinion, he made +a very high position for himself among Bengalee journalists. His style +was simple and lucid, and his manner of exposition was so forcible +that it was rare even in more successful periodicals of those days. +His courage and truthfulness were exemplary. Once in his capacity as +editor of the Bengal Public Opinion he severely criticised in his +paper a judgment delivered by one of the Judges of the Calcutta High +Court. As luck would have it, shortly after this, Bhuban Mohan had to +file an appeal before the same Judge on behalf of an accused on whom +the sentence of death was passed by the Sessions Court. The Honourable +Judge showed signs of indifference for the appeal. Bhuban Mohan with +his high sense of duty had the courage to remind the Judge that even +if His Lordship had any personal feeling against him, he still hoped +to get adequate justice for a poor accused whose life was trembling in +the balance. These spirited words had the desired effect. The Judge +was highly pleased and acquitted the accused after an impartial review +of the case. + +Bhuban Mohan was a sincere patriot and had always the welfare of his +country at heart. Like many English-educated Bengalees of his +generation, he threw himself heart and soul into the Brahmo Samaj +movement. + +Bhuban Mohan's Brahmo faith was but the development of the +monotheistic element in Hinduism. His Brahmoism was but a spiritual +form of the religion taught by the Hindu Sastras. He did not believe +in Idolatry it is true, but he was no less a Hindu than the followers +of the Sastras. He showed in word and act, that his Theism was not an +exotic, planted and watered by the licentiousness of European +influences, but a plant of native growth rescued out by the men of his +school from the thorns and thistles of popular Hinduism that choked +it. + +His personal life and more particularly in his dealings with his Hindu +relatives, he belonged to the old Hindu type. His sincerity, +generosity and modesty were things very rare in this selfish world. As +an attorney he earned a good deal, but spent whatever he earned for +the support of his poorer relatives. Indeed he spent upon them more +than his finance allowed and consequently got involved in heavy +liabilities. He was not a slave to fashion nor did he spend his +earnings recklessly. Yet he was forced, during the closing years of +his professional life, to take refuge in the Insolvency Court. This +was mostly due to the treacherous way of the world. There are some +people amongst us who find delight in deceiving others in any way +possible. Bhuban Mohan was not in want of such lip-deep friends who +were good enough to relieve him of much of his earnings as a return +for the many benefits they derived from Bhuban Mohan. His elder +brother Babu Durga Mohan Das who was one of the leading Vakils of the +Calcutta High Court, spent his all to free him from heavy debts. But +as fate would have it, he had to get himself declared as an Insolvent. +This turn of fortune weighed heavily on Bhuban Mohan's mind and caused +the break down of his health. + +Bhuban Mohan's eldest brother, Babu Kali Mohan Das, was noted for his +courage and uprightness. In his most brilliant career at the Bar which +was unfortunately cut short by death, we get an unique account of his +spirited championship for truth and justice. We shall here give only +one instance from among many. Once in a civil suit before Justice +Louis Jackson who was known to be a man of an irritable temper Kali +Mohan was arguing some law-points which the learned Judge failed to be +convinced of. Kali Mohan was annoyed and remarked that he was +surprised to see that His Lordship could not understand in two hours +what any of his first year law-students would in half an hour. His +Lordship was highly offended and said in a fury that he would refer +Kali Mohan's conduct to the Chief Justice and if his argument was +considered to be wrong, his Lordship would disbar Kali Mohan. His many +friends at the bar advised him to make an apology but Kali Mohan was +firm and if it was his fate to be disbarred he would rather earn his +livelihood by serving as a school-master than submit to the ignominy +of an apology. Sir Charles Barnes Peacock, the then Chief Justice of +the Calcutta High Court, gave his verdict in favour of Kali Mohan when +the case was referred to him and Kali Mohan came out honourably +acquitted. The noble example of Bhuban Mohan's liberality, Durga +Mohan's self-less philanthropy and Kali Mohan's uprightness went a +great way towards shaping the future character of Chitta Ranjan. + +Chitta Ranjan was born at Calcutta on the 5th of November 1870. +Shortly afterwards Bhuban Mohan came to stay at Bhowanipur and Chitta +Ranjan was admitted into the London Missionary Society School whence +he passed the Entrance Examination in 1886. He was subsequently +educated in the Presidency College and took his degree in 1890. He was +much disappointed with the result as he narrowly missed Honours in the +B. A. Examination. However he sailed for England to qualify himself +for the Indian Civil Service. From his boyhood he was rather +deficient in Mathematics and therefore with all his proficiency in +literature he could not secure high position in the University +examinations. But Chitta Ranjan gave considerable promise of +exceptional literary and oratorical gifts even when he was a student +in the Presidency College. The habit of making speeches grew upon him +even in his boyhood when he would gather his friends and playmates in +his house and begin to deliver a speech imitating the voice and +posture of an orator to the great amusement of his people. Professors +and fellow-students at college all hoped that he would one day turn +out as one of the most powerful speakers of India. This hope has amply +been justified. + +Chitta Ranjan went to England and began to prepare for the Indian +Civil Service. At that time the late Dr. Dadabhai Naoroji was trying +to get himself elected a member of Parliament from Finsbury so that he +might personally state Indian grievances before the British +Parliament. Chitta Ranjan had then just appeared in the Civil Service +Examination, but the result was not yet out. He came to Dadabhai's +assistance and made some political speeches in connection with the +Electioneering Campaign. Some of the speeches were very favourably +noticed by the English and the Indian press. + +While in England, deeply versed in the literature of western +countries, Chitta Ranjan grew a thorough-bred Englishman in dress and +manners. But not-with-standing all this he was a true Indian at heart. +A single instance from Chitta Ranjan's life in England would justify +this remark. In 1892 when Chitta Ranjan was still in England one Mr. +James Maclean, a member of Parliament, while delivering a lecture, +passingly remarked that Indian Mahammadans were slaves and the Hindus +were indentured slaves. This offensive remark wounded the feelings of +young Chitta Ranjan. He at once set about in convening a meeting of +all the Indians in England. The Indians assembled in Exeter Hall where +Chitta Ranjan made a powerful speech protesting against the conduct of +Mr. Maclean. The city of London was in a state of excitement over this +matter and the leading journals of London in commenting on the speech +of Chitta Ranjan gave a prominent place to the subject of the meeting. +The Liberals in London convened a huge meeting at Oldham under the +Presidentship of Gladstone where Chitta Ranjan was invited to make a +speech on Indian affairs. In a speech on "Indian Agitation" he gave a +powerful display of his oratorical gifts and love of mother-land. In +that huge assembly he stood erect and boldly said:-- + +"Gentlemen, I was sorry to find it given expression to in +Parliamentary speeches on more than one occasion that England +conquered India by the sword and by the sword must she keep it! +(shame) England, Gentlemen! did no such thing, it was not her swords +and bayonet that won for her this vast and glorious empire; it was not +her military valour that achieved this triumph; it was in the main a +moral victory or a moral triumph. (cheers) England might well be proud +of it. But to attribute all this to the sword and then to argue that +the policy of sword is the only policy that ought to be pursued in +India is to my mind absolutely base and quite unworthy of an +Englishman." (Hear, hear) + +In the same speech he also remarked:-- + +"We now find the base Anglo-Indian policy of tyranny; the policy of +irritation and more irritation, of repression and more repression; the +policy which has been beautifully described by one of its advocates as +the policy of pure and unmitigated force." + +The result of this agitation was that Mr. James Maclean had to submit +an apology and was forced to resign his seat in Parliament. + +But all this opened the eyes of the Bureaucratic Government by whom +Chitta Ranjan was not considered fit for the Civil Service and though +he came out successful in the open competitive examination, his name +was chucked off from the list of probationers. Even now in many a +table talk he speaks of this event and says with a smile--"I came out +first in the unsuccessful list." Chitta Ranjan's near relations were +mortified at his failure, for at that time his father was involved in +heavy liabilities and was passing his days in mental agony. During +Chitta Ranjan's stay in England the whole family were put in such +pecuniary embarrassments that for want of proper allowance from home +he had to live upon hot water and a piece of bread for a couple of +days together. For this reason his well-wishers thought that it would +have been a great help to his family if he could secure a lucrative +post under Government, on the other hand it required patient waiting +even for a brilliant scholar to make a name at the bar. However Chitta +Ranjan joined the Inner Temple and was called to the Bar in the early +nineties. + +It was no doubt a great gain for the country that Chitta Ranjan could +not get into the "Heaven-Born service". For once a Civilian, he would +have exerted all his powers to reach the highest rung of the ladder +and could have found no opportunity of ever mixing with his countrymen +and of working for their welfare. Happily, Providence wished it, and +mother India was not deprived of the services of a patriotic son who +would in future lay his all at her feet. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +Choice of profession and career as a lawyer. + + +In the year 1893 Chitta Ranjan came back to India and joined the +Calcutta Bar. The profession of law was not to his taste, for his +literary talents dictated him to take up the role of a teacher. But +the consideration of the heavy liabilities of his father left him no +other alternative. He thought that in the legal profession alone was +there any chance of clearing off his paternal debts. To choose a +profession is always a perplexing business and it was doubly so in the +case of Chitta Ranjan. It is especially perplexing if to choose a +profession means to discover one's own capability and to do the work +one is fitted to undertake in life. "How unfold one's little bit of +talent; and live, and not lie sleeping while it is called To-day." +That is the great problem. But it occurs only to those who are +troubled with a sense of duty and not to those whose ambition is to +"get on". It was therefore no small embarrassment for Chitta Ranjan to +choose the legal profession. + +Within a short time of his joining the Calcutta Bar, Chitta Ranjan +took upon himself the responsibility of all his father's debts; but as +a newly enrolled Barrister, he earned very little and therefore could +not hope to clear the heavy debts of his father immediately. This +forced him at the very commencement of his professional career to join +his father in seeking the protection of the Insolvency court. It was +not because he wished to get rid of the liabilities but in the absence +of any other alternative he declared himself as an Insolvent which act +weighed heavily on his mind and was the source of much uneasiness. +However it was not only a filial duty, but a point of honour with +Chitta Ranjan to share the indignity with his father. This was the +first instance of Chitta Ranjan's honesty and uprightness during his +professional career. + +The first stage of a professional career is very tormenting. There +lies all around only palpable darkness where occasionally beams forth +the flickering light of hope. At that time the whole future life +appears to be a desert where the faint ray of hope glimmers like a +mirage. But it is almost unconceivable how tormenting must have been +the state of mind when over and above this uncertainty there was the +uneasiness arising from heavy liabilities and consequent loss of +social prestige. But one thing haunted his mind day and night and +caused him the greatest pain. By his insolvency he was very seriously +handicapped not only in his professional but also in his public life. +But for it, Chitta Ranjan would have long ago thrown himself into all +political and patriotic movements of his country and won the position +of leadership which has now fallen upon him and to which he was +entitled by his capacity, patriotism and uncommon talents. + +Though his exceptional abilities were universally recognised, from the +very beginning of his career, as a member of the High Court Bar, he +could not secure adequate scope for them for a good many years; +pecuniary struggles forced him to abandon the chances of a successful +practice in the High Court for the mofussil practice which is more +profitable to a junior Barrister. Indeed at that time he was put into +such pecuniary difficulties that he could not even meet his house-hold +expenses with all his exertions and on many an occasion he had to walk +the whole way to the court for want of tramfare. But his was a spirit +which the frowns of adversity could not daunt. By dint of energy and +perseverance he pushed on and on till at last he became one of the +most prominent and honoured members of the Bar. True genius does not +long remain concealed, it waits for an opportune moment to reveal +itself. Chitta Ranjan's genius as a lawyer waited for such an +opportunity and in no time manifested itself before the admiring gaze +or the public. + +The years 1907 and 1908 are ever memorable in the history of Bengal. +The current of a new spirit had flowed in, inundating every nook and +corner of the province. The soul of the nation became awake. A divine +touch had just broken the eternal sleep of the nation. Lashed into +action by the high-handed measures of Lord Curzon, the lethargy of the +people died away, they tried for the first time to stand upon their +own legs and boldly face the world without fear of death. In an evil +moment Lord Curzon sanctioned the partition of Bengal against the +united voice of the people. This led to the manifestation of a new +spirit in Bengal. A heavy out-burst of Anti-European feeling followed; +a strong hatred against every form of Europeanism, a revengeful +attitude to their commerce and industry, a growing apathy to +everything associated with them, led to the repudiation or abandoning +immediate Anglicised