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Home , Chittagong armoury raid, Pritilata Waddedar, Suhasini Ganguly

SPECIAL ARTICLE

Death and Desire in Times of Revolution

Sarmistha Dutta Gupta

This paper engages with the choices made by Pritilata wo recent fi lms, Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey di- Waddedar (1911-32), a member of the -based rected by Ashutosh Gowariker and Chittagong directed by Bedabrata Pain, commemorating the martyrdom of Indian Republican Army, who died on 24 September T Chittagong revolutionaries in India’s struggle for independ- 1932 after successfully leading a siege on the Pahartali ence, dwell at length on (1911-32), revered European Club in Chittagong. Pritilata has long been as a virangana (literally heroic woman) of India’s militant anti- accorded iconic status as a virangana in nationalist imperialist resistance. Long after the British withdrawal from India, till about the 1970s at least, for those growing up in the historiography. Her dying statement has been studied Hindu middle-class families of , Pritilata was a house- by historians to understand whether and how the hold name. She is remembered for her political role in success- politicisation of women in anti-colonial struggles fully leading the siege on the Pahartali European Club in Chit- resulted in a reordering of gender relations. This article tagong and giving up her life thereafter in order to inspire the Indian women to sacrifi ce their lives at the altar of freedom. So engages with the complexity of Hindu women’s it was interesting to note that in both fi lms, Pritilata was por- participation in militant anti-colonial struggles by trayed more as a sexual subject than as a political one. problematising the choices made by them. It attempts Pritilata and Nirmal Sen (1900-32) – second in command to a decentring of knowledge by exposing to scrutiny (1894-1934) in the Indian Republican Army (IRA) – are shown to be open about their mutual attraction from the areas of “private” experience of women in very beginning of these two fi lms. But the fi lms leave us asking “public”/“political” movements through a reading of whether Pritilata was there in IRA because of her attraction for the writings of Pritilata, Kalpana Dutt and Surya Sen. Nirmal Sen or was joining the revolutionary group a conscious “political” choice on her part? This question looms large when, in her fi nal moments, Gowariker shows Pritilata leading the Pahartali siege in a traditional Hindu red-bordered white sari and dying with Nirmal Sen’s name on her lips. She is spared of being the masculinised warrior of nationalist historiography, but come dangerously close to the coloniser’s way of seeing her as a sexualised subject only, especially in Gowariker’s fi lm. While memorialising the martyrs in India’s struggle for independence – most of whom belonged to militant nationalist groups – oral sources and written ones in Bengali (in the form of history textbooks, biographies and commemorative volumes brought out by members of erstwhile secret societies) often referred to Pritilata as the only woman martyr of the agnijug or the fi ery age of revolution since Rani Lakshmibai’s The fi rst draft of this paper was read at a seminar of the Institute death in the battlefi eld in 1858 (Ghosh 1965: 256-58; Ray and of Development Studies, in October 2008. Subsequently, Kishore 1967: 79; Majumdar 1978: 545). These sources turned comments from Modhumita Roy, Jasodhara Bagchi and Shefali Moitra her into a desexualised fi gure and we learnt to believe that the enriched the draft. Swati Ganguly suggested the title of this article. 21-year-old Pritilata, attired in men’s clothing, took potassium Subhasish Mukherjee, Rajib Kundu, Amit Kumar Suman, Ruchira Goswami and Aveek Sen helped variously. Over the years, conversations cyanide after successfully leading the siege on Pahartali Euro- with Kalpana Dutt’s youngest sister Maitreyee Roy, her husband and pean Club so as not to surrender to the police. On the other well-known Marxist critic the late Ajit Roy and their daughter Nandini hand, the British intelligence reports cast her as a typical femi- Roy helped in more ways than can be accounted for. nine fi gure with eroticised overtones that is incapable of any Sarmistha Dutta Gupta ([email protected]) is a Kolkata-based political agency by referring to Pritilata1 as the “lover of independent researcher, literary translator and activist. She is the Nirmal Sen”. author of Identities and Histories, Women’s Writing and Politics in What is often cited is her last testament “Long Live Revolu- Bengal (2010). tion” (Ray 1973: 557-59) found by the police on her body as

Economic & Political Weekly EPW september 14, 2013 vol xlviii no 37 59 SPECIAL ARTICLE well as distributed as pamphlets by members of IRA in Section 2 is centred on the Chittagong revolutionaries and Chittagong after the Pahartali siege (Roy 1993: 82). Excerpts asks what women were doing to the groups they had joined by from this document usually highlight Pritilata’s appeal to her looking at the way Pritilata and Kalpana were rupturing the “sisters” to “get themselves ready to face all dangers and diffi - nature and intention of the leadership vis-à-vis women. Finally, culties and join the revolutionary movement in their thou- drawing on the narratives of these two revolutionary women, sands” as the central focus for her exemplary sacrifi ce. Some this paper deconstructs Pritilata’s choices, with the purpose of scholars have celebrated Pritilata’s declaration that if women complicating the representation of female political icons. “are yet less fi t it is because they have been left behind”, as an emancipatory assertion that points to the social barriers 1 Fight Like a ‘Man’, Nurse Like a ‘Woman’ women like her scaled en route to their political participation When 300 young women from a handful of Calcutta colleges (Mukherjee 1999). Some others have interpreted Pritilata’s marched past in dark-green sarees during the inaugural pa- invocation in her dying statement, of the chaste wives, heroic rade of the 1928 Congress session in Calcutta, Pritilata Wadd- mothers and warrior women of India’s past, as a sign that she edar – to whom we shall return presently – was a 17-year-old could come to terms with her transgression by casting it “in student in Dacca. Mentored by the Bengal Provincial Congress the shape of an extraordinary sacrifi ce demanded by an elect Committee (BPCC) president Subhash Chandra Bose, these girls few at a rare moment” (Sarkar 1989: 240-41; Basu and at the parade had been trained by the founder of Mahila Rash- Banerjee 2006). triya Sangha, Latika Ghose, who believed that like heroines of In this historiographical maze, what is obscured is the fi gure India’s past, women had to realise the shakti within them- of Pritilata the revolutionary, i e, the reasons why she chose selves, and like sparks ignite the fi res that would leave people militant action; and why, indeed, she chose to die. Setting an purifi ed and ready to serve the motherland.2 Bose himself had example for the women of India may have been one reason, been urging Bengali women to appear as embodiments of but not the only reason she had chosen death. That she had Shakti (Forbes 1996a: 28) and it was his idea that a women’s sought her leader Surya Sen’s permission to die if the siege was squad be included in the reception committee of the Calcutta successful and that there may have been a far more layered Congress. Commenting on the girls marching past delegates in narrative of her life and death, was something one does not get The Forward, Bose commented that “there could be traced not to know unless one reads her fellow-revolutionary Kalpana a touch of all the frailties that are so commonly attributed to Dutt’s (1913-95) reminiscences. Manini Chatterjee’s exten- them” (Forbes 2005: 54). sively researched book on the Chittagong uprising, Do and Die: What were the ideological underpinnings of such a sanction The Chittagong Uprising 1930-34 , published nearly 55 years to respectable young women to march in full public view when after Dutt’s memoirs, reiterates the fact that Pritilata sought a teaching girls and working for women’s welfare organisations release through death when she could have escaped (Chatter- were possibly the only viable options for women wanting to jee 1999: 216-24). break out of the confi nes of domesticity? Let us fi rst briefl y re- This essay primarily looks at the writings of Pritilata Wadd- call why Hindu Indian nationalists of the late 19th and early edar, Kalpana Dutt and their leader Surya Sen to problematise 20th century promoted the image of the heroic woman/ the iconic representations of Pritilata to which I have alluded. militant goddess. As Sunder Rajan among others have argued, Its focus is on the “private” experiences of women in “public”/ this was done to elevate both Hindu women’s and Hinduism’s “political” movements rather than on the public realities that self-image and status; to mobilise women to participate in the are more often discussed and debated. I am interested here in freedom struggle; and most importantly, to provide an inspi- the “subjective” as against the “objective” and in the “whole rational symbolic focus for national and communal identity parallel realm” where much of sexual politics is located which through fi gures such as the Bharatmata (Sunder Rajan was until the 1980s considered “private” and outside the scope 1998: 36). of politics (Stree Shakti Sangathana 1989: 28-30). When the British asserted moral superiority over the colo- Section 1 lays out the gendered terrain of militant anti- nised by emphasising the low status of women in India, elite colonial politics in Bengal in order to understand and situate Indians in response began to construct a self-image which the dynamics of Pritilata’s participation. It shows that Pritilata depended on rereading and reconstituting the past as a is not only iconic, but also a representative of a generation of repository of a lost glorious tradition in which the vedic woman middle-class women, who were variously involved in anti- was recast as the highest symbol of Hindu womanhood imperialist political activities. There has been some scholarly (Chakravarti 1989: 27-87). The modern Hindu woman was discussion about how women in the Gandhian movements urged to emulate the high-minded and spiritual women of the went beyond the patriarchalist intentions of the leadership “golden” past. Spiritual power and partnership in religious rites (Sarkar 2006: 551-54; Kaur 1985; Chattopadhyay 1986; Sen in particular were central to this idea of womanhood as these 1990; Minault 1981; Ray 1995; Forbes 1996b, 2005; Everett: could be easily deployed to play other roles in the regeneration 1979; Basu 1976; Kasturi and Mazumdar 1994). But little atten- of the nation (Bagchi 1985: 58-62). By the time of the Swadeshi tion has been focused on how women in militant nationalist movement in Bengal, nationalism was already occupying the groups negotiated with their leaders to create spaces of their place of religion and caste Hindu women were called upon to own (Mandal 1991; Mukherjee 1994; Dutta Gupta 2010). participate in patriotic rites such as pledging to use only

60 september 14, 2013 vol xlviii no 37 EPW Economic & Political Weekly SPECIAL ARTICLE Swadeshi goods, inspiring husbands and sons to boycott Brit- fi red up by “sons like Jibananda” and “daughters like Shanti”, ish goods, and, like Bimala in Rabindranath Tagore’s novel who as ascetics vowed to renounce all ties with family, prop- Ghare Bairey (The Home and the World), donating money and erty and sexuality until their enslaved mother country was gold ornaments to Swadeshi funds. free. Jibananda, belonging to the band of militant ascetics, Alongside the creation of the myth of the vedic woman was had to forsake his wife Shanti in order to be true to his vow. created a second image – that of the virangana. The virangana With the “dynamic uplift” that Bankim Chandra Chatterjee ideal, best epitomised in the historical/mythological fi gures of gave to the role of the sahadharmini or partner in religion “by Rani Durgavati, Tarabai and Lakshmibai, were used to pro- delinking wifehood from the enclosed space of domesticity” mote powerful female models in many parts of the country not (Bagchi 1985: 58-62), Shanti could don the disguise of a only to displace the more prevalent models of female subordi- male sannyasi Nabinanda and fi ght like a virangana by the nation, but also to inspire men as well as women to take up the side of her ascetic husband, strictly following the life of a righteous struggle in defence of the honour of the motherland. celibate warrior. Riding on horseback, armed with a sword and dagger, the Rani As we know, historians have concurred that images like that of Jhansi became a byword for resistance to the British. Op- of the chaste and of Shanti defying normal can- posed as they were to the proponents of non-violence, the mili- ons of femininity legitimised a combative political role for tant nationalists began using the virangana as a potent symbol women in masculine Hinduism and some women like Pritilata in myriad ways. Pictures of the Rani appeared together with Waddedar used these iconic images to catapult themselves revolutionary nationalists from Bengal, Maharashtra and into militant politics (Basu and Banerjee 2006: 419). In doing Punjab – Aurobindo Ghose, and Lala so, they also had to do renunciation like their male counter- Lajpat Rai – during the Ramlila celebrations in Uttar Pradesh parts as sexual renunciation had become synonymous with in 1911 (Hansen 1988: 25-33). A good 15 years after the 1928 spiritual superiority and “manliness”. Renunciation signifi ed Calcutta session of the Congress, we were to see Subhash different things for men and women. While for men it implied Chandra Bose creating one unit of women in his Indian conservation of energy, for women it meant conservation of National Army (INA) and calling it the Rani Jhansi Regiment. chastity. Sexual denial apart, politically active women needed Bose’s inclusion of women too drew signifi cantly on the cult to desexualise themselves completely so as not to pose as sex- of the mother goddess in Bengal. In keeping with the sanction ual threats to men. If for some reason a woman’s sexuality derived from the religious practices of Hindu Bengal, the seemed discomfi ting to the male leadership of a group, she was bhadralok conceived of the country as the great mother fi gure unceremoniously removed.3 and the ideology of motherhood was given an enormous Desexualisation also guaranteed the idea of an activist mas- importance in the cultural life of Bengal (Bagchi 1990: 65-71). culinity and resulted in a deep investment in the sister fi gure In Anandamath (1882), Bankim Chandra Chatterjee politicised (Datta 1999: 224-25). “Brotherly-sisterly” bonds, sometimes the mother goddess image and santans or children of the enforced ritually with women tying rakhis on men and nam- mother country were imagined as worshippers of a female fi gure ing their relationships in kinship terms, helped dim the threat. of the motherland as mother goddess. ’s At the Calcutta session of the Congress, all the men who interrogation of “superior” western masculinity and formula- entered the stalls in the exhibition grounds managed by tion of alternative maleness took its meaning from the worship women volunteers who had earlier taken part in the parade, of Shakti, and the principles of creation in destruction, of were anointed with sandal-paste dots on their forehead by the triumph of good over evil and the auspicious over the their “sisters” (Dasgupta 1989: 61-62). This ritual was an overt inauspicious (Chowdhury 1998). attempt not only to desexualise gender relations, it was also instituted to render the interaction “respectable”. Mother Image in Swadeshi Era In the Swadeshi era, the mother image that was projected Dignity and Innate Modesty in nationalist literature, especially in Bengal, combined “the In Section 2 we shall have occasion to see how women of the affective warmth of a quintessential Bengali mother and the Chittagong group negotiated the threat perception of the men mother goddess Shakti, known under various names as Durga, in order to be accepted within the fold. This entailed a crucial Chandi or Kali, who occupies a very important position in negotiation both as class subjects and gendered subjects. As mainstream religious practice” (Bagchi 1990: 65-71). In Bengal, class subjects, these women had to maintain the boundaries embodiments of Shakti could be both smiling mothers appear- between themselves and women on the street, and as gen- ing heroically as an inspiration for lifting up the spirit of their dered subjects they upheld middle-class notions of virtue. Like sons and they could also be the all-powerful destructive their sisters in non-violent movements who had to be careful Shakti, the goddess who puts fear into the lives of miscreants in preserving their “dignity and innate modesty”, while picket- and slays the demon incarnated in British rule. The demon- ing and in other public roles (Forbes 2005: 47-48), the women slaying Shakti was reborn in the masculinised warrior and who were ready to leave home and take up arms, had to prove literary imagination produced exemplary female icons embod- that they were of the “right kind”. When the IRA leader Surya ying masculine virtues of courage and strength. Since the time Sen agreed to let girl students be a part of the larger group, he of Anandamath, the imagination of the Hindu elite had been was very clear that his associates must be careful to choose

