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Madhusudan Das, (1848- 1934) popularly known as Kulabruddha (Grand Old Man), Utkal-Gourab, (Glory of Orissa) and Odisar Janaka (Father of Orissa), was the architect of the province (now state) known as Orissa. He was a visionary par excellence and a tireless worker. He could foresee that India's existence &.. a Nation-State would depend upon Its federal structure, where states should be reorganised on the basis of language, He was also a philanthropist and Industrialist. He championed the social, political and economic rights of women end depressed classes, His long, eventful career had created a new beginning In the history of Orissa and given an Identity to Oriyas, In the Part-I of this book, through reminiscences of his contemporaries, the life and character of Madhusudan have been intimately portrayed, The Part-ll of the book Includes research papers of some scho lars, evaluating the personality end contributions of this great man to Oriya nationalism and Indian political thought, MADHUSUDAN DAS His Life and Achievements Editor: Debendra Kumar Dash PRAGATI UTKAL SANGHA Rourkela MADHUSUOAN DAS: HIS LIFE & ACHIEVEMENTS Debendra Kumar Dash Editor First Edition : 2002 Published by : Pragati Utkal Sangha B/9, Fakirmohan Nagar (Sector-7) Rourkela-769 003 Orissa Typeset by : Kumarika-Gangotri B/144, Sector-7 Rourkela-769002 Printed at : Optima Offset Prints Sutahat, Cuttack-753 001 Price : Rupees Two Hundred Only Madhusudan Das: His Life and Achievements has only three objectives in view :(i) to present source materials on the life and works of Madhusudan Das; (ii) to have an objective evaluation of his personality and contributions; (iii) not to succumb to the hagiographical tradition while writing on the life and works of Madhusudan. To fulfil these objectives the book has been divided in two parts. Part-1 of the present volume is a reprint of the book Madhusudan Das As Seen By Many Eyes compiled by Miss Shoila Bala Das with some alterations. Brief assessments/comments by seven eminent persons have been placed in appendices added by me.This is a companion volume to Madhusudan Das: The Man and His Missions edited by me. In the Part-ll of the said book, the reminiscenes and biographical sketches, written by persons closely associated with Madhusudan, had been placed. The Part-I of the present volume is an extension of the Part-ll of that book. Biography of a man cannot be written from the records only. The biographical sketches and reminiscenes included in this book though subjective in nature, fill up the gaps and bring out the inner side of the personality under review. So the reminiscences compiled by Shoila Bala, which had not been previously printed, have been placed in Part-I. To make a comprehensive view of the man,comments/biographical sketches written by Sri Aurobindo, Mahatma Gandhi and others have been published in the brief assessments/comments in the Appendices. The sources, from which such comments/sketches have been collected, have been indicated in the brief notes in the beginning. In the Part-ll, twelve essays written by nine scholar have been compiled. Most of these papers were previously published in the souvenirs," annually published by Pragati Utkal Sangha, Rourkela. The paper of Prof. Surendra Nath Jena was previously printed in the Research Journal of Sambalpur University. By his permission, it is reprinted here, All the papers have been edited to suit the requirements of the present volume. Pragati Utkal Sangha, Rourkela, deserves all the credit and compliments for publishing this book. Being a socio-cultural organisation, it has taken efforts to publish books like Madhusudan Das - The Legislator, Madhusudan Das: The Man and His Missions and other books in oriya language. I compliment the missionary efforts of the members of this organisation. I am also thankful to its office-bearers, for providing me the opportunity to edit this volume. The proposal and inspiration to publish such a volume, came from Acharya Bhabananda (Bhubaneswar), a Gandhian thinker and reputed scholar, and Mr. Surasinha Pattanayak (Berhampur), a Madhusudan-devotee. Both of them have also helped me in many ways whenever I have sought their assistance. Only thanks will not do justice to them. Sricharan Mohanty, the Vice-president of Pragati Utkal Sangha, has helped me at every stage of this publication. I extend my heartiest thanks to all of them. As mentioned before, most of the papers included in Part-ll, are reprinted from the annual souvenirs of Pragati Utkal Sangha edited by Nabin Kumar Sahoo, Prabodh Kumar Mishra and Sricharan Mohanty in different years. I express my obligation to them. I also thank the scholars who have ungrudgingly permitted me to use their