past, and a new spirit entered into politics and +created a mighty and dynamic yearning towards a truly national future. +This had for its realisation at its basis Swaraj, National Education +and Boycott. + +Persecutions were inaugurated by the Bureaucratic Government. On the +third of May 1908 in the still hours of night Srijut Aravinda Ghosh, +the leader of the national movement of Bengal, along with other +brilliant young men were arrested on a charge of being implicated in a +conspiracy against the established government. Evidence of all sorts +was piled up by the prosecuting counsel. At this critical moment +Providence sent Chitta Ranjan to take up the case in defence of +Aravinda and other accused. The prosecution dragged on for more than +a year. For this long period Chitta Ranjan conducted the defence case +at a great personal sacrifice. This celebrated conspiracy case pushed +Chitta Ranjan into the fore front of the Calcutta Bar. For more than +six months he was engaged in this case, and even for his house-hold +expenses during these months, he had to incur a large debt. The +acquittal of Aravinda at once raised the reputation of Chitta Ranjan +in the eyes of his countrymen. After this he took up the defence of +the famous Dacca Conspiracy case without charging any fees at a great +personal loss and also volunteered to defend the boycott cases of +Bengal earning thereby the lasting gratitude of the whole nation. +Providence also rewarded him amply for his good work and from the very +day that he came back to take up the broken threads of his High Court +practice, he found himself on the high road to both fame and wealth. + +We have already said that under peculiar circumstances Chitta Ranjan +was forced to take shelter in the Insolvency Court. But it was never +his intention to deceive his creditors and no one could with propriety +ascribe this motive to Chitta Ranjan who spent his earnings right and +left for allaying the distress of the needy and the poor. Consequently +as soon as he found his position in the legal profession secure, +Chitta Ranjan's first thought was to remove the stain of insolvency +from his father's name and his own and he started to pay off every pie +of those old debts. "This is the first time", said Mr. Justice +Fletcher, "that a discharged insolvent publicly accepted his old +liabilities and applied for a formal discharge of his insolvency." +This unusual act of strict uprightness raised Chitta Ranjan Das to the +position of a great moral hero. + +During his professional career Chitta Ranjan conducted many cases. +Since the release of Aravinda he was engaged in almost all the +note-worthy cases of the High Court and of the mofussil on one side +or the other, his daily fees exceeding a thousand rupees. His +reputation as a profound lawyer spread even outside Bengal. In the +long-drawn Dumraon Raj case he has all along been engaged on the side +of the Dumraon Raj. When Mr. Vaidya, the then secretary of the Home +Rule League in the Central Provinces was sentenced to eighteen months' +rigorous imprisonment, Chitta Ranjan went to Nagpur to defend him. Mr. +Vaidya was acquitted and Chitta Ranjan became very popular in the +Central Provinces. On the acquittal of Mr. Vaidya, Chitta Ranjan +addressed many meetings on Swaraj and although he earned nothing in +the case, he gave a large donation to the local Home Rule League. The +citizens of Nagpur as a mark of deep gratitude and respect presented +to him an address in a silver casket. After a few months of this case +Chitta Ranjan went to Rangoon to defend Dr. Mehta and his co-workers +in the national cause who were convicted under the Defence of India +Act. Mr. Das addressed the court on the illegality of the Act itself +securing thereby the release of Dr. Mehta and others. Shortly after +this he was engaged by the Kutubdia Internees at Chittagong. Those +young men were kept in a house infested with serpents and they were +compelled to fly away for fear of death. But this was a grave offence +in the eyes of the Government. + +In all these cases Chitta Ranjan charged no fees, but conducted them +with the utmost zeal. Whenever he was engaged in a case he made it a +point to bring all his intelligence and capacity to bear on it. It was +not rare in his life that he meditated on a case for hours together +before coming to any conclusion. He would then be so deeply immersed +in contemplation that he lost all external consciousness like a _Yogi_ +wrapt in meditation upon something serene and divine. + +He had often returned briefs of cases to which he thought he would not +be able to give proper attention. Legally he was not bound to return +the fees but moral scruples dictated him this course. For such acts of +honesty he was much respected by the litigants. Often he had taken up +the cases of the poor without charging them any fees and thereby +earned the lasting gratitude of his countrymen. It was for his honesty +and integrity apart from his legal acumen that the Government of India +selected Chitta Ranjan from among the leading counsels of India to +conduct the Munition Board case even when they knew him to be the +leader of the extremist party in Bengal. At first Chitta Ranjan +hesitated to represent the Crown and told the Government that unless +he was allowed to follow the dictates of his conscience to the best +interests of his country he would not accept the brief. When the +Government agreed in all these conditions he gave his consent to the +contract. The accused party knew that Chitta Ranjan had not yet +received brief for the Crown, they came to his house, placed before +him a cheque of several lacs and entreated him again and again to come +to their defence. But Chitta Ranjan, true to his words, said with a +smile, "Gentlemen, I am sorry I cannot comply with your request, when +I have once given the Government my words of consent, I am morally +bound to take up their case." The greedy merchants were taken aback at +such indifference to money and faithfulness to his promise; they could +not but admire this act of Chitta Ranjan, though they had to go away +disappointed. + +Throughout his professional career he showed courage and independence. +We shall here cite an instance of his uprightness. In a case at +Noakhali one Mr. Cargil, the local magistrate, was an witness for the +Crown. He was given a special seat in the Court. Chitta Ranjan was on +the defence-side, his searching cross examinations annoyed Mr. Cargil +who in an insulting tone called him "Babu." Chitta Ranjan would not +tolerate this. He said with a retort "Mr. Cargil, you know that out +of courtesy I have allowed you a special seat instead of making you +stand in the witness box. I hope you will not fail to return the same +courtesy to others." Chitta Ranjan was not made of such stuff as to +bear any insult. Whenever there was any injustice done in a court, he +would protest against it fearlessly and if it was not rectified he +would leave the court unhesitatingly. It was for this reason that +Chitta Ranjan left the court in the Dacca Conspiracy case when in +spite of his protests the court was not just to his cause. + +As a lawyer Chitta Ranjan earned a good deal. For the last three years +his income was about fifty thousand rupees a month. Many are of +opinion that no lawyer of India had ever earned so much. More over +there is no doubt that his income would have been much enhanced if he +could exclusively engage all his time in the legal profession. He took +up the political cases almost without any fees and also served on the +Punjab Enquiry Committee for more than four months at a great personal +sacrifice. This unrivalled practice he has given up unhesitatingly at +the call of his mother country. + +Such was the career of Chitta Ranjan at the Bar for about a quarter of +a century, rich in details, famous for acuteness and noble in +uprightness. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +Chitta Ranjan's Contributions to Bengali Literature. + + +Long before Chitta Ranjan was able to take an active part in politics +his genius was revealing itself in literature. In 1895 he published a +volume of lyrics, "Malancha", which introduced a new element of +freedom and realism into the modern literature of Bengal. Some poems +of Malancha support atheism and this made Chitta Ranjan very unpopular +in the Brahmo Samaj. Many Brahmos headed by the late Pandit Shivanath +Sastri did not even attend the marriage ceremony of Chitta Ranjan +which took place in 1897 shortly after the publication of "Malancha". +After this he published four more volumes of Lyrics__Mala, Antaryami, +Kishore-Kishori and Sagar Sangit. The first three volumes contain +poems inspired by the Vaishnava cult which is the special heritage of +Bengal. Chitta Ranjan's lyrical talent is sufficiently prominent in +these four volumes, some of the poems are in matter and form gems of +perfect beauty, the charm is much enhanced by the pathos with which +the poet describes his yearning for God whom he seeks with the +enthusiasm of a lover. + +But most popular of Chitta Ranjan's lyrical volumes is his Sagar +Sangit (or songs of the sea). In this work the poet has woven in +lyrics the high sentiments which stole into his heart as they came +dancing on the waves of the sea. Here he has touched a new chord of +his musical lyre which sang out emotionally:-- + + Straining my ear + I listen to thy chanting + O sea, in the midst of this + Light--encircled dawn! + What words, what tune! + My heart is full even to over-flowing! + Yet do I not understand + What is it that sounds + Amidst this morning + So resonant with this music. + +Enchanted by the sublime beauty playing upon the waves the poet +addresses the sea and sings:-- + + What hast thou made me to-day? + My mind is like a harp of hundred strings! + With the touch of thy finger it trembles and quivers + It bursts out in music in pride and in glory! + +The closing song of Sagar Sangit is indeed very charming, full of +pathos and wrapt in high sentiment it leaves behind a serene harmony-- + + Full of dumb weeping with no tears to ease + To-day my heart is mad for thee, O soul; + I have sought thee within thy million waves + And wherever the sound of thy song resounds + In the wonderous light and shades which to thee belong, + I have sought thee every night and every day! + O my friend Eternal; unknown to me my friend! + O pilot of my soul! + Take me away to-day, O take me thither + Where thou art shoreless indeed! + +In order to spread the Vaishnava culture and to give a healthy tone to +modern Bengali literature, Chitta Ranjan started a new Bengali monthly +the Narayana which secured for its contributors some of the highest +litterateurs of Bengal. In recognition of his literary services the +Literary Conference of Bengal which had its annual session at +Bankipore in 1915 elected him to be the President of the Literary +section where he read a paper on the lyrics of Bengal. Next year he +was elected the chairman of the Reception committee of the Literary +Conference in its annual session at Dacca. In the Narayana he wrote +many articles on the nature of Bengali poetry which show his intimate +acquaintance with the Vaishnava literature. It is necessary to mention +here that Chitta Ranjan's whole life is influenced by the ennobling +ideal of the Vaishnava poets; even his patriotism and love of country +are to a great extent modelled on that ideal. To understand Chitta +Ranjan one must know his poetry and to understand his poetry one must +be acquainted with the Vaishnava Culture of Bengal. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +Chitta Ranjan in his private life. + + +The unfolding of a man's character depends to a great extent on the +atmosphere created by his family. Brought up by an ideal mother Chitta +Ranjan came to regard his country as the other self of his mother. The +sweet remembrance of his dear mother brings tears to his eyes and +gives him strength to suffer for his country. His mother was a noble +lady whose sense of duty was exceptional, whose piety exemplary and +fortitude unique. During the evil days of her husband when she could +not even meet her house-hold expenses and had no servants to wait on +her, she did every house-hold work with her own hands and prepared the +meals of her husband and children and other members of the house, +while she herself had to fast now and then for want of food; but all +this time a sweet smile played on her lips. Of her generosity and +liberality we shall here cite an instance. In her house at that time +there lived a poor relation of her husband. This man was a habituated +drunkard. Almost every day whenever he lost his sobriety he used +abusive language to Chitta Ranjan's mother. Bhuban Babu was much +annoyed and wanted to turn him out of the house, but his wife +prevented him by saying that the poor man would then die of starvation +and as for herself she did never mind the man's conduct. She was an +incarnation as it were of sincerity and generosity, to her could +justly be applied the maxim of "weeping with them that weep." In fact +the knowledge of other men's distress drew a flood of tears to her +eyes. She was a fountain of affection which was not reserved only for +her children. One of her husband's friends lost his wife on +child-birth. Chitta Ranjan's mother took charge of the newly-born baby +but unfortunately it did not live long. A few months before her death +at Purulia a poor maid servant of her house fell seriously ill and was +dying for want of diet, she arranged everything for the proper +treatment of the servant and saved the life of the poor woman. She was +always at the bed-side of the poor, was ready to give a helping hand +to the needy and tried her utmost to allay the distress of the +afflicted. No beggar went away disappointed from her door. She never +desired for luxury. She gladly parted with all her ornaments to repay +her husband's debts. + +But in the midst of all these softer feelings she had a very strong +element in her composition. She was very sensitive. She would not +tolerate any injustice done to her. She was equally noted for her +liberality and uprightness. Chitta Ranjan's character was moulded to a +great extent on her mother's ideal. He was much devoted to his mother +who also loved him very dearly. But unfortunately she could not see +her dearest son at the time of her death. She laid on her breast +Chitta Ranjan's famous work "Sagar-Sangit" and privately told her +husband before she breathed her last that if she was to be born a +woman again she would like to have such a son. Just at the time of his +mother's expiry when Chitta Ranjan was coming from Bombay, he saw in a +dream in the train his mother appearing before him. Was it a +presentiment? + +About six months after the death of his mother Chitta Ranjan lost his +father. He performed the Sradh ceremony with great eclat, the chief +feature of the celebration was the feeding of the poor. Chitta Ranjan +was personally present to see the hungry beggars take various sorts +of rich food to their entire satisfaction. It was his explicit order +that the poor should be given all that was liked by his father. It was +even a treat for the gods to see the poor beggars ring the sky with +loud shouts of applause