Economic & Political Weekly EPW september 14, 2013 vol xlviii no 37 61 SPECIAL ARTICLE only those who were “reserved” and of “high moral standards” When in college, we would avidly read prison memoirs of revolution- (Dastidar 2001: 37). Here too women of character and grit aries like Aurobindo Ghose’s Karakahini and Upendranath Banerjee’s were necessary to occupy places of honour and responsibility. Nirbashiter Atmakatha. We often wondered: ‘Why can’t we have this kind of a life?’ In addition to that they had to perform any role and be ready – in Shrinkhal Jhankar (1995: 9; emphasis mine). to continually shift between “masculine” and “feminine” roles, as and when necessary, without any everyday challenge to so- I begin this section with quotations from the memoirs of two cially assigned gender roles. Like the Rani of Jhansi, they were well-known revolutionaries of Bengal, Bina Das (1911-86) and expected to adhere to purdah norms while holding court, but Satish Pakrasi (1893-1973). Not only are the quotations from a don male attire in the battlefi eld (Banerjee 2005: 52). Like man and a woman, they belong to two different generations Shanti, they could be imagined to charm British soldiers and hail from quite different family backgrounds. I use these dressed as a boshtomi one minute and then ride away like the quotations to show how the imaginary lives of santans and seasoned warrior Nabinananda, the next. real lives of militant ascetics induced many young middle- In late colonial Bengal, when revolutionary nationalist class to aspire for an existence beyond the ordinary brothers called upon their sisters to join the anti-imperialist and for a life where worldly gains seemed immaterial. Seething cause and acquire muscular fi tness and necessary physical at the “perpetual subjection” and “endless suffering” of their skills, girl students’ associations had begun springing up in country at the hands of the colonisers, and revering the district towns of Bengal. Though all of these groups played a sannyasi-santans as icons of selfl essness, they were keen to key role in making women politically conscious and trained carry on an inspiring tradition of martyrdom. If the all- them physically and mentally for an active political life, most powerful destructive shakti idol/ideal did not appeal to a of them followed a programme of physical culture and social Brahmo woman like Bina Das in the way that it found work, where girls were taught “manly” arts like fencing with resonance in the Hindu-born Satish Pakrasi, the popular sticks and swords, cycling and boxing, as well as “womanly” image of a revolutionary as an asexual renunciate – capable skills in fi rst aid and nursing (Bhattacharjee 1952: 179-80; of supreme sacrifi ce and exemplary courage – certainly did Dutta Gupta 2010:146). If in their outer bodies they were re- (Das 1995: 8-9). Her most favourite novel was Saratchandra quired to be “masculine”, in their inner core they had to re- Chatterjee’s Pather Dabi. The hero Sabyasachi, a mysterious main “modest” and “feminine”. As The Forward comment on and invincible revolutionary, who was incessantly chased the girls marching past Congress delegates shows, these for his boundless love for the motherland, captured Bina’s women were expected to hold back their frailty selectively, so imagination the most. that they could be recognised as parts of Shakti. Celebrating the emergence of women like Pritilata who could take up any Pritilata Waddedar alias Rani task for the country’s freedom, Bose told a group of women Pritilata Waddedar alias Rani – whose dying statement is volunteering for the Rani Jhansi Regiment of INA in 1943: “Our often; quoted to argue that she sought approval for her trans- brave sisters…have shown that when the need arises they gression by recalling the heroic women of India’s past – was could, like their brothers, shoot very well” (Forbes 1996a: 38; also inspired by this notion of politics as supreme sacrifi ce. emphasis mine). What is too often overlooked is the fact that in the same state- Some of the women who had chosen to take up arms as anti- ment she had also asserted that the imperial subjects may have found the goddess-virangana in “captured the imagination” of young people like model empowering and could have sought acceptance within her and “gave a new impetus to the revolutionaries of Bengal”. the same cognitive frame. But we need to ask, what else made It is important to remember that reading some revolutionary them choose the life of a militant ascetic? And once their literature which her cousin Purnendu Dastidar had given her choice was made how did they cope with the pressures of a (Dastidar 2001: 32), and stirred by the heroic exploits of the masculinist nationalism? What did it cost women who dared Chittagong-based IRA, Pritilata wanted to be a part of their to walk tightrope of trying to be essentially “feminine” and yet revolutionary activities while still in school. As we shall see in selectively invoke the demon-slaying Shakti? Some of them the course of this paper, coming face to face in her college days had to pay for their choices not only in life, but trapped in with a world of brave young men who were willing to risk stereotypical representations, sometimes long after death. We everything to end the tyranny of British rule, made her now turn to Pritilata Waddedar to understand her multiple choose the kind of politics that she did. struggles in trying to live up to the demands and expectations It is also critical to point out here that the fi rst group that of such a nationalism. Pritilata joined in 1928 was Leela Nag’s Deepali Sangha in Dacca which was set up with the specifi c intention of making 2 Between Men women politically conscious. However, when she met Surya We, the members of the , would practise wielding the Sen alias Master-da in 1932, a few months before her death, lathi and parade daily in a spot of clearing surrounded by bamboo she made it very clear that she was not interested in the type of groves and mango and jackfruit trees. We would meet here every evening and imagine ourselves as the santans of Anandamath, dedi- work “women’s organisations” did (Sarkar 2000: 14). She cated to the cause of freeing our mother-country from bondage. probably believed that unless she took the risks that her revo- – Satish Pakrasi in Agnijuger Katha (1982: 13; emphasis mine.) lutionary “brothers” were taking in direct combat, she would