papers in this book. Madhusudan Das: His Life and Achievements was planned and partially printed in the year 1999. It is after a gap of three years, the book could only be completed and published. For this delay, I apologise to all my well-wishers and readers. Moreover, this book may not be free from errors. I request the readers to kindly excuse me for such inadvertent errors which may be there. Lastly, I am thankful to my wife Geetanjali Dash for her support and Kumarika, Gangotri and Shankar Prasad Mishra for type-setting and Tapan Kumar Mohapatra for printing. Rourkela Debendra Kumar Dash 28.4.2002 CONTENTS Editor's Note iii PART-I LIFE OF MADHUSUDAN DAS AS SEEN BY MANY EYES Shoila Bala Das (Compiler) Preface 3 I. Reminiscence of Great Political Leaders 1. A Tribute of Love and Respect 5 Rajendra Prasad 2. A Brief Note on Madhusudan 6 Acharya P. C. Roy II. Reminiscence of High Court Judges 1. A Practical Politician 8 Manmath Nath Mukherjee 2. The Late Mr. Madhusudan Das 10 Devaprasad Sarbadhikari 3. An Idol of-The People of Orissa 12 Khaja Mohamad Noor 4. Recollections 13 S, C. Mallick 5. An Appreciation 15 Subodh Chandra Chatterjee III. Reminiscence of Ministers and Members of Legislative Council 1. Note on the Life of Late Madhusudan Das 17 M. Yunus 2. A Lawyer and Cobbler 19 Ganesh Dutt Singh 3. The Late Mr. M. S. Das 21 Bodhram Dube 4, Madhusudan : Creator of Modern Orissa 24 Biswanath Das A Majestic Personality 26 Abdul Karim 6. A Great Pioneer 26 Mukunda Prasad Das liscence of Officials (Indian) An Appreciation 29 B. K. Gokhale A Reminiscence 29 S. Lall The Grand Old Man of Orissa 30 B. C. Mukherji A Homage 32 P. C. Ray Chaudhury 5. Madhusudan - A Pen Portrait 35 Srikrishna Mahapatra Madhusudan Das 37 Bawa Kartar Singh 7. The Grand Old Man of Orissa 38 Atul Chandra Ganguli Reminiscence of Non-Officials 1. No Idle Dreamer 39 Satish Chandra Bose 2. Orissa Before the Nation 40 Satindra Narayan Roy Mahasaya 3. Mr. Madhusudan Das As I saw Him 41 Paramananda Dutta 4. Reminiscence of My Guru 43 Swami Bichitrananda Das 5. Madhu Babu - An Oriya As Well As Indian 45 Gopabandhu Chowdhry 6. Madhusudan Das of Cuttack - A True Statesman 46 Saraladevi Chaudhuranf 7. Mr. Das As A Host 47 Sarala Bala Mitter VI. Tributes and Reminiscence of Britishers 1. Tributes to A Personal Friend 49 Maurice G. Hallet 2. My Oldest Indian Friend 51 Hugh Macpherson 3. An Appreciation 53 Courtney Terell 4. My Little Contribution 54 T. S. Macpherson 5. A Pioneer in Many Fields 57 S. B. Dhavle 6. The Protagonist of Orissa 59 C. L. Philip 7. A Historic Figure 61 D. E. Reuben 8. Who is Going to Take Up His Mantle ? 62 G. E. Fawcus 9. Marvellous and Saintly Man 63 Henry W. Nevinson APPENDICES 1. National Awakening in Orissa 65 Aurovindo Ghose 2. Madhusudan Das 67 Mahatma Gandhi 3. Madhusudan Das 79 Jawaharlal Nehru 4. Madhusudan Das and Myself 80 Shoil Bala Das 5. Utkalgourab Madhusudan 104 Swami Bichitrananda Das 6. Madhusudan Das 108 Harekrushna Mahatab 7. Madhusudan Das 111 Nilamani Senapati PREFACE Twenty one years ago on 4th February 1934, my father Madhusudan Das died. Many of his friends and high officials, and non-officials, Indians and Europeans sent their condolence messages to me. I asked them to send me some reminiscences about my father. Everyone of them sent as they knew him. For various reasons I have not been able to publish them in a book. At this distant date at the age of 81 when I can hardly use my eyes, I wish to publish these reminiscences and I regret to say that I have mislaid some of the reminiscences and I apologise to those friends whose appreciative articles I have lost. The reminiscences with all their own tale of what Madhusudan was and what he had. Many of the writers are no more. They too have gone to the land where Madhusudan is. Owing to my illness and defective sight, I left the manuscript to a friend who promised to see to its publication properly, but unfortunately he has not done it and the book is not published to my liking. However I hope my readers will be interested in the subject matter contributed by various friends who knew Madhusudan. Shoila Bala Das I REMINISCENCE OF GREAT POLITICAL LEADERS (i) A TRIBUTE OF LOVE AND RESPECT RAJENDRA PRASAD I first met Mr. M. S. Das when he came to preside over the Bihar Students' Conference which was held at Motihari in the year 1912. We travelled together on our way to Champaran and the conversation I had with him in the train and on the steamer left an indelible impression on my mind about his personality, intellectual depth, fearlessness and love and devotion to country. In a long life full of varied activity he was ever striving to serve the people and as he told me, although he ruined himself financially he never sent his hat round for public help.