and for many months it was a general talk in +the localities how Chitta Ranjan had fed the poor. + +In his private life Chitta Ranjan had to pass through many tests. He +was the eldest son of his father and as such since his father's +illness the burden of maintaining and educating his brothers and +sisters fell upon him. He gladly took up this charge and the result is +well-known. + +His youngest brother, Basanta Ranjan was a rising Barrister of the +Calcutta High Court when his career was cut short by death. His only +brother now living is Srijut Profulla Ranjan Das who is a puisne Judge +of the Patna High Court, Profulla Ranjan is a renowned writer of +English verses some of which are inserted in Mr. Dunn's Bengali Book +of English verse. His sister Srijukta Amala Devi was famous throughout +India as a singer of songs, even the other day at the Besant session +of the Indian National Congress at Calcutta she thrilled the audience +with her charming voice when she sang the famous song "Bande Mataram." +A few years ago Amala Devi started an orphanage at Purulia where with +the financial help of her eldest brother she gave shelter to the +blind, lame and the suffering. While engaged in this noble work Amala +Devi passed away after a short but active career. Chitta Ranjan's +eldest sister lost her husband at an early age and Chitta Ranjan had +to look after her children. Another of his sisters died very young. +Chitta Ranjan's another sister Srijukta Urmila Devi who has recently +lost her husband has dedicated her life and energy to the services of +her country and has started an ideal institution for educating +Bengali girls on national lines. + +In 1897 Chitta Ranjan married Srijukta Basanti Devi, the beautiful and +accomplished daughter of the late Babu Barada Halder, Dewan of the +Bijni estate. In her Chitta Ranjan has found an ideal house-wife and a +noble partner in life. She is the best consoler in her husband's +distress, the most impartial critic of his poetry and now the constant +companion in his patriotic activities. Her face always beams with a +holy light of virtue and her eyes smile with a pure lusture. She is +highly educated though without any degree. In 1919 the ladies of +Amritasar in the annual session of the All-India Ladies' Conference +nominated her as their President. Basanti Devi naturally fought shy of +public appearance but she could not disregard the request of her +sisters of the Punjab in the hour of their trial and suffering. In her +address she greatly dwelt upon the building-up of the Indian womanhood +on Eastern lines. "Remember" she said, "the ideal of Indian womanhood +is Sati, Sabitri and Sita. If our experience so requires it, reform +Indian ideal to suit the present times but seek not to destroy the +eternal ideal of India. Our home shall always be the Indian home." + +Chitta Ranjan earned a good deal in his life, but spent his all for +the cause of the suffering humanity. Charity gives him unmixed +pleasure. He who takes is blest but thrice blessed is he that gives. +For that pleasure consists in the fulfilment of one's life-mission. So +unlimited was his charity that when in this non-cooperation movement +he gave up his practice to serve his mother country he had no standing +income but a debt of about three lacs of rupees. For he never cared to +provide for the future. Had he wished it, he could have now become +one of the richest Zamindars of Bengal. But wealth has no charm for +those whose heart is moved by the sufferings of others. Even now when +he himself has taken the bowl of a beggar for the cause of his +country, the poor never return from his door disappointed. It reminds +us of a story we heard in our childhood that there lived once in our +locality a poor beggar, he was so kind-hearted that he used to give +away his day's earning to any of his fasting neighbours, while he +himself had to fast the whole day. + +Christ once said to his disciples that their right hand should not +know what their left hand does. This is also true of Chitta Ranjan's +private charity. His charities have been many though the general +public know very little of them. He has a fine heart, which is ever +ready to help a fellow in distress. We shall here cite an instance +which though of a trifling nature compared with his public donations, +yet goes a great way in indicating the natural bent of his mind. About +five years back a poor boy who was a candidate for the Matriculation +Examination was going from door to door collecting money for his fees. +Accidentally he came to the house of a near relation of Chitta Ranjan. +This gentleman advised the boy to see Chitta Ranjan who would pay his +fees for the mere asking. The boy acted accordingly. Now Chitta Ranjan +rises late from his bed in the morning and the boy being impatient +asked a servant of the house if he could have an interview with Chitta +Ranjan. The servant was not in a happy mood and accordingly to get rid +of him answered him in the negative. The boy came back disappointed +and reported the matter to the former gentleman who then advised him +to go again and wait on the staircase without asking the favour of any +servant till Chitta Ranjan would come down and hear everything from +him personally. It was easy for the boy to act up to this advice for +no surly durwan ever blocks the door-way of Chitta Ranjan and the +custom of presenting visiting cards is unknown in his house. The boy +succeeded in getting an opportunity of telling his story to Chitta +Ranjan. He at once ordered to give the boy the whole amount of his +fees and also made an arrangement for his stay at Calcutta till the +examination was over. This is one of the many instances of Chitta +Ranjan's private charity which have never been known to the public. + +Chitta Ranjan possesses a very tender heart which ever feels pained at +the suffering of others. As a devotee of Sri Krishna and Sri Gouranga +sympathy for the poor and the distressed is naturally a part and +parcel of his life. As we have already mentioned that he started an +orphanage at Purulia which was managed under the supervision of his +sister and was a boon to the suffering humanity till she was snatched +away by the cruel hands of death. He has spent a good deal in the +upkeeping of many orphanages and is now the president of the +Bhowanipur Orphanage which is managed by a band of self-less workers. + +Chitta Ranjan is a great patron of learning. He has financially helped +many litterateurs and has borne the expenses of publishing their +works. For this act alone Bengali Literature will ever remain grateful +to him. He also gave pecuniary assistance to many educational +institutions; he was one of the special donors to the building fund of +the Belgachia Medical College. He also financed to a great extent the +literary conferences which were annually held for the cultivation of +Bengali Literature. The other day he presented about 350 rare +manuscripts of old Bengali literature to the Bangiya Sahitya +Parishad. In fact Chitta Ranjan has always been connected with almost +all the literary activities of this country which owed much to his +pecuniary assistance. + +In concluding this chapter we should mention here that as a human +being Chitta Ranjan had some frailties in his private life, some +blemishes in his character; but an impartial review of his whole +private life would justify the remark:-- + + "Take him for all in all + We shall not look upon his like again." + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +Chitta Ranjan as a symbol of Neo-Hinduism. + + +The study of western Philosophy led Chitta Ranjan to believe in +atheism. This revolting note has found expression in some of his +poems. But providentially the light of Vaishnava Philosophy came to +dispel this atheistic gloom from his mind. Chitta Ranjan gradually +understood the lofty ideals of Vaishnavism, the sublimity of Hindu +theism. This Religion of Love and Sacrifice became a part and parcel +of Chitta Ranjan's life. For this transformation in him his mother's +teachings were to a great extent responsible, for they had a great +deal to do in fostering and developing the germs of excellence with +which he was born. He came to believe in the religious rites of +Hinduism and on the death of his mother he performed the Sradh +ceremony according to the Hindu rites. He is very fond of Vaishnava +Sankirtana which he held now and then in his house. Chitta Ranjan +gradually became a zealous devotee of Hinduism and had his name struck +off from the role of members of the Brahmo Samaj. + +But Vedantism which is the source of the Brahmo faith in Bengal left +its marks on Chitta Ranjan's mind. The key-note of the Vedanta is its +doctrine of Oneness. One reigns everywhere,--in the rippling of the +waters of the ocean,--in the murmuring of the leaves,--in the melody +of the birds,--in the charming beauty of blooming flowers,--and in the +effulgence of the moon and the sun. This one is the Self. There is +nothing but this self. For this reason, though a Hindu in the true +sense of the term, Chitta Ranjan is an avowed opponent of the +caste-distinction prevalent in our society. He has two daughters and a +son. His elder daughter was married to a member of the Kayastha +community and he married his only son to a Vaidya girl of Western +Bengal. These marriages he celebrated according to the Hindu rites +with the sanction of great Sanskrit scholars. But as usual the whole +orthodox Hindu society was in a state of tumult over the inter-caste +marriage of Chitta Ranjan's elder daughter. The bigoted leaders of +society who sacrifice even their conscience for the so-called social +prestige got very nervous and tried to create a scene but Chitta +Ranjan was firm. He was at first not in favour of even appointing a +Brahmin priest to conduct the ceremony. He argued as he had no +caste-prejudice he should not prefer a Brahmin. He should rather +select a Vaidya scholar deeply versed in the Sastras to conduct the +marriage ceremony of his daughter. For days together Chitta Ranjan and +his wife had long discussions over this matter but could not arrive at +any final conclusion. One evening about a fortnight before the +celebration, his wife, who was in favour of appointing a Brahmin +priest left the room, when she failed to convince her husband. She did +not come back till a late hour at night and found her husband alone in +the room and in great mental agony tears were rolling down his cheeks. +She approached him and said:--"Just consider a bit coolly. You want to +reform the present Hindu society but not to leave it altogether. Then +you should do it step by step. If you now do not even have a Brahmin +priest, no one will have the courage to follow you and your purpose +will not be served. On the other hand, if you try to introduce +inter-caste marriages only and do it now with the sanction of a +Brahmin priest, many will perhaps follow your lead. So that +considering everything you should now have a Brahmin priest to +conduct the marriage ceremony of our daughter". Chitta Ranjan was +convinced and exclaimed with deep emotion, "Oh! What light have you +shown me!" The matter was settled and Chitta Ranjan was relieved of +his mental agony. The marriage ceremony was also smoothly performed +according to Hindu rites by a Brahmin priest. In fact on every +critical occasion Chitta Ranjan has found in his wife a wise +counseller and a true friend. Many a Sastric scholar of India-wide +fame approved of this marriage, the list included men like +Mahamahopadhaya Pandit Haraprasad Sastri, late Mahamahopadhaya Dr. +Satish Chandra Vidyabhusan and Mahamahopadhaya Pandit Yadeveswar +Tarkaratna. We must mention here to Chitta Ranjan's credit that this +marriage took place long before Mr. Patel's Bill was introduced in the +Imperial Legislative Council. + +To purge the Hindu society of the thorns and thistles that have beset +it is a problem very dear to all true Hindu patriots. With this end in +view Chitta Ranjan never fails to protest against the degrading +customs of our society. Once in a table talk he remarked, "What a pity +that our society is not even now roused from its eternal sleep. Take +the instance of the present dowry system. Many a Snehalata has been +sacrificed in its burning flame, yet the parents of bride-grooms are +not brought to their senses. They are ever determined to make money by +selling their sons even at the cost of social well-being and family +happiness. But the parents of brides do never rise up against this +degrading custom, fearing lest they mar the future of their girls by +losing desirable bride-grooms. The parents should rather educate their +girls; if by chance they do not get married, they can earn their own +livelihood and may be so many Carpenters and Nightingales in our +society". Such is the view of Chitta Ranjan about the present Hindu +society. Generous, large-hearted and magnanimous as Chitta Ranjan is, +there is something in the texture of his mind that is above the +ordinary run. Few men who battle for the right, have the calm +fortitude, the cheerful equanimity with which Chitta Ranjan battles to +fulfil the burning aspirations of his soul. He stands high among those +who have been able to display + + "One equal temper of hearts, + To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield". + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +Chitta Ranjan's Patriotism. + + +In course of one of his lectures Chitta Ranjan once remarked, "Work +for my country is part and parcel of all the idealism of my life. I +find in the conception of my country, the expression also of +divinity." In fact the welfare of our country is very dear to his +heart, for this he has given his all ungrudgingly and spent his +valuable time selflessly whenever the occasion demanded it. Keenly has +he felt the unhealthy condition of our villages and the illiteracy of +the people, and long has he striven to convince our countrymen that +our national regeneration lies in the sanitary and educational reform +of our villages. Under his guidance and patronage there has been +started several years back a private society for the improvement of +the Bikrampur villages. It has for its main object the sanitation of +the villages and the education of the people of Bikrampur and last not +least it tries to make the poor villagers independent of others in +earning their livelihood. Chitta Ranjan has now and then given large +donations to its fund. About three or four years back he gave in the +hands of the workers of the society a large sum for digging a tank to +supply pure drinking water to the villagers. In the early part of the +year 1919 when with the visitation of a great famine in East Bengal +most people of the villages were in imminent danger of dying of +starvation, this society under the patronage of Chitta Ranjan and his +cousin Satish Ranjan started relief work in the villages. The distress +was no doubt acute but it was to a great extent being relieved. But +just towards the close of the year a heavy cyclone passed over East +Bengal and the ever-violent Padma as if to vie with the violence of +the wind ran inundating both her banks; the whole of Bikrampur +appeared desolate, and heaps of dead bodies were seen floating on the +river for several days