62 september 14, 2013 vol xlviii no 37 EPW Economic & Political Weekly SPECIAL ARTICLE never be able to prove that she was equal to them in her devo- following the Armoury Raid and most young men becoming tion and competence. This, in turn, refl ects that Pritilata had political suspects, women were needed more than ever to form accepted the division between the “social” and the “political” a bulwark to militant groups. Intertwined with this is the fact and internalised the ideological position that the work of that since the mid-1920s, a sizeable section of middle-class, women’s organisations was “social” and never equal in impor- upper-caste Hindu women had begun forming their own con- tance to the “political” work done by men. The tension pro- sciousness-raising collectivities like Deepali Sangha of Dacca, duced by this stereotypical binary also infl uenced Pritilata’s Chhatri Sangha of Calcutta and Shakti Sangha of Barisal. choice and manifests how gender interacts with history at an These young women’s groups began pressing for the right to extremely palpable level. be included in political movements (Dutta Gupta 2010: 145-47). When Surya Sen fi rst heard from the IRA member Purnendu We already know that in such times Pritilata had come in about his cousin Pritilata, the latter was studying in the touch with Deepali Sangha and found that the group sought Intermediate Section of Dacca’s Eden College (Dastidar 2001: membership from girls. Having been denied the opportunity 36). Founded in 1918 by Surya Sen, Ambica Chakrabarty and of joining IRA till then, Pritilata triumphantly showed the others, in the second phase of the militant resistance in Bengal membership form of Deepali Sangha to her cousin Purnendu between 1923 and 1926, the IRA had started recruiting scores who had counted on her for covert support like safekeeping of young men – some of them teenagers – through a physical of books. It was then that the latter fi nally told Surya Sen training club started by leading members and about Pritilata (Dastidar 2001: 34-35) and Sen agreed to (Chatterjee 1999: 24). As a means to combat the accept her as a member in principle (ibid: 39). British colonial perceptions of the “effeminate Bengali” which had come into circulation since the mid-19th century, gymna- Process of Defeminisation siums and physical exercise clubs had become even more Recalling Pritilata and Kalpana’s entry into the group, Surya popular. As Nirad Chaudhury notes, these gyms were Sen writes that although he himself was not averse to the idea “institutions for giving training in patriotism, collective disci- of including women, he categorically states that he never pline and ethics of nationalism” (Chaudhury 1964: 244). From thought they could be of much use except as sympathisers and the time of the , these clubs or akharas behind-the-scene “helpers”. This was in part because the so- had also proved rich recruiting grounds for revolutionary cial conventions shackling middle-class Hindu women would groups all over Bengal. Such institutions tried to inculcate not allow them to fully participate in the kind of militant the practice of sexual abstinence in young men and the self- activities that the group engaged in (Sarkar 2000: 4). Three discipline ingrained here was supposed to help entrants in years later when he was actually to meet Pritilata in a village their preparation for a life of non-attachment to worldly ties. hideout and had sent a messenger to accompany her there Women’s entry into these masculine cultural spaces was one evening, he still was not quite expecting to see her. “I strictly forbidden and those who had begun to be accepted thought would it be possible for a girl who had a family and much later had to erase all markers of their sexuality in order guardians. …After all she was not a man who needn’t bother to gain entry. to seek permission from her family before stepping out on her The Chittagong group was no different. As celibate warri- own”, he wrote (ibid: 12). Since ground realities stood in the ors, most IRA members wanted women to be kept out of the way of women’s participation, he believed they could possibly way, perceiving them as sexual threats, which also had the be considered as associates. The fact that Surya Sen wrote power to destabilise the male bonding within the group. In his about his perceptions about women in his unfi nished piece unfi nished piece “Female Organisation” (sic), written in “Female Organisation”, while he was on the run in 1933, abscon dence in the last days of his life, Surya Sen admits, “My shows both his fl exibility to change and the remarkable comrades couldn’t think of such a thing at all and if they resilience and determination of some women in bringing came to know that anyone was trying to recruit girls, they about this change.4 Kalpana and Pritilata knew that as would go out of their way to severely censure that person” “uninitiated” members they would never be part of the core (Sarkar 2000: 5). Most of the organisers were single men and group and would never be given any important work.5 although Surya Sen was married, he never lived with his wife So they were resolute in their demand to be included as Pushpakuntala, having pledged his sexual energy to the na- “initiated” members. tion (Begum 2004). As Kalpana Dutt recalled, it was an “iron When Sen met Kalpana in 1931 and Pritilata in 1932, it was a rule for revolutionaries that they should keep aloof from litmus test for both of them. They both met Sen quite late at women” (Dutt 1945: 12) and some of them like Ananta Singh night and having walked several miles to a village hideout were deeply distrustful of the opposite sex, “so much so that he from Chittagong town. In the very fi rst meeting Kalpana had could not trust men who were associated in any way with any proved that she was “physically fi t”, “mentally strong”, “eager girl” (ibid: 21). to take part in action”, had a “high endurance level”, was As most IRA members were hostile to the idea of women’s “willing to sacrifi ce comforts” and “would be able to respond entry, when the group rocked the nation with the Chittagong to the leader’s calls at any hour without succumbing to family Armoury Raid, it was an all-male endeavour. But with severe pressure” (Sarkar 2000: 10). The leader observed that “though repressive measures unleashed by the British government it was raining heavily both when she came and when she left

Economic & Political Weekly EPW september 14, 2013 vol xlviii no 37 63 SPECIAL ARTICLE and it was muddy all around, not even once did she stumble. Tagore penned Ela and Antu’s love story Char Adhyay in 1934 Just this one meeting was enough to convince us of these in the context of the “revolutionary terrorist” movement in strengths of hers” (ibid). Though Kalpana, an undergraduate Bengal, most revolutionaries felt betrayed by their “very own in chemistry, had been transporting nitric acid and sulphuric Rabindranath” who could imagine them “getting embroiled in acid from Calcutta to Chittagong, making bombs at home and such a gross love story!” (Acharya 1988: 286; Dutta Gupta had even got herself transferred from Calcutta’s Bethune 2011: 47-66). College to the local college in her hometown so that she could be near the nerve centre of activities, she had to prove her 3 Do and Die worth by performing a more overt and more commonly recog- Although Kalpana lived to tell parts of her story, Pritilata did nised masculinity. That is, she ignored social restrictions on not. This section tries to posit Pritilata’s “private” self, through her mobility, walked in darkness with a stranger in torrential fragments of her own writing and that of Kalpana, as crucial to rains without showing any signs of fatigue or fear and proved understanding what the political process of entering a “mascu- her competence in “handling machines”. It was then that she line” institution meant for a person like her who believed that was accepted in the inner circle of the group (Sarkar 2000: she was “brought up in the best traditions of Indian woman- 10). More than a year later, when Kalpana was leading the life hood” (Waddedar 1932) and whose socialisation prepared her of an absconder with Surya Sen, one day he had told her, “I in no way to play the roles of a masculinised warrior. just could not make up my mind about letting girls abscond. We have seen how Kalpana and Pritilata demonstrated their But their courage and composure made up my mind for me” capabilities so that they could move beyond the auxiliary role so (Dutt 1945: 12). far assigned to women. Both were deeply conscious of their sta- Disguised as men for the most part, the women had to prove tus as colonised subjects since their schooldays (Dutt 1945: 51). their mettle by engaging in “masculine” activities such as But both were temperamentally very different. Kalpana was a scaling walls, hiding in jungles, crawling along the ground or “tomboy”, climbing trees and the hills of Chittagong ever since diving in ditches to avoid getting captured or bringing any she