together. Most of the villagers were left +houseless, their provision had also been swept away and they fell an +easy prey to imminent starvation and contagious epidemic. Chitta +Ranjan could no longer stay quiet at home. He himself appeared on the +scene at a great personal sacrifice. Under his guidance was started a +relief society called the "Bengal Relief Committee" of which Chitta +Ranjan was the Treasurer. He himself gave a donation of Rs. 10,000 and +persuaded many of the large-hearted Marwari Merchants of Bengal to +contribute a large sum to the fund. On this occasion Chitta Ranjan +visited almost all the villages of East Bengal in spite of all sorts +of difficulties on the way; he went to the villages and started +centres of relief work, each centre comprising three or four village +unions. The centres were entrusted with proper funds to feed and +clothe the distressed and homeless villagers. The relief committee +tried a new innovation in social service which was very commendable as +a means of removing poverty from the villages. It arranged to pay the +poor villagers each a small amount of money with which they were to +revive their home industries and thereby out of the sale-proceeds they +would be able to make themselves independent of any external pecuniary +help. For as regards the poor the great object should be to make them +independent; the great danger is of making them more dependent. It is +no doubt a good thing to make them comfortable, but in helping people +if we know that we love them and not pity them, we must try to form +their character, otherwise our charity will be cruel. We read a short +poem in our early years which throw some light on the nature of true +charity. + + "I gave a beggar from my little store + Of well-earned gold. He spent the shining ore + And came again, and yet again, still cold + And hungry as before. + I gave a thought, and through that thought of mine + He finds himself a man, supreme, divine, + Fed, clothed, and crowned with blessings manifold, + And now he begs no more." + +Such is the nature of Chitta Ranjan's charity which has aimed not +merely at alleviating want, but at creating independence. + +Patriotism is with Chitta Ranjan another name for socialism by which +we mean his ardent love for the suffering humanity. He loves this +country as it gives shelter to his poor brethren whom his religion has +taught him to look upon as incarnations of Narayana. + +When in April 1917 the political leaders of Bengal asked Chitta Ranjan +to preside over the annual session of the Provincial Conference, he +delivered a speech in Bengali which was unique in character and form +and in which Chitta Ranjan stated that socialism and patriotism were +almost identical so far as our country was concerned. He said in +course of this speech:-- + +"Some people might say: 'This conference is for political discussion; +what has talk about Bengal to do with it?' Such a question would be +symptomatic of our disease. To look upon life not as a comprehensive +whole but as divided among many compartments was no part of our +national culture and civilisation.... Must we not view our political +discussions from the stand-point of the whole of our countrymen? And +how shall we find truth, unless we view life thus comprehensively and +as a whole?... After all, what are the ultimate object and +significance of this political thought and endeavour? If we wish to +express it in one word, we shall have to say--what has been said so +often--that the object of our politics will be to build up the +Bengalees into a nation of men.... It is therefore that we shall have +to ascertain what our present condition is, and in order to ascertain +this we shall have to take first into consideration the material +circumstances of our people. This again will require that we shall +have to enquire into the condition of our peasantry--whether +agricultural wealth is increasing or decreasing and whether +agriculture is flourishing or otherwise. This in its turn will lead us +to a further enquiry still, viz, as to why our people are leaving +their villages in increasing numbers and are coming to settle within +towns. Is it because the villages are insanitary or is there any other +reason for that? Thus we find that an adequate discussion of politics +will involve a consideration of agricultural questions as well as the +questions of village-sanitation. At the same time we shall have to +consider whether we can improve our material condition even by +bringing under tillage all the available culturable land of the +country. If we can't, then we shall have to consider the question of +industry and trade as well." + +But why do we fail to enquire into the condition of our country in +this way? We never look to our country, never think of our countrymen, +of our past national history, or our present material condition, for +the vanity arising from false education has rendered us blind and +callous. Chitta Ranjan has truly remarked in the same paper. + +"We boast of being educated; but how many are we? What room do we +occupy in the country? What is our relation to the vast masses of our +countrymen? Do they think our thoughts and speak our speech? I am +bound to confess that our countrymen have little faith in us. + +... Besides, we seem to look upon them with contempt. Do we invite +them to our assemblies and our conferences? Perhaps we do when we want +their signatures to some petition to be submitted before the +Government; but do we associate with them heartily in any of our +endeavours? Is the peasant a member in any of our committees or +conferences?" + +By the grace of God this mentality has now been changed. The masses +and the classes of our country have associated themselves in the +present national movement. The peasant delegates are now honoured +members of even the Indian National Congress. The note of warning that +Chitta Ranjan struck was very opportune. This set our leaders to feel +the heart-throbbing of our mother country. But what led us astray? +Chitta Ranjan has justly remarked:-- + +"Mimic Anglicism has become an obsession with us: we find its black +foot-print in every walk and endeavour of life. We substitute meeting +houses for temples; we perform stage-plays and sell pleasures in order +to help charities. We hold lotteries in aid of our orphanages; we give +up the national and healthful games of our country and introduce all +sorts of foreign importations. We have become hybrid in dress, in +thought, in sentiment, and culture and are making frantic attempts +even to be hybrids in blood. What wonder, then, that in this new +pursuit of western ideals we should forget that money is only a means +to an end and not an end in itself?" + +What has made us shallow; why have we, the so-called educated, become +strangers to our own countrymen? For like other ideals, our ideal of +education also has become mean and impoverished; and so what was easy +and natural--we have made it complex and difficult. We must even now +beware and listen to the wise warning of Bankim--a warning all too +unheeded when it was first uttered. But one thing is certain that +unless we change the whole organism of our educational system and make +it harmonise with our national ideals even our existence is +threatened. For this education has created a wide gulf between the +educated and the masses, which our national existence demands to +bridge over. About our present system of education Chitta Ranjan has +said:-- + + "It has imparted an element of unnecessary anglicism into + our manners and modes of life--so that in outer seeming it + might almost appear as if the educated Bengalee had little + organic touch with the heart of his countrymen. Then, again + this education has made us familiar not with things but with + words; it has made us clever but not men.... We have + acquired a despicable habit of looking down with contempt, + upon those who have not received this English Education of + ours; we call them "illiterate" and "uneducated" and sneer + at their ignorance. But these uneducated countrymen have + hearts and sympathies; they worship their gods, they are + hospitable to guests, they feel for the suffering and + distress of their neighbours.... To me it seems perfectly + clear that if we want to lead our newly-awakened national + consciousness in the paths of true knowledge, education + should be diffused through the medium of our own vernacular + and not through the unwholesome medium of English." + +The reason for this ghastly failure in our national life is palpable +from other points of view also. We the educated few, never co-operated +with the masses of our countrymen. We are not only proud of our +education, but also proud of our wealth and proud of our caste: and +this three-fold pride has so deadened and blinded our senses that, in +all our endeavours we leave quite out of account those who are the +flesh, blood and back-bone of the land. The gentry of our country are +mostly ill educated and therefore their pride springs from emptiness. +To speak the truth, the so-called educated have no right to mix with +their countrymen. They are narrow, callous and anglicised. They fail +even now to understand that in this crucial moment of Indian History, +the whole country should stand as one in working out her future +destiny. Here the Hindus and the Mohammedans should co-operate, the +Brahmins, the Vaidyas and the Kayasthas should come out hand in hand +with the peasants and the chandals. Chitta Ranjan harped upon the same +theme in his presidential address at the Provincial Conference:-- + +"Those who constitute 40 out of 46 millions of our countrymen,--those +who produce our bread by their labour--those who in their grinding +poverty have kept alive the torch of their ancient culture and ancient +polity--those whom our English civilization and English culture and +English law-courts have yet been powerless entirely to corrupt--those +whom the oppression of Zemindars and Mahajans have failed to +crush--are we,--a corrupt and effete handful--are we their betters and +superiors? We boast of our Hinduism; but with our false pride of +caste we are striking Hinduism at its very root. Even now while there +is time, let us perceive our fearful and heedless blunder. In our +oppressed and down-trodden fellow-brethren let us recognise the image +of Narayana: before that sacred and awful image, let us abandon all +false pride of birth and breed and let us bend our heads in reverence +and true humility. These seething millions of your land--be they +Christians or Mahomedans or Chandals--they are your brothers; embrace +them as such, co-operate with them and only then will your labours be +crowned with success." + +In taking a survey of our present condition, we have to think of the +poverty of the peasant-class, and closely connected with this question +of poverty is the question of village depopulation. The village is the +centre of our civilisation and culture; and hence the decay of +village-life is bound to cripple and enfeeble our body-politic. Now +the cause of this village depopulation is two-fold. In the first +place, there is the ravage of malaria and in the second place, there +is the temptation of city-life with its ease, luxury and commercial +and money-making facilities. Thus modern cities like some huge +reptiles are swallowing up the ancient village centres of our country; +and one of our chief duties will be to re-establish the health, +prosperity and welfare of the villages. In order to do this, we shall +have to improve the water-supply of our villages, to remove jungles, +to educate the common people in the laws of health and sanitation. +Also in order that agriculture may flourish, we shall have to +establish banking institutions upon a small scale. For this combined +and harmonious work we must have a plan. Chitta Ranjan has suggested +one in his presidential address at the Provincial Conference of +1917:-- + +Our first step will be to organise all the villages of each district +into a number of village groups or unions. Where one village is +sufficiently large and populous, that by itself will constitute one +union or group. In the case of smaller villages, several of them will +be combined to form one group or union. Then a census must be taken of +the adult males of each village-union: These will form the primary +village assemblies; and they will elect from among themselves a +panchayet or executive body of five members. This panchayet or +executive body will have the sole administration of the village-group +in its hands. It will look to sanitation; it will arrange for +water-supply; it will establish night-schools; it will arrange for +industrial and agricultural education; in short the domestic economy +of the village-group will be entirely in the hands of the Panchayet. +Besides, in each village-group there will be a public granary; each +agricultural proprietor will contribute to this granary according to +his quantity of land; and in years of drought and scarcity, the +resources of this public granary will be drawn upon to feed the +people. + +In case of petty disputes, civil or criminal the panchayet will be the +sole deciding authority, but in the case of larger disputes, they will +report to the district civil and criminal courts; and their reports +will be treated as the sole plaints or complaints in such cases. + +In the next place, the primary assembly of each group, will, according +to its population, select from five to twenty five members to the +district Assembly. These district assemblies will consist of members +numbering from 200 to 500 and will exercise the following powers:-- + +(1) It will exercise general supervision over the working of the +panchayets and the affairs of the village group. + +(2) It will devise ways and means of the better performance of the +functions of panchayets; and it will be directly responsible for the +education and sanitation of the district capital. + +(3) It will devise means for the improvement of agriculture and +cottage industries. + +(4) It will supervise the sanitation of the villages included in each +village-group: and will be directly responsible for the sanitation of +the district council. + +(5) It will start such industrial and business concerns as may be best +suited to further the resources of the district. + +(6) It will employ chowkidars and peace-officers for the villages. + +(7) It will have sole charge of the district police. + +(8) Each district assembly will elect its own President and will +appoint sub-committees for the discussion of different subjects. + +(9) For the provision of cheap capital, each district assembly will +open a bank: this bank will have branches in each village-group. + +(10) The district assemblies will have power to raise by taxation the +money necessary for its requirements. + +(11) The present local and district boards will be abolished. + +(12) Necessary laws will have to be passed to place the primary and +district assemblies on a legal basis. + +This out-line of work is very closely connected with Indian socialism. +This is what we now call Swaraj or self-government of the villages. +These institutions did actually exist in our country from very ancient +times; they grew and developed with our growth, and