was a child. Later, in Calcutta’s , she would harm to the group. In overcoming all timidity, awkwardness run down the stairs every morning and practise cycling in the and inhibitions while moving around in the company of male college grounds (Dutt 1991). Pritilata, on the other hand, was comrades and strangers, these women had to “relearn” and more of a “feminine” persona. She was an introverted, gentle, “re-establish” their bodies “in a totally revolutionary fashion” quiet person who could write well, sing and had a literary bent (Fanon 1967 : 59), not unlike women used to being behind of mind (Dutt 1946: 78-81). She would be seen playing the veils taking up arms against colonial occupation elsewhere in fl ute alone on the rooftop of Bethune College in the evenings the world. For Pritilata and her friends, successful degender- (Dastidar 2001: 49). ing meant earning the trust of even someone as bitterly Kalpana describes an incident in her memoirs to emphasise opposed to female participation as Ananta Singh, which her friend’s “extremely gentle character”. Once during Puja Kalpana considered one of her most signifi cant achievements holidays when she had gone over to Pritilata’s for a feast, they (Dutt 1946: 44-47). were discussing who could slaughter a goat. While Kalpana Not only did the young women have to establish they were said, “Of course, I can. There’s nothing much in it,” Pritilata more than equals of men by going through a process of felt, “When I am ready to give up my own life for the country’s “defeminisation”, but like their sisters in non-violent move- freedom, I won’t hesitate a bit to take somebody’s life too if ments, they had to be constantly alert against being repri- necessary. But I shall not be able to kill a poor harmless crea- manded for any moral lapse. Under such scrutiny, women ture so coolly” (Dutt 1945: 56, 1946: 80). However, after the began to censor their own instincts and impulses. Though Chittagong Armoury Raid, convinced by the idea that in the Kalpana felt attracted to Tarakeshwar Dastidar, she could righteous war against the British it was necessary to sacrifi ce not even think of admitting it to herself. As late as 1991, one’s life at the altar of the mother country after legitimately nearly 60 years after Tarakeshwar had been hanged, Kalpana taking other lives,6 this gentle soul had grown impatient to said in a published interview that Surya Sen was not too plunge into work. happy whenever he found her and Tarakeshwar in conversa- Sensing her anxiety and eagerness to be a part of the tion (Dutt 1991). Irrespective of gender, as revolutionaries group’s daring exploits, an elderly woman whose home in both Tarakeshwar and Kalpana believed in the need to Calcutta was a support centre for the revolutionaries, sug- renounce affective relationships of a sexual kind till freedom gested that Pritilata provide succor to Ramkrishna Biswas in was won. Neither of them had ever spoken to each other his death cell in (Dastidar 2001: 77). Biswas was about their feelings. It was only when Tarakeshwar had sentenced to death for assassinating inspector Tarini Mukher- been tried and sentenced to death and knew his days were jee in Chandpur and was hanged on 4 August 1931. Before his numbered, did he ask Kalpana, “Will you wait for me if I death Pritilata met him 40 times disguised as his sister Amita come back?” (ibid). Das (Dutt 1946: 79). Some of Pritilata’s papers found by the Subordinating all other loves to the love of one’s mother police show that Biswas’ “calm surrender to death, sincere country, these patriots were permitted to function only as devotion to God, childlike simplicity” impressed her deeply. political subjects. No wonder then that when Rabindranath Though Pritilata wrote that she felt “ten times more inspired”

64 september 14, 2013 vol xlviii no 37 EPW Economic & Political Weekly SPECIAL ARTICLE to fi ght for freedom after meeting Biswas (Chatterjee 1999: created a huge impression on her. She seemed to have freely 289), she was also greatly depressed immediately after he talked to him about her meetings with Ramkrishna Biswas was hanged – so much so that she stopped attending classes and how she negotiated her duties towards her country for some time and let the college authorities know that she and her family (ibid: 18-20). For an introvert like Pritilata, would not be appearing for her honours papers (Dastidar who had to keep her family and friends in the dark about her 2001: 81). Immediately after her fi nal examination in April role in the secret society, this camaraderie that she was able 1932, she returned to Chittagong and took up a teaching job to strike up with someone in a position to guide her, must in a girls’ school there. have meant a lot. That night at Dhalghat when the police ar- So far Pritilata’s fi rst “action”, so to speak, was to perform rived, she was ordered by Surya Sen to be with the women the “feminine” role of providing emotional support and tender downstairs. Within seconds of her going down, Nirmal Sen company to Biswas in his last days. But getting to know him killed Cameron and in the crossfi re that followed, the revolu- closely brought her face to face with a world of fearless tionary was fatally wounded. Recalling those painful moments, young men. Biswas and his comrades had adopted a “Death Pritilata wrote: Programme” in 1929. Deeply inspired by the Irish struggle for It was not possible for me to stay still any longer. I tried to run up independence, the Chittagong group had earlier named but the women held me back. I could hear Nirmal-da’s agonising themselves after the Irish Republican Army that had master- shriek, ‘Rani, Rani!’ I tried my best to run up. …I could just about minded the Easter Rising in Dublin in April 1916. The IRA free myself once and began running up the stairs but when I had gone halfway, they again hauled me down. Nirmal-da was still leaders wanted to re-enact the Easter Rising in Chittagong calling for me, ‘Rani, Rani, Rani.’ I just couldn’t bear his heart- because they believed that the heroic deaths of brave young wrenching cries. If I could only just be with him once in those last men in armed battle against the British, would spark off minutes, I don’t know what he might have told me. But God didn’t let mass protest and anger and ultimately lead to an end of me see him before he breathed his last. This failure is piercing me to colonial rule in India. The IRA’s Death Programme was the core and threatening to shatter my equanimity (Sarkar 2000: 20; Roy 1993: 76). adopted after the Chittagong revolutionaries were incensed with Jatin Das’ death on the 63rd day of his hunger strike in The suddenness and ferocity of that night’s encounter, the Lahore jail on 13 September 1929 (Chatterjee 1999: 54-61). fi rst that Pritilata witnessed and the one in which she lost two It was their pledge to “Do and Die” and Pritilata wanted to comrades, one of whom called out to her as he lay dying, shook emulate the daring men of IRA by getting into “direct action” her to the core. Being a disciplined member of a revolutionary as soon as possible. party, Pritilata had to refuse to privilege her personal need to be with Nirmal Sen in his fi nal moments. While outwardly Pri- Camaraderie and Commitment tilata proved her mettle so as not to be considered “womanly” But three months before her “martyrdom”, on 13 June 1932, and unpatriotic, she was struggling to come to terms with Pritilata received a severe jolt. When she had gone to meet Nirmal Sen’s death inwardly. True to her resolve to fi ght the Surya Sen in Dhalghat village on 12 June 1932, Nirmal Sen – British, she did not break down after this brush with death and with whom she shared a close camaraderie – and a young lead an absconder’s life from 5 July till her death on 24 Sep- comrade Apurba Sen were also there. On the second day of tember 1932, all the time on the run with Surya Sen from her visit, shortly after Pritilata had performed the traditional village to village. role of cooking and serving a meal, they suddenly found This was the time she had to prove her physical fi tness, themselves surrounded by the police late at night. What endurance level, ability to forego all comforts, and extent of followed was a bloody battle in which both the leader of detachment with home and family. This is not to suggest that the police team and Nirmal Sen were killed. Surya Sen men joining revolutionary nationalist groups did not have to tried to escape to another hideout taking Pritilata and Apurba prove all of this. Trapped in gender stereotypes, some of them with him. But Apurba, whose meal Pritilata had affection- must have suffered greatly while trying to live up to notions ately watched over earlier like an elder sister, was shot dead of “manliness” and “heroism” and for having to suppress while the three of them were making their way through their innate natures while infl icting violence on others. But the jungle (Sarkar 2000). This “encounter” deeply affected for women like Pritilata it not only meant overcoming one’s Pritilata and she struggled to come to terms privately with it emotional resistances in living the life of a masculinised even as she was leading an extremely dangerous absconder’s warrior among men, as we have seen earlier it also meant life publicly. having to perform “feminine” roles like cooking and looking Going underground soon after, Pritilata tried to extricate a after male comrades as and when required. However, the form of selfhood through writing and it is her piece entitled tension produced as a result of continually having to shift Abishwaranio Sannidhho or “An Unforgettable Closeness” between “traditional” and “revolutionary” roles was not which helps us recover her short-lived friendship with Nirmal something that was recognised by patriarchal groups. They Sen and every detail of the fi nal moments at Dhalghat as did not empathise with the practical and emotional issues perceived by her (Sarkar 2000: 18-20). Pritilata had met generated out of such gendered dilemmas. As women’s Nirmal Sen a couple of times before she got a chance to meet “private” experiences were relegated beyond the recognised Surya Sen and the easy-going commandant with “fi ery eyes” “public” realm, women had to carry “the double burden of a

Economic & Political Weekly EPW september 14, 2013 vol xlviii no 37 65 SPECIAL ARTICLE [mostly unrecognised] ‘private’ struggle tacked on the public If it were Pritilata’s choice to join a militant group, partici- one” (Stree Shakti Sangathana 1989: 28-30). pate in “direct action” and die a martyr’s death, then it was her leader’s prerogative to decide if she could do so and impose ‘Dangerous Action’ team-leadership on her. No other revolutionary party in India Besides, the nationalist enterprise of which Pritilata became had a woman leading a group of men in “action” till then. an icon, commanded its devotees entirely to reserve all affec- Pritilata’s achievement in such a role would surely mean IRA tive space for an abstract devotion to the mother country. So scoring a fi rst, as much as it would mean giving a fi tting reply not only did Pritilata have to repress her own true self while to the imperialists claiming their supremacy by propagating living the life of a warrior woman and stifl e her feelings for the inferior status of the Indian women. Putting a woman – losing Nirmal Sen, she also had to remain separated from who had led a gender-segregated and quiet life – at the heart of her parents and four siblings. They were fi nancially hard up the combat would most powerfully testify to the violence and and Pritilata had in fact taken up a school teaching job to inhumanity of the colonial occupation. run the household (Dutt 1946: 82). Having to sever all Surya Sen’s writings also show that he believed that by ties with her family soon afterwards and leaving them to appointing Pritilata to lead and by giving her permission to fend for themselves, could not have been easy for her. In a die, he had helped her “fulfi l her dream” of “sacrifi cing herself poignant letter written to her mother, Pritilata had begged at the feet of the [mother country] goddess” (Sarkar 2000: 14). forgiveness and asked her to sacrifi ce one child to free the For the leader, the desired impact of Pritilata’s sacrifi ce was to mother country from enslavement (Dasgupta 1989: 132-33). see more and more women as the fi erce Shakti personifi ed. So In such intense mental turmoil, it was during this period of it is not improbable that to make it exemplary, Sen may have abscondence that Pritilata insisted on dying in a “dangerous edited Pritilata’s last testament. Manini Chatterjee’s research action” (Chatterjee 1999: 220). shows us that of Surya Sen’s papers seized by the police after By this time, that is between December 1931 and February his arrest, a copy of this testament was found with “some 1932, Shanti Ghosh and Suniti Chowdhury, two schoolgirls additions” in Surya Sen’s “own handwriting” (Chatterjee from respectable families of Comilla and Bina Das, a college 1999: 256). What would perhaps no longer be known is how student from Calcutta, had already stunned the nation by much of this often-cited last statement was edited by the taking up arms to assassinate high-ranking British offi cers and leader before it was published and widely circulated by IRA were serving life sentences. But the “revolutionary terrorist” and without this knowledge we will continue to attribute its movement was yet to see women in armed insurrection entire authorship to Pritilata. and get its fi rst woman martyr. Convinced of Kalpana and What is remembered about the Pahartali siege was how a Pritilata’s willingness and capabilities of being in “action”, young woman of 21 led a team of seven men bravely and Surya Sen included them in the Pahartali team after an earlier successfully and became the fi rst woman “martyr” of the fi ery attempt to raid the European Club had failed. But Kalpana was revolutionary movement. That Pritilata was unable to come arrested eight days before the siege while returning home to terms with her “private” grief and turmoil and chose not to disguised as a man (ibid: 286-87) and after her arrest, the come back alive if the siege was successful under her leader- mantle fell on Pritilata. ship, has not been recognised. Her “political” act has not On the morning of the Pahartali siege, Surya Sen ordered been seen in relation to the opacity, mystery and complexity Pritilata to lead the team. By then she had already spent a cou- of the private, as the public/political arena has disallowed ple of trying months in hiding and had earned the trust and any recognition of the private and the intimate. respect of not only the leader, but her other comrades too. But It is possible for us to argue that there may not be a single true to Pritilata’s introverted and self-effacing nature, she motive but a cluster of motives that drove Pritilata to choose openly hesitated to lead the eight-member team though her death. It was as if by taking part in a dangerous action, teammate Bireswar Roy writes that her seven male comrades Pritilata wished to kill the enemy and kill herself in the same “unhesitatingly accepted Priti-di” as their “leader” (Roy 1993: 81-83). As parts of her diary and the last statement also reveal, obsession with wanting to take part and die in a “dangerous EPW Index action” could not uproot her selfhood to such an extent that An author-title index for EPW has been prepared for the years from she got over all her inhibitions to be able to lead, rather than 1968 to 2012. The PDFs of the Index have been uploaded, year- follow (ibid: 84). In response to her hesitance, Surya Sen wise, on the EPW web site. Visitors can download the Index for had asserted: all the years from the site. (The Index for a fewyearsis yet to be Bengal doesn’t lack brave young men today. From Baleswar to prepared and will be uploaded when ready.) Kalarpol, their daring feats have infused fresh blood into the land time and again. But the fact that Bengal today is producing mother- EPW would like to acknowledge the help of the staff of the kind ready to play the role of Shakti in every home, has not yet gone library of the Indira Gandhi Institute for Development Research, down in the annals of history. Let your victory or your sacrifi ce ensure that that episode gets written – this is what I wish. Let the British Mumbai, in preparing the index under a project supported by the know, let the world take cognisance that women of our country are no RD Tata Trust. longer lagging behind (ibid:84).