they have a +peculiar harmony with the genius of our national character. Chitta +Ranjan has therefore proposed only reversion to our older social +institutions. But life among us now is not so simple as it was before; +it has become complex, difficult and intricate. Hence what was +inchoate requires to be put into a system. The panchayet was a natural +out-growth of our ancient village community! It consisted of those +five persons who naturally and easily emerged into prominence by their +qualities of character and intellect. The authority of the panchayet +lasted only so long as the community at large tacitly accepted their +authority. Now the question arises, "Will the Government entrust so +much power to us?" Again there are the Anglo-Indian papers crying +themselves hoarse, "No no, there is so much of anarchism in the land, +it will lead to fearful abuses if the people are entrusted with any +large share of power." But the real fact is just the opposite, if the +people are given opportunities of serving their country on a larger +scale, the so-called anarchism will die out of itself. Of this Chitta +Ranjan says in his address:-- + +"Since the days of the swadeshi movement our young men have been +possessed with the ardent desire to serve their country. At the time +of the Ardhodoy yoga (the most auspicious moment for taking a bath in +the Ganges), and again at the time of the Damodar floods of 1913, this +desire for service found noble vent in action; and the help rendered +by our young men on these two occasions has been repeatedly +acknowledged even by high officials of the Government. But +unfortunately much of this noble energy and zeal goes utterly to +waste; there is no permanent channel through which it can be made to +flow; there is no work of durable utility to which we have been able +to apply it. Hence a feeling of impatience and despair has arisen in +the minds of our young men; and sedition is the outer manifestation +of this feeling of impatience and despair." + +It will be the part of wise statesmanship not simply to check the +symptom but to cure the disease--not simply punish sedition but to +root out the deep seated cause which gives rise to it. Our young men +labour under the impression that the bureaucracy will give them no +opportunity of doing real service to their country. This impression +must be removed and they must be given opportunities for larger +co-operation in the affairs of administration of the country. These +young men have hearts to feel and a burning zeal for service; they +think that instead of being utterly suppressed the activities of these +young enthusiasts ought to be given proper field and scope. The +English have no doubt done us immense deal of good and we are grateful +to them for that. By holding before our eyes the ideal of an alien +culture and civilization, the English have roused us from the stupor, +torpidity and lethargy of spirit into which we had gradually come to +sink. They have helped to awaken our national consciousness and to +re-establish our national vitality. We are no doubt grateful for these +manifold services. But are there no reasons for the English to be +grateful to India? Are they not in honour bound in return of the many +benefits they have derived from us to give us every scope of shaping +our national life? Chitta Ranjan has also harped upon this point in +his address at the Provincial Conference:-- + +"I am confident that the praise and gratitude which are their due for +these manifold services will flow forth in an abundant measure from +our hearts. But let us look to another aspect of the question. What +was England before her advent to India? What was her position in the +hierarchy of world powers? Can it be denied that the sovereignty of +India increased the power and prestige of England a hundred-fold and +more? If then India has reason to be grateful to England, is not +England also under a corresponding debt of immense gratitude to India? +Of the gratitude of India, proofs have been forth-coming again and +again. Of the gratitude of England, the proof is now to come; and if +you refuse to grant our legitimate prayer, we shall take it that your +gratitude is an empty and meaningless phrase." + +To a patriot when he goes to take a survey of the present condition of +India, the first thing that presents itself is the deplorable state of +the agriculturists; and that at once reminds us of our poverty. We all +know that in the absence of trade and commerce agriculture is the +chief means of our subsistence. In his address at the Bengal +Provincial Conference Chitta Ranjan has presented before us a pitiable +picture of our peasantry. The annual income of a peasant of our +country ranges from sixteen to twenty rupees. This amount is certainly +insufficient for a peasant even to keep his body and soul together. A +prisoner in a Government Jail in India gets Rs. 48 annually for his +subsistence. The comparison clearly shows that for bare subsistence +the peasants have to incur debts. There is not one single village in +Bengal where at least 75% of the inhabitants are not in debt; and +there are villages where this frightful indebtedness extends to the +whole of the population. Thus it appears, first, that the peasant by +tilling his land does not earn enough to give him an adequate +livelihood; and secondly, that out of the little that he earns a +portion finds its way into the pocket of the "Mahajan". And poverty is +the source of all corruption, in the case of the peasants poverty +grinds them in two ways. In the first place, it makes them weak, +feeble, spiritless, and in the second place it has become a frightful +source of theft and robbery. Thus from whatever point of view we +consider the matter, the removal of poverty seems to be one of our +chief and foremost problems. + +In order to fight out poverty agriculture will not be sufficient for +us. Without industry and commerce our poverty will never be removed. +We had commerce though not on European lines. Time was when we earned +our own bread and wove our own clothes. We had corn in our granaries; +our cattle gave us milk; our tanks supplied us with fish; and the eye +was smoothed and refreshed by the limpid blue of the sky and the green +foliage of the trees. All day long the peasant toiled in the fields; +and at eve returning to his lamp-lit home, he sang the song of his +heart. For six months the peasant toiled in the field: and for the +remaining six months of the year he worked at the spinning wheel and +distaff as was most consonant with the natural genius of his being. +To-day that peasant is gone--his very breed extinct; gone too is that +house-hold with its ordered and peaceful economy of life. The +granaries are empty of their golden wealth; the kine are dry and give +no milk; and the fields once so green are dry and parched with thirst. +The evening lamp is no more lighted; the house-hold gods are no longer +worshipped; even the plough cattle have to be sold in order to give us +some poor and meagre sustenance. The tanks have dried up; their water +has become unwholesome; and the peasant has lost his natural freshness +and gaiety of temperament. What will remedy this? Chitta Ranjan has +thus said in his address-- + +"Agriculture is not sufficient to give us our subsistence. Trade and +commerce we must adopt; only our road must not be the road of +Industrialism. In the days of old when our life was natural, normal, +we had our own fashion and method of trade--a fashion dictated by the +law of our being, by the genius of our soul. There we find that when +the season of agriculture was over, our peasants would weave their +clothes and prepare other articles of domestic use. They had not to +look forward to Manchester to clothe them. Our cottage industries +have perished; and the muslin-industry of Dacca and other parts of +Bengal, once so famous and prosperous--has practically vanished. So +also has vanished cotton cultivation--once conducted on an extensive +scale but the secret of which now seems to have died out. Why should +we not take to the spinning wheel as before and weave our own clothes? +The brass ware industry of Bengal--that also has practically +disappeared, chiefly for lack of patronage; for economic prudence +aside, even our æsthetic taste has grown so coarse and vile that we +prefer false and tawdry imitations to genuine and durable articles of +value. Thus all our national industries have vanished and with these +have vanished our wealth and prosperity." + +How to reconstruct these industries and restore a portion of our +ancient affluence? We must have no traffic with industrialism, for our +simple industries are powerless to cope with the dynamic force of +western industrialism. In the first place we have to give up our +luxury and licence. They have filtered down even to the cottage of the +cultivator. We must give them up if we wish to awaken the powers of +our latent self and so invigorate the whole of our social and national +life. Home-spun and coarse clothes should not prickle us. The +temperance and restraint which will be necessary in order to sacrifice +our luxury will be healthful and beneficent for our soul. Curtailment +of luxuries which means non-importation of foreign articles will +conserve our wealth and give a chance of new life to our dying +industries and starved handicrafts. + +As a true patriot Chitta Ranjan foresaw as early as the year 1917 that +our national regeneration lay in the curtailment of our luxuries. To +get rid of the materialism of Europe we must turn to our home +industries. He advised his countrymen to fall back upon the spinning +wheel and to weave their own clothes, be they coarse or fine. He has +often said that until we, as a nation, are purged of the impurities +consequent upon western license, all our healthy growth must become +impossible. For it is certain, that + + "Nation grown corrupt + Love bondage more than liberty-- + Bondage with ease than strenuous liberty." + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +Chitta Ranjan as a Politician. + + +Chitta Ranjan's life may well be compared to an Æolian harp which +gives out different notes as different gusts of feelings play on it. +With the internment of Mrs. Annie Besant it sounded a new note--a note +inspired by an ardent love of humanity. From this time dates his real +entry into practical politics. At a meeting held on the 25th July 1917 +to protest against the internment of Mrs. Annie Besant, Chitta Ranjan +delivered a speech in course of which he remarked:-- + +"The Prime-Minister said the other day--'The development of India is +not only an economic but a political necessity, the British Empire is +founded not only upon the freedom of the individual but upon autonomy +of its parts uniting in one common-wealth people differing immensely +from one another in race, language, religion and colour.' The +utterances of His Majesty's Ministers are at once a promise and a +hope. Every order of internment is a protest against the redemption of +that promise and the fulfilment of that hope. I protest against these +internment orders because whether any promises have been made or not +every order of internment is a violation of natural justice and an +outrage on humanity.... I do not think that the God of Humanity was +crucified only once. Tyrants and oppressors have crucified humanity +again and again and every outrage on humanity is a fresh nail driven +through His sacred flesh.... The Anglo-Indian Press is never tired of +saying to us: "Do not be impatient, there is plenty of time." There is +no nation on the face of the Earth more patient than the Indian +Nation. But there is a limit to human patience and I say to those +doubtful friends, 'As soon as you transgress that limit, you forfeit +the right of asking us to be patient.' When we find the utterances of +our officials are at variance with their action, have we not right to +say, "What is the good of your making promises?--You do not really +mean what you say."... What are we that we should say "peace, peace," +when there is none." + +In course of another speech delivered at a meeting on October 2nd +1917, Chitta Ranjan dwelt at length on the policy of internment and +demanded the release of the gentlemen who had been interned. He +said:-- + +"There is hardly a home in East Bengal from which one or more persons +have not been interned. Every home in East Bengal is filled with +sadness to-day because these people have been snatched away from their +homes and imprisoned without trial or without proof. I say this policy +is un-British, is opposed to all the time-honoured traditions upon +which the British Empire is based. It is opposed to all rules of +common sense and prudence and uprightness and the sooner this policy +is abrogated the better for the peace and prosperity of the empire. At +a time when the British Government in its wisdom has declared its +policy that Home Rule in some shape or other must be granted to this +country, that some sort of responsible Government is necessary for the +foundation and preservation of the empire; is it wise then to detain +these men against popular opinion, against the universal desire of the +Indian people?" + +On August 20, 1917, the Secretary of State made the most notable +utterance in the House of Commons:--"The policy of His Majesty's +Government, with which the Government of India are in complete accord, +is that of the increasing association of Indians in every branch of +the administration and the gradual development of self-governing +institutions with a view to the progressive realisation of responsible +government in India as an integral part of the British Empire." This +announcement gave rise to a new ray of hope in the minds of the people +who were growing dissatisfied with the existing system of government +and were demanding progressive reforms. The Anglo-Indians were mostly +against the policy of Self-Government in India. Some of them made very +angry speeches. One gentleman is reported to have said that if there +was a government by the people and for the people there would be no +security for life and prosperity. Chitta Ranjan gave a splendid +retort:-- + +"If the Anglo-Indians want to make India their home, let them do so +and we will work hand in hand with them in the interest of the Indian +Empire. But if they come here to make money, and all their interest +lies in how best to make it, they are no friends of India, they have +got no right to call themselves Indians, they have got no legitimate +right to oppose the granting of self-government to the people of +India." + +In a meeting of the Anglo-Indians one Mr. Arden Wood was reported to +have said: "If racial feeling is to be dominant in Indian politics the +time will come, when, we the British, will either have to leave India +or reconquer it." It is difficult to take this foolish speech +seriously. In course of one of his speeches Chitta Ranjan referred to +it and said:-- + +"They may leave India if they find it unprofitable to stay in India. +They may stay in India if they find it profitable to do so but the +tall talk of reconquering India is a comical statement. If this +gentleman does not know, he ought to know that India was never +conquered. India was won by love and by promise of good government. +India was never conquered and God willing, it will never be conquered +for all time to come. India will impress her ideal, her civilisation, +and her culture upon the whole world." + +Some of our countrymen believe that Chitta Ranjan bears an ill will +against the Europeans as a class. This belief has no basis at all. +Those Englishmen who had any opportunities of knowing him personally +would bear this out that much as he condemned the present system of +Bureaucratic Government he had no racial feeling against them. He has +many intimate friends among the Europeans. Sir Lawrence Jenkins, the +late Chief Justice of Bengal, who was on very good terms with Chitta +Ranjan, once enquired of him why he alone was not seen in the Calcutta +Club when many other respectable Indians graced it with their +presence. Chitta Ranjan openly spoke out his mind and said, "My Lord, +before answering your question, I should mention here a peculiar +custom of our country. Every Indian house-holder of the higher castes +has in his house a place fitted for religious discussions where +members of the lower castes are not admitted, but adjoining it he sets +apart another place where all are equally welcome. Your Bengal Club +and Calcutta Club can well be compared to the above two places. You do +not admit natives into your Bengal Club, but as if to show your +generosity you have fixed the Calcutta Club as a meeting place of the +Black and the White. But do you not think, my Lord, that when you make +this distinction you rather insult the Indians by admitting them to +the Calcutta Club?" Sir Lawrence Jenkins was much pleased with these +noble words of Chitta Ranjan and thence forward his respect for him +was enhanced in a hundred-fold degree. + +Again in 1916 when Mr. Montagu came to India Chitta Ranjan was for the +first time invited to the Government House. He went there and learnt +that he was invited at the suggestion of the Secretary of State +himself. The subject for discussion was the political condition of +India at that time. In course of the conversation the question arose +if India was just at that time fit for self-government and His +Excellency the Governor was of opinion that she was not. Chitta Ranjan +could not bear this unjustified remark; he said with a retort--"If +after bearing the responsibility of educating India for the last one +hundred and fifty years, you have failed to make us fit for +self-government, the fault is surely not ours." His Excellency became +red with anger at these fearless words of one of his subjects and +immediately left the place. But Mr. Montagu was much pleased with this +just remark of Chitta Ranjan and talked with him for hours together +over many important topics relating to the welfare of India. + +On another occasion when he was staying at England during the Puja +holidays one of his Bengali friends introduced him to Lord Morley. +After the formal introduction Lord Morley asked him, "Are you a +Native?" Chitta Ranjan replied with a smile, "Certainly I am." At this +frank reply Lord Morley was so very impressed that afterwards he +mentioned this fact to his friend Sir Lawrence Jenkins (who had just +then retired from the Chief-Justiceship of Bengal) and spoke very +highly of Chitta Ranjan. Sir Lawrence could not but then utter these +few words--"And this is the man your government wanted to deport." + +In fact Chitta Ranjan has never borne any racial feeling against the +Europeans but has only opposed the present system of Bureaucratic +Government. In course of one of his speeches he has remarked:-- + +"When I ask for Home-rule or Self-Government, I am not asking for +another Bureaucracy. In my opinion Bureaucracy is Bureaucracy, be that +Bureaucracy of Englishmen, or of Anglo-Indians or of Indians." + +When in accordance with the announcement of August 1917, Mr Montagu, +the Secretary of State came to India to learn at first hand what +reforms were actually wanted by the people themselves, the Nationalist +party of India thought it proper to convene meetings at different +places of the Provinces so as to advise the political associations of +the country to demand full responsible Self-Government at once. None +of the leading pleaders and barristers of Calcutta was ready to go to +the mufassil for that purpose at a great personal loss. But Chitta +Ranjan to whom the question of the welfare of his mother-country was +ever dearer than life itself could not but respond to this call of +duty. "Work for my country is part of my religion"--this is the motto +of his life. He left Calcutta, and visited different places and +educated the public in the question of national welfare on Indian +ideals. For though he obtained western education, he never forgot our +ancient ideals. Of this he spoke in a lecture at Mymensingh delivered +in October 1917:-- + +"Much as I venerate European culture, much as I love and much as I +acknowledge my indebtedness to the education which I had in Europe, I +cannot forget that our nationality must not rest content with +borrowing things from European Politics." + +In a lecture delivered on the 11th October 1917 at Dacca, Chitta +Ranjan dwelt on the nature of the Self-Government that India stands in +urgent need of:-- + +"There is one thing to which I desire to draw your attention and it is +this; that in framing the scheme you must not be swayed by a feeling +that the Government will not grant this or grant that. What the +Government will grant and what the Government will not grant, that is +the business of the Government, we have got only to consider what is +necessary for our national well-being, if you find that certain steps +are absolutely necessary for our national development, do not fail to +put that down in your scheme out of timidity." + +In course of another speech delivered on the 14th October 1917 he +added:-- + +"Our Self-Government does not mean the Self-Government of the Hindus, +the Self-Government of the Mahomedans; Self-Government does not mean +Self-Government of the land-holders; Self-Government means Government +by all the People of India in which all interests are to be +represented and if there are any classes who are depressed, they ought +to be told that the sooner Self-Government is introduced into this +country the better for them: they ought to be told that we have no +desire to restrict the franchise in any manner at all to the disregard +of any such interest, and if any kind of responsible government is +introduced into this country, which is made responsible to the people, +they will have the power in their hands to oppose any oppression or +injustice in every possible way." + +Lord Minto was undoubtedly responsible for the reign of terror in +India; it was he who first introduced repressive laws in this country. +They were directed against the natural aspirations of the Indians. +While protesting against these laws Chitta Ranjan had the courage to +tell the Bureaucratic Government--"That we are fighting for the ideal +expressed by the King's Ministers; we are fighting for carrying out +that very policy which has been declared in England by His Majesty's +Ministers". + +In 1918 the Congress and the Muslim League considered in a joint +meeting that Self-Government for India could be delayed no longer. +Otherwise the growth of Indian Nationality and the development of +Indian manhood would be impossible. The Bureaucracy in this country +would not grant it. Therefore it was necessary that Indian demands +should be carried across the seas to the great British Democracy. The +Indian National Congress and the Muslim League thought it proper to +send a deputation to England to tell the British Democracy that +Indians wanted the right to build up their own constitution--a +constitution which alone would enable us to secure the development of +Indian nationality and the development of Indian manhood. A public +meeting of the Citizens of Calcutta was held on the 18th March, 1918, +under the Presidency of Babu Motilal Ghose to support the Indian +Deputation to England, when Srijut Chitta Ranjan Das said:-- + +"It is plain that you may agitate as long as you like; you may demand +your right, as you have a right to demand, but you will not get the +Bureaucracy in this country to support you. You must, therefore, go to +their masters.... + +If we find that we are not to get Self-Government, we have at least +the right to get an honest answer. Let the British Democracy say, if +it likes, that this war is a war of liberation of humanity, but +liberation of humanity does not include the liberation of India. When +I consider the objections put forward to the grant of Self-Government, +I can hardly keep my patience. They say we are not educated enough to +get Self-Government. My answer is: whose fault is it? For the last 150 +years you have been governing this country and yet you have not +succeeded in educating the people of this country to such an extent +that they may be fit for governing themselves. Do we not know that +Japan was made only in 50 years? You have had 150 years. Why is it +that at the end of that period we are told that we are not fit to +govern ourselves? Nobody really believes that the time has not +come.... We are further told that we are divided between many sects. +We follow different religions, we have got different interests to +serve and so on. If you say that we are not fit for Self-Government, +because we are divided in our interests, and in our religions, my +answer is that Self-Government and Self-Government alone is the +remedy of that." + +It has in season and out of season, been dinned into our ears that a +subject people has no politics. It was therefore that political +discussions, had hitherto been carried on in the spirit of singing +laudation to the administration of Government, however palpable its +defects seemed to be. This mendicant spirit in politics has been +overthrown by the exertions of Chitta Ranjan and his compatriots in +the field of national work in this country. Chitta Ranjan's ideal of +political life was neither Utopian nor Quixotic. All that he demanded +was, that all men are entitled to have equal opportunities without +which the progress of human society and consequently the progress of a +nation comes to a stand-still. He wanted for his countrymen the +opportunities for self-realisation which would render pointless and +inappropriate at the present-day Matthew Arnold's remarks:-- + + "The East bowed low before the blast, + In patient deep disdain; + She heard the legions thunder past, + And plunged in thought again." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +Chitta Ranjan's Part in the Non-Co-operation Movement. + + +While on the cessation of all hostilities in Europe India stood on the +tip-toe of expectation for the new age of freedom that was about to +dawn and while men conjured rosy visions of the future, Lord +Chelmsford inaugurated in an evil moment a policy of depriving India +of even the elementary rights of personal freedom and free +speech--rights which are most valued in an enlightened democracy. +Towards the close of December 1917 Lord Chelmsford thought it fit to +appoint a Commission presided over by Mr. Justice Rowlatt of the +King's Bench Division to investigate and report on revolutionary +conspiracies in India and to advise the Government to frame such +legislation as might enable them to deal more effectively with the +reactionary movements. The Commission was appointed without any sort +of compelling necessity and, to say the least of it, at a most +inopportune moment. The Commission held its sittings at different +places of India and after an one-sided and unjudicial enquiry +published a long report towards the close of April 1918. The war +having just then successfully terminated in favour of the Allies, the +Defence of India Act and other war-time measures which could only last +so long as the war continued, would necessarily cease to be in force +any longer and therefore the Commission suggested certain penal laws +as a more effective and permanent safe-guard against the so-called +anarchists of India. The report was emphatically protested against by +every section of the Indian press but in spite of all popular +opposition, Government drafted a bill substantially embodying the +recommendations of the Rowlatt Committee and hurried it through the +Imperial Legislative Council within six months of the report. The bill +is generally known as the Rowlatt Bill. The effect of its provisions +was two-fold: the Provincial Governments would be vested with an +authority similar to that which was given to them by the Defence of +India Act, and every person accused of a revolutionary crime would be +summarily tried by the tribunals specially appointed for the purpose. + +Against such a cruel and tyrannical measure the whole of India +protested with one voice. Public feeling was in a state of high +ferment and yet in spite of all this, and in spite of the fact that +every Indian Non-official member of the Imperial Legislative Council +voted against the proposed measure, the Rowlatt Bill was passed into +Law in March 1919. The situation in India reached a state of very high +tension. Mahatma Gandhi advised his countrymen to take the Satyagraha +Pledge as the only means of securing redress for their grievances. The +pledge ran thus:-- + +"Being conscientiously of opinion that the Bills are unjust, +subversive of the principle of liberty and justice, and destructive of +the elementary rights of individuals, on which the safety of the +community as a whole and the state itself is based, we solemnly affirm +that in the event of these Bills becoming law and until they are +withdrawn, we shall refuse civilly to obey these laws and such other +laws as may be thought fit and further affirm that in this struggle we +will faithfully follow truth and refrain from violence to life, person +and property." + +Mahatma Gandhi further suggested that the second Sunday after the +publication of the Viceregal Assent to the Rowlatt Act should be +observed as a day of humiliation and prayer, a twenty-four hours' +fasting should be observed by all adults, all work should be suspended +for the day and public meetings should be held on that day in all +parts of India at which Resolutions praying for the withdrawal of the +measure should be passed. Indians gladly and freely took this pledge. +Of the leaders in Bengal Chitta Ranjan was the first to rally round +Mahatma Gandhi in preaching the Satyagraha vow. In March 1919 at a +huge meeting of the citizens of Calcutta he delivered a speech in +Bengali on Satyagraha in course of which he said:-- + +"To-day is Mahatma Gandhi's day. To-day is the day for us to express +the afflictions of our heart. In days of prosperity we forget +ourselves, but on evil days when fallen we realise ourselves and hear +the message of God. + +To-day at this national crisis we must search for the soul of the +nation. This soul is to be attained by strength. What is that +strength? It is not brute force, but the force of love. This is what +Mahatma teaches us and this is the message of all India. The +realisation of this message requires the abandonment of selfishness, +envy, malice, and hatred. Why do we protest against the Rowlatt Act? +We know it for