66 september 14, 2013 vol xlviii no 37 EPW Economic & Political Weekly SPECIAL ARTICLE instance. As a colonised Indian driven to despair by British 1970, did not say anything about Nirmal Sen’s last moments at atrocities, Pritilata may have preferred death to a life of Dhalghat though her biographer quotes from other parts of her degradation. It could have originated from her wanting to pro- diary. And possibly it is for the same reason that parts of test social injustice against women as she clearly said in her Pritilata’s diary which gives voice to her uncensored feelings, last statement that if women “are yet less fi t it is because they has not been published until very recently (Sarkar 2000; have been left behind”. But her despair, which led her to prefer Ghosh 2007). death to life, seems to have been drawn from the deepest well- Interestingly, even Pritilata’s last testament seems to springs of her “private” grief. have been selectively appropriated. Towards the end of her statement, Pritilata invoked “the Almighty” to help her dis- Locating the Voice charge her “grave duty” and declared that “Today I have come Looking back on the time when the news reached Kalpana in fi nally prepared to embrace His feet”. Perhaps when she her prison cell that her friend had died leading the Pahartali thought of her country, the invincible image of the Almighty siege, Kalpana wrote: Krishna emerged before her, like the Vaishnav Santans of Priti had grown eager to take part in action after Ramkrishna-da’s Anandamath who worshipped Lord Krishna as the demon- death. Then she met Master-da. Nirmal-da’s death in the Dhalghat slayer. But mention of the “Almighty Father” has been mostly encounter disturbed her greatly...The death of two of her very dear expunged from her widely published statement (Roy 1993: 85- ones had caused her immense pain (Dutt 1946: 79-80). 86). Is it because the Chittagong revolutionaries, most of Grief seems to have superseded all other emotions when she whom had turned to communism in prison in the late 1930s, chose to die in a public action and the very nature of her grief were not comfortable with such an invocation of the almighty? makes the line between the private and the public rather fuzzy. Or in their baffl ement, did they decide to purge whatever As Kalpana realised, Pritilata’s choice was made for not being was mysterious? able to come to terms with the death of her closest comrades Postcolonial theorists like Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak have and she was incapable of forgetting Nirmal Sen’s dying mo- shown us that knowledge is never innocent and is generated ments. Besides, having sacrifi ced her duty towards her family in the interests of its producers. In Pritilata’s case, the histo- for her duty towards the country, Pritilata was desperately try- ries that have been produced and circulated – almost never ing to come to terms with the kind of patriotism that regarded emerging from the location of the subaltern woman – have sacrifi ce of all affective ties with home and hearth as an affi r- not been interested in grappling with the complexity of mation of masculinity. Pritilata’s choices. As a result, the more she has been cele- Such a masculinity demanded astounding spiritual power brated as an icon, the less has grown the possibility of and martial prowess and would naturally want to represent hearing her voice. Alternative histories of Pritilata’s life and Pritilata’s taking of her own life, after successfully executing death got silenced, just as the stories of unheard and unseen the group’s plan of action and seeing off her teammates women in revolutionary groups like IRA did not form a part of to safety, as avowal of supreme strength and patriotism. mainstream histories.7 But I would still argue, the last word is Those who failed to successfully lead/complete a mission Pritilata’s in the way she chooses death and effaces herself often found it diffi cult to confront the “failure”. This, of through her fi nal public statement. In “Can the Sublatern course, was not something particular to women, a case in Speak?”, the 17-year-old unmarried Hindu Bengali woman, point being Saileswar Chakraborty, the leader of the fi rst Bhubaneswari Bhaduri’s act of taking her own life while she team that attempted the attack on the Pahartali club, who was menstruating, foreclosed the possibility of interpreting took his own life rather than carry the burden of “disgrace” her death as an act of shame for an illegitimate pregnancy after a failed attempt. In Pritilata’s case, an acknowledgement (Spivak 1988: 314-15), Pritilata Waddedar’s suicide after by her compatriots that her suicide could be because of her successfully leading an “action” and seeing off all her com- inability to cope with “private” grief and inner struggle, rades to safety, foreclosed the possibility of interpreting her would tantamount to her death looking “unheroic” and decision as incompetence, dereliction of duty and privileging “non-martyrlike”. of the private over the public. It was only Kalpana who resisted this martyrology and Sixty-six years after India’s Independence from the British, wrote that, “I was convinced that she (Pritilata) could have do we still need to portray Pritilata either as a desexualised done much more by coming back alive. If only I were by her icon of valour or as a desiring woman without a political side, in action together, I would never have let her commit sui- agency of her own? Must we interpret her choices only cide” (Dutt 1945: 46). Unlike Surya Sen, it was important for through the lens of over-public statements that have been Kalpana to understand her comrade’s private struggle and part of the master narrative? Or, do we need to frame dissuade her from choosing death rather than be a political new questions befi tting the complexity of the choices and the example before the women of the country through her martyr- gendered dilemmas she and some of her contemporaries dom. For most of their other comrades, it seems it was far more faced? This essay is only a search in that direction – to recast important to represent Pritilata as a political icon free from female political icons like Pritilata Waddedar in a multiple- affect. It is possibly because of this that Pritilata’s biography by registered way that can accommodate politics, religion as her cousin and comrade Purnendu Dastidar, fi rst published in well as affect.