certain that its enforcement means the dwarfing of our +national being. To avert this calamity we should abandon all envy and +malice and infuse into the hearts of our countrymen an ardent love for +mother-country. This is why Mahatma has said--"Do not hate even your +enemies, for the victory of love is ensured." This agitation, +therefore, springs from love and righteousness; it is the throbbing of +the heart of a nation. The only means to gain our object is +self-sacrifice--self-sacrifice inspired by love." + +The campaign of Satyagraha was started and what followed is written +large in characters of fire and blood in the pages of Indian History. +The Lieutenant-Governor of the Punjab, Sir Michael O'Dwyer, did in an +evil moment start a counter-campaign of repression. Drs Kitchelew and +Satyapal, two popular leaders, were arrested and Mahatma Gandhi who +proceeded to the Punjab from Bombay was prohibited from entering the +province, was arrested and sent back to Bombay. A strong rumour to the +effect that Mahatma Gandhi was imprisoned spread over all parts of +India and exasperated the populace. Disorder broke out at Calcutta, +Ahmedabad and many other places, but it took a serious form in the +Punjab where martial law was proclaimed, and scores of persons were +illegally hauled up before the martial law tribunals. Counsel for +defence was disallowed and the unfortunate victims were all sentenced +to death. In April 1919 the civil population of Amritasar convened a +public meeting at the Jallianwalla Bagh to protest against some of the +high-handed and tyrannous measures of the Punjab Government. The +military were ordered by their Commanding Officer, General Dyer, to +open fire on the harmless and defenceless crowd of men, women and +children. In the name of public peace aeroplanes bombed the civil +population from above and men were made to crawl on their bellies as a +sign of penitent submission. This conduct of the Punjab authorities +met with the full approval of Lord Chelmsford. + +Independent public opinion demanded a thorough and sifting enquiry +into the atrocities of the Punjab and in compliance with the insistent +public demand, Mr. Montagu, the Secretary of State for India, +appointed a Committee consisting of official and non-official members +and presided over by Lord Hunter to investigate and report on the +Punjab disorders. The Indian National Congress deputed a Committee +consisting of Mahatma Gandhi, Srijut Chitta Ranjan Das, and other +prominent leaders to conduct an independent enquiry of the +disturbances. Chitta Ranjan was not then keeping good health, but the +call of the mother-country was paramount with him. For about four +months he served on the Committee at a great personal sacrifice. The +report of the Committee which was published in due time contained a +severe denunciation of the most cold-blooded atrocities committed by +the authorities of the Punjab. The official report, though the +European members forming the majority attempted at whitewashing, +contained much evidence to show that there had been some excessive use +of military force. Both the reports astounded the world with +first-hand knowledge of the unparalleled atrocities of the Punjab. The +matter was agitated in Parliament and the staunch friends of India +there tried their best to get justice done to India. The Secretary of +State expressed his confidence in the Viceroy, the Viceroy his +confidence in Sir M. O'Dwyer, who in turn fully approved of the deeds +of General Dyer and this gentleman openly prided over his bloody +performances at Jallianwalla Bagh. But the most shameful termination +of the affair was the fact that the House of Lords hailed General Dyer +as the Saviour of India. However four things relating to the Punjab +event augmented the discontented feeling of the people bringing home +to them their utterly helpless condition. First, the minority report +of the Indian members of the Hunter committee and the shameless +whitewashing of the European members of the same committee; secondly, +the non-impeachment of General Dyer and Sir M. O'Dwyer; thirdly, the +heinous approbation of Dyer's conduct by the House of Lords; and +fourthly the large contributions to the Dyer Fund both in England and +India as a reward of his gallant deed. + +Simultaneously with these high handed and arbitrary proceedings in the +Indian administration a fresh wrong was done to every follower of the +Muslim faith. At the end of the European War, Mr. Lloyd George in +replying to Indian representations on behalf of Turkey, assured Islam +that Turkey would have full justice. But when peace was concluded, the +treatment meted out to Turkey was extremely derogatory to her +self-respect and dignity; the Khilafat, the supreme temporal and +spiritual power in Islam was most shamelessly handled. The Prime +Minister, when reminded of his previous promise, replied somewhat +ironically that Turkey had had justice done to her. + +At this moment Mahatma Gandhi came forward with his scheme of the +passive resistance movement now generally styled, Non-Co-operation as +the only means of rectifying the Punjab and Khilafat Wrongs. On the +4th of September 1920 at the Special Session of the Indian National +Congress at Calcutta, which was presided over by Lala Lajpat Rai, the +Non-Co-operation resolution of Mahatma Gandhi was adopted by an +overwhelming majority. It laid down the following steps to prepare the +country for non-violent Non-Co-operation: + + (_a_) National Education. + (_b_) Boycott of Law Courts. + (_c_) Boycott of Foreign Goods. + (_d_) Call for Self-Sacrifice. + (_e_) Organisation of the Indian National Service. + (_f_) The Swadeshi Vow. + (_g_) Tilak Memorial Swarajya Fund. + +At the Special Session of the Congress held at Calcutta Chitta Ranjan +was not in favour of withdrawing students from schools and colleges +and boycotting Law-courts. But at Nagpur a prolonged discussion with +Mahatma Gandhi about the details of the Non-Co-operation movement +convinced him of the necessity for adopting the whole programme and at +the session of the Nagpur Congress Chitta Ranjan himself moved the +Non-Co-operation Resolution. Some of the delegates who did not know +Chitta Ranjan well doubted his sincerity, but when he told them +bluntly that in his whole life he had never failed to practise what he +preached, the non-believers were silenced. In course of the speech he +said:-- + +"I ask you to remember, that when I say anything, I mean it, and in +my life on public questions, I have never said anything which I do not +believe in." + +Chitta Ranjan came back to Calcutta, gave up his unrivalled practice +at the call of his mother-country and devoted all his time and energy +to the attainment of Swaraj by the peaceful method of non-violent +Non-co-operation. The only thought which was uppermost in his mind +when he gave up his practice was his solicitude for his poor +countrymen. Some time after this one of his friends once asked him +what would be the fate of his enormous charities. Chitta Ranjan kept +quiet for a while and then replied with a deep sigh:--"What shall I +do? A greater call of duty has reached me, I must respond to it. Those +whom I have helped so long will be helped now by God Himself." + +About two years ago when Chitta Ranjan was engaged in the Dumraon Raj +case an ascetic once said to him:--"My child, this life of worldly +enjoyment you shall have to renounce very soon." None could at that +time have any faith in that prophecy. Who could have ever dreamt that +the time was so near? Mysterious indeed are the ways of God which the +limited intelligence of man fails to fathom. + +Chitta Ranjan's sacrifice in the Non-co-operation movement has +elicited admiration even from high-souled Englishmen. Sir Michael +Sadler, the late President of the Calcutta University Commission wrote +in the London Times:--"Chitta Ranjan's wonderful sacrifice is +unparalleled in the history of the world. Indians would do well to +follow him." + +As we have already said Chitta Ranjan is never a politician in the +true sense of the term; he possesses none of the diplomatic ways of a +thorough-bred politician. He is only a high-souled patriot led by +emotions. He has loved his country with all his heart from childhood; +in manhood through all activities he has striven hard to keep alive +its sacred image in his heart; and now on the threshhold of age that +image has became clearer and truer than ever. The late Lokamanya +Tilak once said of him, "I believe the time is not very far when +Chitta Ranjan will devote all his energy to the services of his +country and his love of mother-land will burn as a torch-light to +guide his countrymen in the right path." That hope has now been +realised. + +The People of India also as a mark of their heart-felt gratitude for +the noble sacrifice and selfless patriotism of Deshabandhu Chitta +Ranjan Das has unanimously elected him to be the President of the +Indian National Congress to be held at Ahmedabad in December 1921. For +some time he hesitated to preside over the most momentous session of +the Congress of this year, but at last in compliance with the united +request of his countrymen he accepted the honour--the highest they had +in their power to bestow. + +It is after all the great ideal of Chitta Ranjan's sacrifice that has +led the young men of Bengal to respond to the call of mother-country +when even Mahatma's appeal has failed to move them. The +student-community of Bengal came out in a body to rally round +Deshabandhu Chitta Ranjan in attaining the object for which we are all +fighting. In one of the students' meetings at Calcutta Mahatma Gandhi +while addressing the students said:--"I knew that you were waiting for +Srijut Chitta Ranjan's leadership and I hoped the time was not very +far when he would sacrifice his all at the call of his country." In an +appeal to the students of Calcutta he said:-- + +"I advocate the method of Non-Co-operation, as every other method has +failed. I want you to cling to this method, come what may. This is our +last chance and this, at least, will not be in vain. Do you know what +Non-Co-operation means? You must withdraw your help in moving the +powerful machinery of the Bureaucracy. Do you realise how you can move +this machinery? The Bureaucracy works its wicked will through the +pleaders, through doctors, through clerks, through their police +officers and through Magistrates and Judges. And you now see what the +Calcutta University contributes. It contributes all the strength upon +which the strength of the bureaucracy depends. + +The method that I advocate is the method of sacrifice. If you have to +destroy what you consider your chance of success in life, remember, it +is only to defeat the bureaucracy, and to attain Swaraj. How can +Swaraj be attained unless you realise your own right clearly, +unhesitatingly? How can you compel the bureaucracy to recognise that +which you yourself do not realise? + +I repeat, therefore,--wake up, wake up, wake up. We have slept too +long. Realise the sense of your bondage and stand out boldly and +firmly on the road to Freedom." + +In his Sagar Sangit Chitta Ranjan once sang this song:-- + + "As thou didst call with the roar of thy thunder + In the infinitely musical voice of thy soul, + My life over-flooded its banks + In the heart-churning torrents of thy sound." + +When actually this call came to him, he went forth from place to place +to preach the Swaraj mantra. Bengal was already prepared to adopt it. +Wherever he went, the local people responded in a splendid manner and +national institutions grew up simultaneously. After starting a +national college at Dacca when Chitta Ranjan proceeded to Mymensingh +in the beginning of March 1921, the Joint Magistrate prohibited him +from entering the town. As the Congress had not then sanctioned civil +disobedience, he did not break that order. But on that occasion the +noble message that he sent to his countrymen is even now vibrating in +the air:--"We are treated like helots in our country. Life is +unbearable without Swaraj." He then came to Tangail and in the large +compound of Mr. Wajed Ali Khan Pani's house a mass meeting was held +where the labourers and peasants were present in a large number; the +large-hearted Zaminder Mr. Khan Pani started a national school and for +the benefit of the peasants a granary was proposed. From Tangail +Chitta Ranjan came to Sylhet via Maulavi Bazar and Habigunj and +presided over the Assam Khilafat Conference. The local people accorded +him a splendid ovation, the town was lighted in honour of his visit. +In course of the speech at the Khilafat Conference he said:--"The dawn +of a new era has come. It is the dawn of unity among the different +sects of the Indian people. This unity is never to be broken. We are +all united to attain Swaraj. If in our own home, we cannot preserve +our self-respect, if in our own country we are treated like cats and +dogs, then where shall we get justice? We starve for want of food, we +are turned naked for want of clothing. Our wives and children suffer +humiliation at all times and we lose our lives like insects and worms. +To set this right we want Swaraj. This is needed not only for Hindus +and Musalmans but by every Indian, by every righteous man." + +After completing a long lecturing tour in the Eastern Bengal Chitta +Ranjan came to attend the Provincial Conference at Barisal. In one of +his lectures he said that Swaraj was urgently needed to get rid of the +cultural conquest of the West which has caused the denationalisation +of the Indian people. At the Barisal Provincial Conference he +delivered a very touching lecture on Swaraj in course of which he +said:-- + +"Swaraj is our birth right, it is a divine gift. When you realise +yourself by penances, you shall get freedom from within and without. +We look to others for our education, commerce and government; this is +bondage. We must get rid of that. We cannot even clothe our mothers +and sisters. What servility! We must be free men and not bondsmen as +we are at present. This yearning for Swaraj is meant for our +liberation. We are inimical to no body, ours is a peaceful struggle." + +Chitta Ranjan came back to Calcutta in April 1921 and shortly +afterwards went to Bezwada to attend the meeting of the All-India +Congress Committee held in the middle of April 1921 where it was +decided that as a first step towards the attainment of Swaraj three +things would be necessary:--(1) a crore of rupees to be contributed to +the Tilak Swarajya Fund, (2) a crore of persons to be enrolled as +members of the Indian National Congress and (3) twenty lacs of +spinning wheels to be distributed to the Indian Villages. This first +step was to be completed on or before the 30th June 1921. + +Chitta Ranjan came back and addressed many meetings at Calcutta and +the mufassil asking the people of Bengal to contribute Bengal's quota. +The Anglo-Indian Press and the Moderate Press with one voice declared +that it was beyond human power to work out the Bezwada programme +within such a short time. But when the soul of a nation is awakened, +everything is done in an unexpected manner. On the 1st of July 1921 +the All India Congress Committee declared that contributions to the +Tilak Swarjya