Economic & Political Weekly EPW september 14, 2013 vol xlviii no 37 67 SPECIAL ARTICLE

Notes – (1990): “Representing Nationalism: Ideology of Ghosh, Shankar (2007): Pritilata (Kolkata: Pro- 1 “Terrorist Outrage at Pahartali Institute, Motherhood in Colonial Bengal”, Economic & metheus Publishing House). Chittagong”, Letter No 1628/6/G-3 (Secret) in Political Weekly, 20-27 October: 65-71. Hansen, Kathryn (1988): “The Virangana in North- Home Poll D8671/32, National Archives of Banerjee, Sikata (2005): Make Me A Man! Mascu- Indian History, Myth and Popular Culture” in India, Government of India. linity, Hinduism and Nationalism in India (Al- Economic & Political Weekly, 30 April: 25-33. bany: State University of New York Press). 2 Banglar Katha, Ashwin 11, 1335 BS/1928. Lahiri, Agamani and Bijaykumar Nag (1999): Basu, Subho and Sikata Banerjee (2006): “The 3 Barun De recalled in a conversation with the Shikhamayee Lila Ray (The Leading Light That Quest for Manhood: Masculine Hinduism and author in February 2011 about his mother Was Lila Ray) (Kolkata: Jayashree Prakashan). Nation in Bengal” in Comparative Studies of Pramila De’s (Gupta) association with a revolu- Kasturi, Leela and Vina Mazumdar (1994): ed, South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, Vol 26, Women and Nationalism (Delhi: Vikas). tionary group as a student of Bethune College No 3: 416-90. around 1929-30. He pointed out that the revo- Kaur, Manmohan (1985): Women in India’s Freedom Begum, Maleka (2004): Surjya Sener Stree Pushpa- lutionary-turned-communist Suhasini Gangu- Struggle (Delhi: Sterling Publishers). kuntala o Chattagramer Biplobi Narider Katha ly had told him sometime in the 1950s about Majumdar, Ramesh Chandra (1978): History of (Surya Sen’s Wife Pushpakuntala and the Rev- the circumstances under which Pramila was Modern Bengal, Vol 2 (Kolkata: G Bharadwaj). olutionary Women of Chittagong) (Kolkata: suddenly asked to make herself scarce by the Papyrus). Mandal, Tirtha (1991): The Women Revolutionaries party leaders. They thought that as a pretty of Bengal 1905-39 (Kolkata: Minerva Associates). Bhattacharjee, Kalyani (1952): Jibon Adhyayan (A woman Pramila was a bit of a distraction and Study of Life) (Kolkata: Saraswati Library). Minault, Gail (1981): ed, The Extended Family: her presence had begun attracting informers Women and Political Participation in India and and the police as well. Chakravarty, Uma (1989): “Whatever Happened to the Vedic Dasi?” in Kumkum Sangari and Pakistan (Delhi: Chanakya Publications). 4 Apart from Pritilata and Kalpana, some of the Sudesh Vaid (ed.), Recasting Wome: Essays in Mukherjee, Ishanee (1994): “Women and Armed other women who were variously part of IRA Indian Colonial History (New Delhi: Kali for Revolution in Colonial Bengal: An Integrated activities between 1930 and 1934, include Women), 27-87. Study of Changing Role-Patterns” in Leela Kas- , Indumati Sinha, Premlata Dey, Chatterjee, Manini (1999): Do and Die: The Chit- turi and Vina Mazumdar (ed.), Women and Mrinalini Sen, Sarojini Pal, Kamala Banerjee, tagong Uprising 1930-34 (Delhi: Penguin India). Nationalism (Delhi: Vikas). Renu Ray, Binodini Sen, Manorama Gupta, – (1999): “Scaling the Barrier: Women, Revolu- Khirodprobha Biswas and Sabitri Chakraborty. Chattopadhyaya, Kamaladevi (1986): Inner Recesses, Outer Spaces (Delhi: Navrang). tion and Abscondence in Late Colonial Bengal,” 5 In Anandamath, the leader Satyananda ex- Indian Journal of Gender Studies, Vol 6 No 1: plains to the newcomer Mahendra that santans Chaudhury, Nirad C (1964): The Autobiography of an Unknown Indian (Delhi: Jaico). 61-78. are of two types – the initiated and the uniniti- Pakrasi, Satish (1982): Agnijuger Katha (The Fiery ated. The initiated are those who have re- Chowdhury, Indira (1998): The Frail Hero and Virile History. Gender and the Politics of Culture in Age of Revolution) (Kolkata: Nabajatak Pra- nounced everything and they are the only ones kashan). who could be entrusted with important work. Colonial Bengal (Delhi: Oxford University Press). Ray, Rakshit (1973): Bharotey Sashastro Biplab Bankim Rachanabali (Kolkata: Sahitya Samsad, (India’s Armed Revolution) (Kolkata: Rabindra 1977), Vol 1, 756. Das, Bina (1995): Shrinkhal Jhankar (The Clang of Chains) (Kolkata: Jayashree Prakashan). Library). 6 Since the time of the Swadeshi movement, ex- Ray, Rakshit Bhupendra Kishore (1967): Sabar tremist literature in Bengal had tried to create – (2010): Bina Das: A Memoir (Translated by Dhira Dhar) (Delhi: Zubaan). Alokshey (Away from the Public Eye), Vol 1 a vanguard of revolutionaries prepared for self- (Kolkata: Bengal Publishers), 79. sacrifi ce through exemplary action. They ignited Dasgupta, Kamala (1989): Swadhinata Sangramey Ray, Bharati (1995): “The Freedom Movement and the imagination of the youth by calling out, ”If Banglar Nari (Women from Bengal in the Feminist Consciousness in Bengal, 1905-29” in you are determined, you can put an end to Eng- Struggle for Freedom) (Kolkata: Jayashree Bharati Ray (ed.), From the Seams of History: lish rule in one day …Give up your lives by fi rst Prakashan). Essays on Indian Women (Delhi: Oxford Uni- taking lives. Sacrifi ce your life at the altar of Dastidar, Purnendu (2001): Birkanya Pritilata (The versity Press), 174-218. liberty. The worship of the goddess will not be Firebrand Pritilata) (Kolkata: Nishan Prakasani). complete without the sacrifi ce of blood”. ”Svar- Datta, Pradip Kumar (1999): Carving Blocs: Com- Roy, Bireswar (1993): “Pahartali European Club ajya Sthapan”, Yugantar, 1, 49 (3 March 1907), munal Ideology in Early Twentieth-Century Akroman” in Ganesh Ghosh (ed.), Biplabi Ma- quoted in Partha Chatterjee’s “Bombs and Bengal (Delhi: Oxford University Press). hanayak Surya Sen O Chattogram Jubo Bidro- Nationalism in Bengal”: 2004. Dutt, Kalpana (1945): Chittagong Armoury Raid- ho (The Revolutionary Leader Surya Sen and the Youth Uprising in Chittagong) (Kolkata: 7 Consider for example, the story of Premlata ers: Reminiscences (Reprinted in 1979, Delhi: Biplabtirtha Chattogram Smriti Samstha): Dey, another woman of the Chittagong group People’s Publishing House). 81-83. and wife of the senior-most Pahartali team- – (1946): Chattogram Astragar Akramankarider member Kalikinker Dey. Premlata, a “poor, Smritikatha (Reminiscences of the Chittagong Sarkar, Nirmal, ed. (2000): Surya Sen O Pritilata orphaned and barely literate” girl was married Armoury Raiders) (Kolkata: Bengal Provincial Rachana Sangraho (Surya Sen and Pritilata’s off to Kalikinker against his wishes. But Committee: ). Writings) (Kolkata: Suryasena Prakasani). through her ascetic husband, she gradually – (1991): “Interview entitled “Amar Anek Kichui Sarkar, Tanika (1989): “Politics and Women in Ben- got drawn into the revolutionary party and Karar Chilo” (I could have done a lot) with gal: The Condition and Meaning of Participa- even received arms training. However, after Ashok Mukhopadhyay in Desh, 28 December. tion” in J Krishnamurty (ed.), Women in Colo- Surya Sen was hanged in 1934 and Kalikinker Dutta Gupta, Sarmistha (2010): Identities and His- nial India: Essays on Work, Politics, Survival sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment in the An- tories: Women’s Writing and Politics in Bengal (Delhi: Oxford University Press): 231-41. damans, unable to bear the loneliness and (Kolkata: Stree). – (2006): “Birth of a Goddess: Vande Mataram, drudgery of domesticity she committed sui- – (2011): “The Illegitimacy of Desire and Rabind- Anandamath, and Hindu Nationhood” in Eco- cide in 1935. She did so, signifi cantly, after ranath Tagore’s Char Adhyay” in The Visva- nomic & Polical Weekly, 16 September, 3959-69. writing to her husband for ”permission to die” Bharati Quarterly, Vol 19-20: September: 47-66. Sen, Ashalata (1990): Sekaler Katha (Kolkata: (Chatterjee 1999: 286-87). Everett, Jane (1979): Women and Social Change in Firma KLM). 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68 september 14, 2013 vol xlviii no 37 EPW Economic & Political Weekly