Fund exceeded one crore of rupees and that the other two +parts of the Bezwada programme were also accomplished beyond dispute. + +In the mean-time a most deplorable event took place in Bengal. This +was the inhuman treatment of the Assam Tea-garden Coolies at Chandpur. +The tea-garden coolies had been for a long time smarting under acute +grievances. They did not get sufficient food, were now and then +brutally assaulted and even their wives and sisters were subjected to +occasional humiliation at the hands of the European managers. These +exasperated their feelings to such a pitch that they determined to go +back to their own country. In early May 1921 the Coolies of many +tea-gardens at Assam went on strike and in spite of many persuasions +from the Deputy Commissioner and the proprietors of the tea-gardens +they left the gardens for Karimganj. Coolies,--men, women and children +began to pour in from different tea-gardens. They were worn out, +shattered, half-naked and starving. In fact they presented a most +pitiable picture and the local people took charge of their feeding and +clothing. They were also making arrangements for the repatriation of +the Coolies. But the Railway authorities declined to issue tickets to +them. Perhaps they thought that the Coolies would of themselves return +to the gardens if they had to face starvation and were refused tickets +to go home. But the authorities were mistaken. The inhuman treatment +at the gardens had long overstepped the limits of their patience and +now they stood at all costs determined to leave the gardens once for +all. Even they suspected the Government of being implicated with the +managers of the gardens and refused to take food from them when +offered. At the request of the people of Karimganj Mr. J. M. Sen Gupta +went there and wired to the Traffic Manager to withdraw the +unjustifiable order of the local Station Master. The order was +withdrawn and the coolies came down to Chandpur in large numbers. The +Government declined to make any arrangement for their repatriation. + +The coolies were left to their own fate and as it could have been +expected epidemic broke out among them. About midnight on the 20th May +the most horrible tragedy that was ever enacted in Bengal was +witnessed at Chandpur. At the instigation of the local authorities a +band of savage Gurkhas fell upon the innocent men, women and children +who were starving and dying of epidemic. They butchered the coolies +right and left amidst the glee of the Local Magistrate and the +Commissioner. The people of Chandpur were so much agitated over this +matter, that had not the leaders come in an opportune moment to the +place of occurrence there would have ensued a riot of the severest +type. Chitta Ranjan was informed of this event and was wired to come +to Chandpur as early as possible. He at once sanctioned on behalf of +the Provincial Congress Committee 5000 rupees for the relief of the +distressed coolies. The Railway employees went on a sympathetic strike +and Chitta Ranjan started from Goalundo for Chandpur in a boat. The +violent Padma became turbulent and it was most unsafe to face the +waves in a boat. Many of Chitta Ranjan's friends tried to desist him +from such a rash step. But he was not to be stopped. His heart was +moved at the agony of the coolies and go he must to send them back to +their home. If it wished God that he would be drowned, he was ready to +court death at the call of duty. He was accompanied in this perilous +journey by his wife and constant companion Srijukta Basanti Devi. The +wind was raging high, the waves dashed against the boat; cheerfully +did Chitta Ranjan proceed on his journey with his wife. It was his +firm determination to go to Chandpur and arrange for the repatriation +of the coolies. For this he feared not death. After an eventful +journey in course of which he was once overtaken by a heavy storm and +narrowly escaped being drowned Chitta Ranjan reached Chandpur. There +he managed to send a large number of coolies in a special steamer to +Goalundo and arranged for the repatriation of the rest. He came back +to Calcutta with his wife in a cheerful spirit--cheerful, as he knew +that he had been able to do his duty as the leader of Bengal. + +Now when the first stage of the Non-Co-operation movement was so +successfully passed, the Working Committee of the Congress met at +Calcutta in the beginning of September to discuss the second step and +it was decided that the next step would be boycott of foreign cloth. +This step entailed a great difficulty as it would be necessary to make +the people self-reliant and independent of foreign cloth. It +necessitated that spinning should be introduced in every house and +Indians should be encouraged to weave their own clothes. Chitta Ranjan +proceeded on a lecturing tour all over Bengal to preach Swadeshi to +his countrymen and to make it clear to them that the salvation of +India lay in hand-spinning and weaving. In course of one of his +lectures he said:-- + +"At this commencement of a new era in the history of India, you must +take the Swadeshi vow. I know Indians can do everything only if they +_w_ish it. Their fortitude is unique and determination firm. Once take +the vow that you shall not use foreign cloth. If you cannot procure +sufficient country-made cloth, cut one cloth into two pieces and use +them separately. You have no reason to be ashamed of wearing a short +dress. On the other hand if you import fine cloth from Manchester, the +whole world will cry shame upon you. To-day at this dawn of national +consciousness take the vow that you shall wear only country-made +cloth, be it coarse or fine. With it is inter-woven the sweet +affection of your brothers and sisters. It will help you to develop +your manhood." + +In another lecture Chitta Ranjan has said:-- + +"Our national life has become stagnant. We must purify it. This +requires penance for our past sins, this means we should give up all +our luxuries and strive for the realisation of our national spirit." + +In course of one of his mufassil lectures he once remarked:--"Those +who still do not believe in Swaraj, must very soon change their minds. +For they also must strive to attain Swaraj as the only means of +developing their manhood. Swaraj is the birth right of a nation. It +comes to believers and non-believers as a divine blessing." + +When this speech was published in the form of an article, many took it +for a visionary statement; but the time was not very far when it was +actually verified. People who did never believe in Swaraj have +actually joined this movement all on a sudden as if led by Providence. + +While the country was being thus prepared step by step for the +attainment of its ultimate goal, the complete hartal on the 17th +November on the occasion of the Prince's arrival in India unnerved the +Europeans and the Anglo-Indians who saw that without any act of +violence or intimidation the whole of India obeyed the dictates of the +Indian National Congress. Not a murmur was heard, not a complaint +lodged. This produced a heart-burning in the Anglo-Indians whose +representatives urged the Government by saying that it was Gunda Raj +not British Raj on the 17th to take steps in striking the national +movement at its very root. The Bureaucratic Government of India, +misled by the Anglo-Indian Press thought it fit to crush the movement +and the Bengal Government in a fit of frenzy as it were, declared +towards the end of November that the Congress and Khilafat Volunteers +formed an unlawful association. The Working Committee of the Congress +met at Bombay and decided to continue the national service corps in +defiance of the Government notification and enjoined upon all +Congress-men to enlist themselves as Volunteers. Chitta Ranjan came +back to Calcutta from Bombay and convened a meeting of the Provincial +Congress Committee which delegated all its powers to him. In that +capacity Chitta Ranjan thought it proper to send volunteers who would +go from shop to shop requesting the shop-keepers to sell Swadeshi only +and to observe _hartal_ on the 24th December on which day His Royal +Highness the Prince of Wales would arrive at Calcutta. He knew that +the volunteers were to be arrested; yet he sent his only son Srijut +Chira Ranjan Das to lead a batch of volunteers. Chitta Ranjan is a +very affectionate father, his heart is all affection; yet the report +of Chira Ranjan's arrest and six months, rigorous imprisonment, nay, +the cruel assaults on his person did not move Chitta Ranjan in the +least for he knew that son was suffering in the cause of justice and +righteousness. He sent the following message to the persecuted:-- + +"What shall I say to those who have suffered, who are suffering, and +to those who are prepared to suffer for the cause of freedom? I repeat +the message which was delivered by a Persian Poet. + +Truth, love and courage:--that is all you need to learn, all that you +need to remember. "Faith, Fortitude, Firmness, will they falter and +fail and fade at the hour of trial, in the moment of despair", asked +the Saqi in a mournful strain, "Or will they, tried and tested emerge +from the fire of life radiant, strengthened, ennobled, purified?" + +"Not will I forsake them", answered the youth, "not even were the +heavens to fall." + +"Thine then" said the Saqi, "is the path of glory, thine a nation's +gratitude, thine the fadeless crown. + +Would that courage unbent, courage such as thine, be the proud +possession of all! + +For naught but courage winneth life's battle, naught but courage +secureth souls' freedom, man's noblest and highest prize. Let, +courage, then, be thy gift, O God, to this wondrous land of love and +light." + +The day following Chira Ranjan's arrest, Chitta Ranjan's worthy wife +Srijukta Basanti Devi and his noble sister Srijukta Urmila Devi along +with Srijukta Suniti Devi came out at the head of the volunteers. They +drove in a motor car up to the crossing of Harrison Road and College +Street. They got down from the car and walked by the foot path +requesting every one to wear khaddar, to discard foreign clothes and +to observe hartal on the 24th December. When they came back to the +crossing again, they were arrested and sent up to the Jorashanko +Police station. They were conveyed to the Presidency Jail from the +Lalbasar lock-up. Close upon midnight when they had already retired +to bed, they were released unconditionally. The splendid message which +they gave to their countrymen on their arrest is worth quoting here:-- + +"We came out fully prepared for arrest. It was torture for us as +mothers to stay away when our young boys were going to Jail +gloriously. We entreat all our sisters to take up the work left +unfinished. Let them not forget that their place is with their +brothers and sisters imprisoned. Let them realize that they are +practically living in prison, only a bigger one. It is more honourable +to live in a real prison than to breathe the polluted air of the +slave-land. We appeal to the students of Government institutions to +vacate the colleges in a body and take up the struggle for liberty. +Now or never is our last word. This noble struggle will lead us either +to victory or to death. Both are glorious. It must be life or death, +not this slavery any more." + +The arrest of the noble ladies produced a profound impression +throughout the city. Crowds of volunteers began to pour in, in order +to continue Congress and Khilafat work and to court arrest in the act +of doing that. The students of the Colleges struck and enrolled +themselves in hundreds and in thousands as National Volunteers. Even +low class people responded to the country's call. The national work +went on with a redoubled velocity. Srijut Das issued the following +appeal to the people of Bengal:-- + +"Fear of Jail, fear of assaults and fear of being shot down--these are +three fears which every worker must conquer before we can get Swaraj. +We have conquered the fear of Jail; we are about to conquer the fear +of assault. It depends on the Bureaucracy when we shall succeed in +conquering the fear of being shot down. In the mean-time I charge +every one to remember that our success can only depend on non-violence +so real and so perfect that all God-fearing men must come over to our +side." + +In the mean-time His Excellency the Governor invited Chitta Ranjan to +discuss with him the present political situation of Bengal. The points +of view of Chitta Ranjan and his party and also those of the +Government were freely discussed, and criticised but no actual result +came out of it. The Government decided to take the strictest possible +measures and arrest all the prominent leaders. Leaders of other places +outside Bengal--leaders like Lala Lajpat Rai, Pundit Motilal Nehru, +and others were arrested and tried summarily. On the 10th of December +at 4-30 P. M. two Deputy Commissioners went to the house of Srijut +Chitta Ranjan Das and there arrested him along with Srijut Birendra +Nath Sarmal, while they were taking tea. Srijut Das kept up a +dignified and smiling appearance all through. Srijuts Das and Sasmal +were taken to Lalbazar in two Motor-cars. The ladies commenced blowing +conches and crying _ulu_. A large crowd had assembled on the road and +shouts of "Bande-Mataram", "Gandhi Mahatmaki joy", "Deshabandhu Das's +joy" went up from them. The following is the last message sent to his +countrymen by Deshabandhu Chitta Ranjan Das, on the day of his +arrest:-- + +"This is my last message to you, men and women of India! Victory is in +sight, if you are prepared to win it by suffering. It is in such agony +as that through which we are passing that nations are born; but you +must bear this agony with fortitude, with courage and with perfect +self composure. Remember that so long as you follow the path of +non-violence, you put the Bureaucracy in the wrong; but move by a +hair-breadth from the path which Mahatma Gandhi has mapped out for +you, and give away the battle to the Bureaucracy. Swaraj is our goal, +Swaraj not in compartments not by installments; but Swaraj whole and +entire. Now it is for you men and women, to say whether we shall +attain the goal for which we are striving. + +To my Moderate friends I say this. Survey the history of the world +from the beginning of all times. Has any nation yet won freedom by +pursuing the path which you are pursuing? If the appeal should reach +any waverer amongst you, I ask him to consider whether he will now +stand on the side of India in her conflict with the Bureaucracy? There +may be compromise in the matter of details, but there can be no +compromise in the essential question that divides us from the +Bureaucracy. And if you do not stand for India, you assuredly stand +for the Bureaucracy. + +To the students, I say this:--You are at once the hope and the glory +of India. True education does not consist in learning to add two and +two make four; but it lies in the service which you are prepared to +give to the Mother of us all. There is work to be done for the mother: +Who amongst you is prepared to answer the Call?" + + * * * * * + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Chitta Ranjan, by Sukumar Ranjan Das + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41897 *** |